Wonderful Week One

The 2009 College Football season is finally here!

Greetings college football fans,

I am back this year to share my college football thoughts with you. This year I’ve decided to upgrade to a blog instead of the antiquated word document. I suppose Blogs are antiquated with the popularity Twitter. I won’t be Tweeting anytime soon.

So where do we start? How about the most intriguing games of this first week.


Alabama vs. Virginia Tech
This game reminds me of last year’s opening game featuring Alabama versus Clemson. This time last year Clemson was projected to win the ACC and Alabama was predicted to be competitive in the SEC. The game ended with Alabama beating Clemson 34-10. This year’s SEC vs. ACC kickoff game is a splitting image of last year’s game. This time Virginia Tech is predicted to win the ACC and Alabama is predicted to be competitive in the SEC. If Alabama win this game, they will have a fairly smooth ride before they get to Oxford, MS. If Virginia Tech wins this game, it will literally be one of the biggest wins in school history. Think about that for a minute! A Virginia Tech win will take them out of the ACC cage of mediocrity and escalate them into a national power.

Unfortunately, Virginia Tech is not known for it’s passing game. As you know VT’s top back Darren Evans is out for the season. Virginia Tech typically reloads at the running back position, but not at the last minute against one of the best defenses in the country. Virginia Tech finished ranked 111 in the country last year in passing yards. This clearly won’t be a high scoring game with these two great defenses, but Alabama will score more points than Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech will probably open up the playbook for this game, but they don’t have a playbook that's deep enough for Bama. Alabama wins 26-7


Miami @ Florida State
I love this rivalry. I remember when these two teams would play each other both ranked in the top five in the country. The energy in this game is always intense like an NFL playoff game. This year the winner of this game will be in a decent position to elevate their ranking to that of the good old days. Miami almost played their entire #7 recruiting class a year ago. This year the youngsters will be better and more experienced. Florida State was able to get some momentum last year with their nine win season and clearly hope to build on their relative success.

Florida State relied on Antone Smith to run the football last year, but he gone. However, FSU’s offensive line is one of the best in the country (Phil Steel ranks the OL #7). Christian Ponder is a great athlete at quarterback. He has the ability to run effectively when he gets in trouble. Running backs Jermaine Thomas and Tavares Pressley will more than make up for Antone Smith’s departure. If Florida State can pick up from last year’s running game, Miami will be challenged, also having to defend an improved passing game. These two teams are evenly matched from a talent perspective. Where they differ is at quarterback. I like Miami’s young QB and he will continue to improve (Jacory Harris), but Christian Ponder has just enough big game experience to make the difference in an evenly matched rivalry game. I think Florida State continues the momentum they generated last year. Florida State wins 31-21


Georgia @ Oklahoma State
I think this is the best match up of the weekend. This game not only features two great teams, but also the two best conferences with major national championship implications riding on this game. A few years ago, Georgia pummeled Oklahoma State in Athens. If Oklahoma State can win, they will be elevated to the next level with Texas and Oklahoma and position themselves nicely in the hunt for the Big 12. Actually, this is a huge game for the Big 12, as they were man handled by the SEC last year (Texas Tech losing to Ole Miss & Oklahoma losing to Florida). Oklahoma State can start a new argument for the best conference in the land if they beat Georgia. What’s interesting for Georgia is that Oklahoma State is just another tough game. After the Oklahoma State game, Georgia has the luxury of playing South Carolina, Arkansas, Arizona State LSU and Tennessee consecutively (WOW). We haven’t even mentioned Florida, Auburn, Kentucky and Georgia Tech. Oklahoma State is just another game for Georgia and they play good football on the road.

Georgia will run the football against Oklahoma State. Good old smash mouth football. Caleb King is hurt, but somewhere on the bench is another Knowshon Moreno. Oregon and Oklahoma ran the football all over Oklahoma State last year. It’s reasonable to assume Georgia can do the same. Georgia has the O-Line and depth at running back to rush for 200 plus yards. If they achieve that they will win. This will be a knockdown, drag out, high scoring game with both teams scoring a lot of points. This one should keep you at the edge of your seat. It would notbe a surprise if this game went into overtime. The edge goes to Georgia’s defense. Georgia wins 41-34.


Missouri vs. Illinois
Here is another high scoring game. This will be another 1,000 yard combined offensive effort. No one is talking about either of these teams. One of these teams could be a sleeper. Did you know Juice Williams let the Big 10 in passing last year throwing for over 3,000 yards? Chase Daniel is gone for Missouri, but Blaine Gabbert was ranked much higher than Daniel coming out of high school.

I think this game will come down to the last team with the ball wins in a track meet. Illinois seems to never win this game. I don’t see that changing this year. Missouri wins 42-35.

BYU vs. Oklahoma
Oklahoma is ranked on everyone’s top three teams in the country. Oklahoma lost a few good receivers from last year’s team. Their offensive line is also rebuilding. But the guys that accounted for about 70% of their touchdowns are back and the defensive will be better than last year. With all that said, this could be an upset alert for Oklahoma. Remember three years ago when Boise State beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl? If Oklahoma isn’t ready BYU could serve them. However, if Oklahoma is ready BYU doesn’t have a chance.

With Oklahoma’s o-line rebuilding, they won’t be completely functioning at full capacity until the Big 12 schedule starts. This could be the sweet spot for the upset if BYU’s defense can get enough pressure on Sam Bradford . For some reason I have a strange feeling about this game (which means nothing). Since we are not putting money on this game, BYU pulls of the stunning upset. BYU wins 38-35 on a last second field goal.


Cincinnati @ Rutgers
Nothing like starting your season with a key conference game. The team that wins this game will be in first place in the Big East and the team that loses will be in last, at least for the first three weeks. Cincinnati’s defense was decimated by graduation. Brian Kelly is one of the best coaches in the country. He does more with less better than any coach in college football. If there is a coach that can still win with what Cincinnati has lost, its Kelly. Could this be the year that Rutgers gets a BCS birth? They have developed a winning mentality and expect to win every week.

The quarterback is arguably the most important position on the field and Rutgers is rebuilding here. Cincinnati has their starter back from last year (Tony Pike), who let Cincinnati to a BCS bowl. Cincinnati’s defense will have to develop as a unit, but Cincinnati’s offense has the ability to carry the defense until that happens. Wide receiver, Marty Gillard is the best of an impressive receiving core for Cincinnati. Rutgers defense may be a little light in the secondary and may be susceptible to the run. Rutgers got off to a slow start last year. If they start the season the same way this year they will lose. This game will be a battle in New Jersey. Cincinnati pulls out an exciting one. Cincinnati wins 37-25. Sorry New Jersey friends.

Western Michigan @ Michigan
We are talking about my Wolverines here. I will try to be unbiased. Once things for sure, I miss being a football super power. All Rich Rodriguez has to do is win, and the controversy will be forgotten. Michigan fans will have a short memory if the Wolverines can win at least seven games (looking good doing it). If Michigan loses this year, than Rich Rodriguez will look worse than Bob Davie when he took over Notre Dame after Low Holtz. Two years ago Western Michigan rolled into Iowa City and beat good Iowa football team. Last year Illinois lost to Western Michigan 23-17. If Michigan loses to Western Michigan all hell will break loose (in terms of the fan patients). Michigan faces Notre Dame the following week. If Michigan can beat Western Michigan and Notre Dame they will probably be 4-0 before their schedule gets tough (more wins than last year total of three).

Western Michigan has no defense (theoretically) to compete with Michigan’s athletes. Michigan has two true freshman quarterbacks . Tate Forcier has been compared to a young Colt McCoy and Denard Robinson has been compared to Pat White (Robinson ran a 4.32 40 in camp),but they’re both true freshman. Michigan also has Nick Sheridan back from last year. Rodriguez said he will play all three QBs to help create separation on the depth chart. The race will come down to Forcier and Robinson. Michigan will win a tough first game. Michigan wins 35-24.

Next week I will share the first installment of the Rob Rankings.

Have a great weekend college football fans and I’ll catch up with you next week.