Interesting...

"May you live in interesting times"
- Purported Chinese Curse

The problem with the first week of the season is that it's hard to gauge how good your team is, given that most of the games are really glorified scrimmages against significantly lesser opponents. They're supposed to be blowouts, and are typically tune ups for the season (note that I said typically).

There are a few teams, though, that choose to "strap it up" and actually play a team of higher caliber. While rare, those games are the ones that made this week "interesting" for those of us who were as interested in watching ANY football as we were cheering on our favorite squadron.

But first, let's recap the winner of this weeks "Sprinkles" award. 'Cause there are a lot of them:

• St. Tebow and the Gators cleaned house against Charleston Southern (is there a Charleston Northern?)
• State Penn began their rigorous non conference schedule by pounding Akron. An internet pundit remarked that the Lion's schedule is "softer than Joe Pa's diet". Not nice, but funny nonetheless.
• Tennessee pounded Western Kentucky and managed not to violate any NCAA rules in the process. That, in and of itself, is a good thing.
  
• U$C scheduled San Jose State for one reason: It was cheaper to pay a team for a game that it would lose than it might be to pay a RB to help them win.
• Indiana beat Eastern Kentucky for what may be their only win.
  
• The 'Huskers played host the the Fighting Owls of FAU. Not a good host, as Nebraska rolled to it's 24th straight opening win.
• Really, Arkansas? Missouri State? Was The Calumet City Orphanage busy?
  

I've got to be hones that I don't know what to do with Ntre Ame and Mich1gAAn here. They should be in this category, since they scheduled a couple of patsies in Nevada and Western Michigan. But given that they both are *cough* rebuilding, it could have gone either way. At any rate, congrats to Charlie and Rich for keeping their internships/jobs for one more week. In fact, now that TTUN has won against a MAC team, they lose that part of their moniker. However, even if they beat Delaware State later in the year, the 1AA label sticks. It's still funny.

Oh, and how long is it until some team creates an unofficial bounty for QB Robinson's shoes? I can see a defensive coach challenging his players to bring one to the sidelines.

Opening week gets "interesting" though, who end up in dogfights with teams that they should have found ways to defeat easily.

• tOSU started off well against a very good Navy squad, but saw the option and a couple of big plays bring them to the brink of an upset. Here are the plays of the game; the first score of the season and the game saving INT return:

• Iowa needed two miraculous FG blocks in the final seconds to hold of Northern Iowa.
  
• Minnesota squared off against the lowly Orange of Syracuse, and needed an INT by Duke's point guard to pull off the overtime win.
• If only Duke had kept Paulus, they may have beaten Richmond.
  
• Les Miles' team traveled a ton of miles and three timezones to face off against a Husky team that didn't win at all in 2008. They needed a strong fourth quarter to do so.
  
• KState squeaked by Massachusetts, who haven't had a decent football team since that Revere guy was around (who says I can't do political humor).

And then there are the big boys- the teams who took the opportunity to actually play football and schedule a worthy opponent. These were the games worth watching, especially:

• Oregon's dismantling at the hands of Boise State. Yeah, the whole "sportsmanship weekend? I guess that's out the window. Although, the Bronco is going to have to live the rest of his life with the fact that he got dropped by one punch on national television. As some have said, with the Duck's uniforms and the Smurf Turf, violence is understandable. Unfortunately, this also means that we'll have to hear about the Broncos in the "National Title Hunt" for the rest of the year. Maybe I can get Blount to come over and just punch me instead...
  
• The Fighting T Boone Pickens' and their 40 year old friends welcomed a good Georgia team into Stillwater and "The Reason Gas Is Over $3 A Gallon" stadium, and proved that their top ten ranking is legit. With Oklahoma's "situation", it's quite possible that their game against Texas may be for the right to play Florida in the MNCG.
• Ah, Chokelahoma. Good on you for scheduling a solid BYU. But why didn't you prep your backup to run your offense? Or to know how to read the freaking play clock? Since this was at the Jerrydome, there's no way you could have missed it... It's more than likely 500 feet tall and covered in cotton candy. So- I'm guessing Bradford won't challenge St. Archie's legacy for back-to-back statues.
• The "Arch Rivalry" doesn't seem like much of a Rivalry, as Zook's QB once again shows his inability to win a big ball game.
• Alabama and VaTech- now there's a game worth watching... And the Tide picked up where they left off (well, except for that choking against Utah thing), and proved that the Great Saban is indeed building a dynasty in the South. And you can write that one in the books.

Other games of interest:

• Auburn handled Louisiana Tech
• Cal won. Yawn.
  
• Kentucky beat Miami (OH!), and there were no three pointers involved.
• tooOSU beat Jerry Glanville and Portland State. Remember when he was a good coach?
• Vandy handled Western Carolina (there's a West Carolina? Crap, I should have paid more attention in Geography)

Small schools:

• Taylor held onto the wheel, and beat Anderson consecutively for the first time in the matchup.
• Concord needed Overtime to hold off LeAnne Rymes 52 to 45. The Cougars amassed 617 yards of offense in the OT victory.
• Salibury's Sea Gulls held off the PACE Setters 34-14.
• APU dropped their second game of the season, 24-13 against San Diego.
  

What about our group? Well, first I think some introductions are in order, since we're now over 20 people. So, here's the cast of characters:

• Aaron Terpening- Former Cornhusker DB, husband of...
• Amanda Terpening- Mother of a new baby, whose name will be published next week
• Ben Helms- APU Grad student, Represents Duke BBall and Cal Football
• Brian Cole- Dean of Students at Rochester College, Gator fan
• Carrie Strawn- Most patient woman in the world- Go Big Red
• Cat Cramp- Associate Director of Campus Rec at UFla. Illinois alum
• Chuck Strawn- Sooper Genius
• Dan Common- Nolan's Dad. Diehard UW fan.
• Dan Shike- Vandy by diploma, Nebraska by heart. Defending Picks League Champion
• Dan Williams- PSU believer. May be on his performance review
• Doug Loeser- Former TCU offensive lineman, Seattle partner
• Emily Gross- Abbie's mom, Jake's wife, Two more Auburn Tiger fans on the way.
• Jake Gross- Director of Orientation at Kennesaw State, War Eagle.
• Janie Shike- Mother in law, daughter of former head of athletic medicine at University of Nebraska
• Jeff Seemann- Creator, thebuckeyebattlecry.com. Seems to think I know what I'm doing.
• Jen Hutchings- That's DOCTOR Jen. KState grad, Mich1gaan fan
• Joe Williams- Anderson University football coach, Chinese buffet aficionado
• Jordy Dickey- Lone U$C fan, Student Life at Mt.
• Matt Visser- Ministry and Service Director, APU. Which means he loves Jesus. However, it doesn't help him be a Mich1gAAn fan.
• Michael Houston- Associate Dean of Students at Southern Nazarene. Oklahoma State fan, unless anyone from the Big 12 is playing, then he seems to think they're the best team ever. Like Dick Vitale in that way.
• Michelle Shike- Vandy/Nebraska/Whatever keeps her kids amused
• Nate Brinker- Steve's friend, and I'm not sure his name is even "Nate". Witness protection plan
• Paula Wetzel- The only Arkansas backer west of the Rockies
• Scott Strawn- VP for Student Life at SNU, Ohio State fan in Oklahoma. He uses a lot of small words too
• Steve Shike- Nebraska on his diploma, Oregon on his Driver's license
• Terry Shike- Ditto. Defending Bowl and Overall Champion

So, now that you know who we are, here's how we did. ESPN Points rankings:

Interestingly enough, the fan loyalties rose up here- Florida's fanbase couldn't pick LSU, and our Auburn fans didn't give Alabama any credit.

"Least with most"- Scott's dead last with points but only missed three picks.

Jeff, you're not helping me out here. Just so you and Jen know, we've got a "two strikes" rule for the league.

Next week's slate of games gets a bit better, but not much. Penn State meets the Orange, and Troy travels to Florida for "Creampuff 2009". Nebraska gets a visit from Arkansas State, while Vanderbilt and LSU actually play a real live football game. UCLA and Tennessee should be interesting- wonder if Rick has any money on the game? It's also the return of the "Gosh, I wish the earth would open up and swallow them" game as Mich1gAAn and Ntre Ame square off. Michael gets to play toOSU all by himself, and MSU travels to face the new look Auburn Tigers. Thursday night's Clemson/Ga. Tech matchup should be interesting.

Small schools- Anderson opens their home season against DePauW and Azusa has their annual trip to Wisconsin, this time to play Wisconsin-LaCrosse.

Over in North Carolina, it's time for the Chowan and Brevard Division 2 clash, pitting the Hawks against the Tornadoes. Nestled in North Carolina (it's required to use the word "nestled" when describing NoCar), both colleges hail from religious backgrounds. Brevard came to be when two Methodist schools combined, and traces it's heritage back to a one room log cabin schoolhouse. Their website talks about the impact the school has had on Transylvania County, but little about the impact Transylvania has had on the school. Chowan is a Baptist school founded to honor the Native American Algonquin Chowanook tribe. Their code of conduct specifies that there is no "hitting of golf balls on campus, except for the driving range", as well as the standard drugs and alcohol prohibitions. Which would you rather have- a drunk student, or one who's working on their short game?

Oh, and there's this: