Thursday, August 28, 2008

First week's predictions...

Yahoo! Football's finally here. If you use any of this as a guide for your calls to the bookie, you're a bigger idiot than I am.

1. Georgia vs. Ga. Southern. Once upon a time, Ga Southern was App. State. Not any more.
2. Florida vs. Hawai'i. A year ago, this woulda been a great match-up, with Tebow vs. Colt Brennan. Too bad it's this year. Gators chomp.
3. USC at UVA. The Cavs were a much better team last year. Who knows how they'll be this year. USC romps.
4. Oklahoma vs. UT-Chattanooga. Where's TO when the Mocs need 'im? Not here.
5. Ohio State vs. Youngstown State. How nice of Sweater-vest to pay for YS's fb budget, since he coached there for years, leading them to several D I-AA national titles. 'Eyes ain't taking no chances before Sep. 13th.
6. LSU vs. App. St. Could the Mounties do to the Bengals what they did to Michigan last year? Nuh-uh, unless Gustave distracts LSU.
7. Mizzou vs. 13. Illinois. Best game of the week, outside of the Georgia Dome. Mizzou should win, with Illinois having to replace Mendenhall and some choice defensive players.
8. Clemson vs. Bama. Being a Bama fan, I'd like to see them win this game, just to shut up a few War Eagle fans who'd squawk about the fact that THEY beat Clemson in the Peach Bowl last year. Davis and Spiller are too strong, however, I'm afraid. Character builder for the Tide.
9. WV vs. Villanova. Where's Rudy Gay when 'Nova needs 'im?
10. Wisconsin vs. Akron. MAC game. Used to be dangerous but not now. Badgers for real.
11. Texas vs. Florida Atlantic. Good ol' Schnellenberger. Leave to the guy who invented Cane football to think that a Sun Belt team could come in and beat the 'Horns on their home field. But, FAU is about where Miami was when Schnellenberger came aboard. Horns still win.
12. Auburn vs. La. Monroe. Great. Something else for the War Eagles to crow about; Monroe beat Bama last year.
14. Virginia Tech at East Carolina. This was an emotional game last year, thanx to the VT massacre. It could be a trap game this year, since the Pirates aren't pushovers.
15. Arizona State vs. Northern Arizona. Sun Devils throws a bone to a state school.
16. BYU vs. Northern Iowa. Where's Kurt Warner when NI needs 'im?
17. Tennessee at UCLA. Ouch. With injuries aplenty, UCLA doesn't look good on paper, but the Bruins have surprised UT before, back in '94. UT should win, though.
18. Kansas vs. Florida International. Jayhawks begins with their usual juggernaut schedule.
19. South Florida vs. Tenn-Martin. Yeah, Bulls! Beat them Skyhawks (or whatever they are); UT-Martin is an old rival of JSU's.
20. Texas Tech vs. Eastern Washington. This is the school that Jimmy Klingler of Houston's run-n-shoot fame popped for 11 TD's . Think Harrell couldn't do the same?
21. Penn State vs. Coastal Carolina. Except for Clemson-Bama, UT-UCLA, and Mizzou-Illini, this ain't a stellar weekend. But it don't need to be; it's opening week. It's FOOTBALL. FOR THE 1ST TIME IN 7 MONTHS.
22. Oregon vs. U-Dub. Wow, how'd this sneak up on me? Ducks vs. Jake Locker, the third best option-QB in the U.S. Could be a close game. Ducks win, though.
23. Fresno St at Rutgers. Another decent game. The Knights will miss Ray Rice and the 'Dawgs are the best of the non-BCSers. Fresno could win.
24. Cincinnati vs. Eastern Kentucky. Another JSU rival. Go Bearcats.
25. Michigan vs. Utah. Upset special? Could be. Won't be, though.

Other games of Interest:
Jax State at Ga Tech. App. St, part 2? With the new QB from LSU, we might could pull off an upset, although it wouldn't be on a Mich-App St. level. Would be big for Jax State, though.
Michigan State at Cal. One team going up, one team going down. Crossroads intersectional game.