Snakes In My Pants

Duke…  Get this… is FAVORED over ACC rival Virginia.  BY A TOUCHDOWN!
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Tee hee!  I predict a UVA blowout.  :-p

Week Four was an interesting week as conference play began for most schools we started seperating the men from the boys.  LSU showed that they are not ready to give up their title without a fight in beating Auburn on the road.  Alabama showed they are for real, throttling Arkansas.  Florida once again took Tennessee behind the woodshed, possibly spelling doom for Phil Fulmer.  Georgia travelled west of the Mississippi for the first time in decades and took out a decent Arizona State team.

And that’s just the SEC! Read it all..

and I really only care about the headline…

Click here (it’s SFW, unless your coworkers minds are in the gutter like mine)

Week 3 brought us what was SUPPOSED to be the biggest matchup of the year between #1 Southern Cal and #5 Ohio State.  Instead, an overmatched and outmanned Buckeye team got slaughtered at the hands of a Trojan team that early on appears to not only be the best team in the nation, but the best in Pete Caroll’s tenure.  Meanwhile, the arch-rivals of those two heavyweights were also locking horns.  Notre Dame and Michigan, the sports two winningest programs, renewed acquaintences in Notre Dame, IN, in what amounted to a rather lackluster matchup of two rebuilding programs.  Notre Dame showed significant improvement, but it was every bit as much Michigan’s ineptitude which led to a Notre Dame blowout.  In the least heralded matchup of major programs, South Florida beat Kansas in a thriller, potentially salvaging what has thus far been a disastrous season for the Big East.  Speaking of bad conferences, UNC of the moribund ACC laid an absolute beat-down on Rutgers in New Jersey.  The Butch Davis reclamation process may be ahead of schedule. Read it all..

Week Two was about as bad as it gets for big-time college football.  The majority of the matchuos were lopsided, with Vegas assigning 20+ point spreads to the majority of the games.  Still, there was an exciting OT game between USF and UCF, a controversial ending to BYU’s 1-point victory at Washington, Notre Dame’s lackluster opening victory against San Diego State, and ECU’s upset of West Virginia.  Read it all..

So that was pretty much pathetic.

If the Irish don’t play better going forward, you can go ahead and pencil in losses to Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Washington, UNC, BC, USC, and Pitt. 

Charlie and his players better bring their A-game against Meat-chicken next week, or his days in the Bend may be numbered.

The first 2 weeks of the college season are usually a snoozefest, and rest assured, that is intentional.  Big time programs like Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Florida intentionally schedule creampuff opponents from lesser conferences or divisions to act as revenue-creating home games that are little more than organized scrimmages.  There are/were, of course, exceptions such as the matchup between Clemson and Alabama, as well as Missouri and Illinois, but the real fun starts in week 3.

 Anyway, here is what we did learn after 1 week of college football: Read it all..

Last season was objectively the worst in the history of America’s most popular college football team.  The Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish set records for losses in a season, sacks allowed, and rushing yards per game (low).  While the special teams and defense were bad, the offense was even worse, ranking at or near last in Division I-A football in most objective offensive categories.

Read it all..

As I told you last year, Phil Steele’s College Football Preview is the best preseason football magazine in America.  It also ranks as the most accurate magazine over the past 9 years.  Last year, it was not the most accurate partly because he ignored 17 5th-year seniors and a weak schedule and picked BC to finish last in their ACC division before they actually won the division and lost the ACC Conference Championship.  Just for shits and giggles, during a slow sports time, here are his predictions for 2008’s top 10 as well as his thoughts for all of the SIMP schools: Read it all..

I know, it’s VERY early.  But I’m moving to Charlottesville in about 3 weeks, so I’m making my college football predictions now.  The first college football games are in a mere 60 days.  

Real quick, a look at how I did in 2007.  First, 8 of my top 12 finished in the final top 12.  Second, I correctly predicted 6 of the 12 BCS teams.  Third, while I NAILED Wisconsin, Georgia, and South Florida . . . I completely whiffed on Michigan, UCLA, Penn State, Kansas, Nebraska, and BC.

On to this year . . . Read it all..