Kick offs and giggles

Ahhhh... All is right with the world. College football is back!

From big hits:

To amazing catches:

To great runs:

It's good to have things back to normal... And that includes our Picks League!

Let's get right to the "small colleges games of the weeks"- Anderson's Ravens used defensive prowess to once again unlock the Taylor Trojans and claimed the Wagon Wheel (has TU ever won that thing?), which means that Joe can keep his job for one more week. Whew. I'd make fun of the shades, but he's still supposed to send me a t-shirt... Azusa scheduled above their level, and didn't play that way. Defending Division 3 champs Mount Union set a national record with a 52 point FIRST quarter. Oh, and Pepperdine is still undefeated.

What other small schools played well yesterday? Oh, that's right...

Appalachian State Beat #5 Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Let that sink in a bit... The same place that produced this:

also produced this:

You've already heard this overanalyzed to death, so let me just say the following: 1) If it means the end of Llllloyd (Cooper) Carr, then I grieve this day, 2) It was only one reason that I was giddy yesterday (more later). However, to commemorate this event, I have decided to add to my pantheon of 'humorous' intentional misspellings. Along with U$C, the Big lEast, the Big T1e1n, we honor the team from Ann Arbor as:

Mich1gAAn

Remember you read it here first. (Update: Thanks, Jeff, for spreading the word.)

Ok, now to real football. Ohio State taught the Penguins about global warming, Nebraska made Nevada look ridiculous, Arkansas survived without Mitch "Show me the Money" Mustain, and the Aggies road their huge tailback to victory. TCU continued to roll, Kentucky blew someone out, Vanderbilt was victorious, and the Tim Tebow era at Florida started well (at least he didn't eat a small child). The SEC looked weak against the Pac 10, but great (or adequate) against the Big 12. Coach Ty's bosco obsession led to a victory over Syracuse, this week's winner of the "ugly uniform award". Illinois renewed their rivalry with Missouri, and celebrated by throwing a late interception to lose. Some things never change, huh?

There were more giggles from Malibu as Notre Dame got it handed to them at home by Georgia Tech. Combined with Mich1gAAn's loss and the Nebraska/tOSU victories, we almost reached a level of excitement that would have been unmeasurable by any scale.

In our picks league, a bit of early controversy. Doug had "technical difficulties" logging into the website, and sent his picks to me via email before the 9:00 (12:00 ET) kickoffs. Dude, get a new computer. As a result, I've made a decision about these types of things. 1) If you're having problems, you can email me your picks before noon Eastern Time (9:00 AM PT) and they will count. 2) They will only count for the "picks" portion of our league- you still lose the points. So let it be written, so let it be done.

Speaking of "some things never change", our overall leader from last year started off by coming out of the gates with a shutout- no misses! Here's how the rest of the league fared...

Nice to see that Todd and Cat also didn't loose anything in the off season. :)

Here's where we are by the points- a couple of folks with two misses are near the top of the league.

And Carrie, Emily, and Amanda continue their supremacy in the Strawn/Gross/Terp households. Where's Michelle this year, Dan? How much did you pay her not to play? :)

Next week holds a huge slate of games, including VaTech and LSU. I think the "healing" is officially over. Also, the battle for West Virginia as Marshall heads to Morgantown; the new look Hurricanes see if they remember how to beat Oklahoma; Nebraska travels to North Carolina; tOSU continues their rampage of the state of Ohio; Vandy gets the first SEC shot at Satan... uh Saban; Mich1gAAn tries to rebound against the Ducks, Fresno's Bulldogs travel to College Station; Florida plays Troy (oooo.... Troy); TCU and Texas match up for state bragging rights; Illinois finds a MAC school to pick on; Auburn faces Conference USA; toOSU faces the mighty Owls, and Notre Dame hopes they can be successful in the face of a Penn State "white out".

Small schools: Anderson squares off against the Tigers of DePauW, and Azusa hosts Malone. Wonder if Diane knows...

Obscure game of the week: South Dakota School of Mines and Technology travels to Lawrence Kansas to face the Haskell Indian Nations. While the Haskell team boasts an obvious mascot/nickname, I think they're missing a heck of an opportunity here. I'm sure the Haskell's are way too polite for that, thought. SDSMT's sports teams are known as the Hardrockers (it's just a coincidence, I'm sure), and may have a new found appreciation for the passing game.

You can't win if you don't play!