Kickoffs and Giggles 2008

Annnnnd WE'RE BACK! It's a great time to be alive, what with more college football than you can shake a stick at.

It's been really busy here, so this will be a shorter update than usual (sorry), but at least it's not a goof of the magnitude of these folks:

• Mich1gAAn's Rich Rodriguez has completely bought into the tradition in Ann Arbor, leading the Wolverines to a opening home loss against another non=BCS conference team.
• Pitt followed suit, choking away their home opener to MAC p0werhouse Bowling Green. Way to represent, Big East pre-season favorite.
• aTm choked on a cupcake.
  
• VaTech proudly represented the ACC by dropping a game to Conference USA's Eastern Carolina. The ironic thing? It happened on a blocked kick attempt- something that Beamerball usually thrives on.
• Clemson continued the ACC legacy by falling apart against a resurgent Alabama team. Seems like Saban may be making his money after all.
  
• Staying in the ACC, North Carolina's football program continued to make news by having the game ball parachuted into the stadium before kickoff. Problem? Wrong stadium. Somehow, the Cameron Crazies will get credit for this.
• UWillingham let things get ugly in Eugene... Not that this wasn't all that difficult.
• Finally, the Fighting Zooks and APU Cougars both dropped games to much much better teams. Things can only move up, right?
• Kentucky won the "Governors Cup", which looks different than I thought it might.
  

Even the powerhouses had some trouble- tOSU saw the coming of the "Chosen One" tempered by a Heisman hopefull's injury, Georgia lost an anchor on their defensive line, and the guy who puts suntan lotion on Pete Carroll's back (I think this may be work study) has a hangnail. But, at least Anderson and Ntre Ame are still undefeated, right?

Speaking of U$C, let's introduce the new member of our jolly band of misfits- Jordy Dickey. I figured that we needed at least one fan from a good Pac-10 team (not so fast, Dan) to play along, since we've got the other major conferences covered.

And here's how we did for week one-
Wow- Paula's bad day carried over to the weekend- at least the Hawgs won.

As you remember, we do two competitions hereabouts. Here's how the picks looked this week:
Now you can see why- the #4 team for points is 14 for picks. I guess I'm just in an easy conference.

Next week, there are bigger games afoot (unless you have one of your two bye weeks). We see some battles for state supremacy, as Ohio and Ohio State/Eastern Illinois and the Illini/Eastern Michigan and Michigan State match up. Nebraska hosts the Spartans from San Jose State, and the Willinghams face the Mormons. Mich1gAAn tries to beat at least one team from Ohio, while Charlie's Chocolate Factory attempts to make due against SDSU (with or without thugs). Auburn host Brett Favre's fomer team (no, not that one or that one), and we get to see Vanderbilt in a conference game on Thursday night. Arkansas sees what's left after Gustav has swept through Lousiana, while Michale Houston visits Oklahoma State (what? Oh, it's another Houston... Got it).

Small schools- APU travels to their annual butt whipping against San Diego (which is Spanish for something, but I can't remember what), and Anderson opens their new facility in the "Wagon Wheel" game ( Joe- correct me if I'm wrong, but Taylor's never actually won that thing, right?).

Obscure game of the week: It's a tasty battle in Division 3, where Worcester State hosts Curry. Worcester has a legacy of academic excellance (Best college in Worcester County! Woo!) and civil rights; the Lancers have also established trade with Canada via their CFL signee. Curry College describes themselves as "forward looking", which is nice, and their campus is close to Boston (if you're in the area). Their mascot is the Colonels, which is just too bad.