College Football: Week 1 Discussion

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

It's NEVER too early to start talking college football. Most schools have started their fall camp in preparation for the season. Here's the preseason rankings.......

USA Today Poll

1. Georgia (22) 0-0 1,438
2. USC (14) 0-0 1,430
3. Ohio State (14) 0-0 1,392
4. Oklahoma (3) 0-0 1,329
5. Florida (5) 0-0 1,293
6. LSU (3) 0-0 1,163
7. Missouri 0-0 1,143
8. West Virginia 0-0 1,008
9. Clemson 0-0 999
10. Texas 0-0 979
11. Auburn 0-0 888
12. Wisconsin 0-0 747
13. Kansas 0-0 714
14. Texas Tech 0-0 644
15. Virginia Tech 0-0 568
16. Arizona State 0-0 560
17. Brigham Young 0-0 547
18. Tennessee 0-0 506
19. Illinois 0-0 422
20. Oregon 0-0 399
21. South Florida 0-0 350
22. Penn State 0-0 313
23. Wake Forest 0-0 203
24. Michigan 0-0 112
25. Fresno State 0-0 91

Others Receiving Votes
Alabama 83, South Carolina 64, Utah 60, Rutgers 53, Florida State 53, Boston College 47, California 41, Pittsburgh 34, Boise State 25, Oregon State 23, Nebraska 17, Cincinnati 13, Virginia 12, Connecticut 9, Michigan State 9, Mississippi State 6, Kentucky 5, Notre Dame 5, TCU 5, Maryland 4, Texas A&M 3, UCLA 3, North Carolina 3, Louisville 2, Georgia Tech 2, UCF 2, Tulsa 1, Oklahoma State 1, Arizona 1, Colorado 1.

The only matchup between ranked teams in Week 1 is the neutral site game (St. Louis) between #7 Missouri and #19 Illinois. Other good games have #2 USC visiting Virginia, Alabama at #9 Clemson, and #25 Fresno State on the road at Rutgers.

Here's the Week 1 Top 25 schedule........

Georgia Southern @ #1 Georgia
#2 USC @ Virginia
Youngstown State @ #3 Ohio State
Chattanooga @ #4 Oklahoma
Hawaii @ #5 Florida
Appalachian State @ #6 LSU
#19 Illinois vs. #7 Missouri (in St. Louis)
Villanova @ #8 West Virginia
Alabama @ #9 Clemson
Florida Atlantic @ #10 Texas
Louisiana-Monroe @ #11 Auburn
Akron @ #12 Wisconsin
Florida International @ #13 Kansas
Eastern Washington @ #14 Texas Tech
#15 Virginia Tech @ East Carolina
Northern Arizona @ #16 Arizona State
Northern Iowa @ #17 BYU
#18 Tennessee @ UCLA
Washington @ #20 Oregon
Tennessee-Martin @ #21 South Florida
Coastal Carolina @ #22 Penn State
#23 Wake Forest @ Baylor
Utah @ #24 Michigan
#25 Fresno State @ Rutgers

[Dr. Sak]

Utah and Michigan will be a good game.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

Utah and Michigan will be a good game.

I'm guessing that Michigan is just glad that LSU has to deal with Appalacian State for this year's opener.

[ISiddiqui]

Also I think Tennessee and UCLA could be a decent game as well.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Michigan is ranked #24? That seems pretty high.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Michigan is ranked #24? That seems pretty high.

I agree...I don't think they should be in the top 25. But I also think LSU is ranked a bit high given they have no starting QB coming back with any experience. The Tigers got that ranking based on last year's success.

[Alan T]

Go Georgia Southern!

[Dr. Sak]

Two other games that are interesting...non top 25...

Michigan State at California - No one is talking about Michigan State in the Big Ten, but I think they could upset a team or two. Plus who knows who will be Cal's QB...Nate Longshore...Kevin Riley...but what we do know is that there will not be any more hippies in the trees outside the stadium.

Jacksonville State at Georgia Tech - Ryan Perriloux anyone? He suits up for Jacksonville State against a Yellow Jackets team that totally changed their offensive scheme.

Memphis at Mississippi - I think Ole Miss could be a sleeper team in the SEC West. Coach O is gone but he didn't leave the cupboards bare. They have a decent line on both sides of the ball and Jevan Snead at quarterback. Snead was highly recruited and transferred from Texas when Colt McCoy won the job.

[Celeval]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

Jacksonville State at Georgia Tech - Ryan Perriloux anyone? He suits up for Jacksonville State against a Yellow Jackets team that totally changed their offensive scheme.

I'm looking forward to this one for obvious reasons (Go Tech). That said, GT's defensive line is probably one of the best five in the country, and JSU (from what I understand) isn't returning many starters on the offensive line. I think Perriloux will be solid for them, and he's a big reason many people have them atop the OVC in preseason polls, but I think he'll be running for his life in Atlanta. 42-20 GT, with 3 Yellow Jacket fumbles leading to 17 JSU points.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Celeval

I'm looking forward to this one for obvious reasons (Go Tech). That said, GT's defensive line is probably one of the best five in the country, and JSU (from what I understand) isn't returning many starters on the offensive line. I think Perriloux will be solid for them, and he's a big reason many people have them atop the OVC in preseason polls, but I think he'll be running for his life in Atlanta. 42-20 GT, with 3 Yellow Jacket fumbles leading to 17 JSU points.

I like how this man thinks!

[Logan]

I'm really glad the Rutgers-Fresno game came together at the last minute. Should be a fun one. Opening line has us as 5 point favorites.

[cartman]

I still don't have a clue how Texas is going to do this season. 9 of their games are against bowl teams from last season. They lost their two big offensive gamebreakers from last season (Sweed and Charles), and have a completely new defensive secondary. I do think Muschamp will field a much better defense than last season, but that's not really hard to do.

The key stretch will be the start to conference play. A visit to Boulder, then the Red River Shootout followed by the game against Mizzou.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by cartman

I still don't have a clue how Texas is going to do this season. 9 of their games are against bowl teams from last season. They lost their two big offensive gamebreakers from last season (Sweed and Charles), and have a completely new defensive secondary. I do think Muschamp will field a much better defense than last season, but that's not really hard to do.

The key stretch will be the start to conference play. A visit to Boulder, then the Red River Shootout followed by the game against Mizzou.

That secondary and how well they come together are obviously going to be the key given all of the pass-happy teams they'll be facing in conference play.

[Vegas Vic]

My old CRT TV just crapped out on me, so I took the HDTV plunge and I'm really looking forward to the college football season. I subscribe to ESPN gameplan, but I've never noticed whether or not their games are in HD. Do any of you guys know?

[MrBug708]

If Tennessee has any sort of good defensive line, UCLA should be dead in the water

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Vegas Vic

My old CRT TV just crapped out on me, so I took the HDTV plunge and I'm really looking forward to the college football season. I subscribe to ESPN gameplan, but I've never noticed whether or not their games are in HD. Do any of you guys know?

It just depends on the local/regional feed. My guess is that they will still have some standard feeds this year. Next year is when you'll likely see a lot more HD feeds.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Alabama at #9 Clemson,

Splitting hairs I suppose, buts its actually a neutral site game in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome.

[clemsonfan]

Yeah, there will definitely be half Alabama fans and half Clemson fans there since Atlanta is about mid-way between them.

Edited to add: I'm extremely nervous about this game.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Splitting hairs I suppose, buts its actually a neutral site game in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome.

Thanks. I don't think ESPN lists neutral games on their schedule. They had Illinois @ Missouri as well.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

I agree...I don't think they should be in the top 25. But I also think LSU is ranked a bit high given they have no starting QB coming back with any experience. The Tigers got that ranking based on last year's success.

They should base the Top 25 on last year's final poll.

[cartman]

In related news, the FOFC College Football Top 25 poll is going to be starting up again, probably towards the end of next week. So start formulating your lists!

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

They should base the Top 25 on last year's final poll.

Why? It's a brand new year.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm hoping for Seton Hill to finish the upper half of the WVIAC this year.

DIVISION II FOOTBALL AHOY!!!

Well, Memphis and Tulane suck, so what else do I have to cheer for?

[MacroGuru]

Sad thing is, Northern Iowa is a step up for us because we had Nevada and they backed out.

I have to say, this is one of the rare times I will cheer for Utah as I hate Rich as much as the Weasel.

The other thing that is starting to worry me are all the injuries we are seeing at camp already at BYU. Our starting C is out 4 - 6 weeks, our starting WR out until about 1 week before the Northern Iowa game.

Our FB was kicked out of school, Fui is still hampered by a nagging injury and we have a LB out for the season due to an illness that is requiring kidney surgery....oh and one of our starting ILB is hurt with a foot injury from a freaking scooter accident.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

I have to say, this is one of the rare times I will cheer for Utah as I hate Rich as much as the Weasel.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Here's the Week 1 Top 25 schedule........

Some potentially really ugly games on that list.

UTC @ #4 Oklahoma and Coastal Carolina @ #22 Penn State jumped out at me as possibly being even worse than usual.

Bama has a chance to surprise Clemson I think, USC @ Virginia might be a decent game for at least a while, and I wouldn't be surprised if any/all of the bottom three turned out to be fairly close.

UT @ UCLA? I'll just worry about that one instead of trying to predict it

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by clemsonfan

Yeah, there will definitely be half Alabama fans and half Clemson fans there since Atlanta is about mid-way between them.

Edited to add: I'm extremely nervous about this game.

Well Bama holds 100k Clemson seats 90k and the GA dome is seating 79k for this game.....yeah tickets are tough.

I have 4 need about 10 more for customers and for anything decent they are going to cost me 4-500 a seat...

Yeah its a definite trap game for us. 1 OL starter returns in the same spot. no Lbs return....everyone else is back...I think we are over rated, and Bama is underrated which makes for a bad combination....

[clemsonfan]

Yeah, I don't believe the hype that we are #9. I've been conditioned to be skeptical and pessimistic when it comes to the Tigers. Don't get me wrong, I love my team to pieces but I really wish I could be more confident in them.

[Dr. Sak]

I look at Clemson like Arkansas last year with two good RBs and a MUCH better QB.

[SFL Cat]

The "U" got a decent recruiting class this year. If they can get solid play from the QB and WR positions, they just might be a darkhorse in the ACC this year.

I think two or three years down the road, the Hurricanes will be back in the hunt for a national title.

[Thomkal]

Go Coastal Carolina!

Okay yeah its going to be pretty ugly. Their projected starting QB is out with a virus for a few weeks and I don't think he had started a game prior to this upcoming season anyway. But they get a bunch of money for being slaughtered by the likes of Penn State, which a small school like Coastal Carolina can certainly use.

Coastal's Athletic Director is a Penn State alum, which is how this game came about.

[Dr. Sak]

Come up to the game Thomkal...tickets will be cheap and you can come tailgate with me!

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

Come up to the game Thomkal...tickets will be cheap and you can come tailgate with me!

Ah wish I could, you'll just have to wear a Chanticleer jersey for me. Though you likely will be laughed at with a team name like that.

[Dr. Sak]

I will be wearing my Penn State jersey but I will hand out a beer to a Chanticleer fan in your honor!

[MizzouRah]

Should be a great Mizzou - Illinois game, can't wait!

[timmynausea]

I believe WVU was originally supposed to open with Auburn, but the game got pushed a few weeks back to be a Thursday night game for ESPN. With all of the coaching changes, I'm glad we open with Villanova instead.

There are actually more really intriguing week 1 games than I would've guessed, though. It really seems like anything is possible in that Utah-Michigan game.

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Should be a great Mizzou - Illinois game, can't wait!

I will be seeing one game opening weekend and that's the one. My cousin is getting married at 1 pm in Springfield and I'll be on the road by 3:30 to the dome!

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

I look at Clemson like Arkansas last year with two good RBs and a MUCH better QB.

Clemson has a better receiver corps, a MUCH better defensive back field, and a MUCH easier conference also....

[Chief Rum]

I am hoping UCLA gives the Vols a game, but I am not expecting it. Olson has proven himself to be too scattershot as a QB (and I don't think Chow can work his magic that fast), and Olson will be running for his life behind probably the worst OL talent and depth-wise I have seen on a major team in some time (combination of bad coaching and scouting prior to this year, with some bad luck with injuries).

But I am hearing nice things about our skill people, especially the new frosh, so expect a few nice fireworks from UCLA. A gem here and there will mostly be surrounded by sacks, hits in the backfield and runs that dissapear in a crowd of Orange unis.

On the other side, Tennessee will have to work for its scores, because the front seven won't lose too much in talent, and the secondary, while young, has a lot of talent. But it will score workmanlike scores, and probably get at least one big score from a frosh/new starter mistake in the secondary from UCLA.

Tenn 31, UCLA 17

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

I will be seeing one game opening weekend and that's the one. My cousin is getting married at 1 pm in Springfield and I'll be on the road by 3:30 to the dome!

I'm going to the game as well. My frat brother is a Rams season ticket holder, so he picked up some tickets for me in the pre-sale. We're going to jump on the Amtrak train out of KC and throw back a few drinks for the next 5 hours while the train engineer does the driving.

FYI for Mizzou fans.......KU still has tickets available for the MU/KU game if you're interested (University of Kansas | Online Ticket Office | Sorry. A lot of the KU sections have been bought up by MU fans, so you'll have plenty of company. I picked up 16 tickets last week out of the KU allotment.

[MizzouRah]

Allright kcchief19 and MBBF, I don't have tickets, but some friends and I plan on going down there to a bar to watch the game amoungst the atmostphere.

Maybe we can meet up for a beer or two?

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Michigan is ranked #24? That seems pretty high.

Isn't there something in the NCAA by-laws that Michigan has to have a pre-season rank in the top 25?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Allright kcchief19 and MBBF, I don't have tickets, but some friends and I plan on going down there to a bar to watch the game amoungst the atmostphere.

Maybe we can meet up for a beer or two?

Pick a bar and post it here. I should be down there early, so as long as it's not too far away, I could drop in.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Pick a bar and post it here. I should be down there early, so as long as it's not too far away, I could drop in.

Ok, will do.

My uncle owns Hot Shots, but that's right next to Busch. I'll find something close to the stadium and post it.

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

It just depends on the local/regional feed. My guess is that they will still have some standard feeds this year. Next year is when you'll likely see a lot more HD feeds.

I didn't pay much attention to this before I bought my HD TV, but for college football fans DirecTV blows away Cox Cable on their sports package. For HD sports, Cox only has the local network channels, ESPN and ESPN2 in HD. Directv has that plus all of the regional FSN and Comcast channels in HD (a total of 30 additional sports HD channels).

Unfortunately, I'm stuck with Cox throughout football season this year, but when I move into my new house early next year, I'm definitely dumping Cox and getting DirecTV.

[General Mike]

Fresno State WILL suck it

[Chief Rum]

Is it really sad that I am:

A) not at all shocked Olson hurt himself in a non-contact drill on Saturday and
B) not terribly disappointed at the news either

?

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by Logan

I'm really glad the Rutgers-Fresno game came together at the last minute. Should be a fun one. Opening line has us as 5 point favorites.

Can't freakin' wait. It's gonna be a great game.

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by General Mike

Fresno State WILL suck it

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Ok, will do.

My uncle owns Hot Shots, but that's right next to Busch. I'll find something close to the stadium and post it.

I'm in if we get into town early enought. I'm a little worried since we're getting into town so close to the game but let me know where and I'll try to swing by. I think I still have your number from when we tried to get together here in KC.