[floydenheimer]

Checking in from Phoenix after ASU whooped up on poor hapless Portland State. Here are my take aways from this one-sided massacre. (Yes, I realize they played Portland State)
 
ASU finally has a competent QB in Steven Threet. No, he isn't an all world QB but he's definitely solid. Half of his incompletions were just drops, his throws were on target all night.
On offense they have a lot of new young playmakers and a new OC (Mazzone) who installed a spread no-huddle offense. They play fast and try to get their plays off with about 16 secs left on the play clock. Really fun to watch. Deantre Lewis is FAST! Cameron Marshall is a load! Jamal Miles is super quick! James Morrison punishes defenders! Their offensive line looks much improved. They are deep at RB, the WR crew is the question mark year, can these youngins step up? Erickson did a good job finding explosive players on offense. 
 
The defense is beastly once again. Omar Bolden is back after missing last year with an injury and is said to look outstanding. Vontaze Burfict is scary-good, total beast. Their linebacking trio is as good as any in the country. The question marks on defense will be the edge rushers and safeties.
 
Many people picked ASU to finish 9th in the Pac-10 this year and I just can't see that happening with the amount of talent they have. I see them more in the 4-6 range depending on how things bounce this year with injuries and such. Here's to a new and much better year! Go Devils!

 

[Skylab]

Wow that was a GREAT game last night!  Really enjoyed it.  Congrats to BSU.  As Erik pointed out, their schedule the rest of the way is not that tough.  They will be ranked #1 before going into the first BCS rankings, since Alabama and Texas are both going to lose before then.    What will be interesting is what the BCS computers will make of BSU.

 

[Equus]

Yeah, lots of discussion on the sports radio talk shows about that game last night.  I only caught the fourth quarter, but wow.  General consensus on the radio this morning was that it'll be very interesting to see if BSU can run the table and if the usual suspects at the top don't.  It was odd watching that game, since I usually end up cheering for the underdog if one of the teams I follow are not playing, but BSU is a bit of an underdog in my head no matter what they are ranked.

 

[ronnielee54]

Quote:

I hope you're right about the score!  I actually grew up 90 minutes south of Nashville, so I know it well.  I saw the B-52's at Vanderbilt Auditorium in 1983.  Nashville is indeed a nice city.
 
What's the prognosis for your Hogs this year, RonnieLee?
 
 
 

The prognosis for the hogs is very good this year.  The Tide and the Gators will be tough, but if our defense shows up on gameday ready to play, the rest of our schedule is doable.
 

 

[virometal]

Uncle Erik:

Wow - Boise State looked pretty good tonight. The only thing is that they don't have the strongest schedule this year. I think they're going to have tough games with Oregon State and Fresno, but am not sure of the rest of their schedule.

 
From the pre-season prog's I've seen their sched ranked in the 90's. That's the first reason why I was rooting for the Gobblers. Should BSU get past OrSU, their shadow is going to cast across the rest of the season. It's going to be the same old debate. Both sides have there merit. I'm just a little, no a lot tired of it. Part of me, would just like the Blue Turf'ers and Horny Toadies to slip up, if only to spare us all.
 
Really, who else wanted to slap Brent Mushberger after the first quarter? I couldn't take it anymore and listened to music for the rest of the game. That guy is too over the top. It was the first week of the season and already we have to listen to BCS Championship game scenarios! 
 

 

[Skylab]

Brent Fussburger?  Over the top?  Seriously????
 

 
We used to call him Brent "World War III" Mussburger.  That guy has always been WAAAAY over the top.  There are dozens of announcing crews I like better than him and Herbie.

 

[Pokefan]

Quote:

Uncle Erik:
 
From the pre-season prog's I've seen their sched ranked in the 90's. That's the first reason why I was rooting for the Gobblers. Should BSU get past OrSU, their shadow is going to cast across the rest of the season. It's going to be the same old debate. Both sides have there merit. I'm just a little, no a lot tired of it. Part of me, would just like the Blue Turf'ers and Horny Toadies to slip up, if only to spare us all.
 
Really, who else wanted to slap Brent Mushberger after the first quarter? I couldn't take it anymore and listened to music for the rest of the game. That guy is too over the top. It was the first week of the season and already we have to listen to BCS Championship game scenarios! 
 

We all know they won't with there weak schedule. I'm sure they'll be in the same spot in a few weeks as they are every year.
 
If that's the case I say we put them in the damn MNC and see what they can do. Either they prove everyone right in that they don't deserve to be there or they prove themselves. Then we should see them in a real conference and we won't have to hear about this year in and year out.

 

[Maxvla]

Nice work today, OU. Florida State got totally creamed. I hope our injured player is ok. That helmet to helmet hit was wicked. Landry Jones 30/40 380yd 4TD. Doesn't get much better than that.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Michigan just knocked off Notre Dame. Exciting game - it looked like Michigan might pull away in the first half, but ND came back and got ahead. Michigan had a great touchdown drive in the final minutes and was able to hang on. I'm not sure if ND should have gone for a touchdown on the last play, though. It would have been a long field goal attempt, but they might have been able to force the game into OT.

It'll be interesting to see how ND handles BC and Stanford coming up. They always have a rough time with BC and Stanford might have a very good year. The ND fans won't be happy if they start out 1-3.

I'm really looking forward to the USC and UCLA games tonight, too.

 

[virometal]

Maxvla:

I hope our injured player is ok. That helmet to helmet hit was wicked. 

That was Brennan Clay! Do you follow recruiting? If so, you have to love that kid. He took a big part in landing the Cali trio. Surely you know by now, he should be okay. It was a lot of precautionary stuff. 
 
Anyhoo, I overreacted last week so will do no such thing this week. The O looked good, but FSU's D stunk. Words cannot describe how bad it was. Did they not even know OU has run up tempo? Seriously, they were bad. So, I'm happy the O gained some confidence and cleaned things up, but put this way: LJ ain't going to have time to file his nails against Texas. 
 
Defensively though, I couldn't be happier. That's where this season will be made. Tony Jefferson is special. I can't believe how good that guy is for a true frosh. Next week should be fun too, 'cause you know the Hammer is going to come out to play for Air Force. I'm just really pumped about the defense today. 
 
--
 
Other than that, South Carolina is a team I really like. Their interior D is stout. They have those big receivers and play a great read/rush game with Garcia. The golfer might finally have something cookin' down there. 

 

[NapalmK]

Arggh! I just got back from the Oregon-Tennessee game. I just don't understand it we dominated the 1st half but just fell apart in the 2nd. We ran the same plays over and over even though they weren't working. Maybe I'm delusional but I feel Tennessee legitimately had a shot at winning the game but gave it away. In the end Tennessee made too many mistakes and just couldn't sustain drives (especially on 3rd downs). Oh well Florida next week...fun fun.
 
The South Carolina and OU games were very impressive.

 

[hahahigh]

Wow. How about that VTech and JMU game? Tech is really taking a beating in the early season. I have a few friends going there and apparently the post-game atmosphere was unspeakably depressed. Real rough.

 

[Maxvla]

VT is the new Michigan and with a high scoring East Carolina team coming in next week they could one-up Michigan's 0-2.

 

[Skylab]

That VATech loss killed both the Hokies and the Broncos.  Ouch.
 
OU, tOSU, 'Bama, and in the end Oregon all looked good.  Oregon apparently didn't realize what playing in Neyland Stadium meant at first, and were kind of shell-shocked.  But they came back to life.
 
But OU, tOSU, and 'Bama had impressive wins against still compeition.  Kudos.  None of those games were really that much fun to watch though, although the OSU-Miami game stayed competitive the longest.  I mostly watched Michigan - ND after I got back from our game.  Nice to see Michigan pull it out. I hate ND.
 
What to make of Texas struggling with Wyoming in Austin for the first half?  Not sure.  Lots of things to still flesh out, as always in CFB.

 

[J W]

The FSU defense, while bad, looked like it had some speed. I came away impressed that Landry Jones found his receivers and made good decisions, even if he did it against a poor defense. I'm also tremendously impressed by OU's overall talent level. We could be in for a real treat this year if Norman doesn't turn into Injury City like last year.
 
In other news, how about Kansas? Are they going to turn out okay this year? Or is the ACC just really bad? We should learn a lot about the jayhawks when they go to Southern Miss. It's just a shame that the game is on a Friday night. . . .
 
To be sure, this weekend had some fun matchups, but next week may be just as entertaining with its potential for upsets: Nebraska at Washington, Iowa at Arizona, Texas at TTech, and even Arizona State at Wisconsin. Of all, the Nebraska/Washington really steals my attention. Can the Black Shirts stop Jake Locker? Gosh, I have my doubts. In past years I would have cheered for Nebraska and its return to dominance, but considering the events of the summer, I think I may just root for the Huskies and their contention for an upset.