Well, we are most of the way through the first weekend of college football, so obviously it is time to reach inarguable conclusions and make broad pronouncements about what will occur throughout the rest of the season.
If you can’t definitively figure out the entire season based on one (most likely uncompetitive) game than you clearly aren’t an expert, which is why I am here for you.
NOTE: I am purposefully writing this prior to the FSU/Miami game tomorrow night. That game could (and probably will) lead to another full post, so I wanted to give the rest of the country at least a little attention. Sure, the rest of the country isn’t as important as that single game, but some people seem to care about all of those other teams, and I am nothing if not about customer service around here.
So, what did we learn from the first week? I’m glad you asked. As I always do, on the first really good Saturday of the season I sacrificed my day (and my health – I definitely was not eating salad yesterday), to watch at least 14 hours of football for you.
The day began as it always does with dull and boring Big Ten games, brought you by the Department of Redundancy Department. Next week will be the real test (OSU/USC) in proving whether the Big Ten is actually competitive or just the MAC with larger student populations but if this week was an initial pop quiz, than the Big Ten failed miserably. OSU got taken to the final minutes by Navy, Iowa had to block 2 field goals in the final 7 seconds to beat the Fighting Kurt Warners of Northen Iowa and Illinois led by 3-year starter Juice Williams and super-speedy Aurelius Benn got trounced by a Missouri team with a first year QB that also lost their top two receivers. Not exactly a stellar season opening for the Big Ten. Michigan really needs to practice extra, illegal hours to compete with these teams? Yikes.
By mid-afternoon, we had moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma for the big Oklahoma State/UGA game.
Before diving into the actual game, let me first congratulate Mark Richt on playing a real out-of-conference schedule. It is nice to see Bobby Bowden’s influence still out-weighing the influence of his SEC compatriots who believe you should never schedule an out-of-conference game with a team without a compass direction in its title. Urban, I am looking at you.
Actually, I take that back. An actual directional state school would be a step-up for UF. Charleston Southern doesn’t even have a state or cardinal direction in its name – just a city and a vague directional descriptor. The University of Florida – finding new and innovative ways to pad their schedule and the stats of THE GREATEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYER OF ALL TIME.
NOTE: Remember when Bobby came out and blasphemed Our Lord and Savior Tim Tebow this summer by saying Charlie Ward was as good if not better? In Charlie’s senior year, FSU’s non-conference schedule was: Kansas (coming off a Bowl), Notre Dame, Miami and Florida.
Anyway, back to the game. Initially this game looked like both teams would fit their conference’s stereotypes quite nicely. The overpowering UGA defense and strong running game would come in and dominate the soft, fast offensive power in the Big 12 South.
My favorite result of this was when Matt Millen mentioned early in the game that with OSU’s new defensive coordinator they had expected improvement, but weren’t seeing it. “Sometimes, it doesn’t matter what system is put in if the players don’t execute” was Millen’s analysis. It doesn’t take Dr. Freud to see Millen trying to sub-consciously excuse his entire sorry tenure as Lions GM with that single phrase. Nice try, Millen. Just because the networks inexplicably want you to be a football expert don’t mean that the rest of us will ever be able to forget that you know nothing about running a football team.
Of course, by late in the 2nd quarter the standard storyline was out the window as the Okie State defense clamped down on the UGA offense and the OSU offense started moving the ball and scoring points. This shouldn’t have been a surprise, given the number of offensive weapons UGA lost last year, but after the Big 12’s abysmal performance in the bowls last year I think we all expected the worst.
Speaking of the worst of the Big 12 South, the next game I watched was BYU/Oklahoma. As everyone knows by now, BYU knocked out Sam Bradford and then held on to beat OU.
I know there will be many, many stories written this week anointing BYU to college football’s elite and slotting them into a BCS game but can we pause for a minute. Their vaunted offense had 2 good drives all night. They played against a dreadful offensive line that looked as inexperienced as it is. The second half was spent playing against a quarterback – not named Matt Barkley – playing in his first ever college football game. Their opponent chalked up over 100 yards in penalties. Yet, they still had to endure a final missed field goal to hold on for the win. BYU has never shown the ability to play consistently for a full season, so even if they get by FSU in Provo in a couple weeks (which I couldn’t be happier to be out of the country for), will they be able to keep focus against TCU and Utah or are they this year’s East Carolina?
The other primetime game was Alabama vs. Virginia Tech. I wish I had some in-depth, unique perspective on this game, but it is hard to have a new point-of-view of a game that reinforced every stereotype about the two programs playing.
VT came in having never beaten a top ten opponent on a neutral field. They left with that record intact.
VT has a long tradition of not playing as well as their ranking should indicate. Every year, pollsters are convinced that VT has the pieces in place to be a national contender – a strong defense, athletes on offense and of course ‘Beamer Ball’. Every year VT disappoints. Despite all of the hype Tyrod Taylor is consistently the most overrated player in the country not named Clausen. He may be elusive and quick but he can’t pass, direct an offense or lead a team. Other than that, he is a fine quarterback.
At this point it would be a greater surprise if VT actually came through in a big game. I am sure they will beat up most of the ACC this year (5 ACC teams lost their opener this weekend – 2 to Division 1-AA teams) and could end up in a BCS game again but until they beat a really good opponent let’s stop this annual ritual of hyping them early in the season.
Unless Michael Vick earned another year of eligibility while at Leavenworth, VT is not going to be in the national title hunt while Frank Beamer is the coach there.
Alabama on the other hand, took the exact blueprint people expected and shoved it right down the throats of the Hokies. An overpowering defense and strong running game helped offset a new quarterback and many mistakes. I don’t think Bama will go through the regular season undefeated like they did last year, but they will at least play tough, boring, predictable games all year.
My opening weekend odyssey ended in the Pacific Northwest – fitting as the LSU/UW game was the one that had gotten me so excited for college football in the first place. I know UW lost but I think it is safe to say that UW has a chance to be the most improved team in the country this year. While they might want to work on open field tackling drills for their corners (yikes), overall they out-played LSU the entire game. After starting with a tough LSU team, whose quarterback served notice to the rest of the SEC, and then getting confidence by beating Idaho next week is the Pac-Ten schedule really going to look too tough to the Huskies?
After all, we have all seen the Pac-Ten enough to know who they are. They aren’t going to come out and punch you in the mouth like an SEC team would.
At least, not now that LaGarrett Blount has been suspended for the year.
