College football Week 1 running thread.

--As far as Thursday, I think Boise will beat Oregon pretty solidly. South Carolina-N.C. State is one of those games that will show which team has the best shot at a No. 5 conference bowl tie-in and which one will be ecstatic with 7-5. And I wouldn't be shocked it North Dakota State beats Iowa State.

I think N.C. State is ready to surprise some people. This one will be decided by special teams, and with Ryan Succup gone, I think SC is in trouble. Iowa State has to be better without Chizik, right?


--I think Michigan and Notre Dame beat Western Michigan and overrated Nevada pretty solidly.

I'll go along with this, though ND is probably going to be tested more than a lot of people think.

--I think Georgia edges Oklahoma State and Oklahoma crushes BYU

Evil, thy name is ... said OSU would trounce Georgia. The Cowboys might very well win -- I think they lose -- but it will not be a trouncing. They give up points by the boatload to top-10 programs, and Georgia wins on the road. Don't buy the notion the Dawgs have no talent just because Stafford and Moreno left.

--No strong feeling on Bama-Va. Tech.

Focus isn't on the side of the Tide. I think Va. Tech squeaks by.

--With a lot of changes on both teams, Rutgers-Cincy could be pretty darned ragged for a name matchup.

It'd be ragged anyway.

 

I love Virginia Tech for having the balls to schedule Alabama right away. They win that game, they have a serious claim to the #1 BCS ranking heading into the bowl games if they run the table.

 

Tech is playing a pretty good schedule this year ... Nebraska's a great home game; Marshall is at least better than scheduling an FCS; East Carolina on the road is a major challenge.

 

You should always have a game where you are the underdog, a 50/50 game and one game where you should kill the other team in your exhibition schedule.

Looks like Tech did that this year or came pretty close.

 

That's a good theory, but with most big-time programs basing their athletic budget on having seven home games, it's hard to find more than one underdog/toss-up game per year for your non-conference schedule ...

 

If you want to win the BCS, don't play seven home games.

 

Why not? If Florida goes unbeaten, that garbage non-league schedule won't be held against it.

 

Didn't Florida play 7 home games last year?

 

Michigan takes down Western, and beats the spread which was 10.5 at last glance.

USC rolls over OSU no matter who plays QB.

Michigan State drops 63 on Montana State.

 

In a perfect world the BCS champion would not schedule The Citadel in late November, but this is not a perfect world.

 

So your problem is with the timing of the cupcake, not the cupcake in general?

 

Yes. That is for all intents and purposes a week to rest your starters.

Florida did win six road/neutral games last season, and I have no idea when the Miami and FSU games were booked, but it's not Florida's fault they were less than spectacular last season.

I know the SEC people will go nuts and scream that the SEC has late bye weeks, but you have to do better than The Citidal that late on the season.