I can't believe we don't have an NCAA thread up yet! What are you people (myself included) thinking?! Anyways...it begins this Thursday! And for the third time in four years, the national opening game will feature the South Carolina Gamecocks. (How do we manage to pull this off? ) Anyways, the Gamecocks are hosting NC State, and it should be a rather one-sided game in favor of the Gamecocks. USC being USC, however, means that this game could get...interesting in a hurry, especially since several starters are battling injuries from camp. Here's to an exciting year for all of college football!
They're predicting my alma matar (one of them, anyway), the Minnesota Gophers, will finish 10th in the Big Ten this year. I'm thinking they'll do a bit better than that, but I guess it won't take too many wins for the U of M to declare this a successful season. Sometimes it helps to have low expectations.
Well, I'm glad someone started it besides me. I was tempted to wait for more posts before I bore people with I-AA football, but I know I'm not the only person who roots for a I-AA team, so I figure it's fair to give some coverage to it. I promise I'll talk about regular college football too. Probably the biggest interest for week one is Appalachian State, which is playing LSU. I'm sure (at least on ESPN) people will be wondering if they do what they did in Michigan last year. As far as I know, they still have most of their key players back from last year (although they've won three straight years, so they're definitely not just relying on a couple of key guys). Honestly? The odds of it happening twice are not that great, but it would be interesting to watch.
So am I. Two of the most successful and storied programs in college football, historically and presently. This is what the sport is all about!
May I point a little factoid out to the two of you? University of South Carolina - Founded 1801 California Republic - Founded 1864 (Statehood in 1850) University of Southern California - Founded 1880 Now who's the Real USC? --- As for real discussion, there are very few evenly-matched games this week. I think that East Carolina may indeed triumph over Virginia Tech; that will be a good game. Also, Clemson is vastly overrated (they're returning 1 of 5 OL starters, and that 1 is injured at the moment, among other issues), and will be crushed by Alabama. And LSU should beat App State. I don't forsee a Michigan repeat, unless LSU is even more overrated than I think they are this year.
I can identify ..... Miami University - Established 1809 University of Miami - chartered 1925 State of Florida - 1845 So my alma mater is the real Miami. As to upsets this weekend, I don't know that I see any. It's too early to tell which teams are overrated/underrated. LSU is no Michigan, so no way can I even begin to entertain the idea of Appalachia St. upsetting them - no matter how entertaining that might be.
I'm actually looking forward to seeing a little of the Stanford/Oregon St. game tonight. Is that a bad thing? It is Pac-10 after all and lord knows we don't get much respect nationally.
Fuck me out loud. That was the worst first half of football I've ever seen. Thank GOD the Gamecocks got their heads out of their asses for a massive comeback, but still. Come on! And it didn't help that several of my friends were absolutely plastered, and the people sitting around us were the worst people we've had since I started going to games here. I'll be more positive in the morning, but right now I'm just pissed off. Spurrier had better start Chris Smelley next week; Beecher's 4 interceptions were just horrible. He had some good plays, but the picks dominated everything.
Nice win from Stanford. Granted it's early, but a conference win is always a good thing to start the season. I was a little disappointed in that defense though. They allowed too much clutch first downs to be made by Oregon St. and they need to work at that. Not saying thier going to be the best in the Pac-10, but you can't beat teams like UCLA (I don't want to say USC since they have ) with a defense like that.
I definitely agree that the Stanford upset was a bigger upset than Appy State over Michigan. They may be a lower tier program, but Appy State was a great program. Stanford on the other hand barely won any games last year, and were 40 point underdogs. Stanford didn't just cover the spread, they won the game! Late in the season too, compared to Michigan's loss in week one...
I was going to say that, if you wanted to watch Appy State v. LSU, they're on ESPN, but they've actually moved the game up, so it no longer is. In it's place, Delaware's on. I was trying to avoid talking about my school, since people don't care about I-AA as it is, so I was trying to avoid being biased. But a quick preview: Both Delaware and Maryland have new Quarterbacks this year. Delaware lost probably the best QB in their history (as well as their best Running Back). I'd assume Maryland is a heavy favorite in this game even with a new QB. The last time these two teams played, Maryland beat a 28 game undefeated streak by Delaware. Of course, that was in 1948
So, I was sitting in the bar last night next to JSU quarterback (formerly of LSU) Ryan Perriloux. I know that's some serious discussion. Since my football team sucks... go Dawgs!
I know it's early. I know it's only against Youngstown St. But I like what I've seen of Terrelle Pryor so far. Nice throws, although nothing deep. And some nifty running including one for about 10 yds and 1st down. Plus a couple of nice option pitches. Yeah, it's early but I'll take it. Edit: Okay he just looked like the true freshman rookie QB he is, getting sacked. But this is still a nice way to get started, overall on that drive.