Recapping the Weekend

The first weekend of the 2008 college football season resembled the 2007 vintage in many ways. Several blowouts, a couple conferences shined, a couple conferences stunk the place up, and several games left you scratching your head saying “What the hell was that?” On to the picks…

NC State @ South Carolina
On Wednesday I wrote “South Carolina is favored (over NC State) by 12 and we like ‘em by at least 14″. Nailed that one- not only did NC State get blown out 34-0 but they only managed 138 yards of offense. Which team do you think feels more remorse for the firing of their previous coach, NC State for running Chuck Amato out of town or Minnesota for running Glen Mason out of town?

Hawaii @ Florida
I predicted a blowout and it was all of that- Florida 56, Hawaii 10. So much for Hawaii reloading. How do you say “five years of rebuilding” in Hawaiian? I’m guessing with lots of vowels.

USC @ Virginia
On Wednesday I wrote: “There are only two things compelling about this game. 1.) Will Mark Sanchez’ knee cap be on the front or the side of his leg? 2.) Will the long road trip and jet lag for USC allow the Cavaliers to cover the spread (20 points). Answer key: 1.) Front, just like Carson Palmer’s, 2.) No, Trojans by 28+.” I was right again. USC won 52-7 and completely dominated Al Groh’s Virginia Cavaliers. Not helping Virginia’s cause were 4 turnovers and a missed field goal, and having to play against USC.

Utah @ Michigan
I expected Michigan to pull out the win in overtime. I was close, but I gave a little too much credit to Michigan. Michigan missed a two-point conversion late in the 4th quarter which could have sent the game to overtime. Instead, Utah won 25-23 spoiling Rich Rod’s Ann Arbor debut.

Appalachian State @ LSU
Easy pick here- I called LSU to win. They won by a lot, 41-13.

Alabama @ Clemson
I missed this one by a mile. I wrote “I like Clemson for a lot of reasons, mostly because they’re at home and they’ve got a well-balanced team. Clemson’s young offensive line and Alabama’s defense will keep the game very close.” Turns out the young Clemson offensive line was only part of the problem. They held up decent in pass protection (two sacks) but two turnovers and an early hole to dig out of led Clemson (mistakenly) to pretty much abandon the run to try and catch up. In fact, Clemson managed only 3 rushing attempts the entire second half (and 14 the entire game).

The other part of the problem for Clemson was their defense. The Clemson D allowed the Alabama rushing game to completely control the game. Alabama had a stunning 50 rushes for 239 yards while controlling the clock for more than 2/3rd’s of the game. Alabama proved that while still very young, they may surprise one or two teams in the SEC this year. And Clemson proved that while they may be the class of the ACC, they still have a long way to go to matter nationally.

Illinois vs. Missouri
I got this one right too. I wrote “…until I see consistent excellence from him (Juice Williams), I’m picking the other team (Missouri)”. Juice actually had a pretty good night, being more consistent than not. He went 26 of 42 (62%) throwing 5 touchdowns against 2 interceptions. What killed Illinois was not having Rashard Mendenhall anymore. Illinois managed just 85 yards rushing on 35 attempts despite servicable efforts from Daniel Dufrene. Make no mistake though, Missouri is a quality team- balanced on offense, solid on defense, which leads me to my first bit of analysis from this weekend…

1.) Missouri will coast into the Big XII Championship game. After watching Missouri dispatch Illinois on Saturday night, none of the remaining games on their schedule should be close: SE Missouri State, Nevada, Buffalo, @ Nebraska, Oklahoma State, @ Texas, Colorado, @ Baylor, Kansas State, @ Iowa State, and Kansas. The road game at Texas may provide a test, but Texas has a lot to prove to me until I give them any credit. If you’re a Missouri Tiger fan and your team doesn’t make it to the Big XII title game, you should be very, very disappointed.

2.) The ACC is a complete disaster. Highlighting the bad weekend for the ACC was the aforementioned loss by Clemson at the hands of Alabama. Sprinkle in NC State’s blowout loss to South Carolina, Virginia Tech’s startling loss to East Carolina, Virginia’s embarassing showing against USC, and North Carolina’s 8-point win over McNeese State (Butch Davis…feel the magic!). All of that equals an ugly start for a conference that’s slipping into dangerous territory- MAC/WAC/Conference USA territory.

3.) Mixed results for # 1 Georgia in their opener against I-AA Georgia Southern. A 45-21 win on the surface seems satisfactory, consider that Georgia Southern missed a field goal and threw an interception in the UGA red zone early on. Also consider 21 points on the Georgia D, even if it was the 2nd and 3rd teamers. I applaud Mark Richt for not keeping the starters in and risking injury, but the reserves shouldn’t give up 21 points to a I-AA team.

4.) The Big East and the Big Ten both took big opening weekend hits. In the Big East, Pitt and Rutgers both lost in very disappointing fashion. What looked to be at least an interesting league at the top now seems to be the West Virginia and South Florida show. In the Big Ten, two teams expected to add depth at the top also lost. Michigan State lost 38-31 to Cal and Illinois lost the aforementioned game to Missouri. Both leagues needed those teams to have a strong showing to help with “league rep” in the media and as a result, both conferences have some work to do.

5.) It was a slow start for the Heisman short listers. Reigning Heisman winner and Florida QB Tim Tebow was a pedestrian 9 of 14 for 137 yards passing and only 37 yards rushing. Ohio State RB Beanie Wells had 111 yards on 13 carries but left the game early in the 3rd quarter with an injury. Georgia RB Knowshon Moreno had 59 yards on 8 carries. Texas Tech WR Michael Crabtree- 9 catches for 73 yards. Pat White threw for 5 TD’s and Chase Daniel looked good but all in all, the Heisman hopefuls hit the snooze bar.

Can’t wait until this weekend.