The Shock of all Shockers!

3:30pm Thursday, Sep 6

 

So I’m sitting in my room on Saturday morning watching the emotional VaTech Home Opener against a very game East Carolina team (despite playing 3 different quarterbacks, the Pirates almost shocked the Hokies). I’m watching the game on ESPN, but at the same time I have other games loaded on my laptop, including the Appalachian State vs. Michigan game. The only real reason I even bothered is because I kind of like Michigan, and that’s mainly because my dad does. When I opened the GameCast, the score was 7-7 in the First Quarter. I was only mildly surprised. I thought it was kind of cool that a team like Appalachian State was playing with a team like Michigan (in Ann Arbor no less) for a quarter. I also thought that quickly this tight affair would get ugly. I just nonchalantly assumed that Michigan would soon turn on the jets and really get going. Then the score became 14-7 App. St. Then 14-14. Okay surely, NOW Michigan’s going to take control and just like that it’s App. St. 21-14. It was that moment I wrote my dad, via Yahoo Messenger, “did you know Michigan is losing to Appalachian State in the 2nd Quarter?” He wasn’t paying attention to the game since it wasn’t on TV. His response did not echo concern. It was merely, “they’re Michigan, they’ll be fine, they’ll come back.” About a minute later Armanti Edwards threw another TD pass for App. St. and that made the score 28-14. If I didn’t believe it before, I think them taking a two-touchdown lead, convinced me, this wasn’t going to be the average patty-cake vs. power blowout we’re so used to. I still thought Michigan would win, but it wasn’t going to be easy.

 

As the teams went to the locker room, App. St. still held onto a 2 TD lead, despite Michigan having the ball in the Red Zone before the end of the half. Unfortunately for Michigan that chance was erased on a Chad Henne interception. When the 2nd Half started, reality seemed to finally set in and things were back to normal, with Heisman Trophy candidate, Michael Hart, breaking some big runs on the Apps defense and the Loggers (I don’t know what their mascot’s name is) not converting a relatively easy 28 yard Field Goal attempt. It seemed like Michigan was headed for a win, albeit scary, but a win is a win, right? Well, that was until the Loggers responded to Hart’s long TD run, which gave Michigan it’s first lead since the first quarter, with a go ahead Field Goal with less than a minute to go. The Loggers jumped around Michigan Stadium like they had just won the Super Bowl or something. But there was still a minute to go and that minute couldn’t tick fast enough for the Loggers. It looked like Michigan would prevail when Henne threw up a prayer to Mario Manningham and that prayer was answered at the 20 yard line. All Michigan needed to do now was make their Field Goal and they would survive. Well, if you hadn’t learned by that time, the Loggers weren’t losing this game. They went all out for the Kick (as any team in that situation would) and got it. As the Loggers’ player picked up the blocked kick with 3 seconds to go, and nearly ran it all the way back, the Loggers could finally celebrate amidst the silence of the Big House. The Loggers had done it. They completed probably the biggest upset in the history of College Football. Never before had a Playoff Championship Division school knocked off a BCS School (the new names for the Divisions in College Football). For them to do it against Michigan, one of the two or three most prestigious College Programs in the entire nation, is nothing short of remarkable. I salute their school, their coaches, and most of all their players to go out there and execute on such a big stage. My only other word on this subject, is watch out Oregon. Michigan is going to be quite upset and going to look to take out their frustration on you. Good luck.
Other storylines from the first week of the season:

 

• Notre Dame sucks. I didn’t watch the game, but losing by 30 points at home against a team that’s supposed to be of pretty much equal talent level, well that’s not a good sign. Charlie Weis will be next week’s Coach of the Week if Notre Dame doesn’t lose by 40 on the road at Penn State.

 

• UCLA racks up 624 yards of offense on Pac-10 rival, Stanford. I don’t know if that’s more impressive, or the fact that 338 of those yards were on the ground. Let’s just say that’s domination. Let’s also say that as much as I would like it to happen again, that’s probably the best performance their offense will have this year.

 

• Cal clobbers Tennessee. Not only did they make up for last year’s embarrassment on Rocky Top, but they did a little embarrassing of their own to the Vols. It sucks but it’s true. One silver lining for Vols’ fans, Eric Ainge and his pinky looked okay, in fact I would say he looked pretty good in the loss.

 

• USC only beats Idaho by 28. Sure, Vidal Hazelton made one of the best catches you’ll see this year, in the end zone, but ‘SC only beating Idaho by 28 at home, I smell trouble (or at least I’m optimistically hopeful).

 

• Revamped Florida State looks the same as last year (and the year before that). The offense still sucks. Maybe JaMarcus Russell really was that good (Jimbo Fisher, the new FSU O-Coordinator was LSU’s O-Coordinator a season ago).

 

• San Diego State enjoys a bye week to watch and relax, which will probably be their most fun Saturday of the entire season.

Here are my picks for Saturday’s biggest games:

 

VaTech 21, LSU 17. I know VaTech didn’t look that good at home in beating East Carolina and LSU looked pretty dominant in beating SEC opponent Mississippi State on the road, but that’s exactly why. Both teams are going to come back to equilibrium, which should make for an outstanding game.

TCU 24, Texas 23. Okay so I’ve picked two upsets to happen, both with the home team losing. Well, that pretty much guarantees at least one won’t happen. I guess if I had to put money on it, this is the one I really would pick.

Michigan 20, Oregon 17. It still isn’t going to be pretty for the Wolves, but at least they’re going to get their first ‘W of the year. That should slow the “Fire Lloyd Carr” talk down for at least a week.

Penn State 41, Notre Dame 7. “Hallelujah, we scored a Touchdown!” is what the Irish faithful will likely be announcing at the end of the Fourth Quarter Saturday night. And yes, that accomplishment will earn Coach Charlie Weis another Contract Extension.

UCLA 20, BYU 10. I’d be surprised if UCLA gets half of the total yards as a week ago, not to say that they aren’t capable, just that it seems to be the way things usually go the week after such a dominating performance.

Washington State 31, San Diego State 7. It won’t take Kevin O’Connell and the Aztecs as long to get their first Touchdown as it did Notre Dame, but it may be even longer before they record a victory. But we do play 1-AA Portland State on September 22nd. Maybe just maybe we can pull that one off. But, that’s asking a lot. We did lose to Cal Poly a season ago.

Now to a preview of tonight’s NFL Season Opener between the defending Champion Colts and NFC South Champion New Orleans Saints:

 

I know the part of the game I’m most looking forward to is the Pre-Game Ceremony in which Kelly Clarkson and Faith Hill will be performing. PSYYYCH!!! What I’m really looking forward to watching is whether the young Colts’ Defense can contain Deuce, Reggie, and Drew. My money is on the Saints scoring some points. I would look for a lot of Reggie early on (even though technically Deuce is the starter). I think the Saints are going to want to establish that Reggie can run the ball inside (it’s all they’ve talked about all off-season). Then I would look for Deuce to come in and pound it a little more. Next, will likely come some play-action followed some Gun-slinging by the best gun-slinger in the NFL (Peyton is not a gun-slinger, he’s a scientist). When it’s all said and done, I predict a 300 yard passing game and roughly 150 yards running between Deuce and Reggie. Points are a little harder to predict, but I’ll say around 31. That makes the question, can the Saints stop Peyton and the Colts? My answer is no. You know the atmosphere will be amazing. The Super Bowl championship banner will be unveiled as will Joseph Addai as the full-time starter at Running Back. A lot of people associate the Saints and their defense with giving up the big play, especially the pass, but the truth is they were the 3rd-best Pass D in the NFL a season ago. The reasons are two-fold. They actually play the Pass pretty well, but also because they’re so bad against the run, that teams abandoned the Passing Game in favor of running up the middle and to the outside on them. I remember 3 plays specifically where the Saints gave up a TD Run of over 50 yards. And all 3 came on similar plays where the running back would “pinch the gap” and then cut to the outside of the defense. The Saints would not keep their gap control and bam, there goes a 50, 60, 70 Yard TD Run. Three times that happened last year, and that’s just off the top of my head. Do you really think Peyton and Tom Moore, the best play-calling duo in the NFL are not going to find that hole and exploit it? Yeah, me neither. Joseph Addai’s final line tonight will probably look something like this: 25 carries, 150 yards, and 2 TDs. Because of this production, Peyton won’t have to throw as much as normal as he’ll likely go something like 24 of 30 for 275 yards and 2 TDs. But if I’m right that leaves the score at 31-28 Saints (of course it doesn’t factor in possible defensive/Special Teams TDs or Field Goals). Who knows if I’m right or wrong. The point is that it should be fun. To borrow a line from my favorite Saint (Kenny Chesney for one day) “Football (replacing ‘Summer) time is finally here” and it’s the greatest time of the year.