Well what a wild first weekend of football. Props to this year’s I-AA team, Jacksonville State, to win against a good I-A, which appears as though it is becoming a trend similar to opening round march madness upsets. Week one provided some other thrillers including, Pitt losing in OT, ECU winning on a hailmary in an Arena style game, and there was some game in DC on Monday too. There also were some duds; Kansas losing to North Dakota St 6-3, wow. There are many conclusions that could be made after week one, but this week will be more telling. The lineup is littered with quality matchups that will test the nation’s top teams as well as plenty of decent challenges that will help reaffirm or negate other supposed truths coming from week one. But first, lets reflect . . .
The whole world seems to be buzzing or, errr, arguing about the Boise/Tech game. Fulfilling my blog and email reporting duties, I sucked it up and traveled over there to cover the big game (check here for our photo coverage). I am sure all of you have heard the various debates and watched the game yourself, so I won’t recap the game, but here comes my buck O’five on it.
1. Tech fans are angry people. Saw numerous drunken Tech fans fighting people. Not surprising you may say; probably will see that in Huntington this weekend. Well they were fighting each other. Not trying to insinuate that they all were, but I don’t think I have ever seen so many fans of the same team fight each other.2. Tech fans are loud. Gotta give it up to them, that place was rocking. When their team came out the building was shaking. This makes the Boise more impressive to me. Only louder stadium I have been to is Beaver Stadium up in Old Man Paterno Valley for an OSU night game. Here is a reverie of that to make you smile, go to 9:15 mark.
3. People get mad that Boise doesn’t play anyone. No one will schedule a home and home with Boise and rarely will schedule them at all (who wants to pay them to get their ass beat?). People then say, if you want to build your program, play anyone, anywhere. They just did. They won. Deal with it.
a. I do not personally think Boise is one of the top 2 teams in the country, but what is speculation worth? A couple years ago people thought Michigan should play OSU in a rematch National Championship. They also thought Notre Dame was a BCS team. Uh yea, bout that. Point is, if they go undefeated again, they deserve a chance to prove it.
4. Did not like either of their Nike Pro Combat jerseys, but I am glad to see you can buy them.5. Beer is expensive in FedEx field.
Final comment and I’m done with Boise. They cannot help that they play a WAC schedule no more than WVU plays a “Big Least” schedule. If the Big Ten invited them, they would jump in a second, as they just did with the MWC, which unfortunately is losing their Utah contingency.
Coal Bowl
Unfortunately, I am legally bound to not ripping on Ohio State this week. It was part of the terms and agreements set forth by our tailgates good buddy “Buckeye Jack”, who kindly donated our entire allotment of tailgate t-shirts this year (see what kind of love can be brought out through unadulterated hatred of each other’s alma maters?). Thankfully, OSU made it easy by steam rolling Marshall this past week, so there is nothing to really say outside of my normal obnoxiousness which will just have to wait for a week. Don’t worry, I have stuff stored away.
I was really hoping to get an idea of what Doc’s offensive scheme will be. It would be easy to say it would be similar to WVU’s, but I think that would be an unwise assumption. For every comment that could be made about his lifetime recruiting coordinator roles, Doc is a well traveled coach who has seen his share of offense (re: Florida). Well, we didn’t learn shit, other than Marshall might be completely inept on offense. Granted they were playing in the Horseshoe, but I was still hoping they would have a few sustained drives and perhaps a scoring drive. The question will have to remain until Friday night, were they that bad, was OSU that much better than them, or were they writing off that game in hopes to show WVU nothing? I would bet on some combination of the three.
Too many people have put predictions around this game so I will be brief on my guesstimate. Atmosphere will be great, a young WVU QB will make some early mistakes, the game will be close around half, but WVU’s defense will prevail and then the playmakers will show up when needed on offense. WVU by 14. Look forward to my first Coal Bowl outside of Motown.
Games to Watch
If you have been stuck on one show all week, glued to Jersey shore, then your thumbs may struggle this weekend (try this to catch up). The 3:30 slate will test the wizards of remotes to keep up with the stellar matchups. I know I will be yielding two remotes for two TVs; that’s four primary games via the last button and 2 off primaries. The skill set most overlooked is knowledge of your channels. Even the numbers you have mesmerized can slip a sharp mind when three different games are on at once. My suggestion is to print the schedule and right channel numbers above.
3:30 slate in my order of preference: Miami/OSU and FSU/OU on first TV (HD), Michigan/ND and Iowa st/Iowa on second (Teams of hate go on crappier TV). BYU vs Air Force will be a good game to flip to in down times, especially at half. Also wouldn’t mind catching BC for the Mark Herzlich. Probably the only chance I will have to catch coverage of what will hopefully be the comeback player of the year, if he isn’t already.
The night caps may not be as competitive, but more range into the historically epic proportions. Who looks older, Joe Pa or Bear Bryant? Bear has only been dead for 27 years, so it may be closer than you think. Oregon traveling to a rebuilding Tennessee after waxing New Mexico may look like a blow out, but that’s a long way to show up in Neyland. Speaking of New Mexico, how many WVU fans still would prefer Mike Locksley over Bill Stewart?? Anyone? Crickets?
Editors Note: Even I cringe at making Joe Pa jokes, but it’s too easy sometimes. No ill will intended, hope they don’t ever push him out.
Keep an eye on FSN, CBS college sports, and ESPN Cinco. A bunch of games that may not catch your eye, but could get interesting.
Blog betting update:
The Grey Bush and Shoeless Hillbilly jump out to the early 3-2-1 lead, leaving Flying Potato and Pigskin behind at 2-3-1 and 1-4-1. All pushed on WVU, all got LSU. GB also picked up on Ohio State and Rich Rod . Shoeless got Kentucky and Oregon St. Always good luck going with the Beavers.
Check it out for this weeks ineptitude.
Enjoy the weekend folks,
Al
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