Football galore

It sure is nice to have cable again, as it has given me the opportunity to watch many a football game. College football is in full swing and the NFL is underway as well. First, looking at the college ranks.

"Separation Saturday" as so eloquently dubbed by ESPN and it's genius marketers (sarcasm) actually lived up to the hype. Thank you Auburn/LSU, Oregon/OU/officials, Tenn/Fla, FSU/Clemson and Carolina/Furman for helping make my Saturday worth watching.

Auburn vs LSU was my favorite game of the day. These two teams simply play another game than most other college teams, as the speed and hitting are unreal. Unlike FSU and Miami, I would wager that both teams are actually pretty good, offenses included. I would still contend that Auburn is the biggest challenger to Ohio St this season, although Auburn's schedule will make it much tougher for the Tigers to go undefeated. Somehow, a 7-3 ballgame held my attention, almost the same way a scoreless hockey game would. This is the time of the year I love the BCS. Yes, I said I love the BCS. Without the system, this game would matter only to see who gets the higher seed in the "playoffs" of college football; instead, with the BCS, the LSU/Auburn game most likely eliminated one team from the national title race. As many a coach would say, you can't win the national title in September, but you sure can lose it.

Moving to other games, the OU/Oregon ending has been criticized thoroughly by the mainstream media, so I will spare us the repetition. Obviously the officials made a questionable series of calls at best, but Oregon still made two or three huge plays to win the game, so props to the Ducks. Don't blame Oregon for taking advantage of the circumstances presented to them.

I was very glad to see Florida win. In my ideal world, now that Carolina and Notre Dame will probably not win the national title, I am hoping the Gators run the table. I have never been a Florida fan, but after Chris Leak graduated from the alma mater, Independence High School, and chose UF, I have to pull for him. Therefore, I want Chris to shut up the ridiculous Florida fans and win the Heisman Trophy and the national title. So it's not as much go Florida as it is go Chris Leak. Independence, by the way, continued its nation-leading high school football win streak of ninety five (?) straight games with a 21-20 victory over Vance High School in Charlotte after stopping a two-point conversion attempt on the game's final play. I think tarheelpwin almost had a heart attack. Go Big I.

On to Notre Dame, as the Irish came back down to earth this weekend, getting spanked by Michigan at home. Clearly overconfident and less athletic, Notre Dame made too many mistakes against a quality opponent and paid the price for it. Disappointing, yes, but not really that surprising. They will most likely lose again before the season is out, as I stand by the claim that ND is top ten good, but no where near numero uno.

Finally, Carolina won its first game of the season in convincing fashion...scrapping by I-AA Furman. Furman is a good I-AA team, yes; but any decent D-I team should defeat them rather easily, especially at home. Clearly, the Tar Heels are not a decent I-A team, period. Analysis from the game is not necessary; the offense played pretty well, the defense was horrid. Looking forward, I would not be at all shocked to see Carolina give Clemson or Miami a good game the next two weeks on the road. Clemson will be a little overconfident having won at Tallahassee and should have a natural letdown. Miami does not look capable of blowing anyone out right now, so hopefully the Heels can at least hang in there at the Orange Bowl.

Quick hits: West VA looked awesome for the first quarter against Maryland last Thursday, just amazing how fast that team is; Georgia and Virginia Tech are playing the same game right now. Both struggle at QB a little bit, but have amazing defenses. Neither will win the national title, but each is in good position to contend for league titles in the SEC & ACC respectively; Speaking of the ACC, way to drop the ball NC State and UVA, and so much for my "Florida St could be really good this year" prediction; Southern Cal is scary right now because they are so young, but so good. So much fun to watch; Louisville is really banged up with Brian Brohm going down in the huge win over Miami, but they are still mauling teams. Imagine if they were healthy. Trust me, their fans are imagining the same thing; TCU defeated Texas Tech Saturday, 12-3, in a game that was overshadowed by the other great games of the day. However, the game has BCS implications, as TCU is now clear to run the table and earn the non-BCS conference berth in the BCS. If that makes sense.

Moving on to the NFL...first, the bad news. The Panthers are 0-2 and have some crucial injury issues. Steve Smith, Ken Lucas, Shawn Williams, Dan Morgan, Travelle Wharton, etc. Weak offensive line play and bonehead decision-making/play-calling unraveled a sure victory this past Sunday at Minnesota. It's not panic time yet, but Carolina must regain it focus and confidence quickly or watch its pre-season hype crash and burn.

On the flip side, a number of teams are 2-0 that are not as talented as Carolina. What happens every year in the NFL is a few teams get off to a good start, wins a game or two they shouldn't, get a good vibe and chemistry going, and find themselves 6-2 or 5-3 at the halfway point, often taking advantage of weaker schedules. Then, one or two fall apart, while another team or two keeps the momentum and ends up in the playoffs. The year Baltimore won the Super Bowl, the Ravens did this. Atlanta when they eventually lost to Denver in the Super Bowl did this. Chicago has done it twice in the last six years or so. This year, Minnesota, New Orleans, Baltimore, San Diego, and Atlanta are five teams who missed the playoffs last year and are currently 2-0. Minnesota has already beaten two teams with more talent and seem to be gaining confidence and buying into new Head Coach Brad Childress' system. New Orleans has defeated two poor teams (Cleveland and Green Bay; so much for my "Cleveland is a sleeper" theory) but is generating excitement nonetheless. Baltimore looks to be legit, dominating Tampa Bay (whose offense has looked inept) on the road, then rolling over the hapless Raiders in the home opener. San Diego and Atlanta both narrowly missed the playoffs last season and were expected by many to bounce back. They are two of the most complete-looking teams at this early juncture of the season. The point of this discussion is to keep an eye on these teams over the next few weeks to see if one or two can develop into quality playoff teams as the season progresses.

I've had enough. I'm typing as I watch Monday Night Football (did you know it moved to ESPN? I had no clue. Why didn't ESPN publicize this? Brilliant marketing again, sarcasm again). As I pointed out to Gramps in our usual Monday night IM chat, it seems like Auburn and LSU changed jerseys and decided to dress up as Jacksonville and Pittsburgh and stage a rematch of their low-scoring, hard-hitting affair from Saturday afternoon. This game is intense right now, a big-time game for this early in the season.

Do ya chain hang low?

(I'm afraid the white people radio stations are quickly ruining this song, as I have heard it far too often and once witnessed a sorority girl singing it...sort of). Therefore, this week's lyric...taking it back a lil bit...

Motown Philly back again...doin' a little east coast swaaang.

Keep it real ya'll.