And Now for Something Completely Different

First Weekend of College Football

Posted Saturday, September 4, 2010, at 4:19 PM

Labor Day weekend has quickly become college football weekend. Beginning on Thursday and continuing through Labor Day college football rules the airwaves and the internet. For those who do not know, I absolutely love college football. It is, without any sport remotely close, my favorite sport. It offers to most excitement and most teams to watch in one weekend. College football (Division 1 anyways, I refuse to call it the Football Bowl Division) also currently offers one of the longest and most divisive arguments in America. Playoff system or bowl system? No matter where you fall on this argument college football is still the best sport out there. In college football there are no players whining about the millions they are being paid not being enough. They may whine about other things but not having to listen to those complaints is nice.

Opening weekend is a bit bittersweet as most of our favorite teams are playing cupcakes to warm up for the season. The only time it is bad on the first weekend is if your favorite team struggles or loses (Michigan losing to Appalachian State, a team from a lower division, is the biggest example) to a cupcake.

The beginning of the college football season offers every fan even the slimmest glimmers of hope of their team winning the National Championship. Most teams fall out of that discussion after the first week but it is nice to dream anyways.

This season is one of the most wide open seasons in recent memory. Everyone (almost everyone anyways) expects Alabama to win the National Championship this year but they are having to replace the best defense from a year ago. Florida, who is always near the top of discussion, is replacing perhaps their best quarterback in their history. If today's game was any indication it could be a long season for the Gators. Their defense looked good but their offense looked absolutely lost at times on the field.

Then there are the other teams that almost always get championship talk at the beginning of the year, Ohio State. Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas. Then of course there are the non-BCS teams Boise State and TCU. If Boise State beats Virginia Tech on Monday night they will have the inside track to the National Championship game.

This is also the last year of the Big XII as we know it. Colorado and Nebraska both bolt for new conferences at the end of the year. The big question is; can Nebraska win the Big XII in their last year. Their conference schedule is definitely in their favor with their biggest game (Texas) at home and not having to play Oklahoma.

This college season should be one for the ages. Could there be any surprise teams like in years past (anyone on Arkansas)? Time will only tell.

Comments

View 12 comments

Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

Some observations from today:

After a slow start Arkansas did exactly what they were supposed to do. Nebraska looked really well. Oklahoma, well, if they can't get their defense figured out it is going to be another long year. No team should ever win the cupcake game by 7 points.

Which brings me to Ole Miss. After all the offseason antics of Houston Nutt trying to bring a felon onto the team to play and then that player having to sit out the year, I'm sure Coach Nutt was looking forwards to a nice easy victory against Jacksonville State a Division 1-AA team. Up 31-13 at the start of the 4th Quarter that looked assured. Then Ole Miss absolutely collapsed and lost 49-48 in double overtime.

Every Husker fan should be breathing a huge sigh of relief that Nutt decided to stay at Arkansas.

-- Posted by MichaelHendricks on Sun, Sep 5, 2010, at 12:53 AM
Just to make the whole Jacksonville State beating Ole Miss story a little stranger. Both head coaches in the game formerly coached at Arkansas. Jack Crowe was fired from Arkansas in 1992 after ... Arkansas lost to The Citadel a lower division team

-- Posted by MichaelHendricks on Sun, Sep 5, 2010, at 1:02 AM
I completely forgot about Kansas. Turner Gill, who most Nebraskans would probably secretly admit they would rather have as their head coach, came back to Big X11 country. A lot of people thought he would lead Kansas in the right direction. After a 6-3 loss to North Dakota State just about everyone is scratching their heads.

-- Posted by MichaelHendricks on Sun, Sep 5, 2010, at 1:13 AM
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/stewart_mandel/08/27/2010-bowl-pro...

Way too early bowl projections.

Cotton: Nebraska vs Arkansas

That would be a very interesting match up.

-- Posted by MichaelHendricks on Sun, Sep 5, 2010, at 11:16 PM
I don't see Florida in the National Championship game this year. Their offense is very shaky.

I am going to make a bold prediction and say that one of the teams in the National Championship game will not be from the SEC. There are too many teams packed in close this year and they will more than likely beat up on each other.

Ohio State has the inside edge with no conference championship and an easy conference schedule. Their big test will be against Miami.

-- Posted by MichaelHendricks on Mon, Sep 6, 2010, at 10:13 AM
The Huskers definitely have the schedule for it. Everyone if bemoaning Boise St for having an easy schedule. Nebraska's is just as easy.

-- Posted by MichaelHendricks on Mon, Sep 6, 2010, at 10:30 AM
Mike,

Wow really, Nebraska's schedule is as easy as Boise States?

Also, I thought Colorado was sticking around for another year for financial considerations. Have they changed their minds again that I didn't hear about?

-- Posted by SWNebr Transplant on Tue, Sep 7, 2010, at 8:24 AM
Boise State looked pretty good last night GI. Their defense struggled but playing in front of a very hostile crowd and coming back to win was very nice.

-- Posted by MichaelHendricks on Tue, Sep 7, 2010, at 8:28 AM
SW how many teams will Boise State face that only scored three points against a Division 1-AA teams? 0

How many will Nebraska face? 1

The North Division is a horrible division. Only Nebraska and Missouri are decent, so I stand my statement that Nebraska's is as easy as Boise State's.

Honestly I hope Nebraska fans aren't looking past Washington and their potential top draft pick QB.

-- Posted by MichaelHendricks on Tue, Sep 7, 2010, at 12:35 PM
No Husker fan can be disappointed with our depth at quarterback that much is for sure. Martinez does incite flashbacks of Frazier. His receivers (and I you can't really fault them for this) just need to learn how to hold on to a football thrown at Mach 3.

Didn't see Crick causing havoc as I thought we would and the defense was most underwhelming in the 2nd half. Of course, one game does not a season make but seeing some of the new talent is encouraging. Marlowe looks to be an exciting player to watch in the future too.

If we can make a few more improvements, tweak our game a little and get settled in, I'm extremely confident about our chances against Texas, Oklahoma or any team for that matter.

Washington will be a challenge because it will be early in the season but we should be able to go in there and take care of business. I had some concerns with what we saw last week but overall, my full confidence is back in the Huskers to go undefeated. I just don't see any games that make me think "we probably won't win that one" like we've had in the past.

-- Posted by McCook1 on Tue, Sep 7, 2010, at 3:21 PM
As much as I would love to see a play-off I am resigned to knowing that it will not happen anytime soon and more than likely not within the next ten years. The conference presidents have no interest in a play-off system and have no incentive to move away from the current bowl structure.

-- Posted by MichaelHendricks on Wed, Sep 8, 2010, at 6:50 AM
Went to the OU game against Florida State. We beat them pretty good. Saw old friends and had a great time as we almost hung "half a hundred" on them.

-- Posted by wallismarsh on Sat, Sep 11, 2010, at 10:18 PM

Respond to this blog

Posting a comment requires free registration:

If you already have an account, follow this link to login
Otherwise, follow this link to register