The List

Well, the first weekend of college football is over and I think we learned a lot, don’t you? Not only about our own team, but about other teams across the nation as well. So, let’s not waste any more time and get right to this week’s List which is: 

The Ten Things We Learned After Kickoff Weekend:

10) Mark May has been and will also be the most incorrect man in all of college football -- Not only did he completely whiff on his UT/UCLA prediction (anyone else remember the “Watch Jonathan Crompton” remarks?), but man he showed how far that tail tucks between his legs on Saturday afternoon. After the news came across that Pitt ate the green weenie against Bowling Green, May couldn’t have been more unpleasant to anyone in the studio. I swear I’ve never seen anyone who needed a puppy so badly. 

9) Virginia Tech will not keep Tyrod Taylor’s redshirt on for long -- The old adage of “Offense wins games, Defense wins championships” rings true today in Blacksburg, as Frank Beamer has come to find out that having more points than the other guy will keep you from losing an embarrassing season-opening game. If Va. Tech drops another game like that, then “Beamer Ball” will not be a motto, it’ll be what’s for dinner.

8) The playing field is coming closer to being leveled -- Either BCS programs are getting worse, or the little guys are getting better at a more rapid rate. From Utah to ECU, there are some smaller Div-1 schools out there that are ready to knock off a big boy or two. The team I’m most impressed with so far is Fresno State, who have not only snuck their way into the top 25, but have done so by scheduling this season with the mindset of “anytime, anybody, anywhere.” I have no problem with a smaller school getting to a BCS game, as long as they did it by playing the big boys, and Fresno St. is not afraid to do that…at all.

7) Never bet on Tennessee -- I made the mistake of taking Tennessee and the points (-7.5) to beat UCLA even though I had a feeling Neuhisel was going to make a game out of it. It’s a shame that I’ll never see that $5 again, but oh well, one less Quarter Pounder with Cheese.

6) South Carolina will find ugly ways to win and then make them into masterpieces -- To hear the S. Carolina fans call it, you’d think Spurrier made the whole team channel their inner Tim Tebow on the way to routing N.C. State. Nevermind that their Defense is slow and their Offense moves as quickly as me in the morning after an all night bender. Also, we’re going to need you to forget that for three quarters, that game was like watching old people f*ck. It was slow, it was reckless and it had no intention of getting anything worthwhile accomplished.

5) For better or worse, Nick Saban won himself a raise -- I already had Alabama as my dark horse in the SEC West (I’m still not understanding the media’s crush on Auburn), but they might just have moved into the forefront of the conversation.  Alabama totally dominated Clemson up front, and John Parker Wilson found just enough guys NOT to overthrow for them to put some points on the board. Alabama still isn’t the best team in the West, but that LSU game is looming big on the horizon.

4) For better or worse, Clemson is stuck with Tommy Bowden -- I haven’t seen a team with that much talent take a dump on a field like that since West Virginia stunk it up against Pitt last year. For all the talent Clemson has (and make no mistake, they have a TON of it), could anyone else have predicted a more mis-matched game? I surely couldn’t have. It was flat out re-ding-don-f*cking-diculous. The only thing that’s for certain going forward is that Clemson had better hang 70+ on the Citadel just to look like they know what they’re doing.

3) Is it just me, or does anyone else see Georgia Tech making a run of the ACC Title? -- Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t think they’re worth a flip, but with the ACC as down as it is this year (think of it as the WAC, minus Fresno St., Hawai’i and Boise St…..yeah, it’s THAT bad), I don’t see this Tech team not being bowl eligible. Seriously, the strength of the ACC right now is Wake Forest, a very young Miami team, a poorly coached Clemson team and an FSU team who has no idea who the coach really is. Unfortunately, FSU’s coach doesn’t know who he is either.

2) Injuries will happen and they will happen against opponents that suck -- Just ask Jeff Owens and Beanie Wells if you need to know what I mean. Now, two teams with National Title aspirations have to sit back and say “well, what do we do from here?” in regards to losing two playmakers.  Granted, UGA’s deep and Beanie’s backup is solid, but you still hate to lose a top-tier guy and a leader in the locker room to an opponent that your fourth string would beat. It just flat out blows.

1) There's still nothing like a Saturday Gameday -- Every year I get excited about opening day, and every year I learn something, see something or hear something I've never heard before. Things like "Utah upsets Michigan" or "ECU uses Beamer Ball against Virginia Tech" will never get old, unless I ever become a Michigan or Va. Tech fan.  Either way, I mostly cruise into Kickoff Weekend because mostly, UGA never plays teams of note that weekend (excluding last year). However, they still find ways to get me excited, get fans talking and get my fingers writing. We've come a long way since June, indeed.

Until Next time kids.

Be safe.