I can't explain last weekend any better than this gut-wrenching post from MaizenBrew Dave. Simultaneously funny (his dad's play by play) and very sad, i.e. his statement of knowing for years that this was coming.
Anyhoo, this week's roundtable is being hosted by 'Hey Jenny Slater', a Georgia Bulldog guy. This week's blogpoll is up, and I am Mr. Stubborn. The description for "Mr. Stubborn": A low number means that you're damn sure you're right no matter what reality says.
Yeah, that pretty much sounds like me. Just ask Mrs. Corn Nation, she'll tell ya so.
1. By the end of the season, some previously unheralded teams' bandwagons will be so full they'll be having to bump passengers and offer them free vouchers and first-class upgrades; others will have emptied out in a big way. On whose bandwagon are you already scrambling to save a seat? Conversely, which team's bandwagon is being driven by Toonces the Driving Cat, prompting you to leap off now before it careens over a cliff to its fiery death below?
Wow, we're already into jumping and bumping after one game? After one game, I'm not ready to make a pronouncement about anyone's program (except Michigan). This need for instant gratification plagues American society - it's a 'get-rich' scheme that I won't join. If there's something I can't stand, it's a bunch of impatient whiny butts complaining that something isn't moving fast enough to satisfy them .
The only thing worse than the instant gratification types are the kind that wish immediate doom on anything and everything else around them, walking around with a cloud over their heads and wondering why it's always raining. Normal people need to get the hell away from them because they're the kind who would push you over a cliff just so they could write about it and sell the video to Channel Nine News.
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Or was I supposed to make a prediction? I'll cover the bases, either way:
Oklahoma State's offense didn't explode against Georgia the way that I thought it would, so I'd have to say people need to get off that bandwagon before they're injured and if you're a Texas Longhorn fan, well, at least you got all those pretty girls to look at on the sidelines.
People darned well better get on Oklahoma's bandwagon because they're darned good. They're physical, they run the ball well and they play good defense. That and they've sold their souls to the devil. How many times do I have to say that before people start listening?
2. What do you think was opening weekend's biggest mirage -- either a "big win" over a team that isn't really as good as everyone thinks, or an embarrassing loss (or embarrassingly close win) that won't seem quite as embarrassing by season's end?
Georgia Tech hammering Notre Dame wasn't a big win because the Irish suck this season, so don't go reading into it that the Yellow Jackets are on their way to the top.
People are hepp'ed up on Kansas State and how well they played against Auburn. Give me a break. Auburn's offense couldn't start a fire with a match and a can of gasoline. They'll figure out it just about the time their SEC schedule rolls around and burn themselves right into the ground. Conversely, Kansas State will continue to improve, leaving all of us to ask at the end of the year - "How did Kansas State lose to Auburn?"
3. Compared to how you felt Friday night, how do you feel now about your team's chances this season? I'm not just talking about your impressions of your own team -- also take into account their prospects relative to this year's opponents, whom you've also gotten a little more acquainted with after this past weekend's action.
Nebraska went out and took care of business to the point that the fourth quarter saw a lot of reserves getting into the game. The offensive line blew holes in Nevada's defense, the likes of which Husker fans haven't seen for a few years. Marlon Lucky looked great, and the reserves looked like they were ready to play the moment they got in the game. I feel pretty good about the Huskers. They passed the eyeball test with ease, and they looked like they had a lot of fun in the process.
Freshman kicker Adi Kunalic put up six touchbacks and kicked a 46 yard field goal. The inability to do both of these things cost us games last season. Add to that Grixby's kickoff return that blew open the game for Nebraska, and Husker fans had to feel ecstatic about the kicking game.
4. Looking at how those future opponents performed this past weekend, which developments are you most excited about? Which of your opponents' performances have you a little worried?
I watched a bit of the USC - Idaho game. USC looked like a team that couldn't be bothered with playing football as it was taking them away from other things they'd rather be doing. Not that surprising given that there is so much awesomeness just being on the USC football team. Why ruin by having to play the games? That's just too real, man.
After seeing the results of the Texas-Arkansas State game, I feel justified in what I said about them in August. Colt McCoy will suffer from sophomoritis. Their offensive line will have problems establishing a running game. Their defense will continue to have issues. But boy, some of those Texas women are really pretty.
Mizzou did what I expected, scored a lot and gave up a lot, nearly gave up the ball game. Kansas has an offense. I didn't expect that. What the hell did they go and do that for? Can't they just lie down and let us kick their ass all over the field like they do to us in basketball? Selfish bastards.
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5. There are now 32 bowls in D-IA football, meaning 64 bowl teams, meaning any given team now stands a better-then-50-percent chance of going to a bowl. To get that number under 50 percent, we'd have to eliminate three bowls. Which ones would you get rid of?
The two that are schedule between the last BCS bowl game and the National Title game. Those would be the GMAC and the International Bowl in Toronto. They're anti-climactic. They don't belong there. They shouldn't exist. They are dead to me anyway. They're like waiting at a dinner table for a big, juicy steak, and having a waiter come up and say,
"How 'bout while you're waiting you chew on these two little pieces of gristle?"
Then, get rid of the Sun Bowl. Have you ever been to El Paso, Texas? Who owns that now, the Russian Mafia? Why are we giving them money for a bowl game? Sounds like a shakedown to me.
6. And finally, in 50 words or less, how happy are you that it's finally football season again?
Happier than a mentally challenged kid that's just found a big puddle of dirty water. You don't get any happier than that, man.