Friday, September 01, 2006

First Football Friday of the season

It may still be 100+ degrees here is DFW, but College Football Nation is back in the DMN this week, so fall MUST be right around the corner. We'll start looking at the pros next week, when the games actually mean something. However, there is a full schedule of non-conference college games this weekend, meaning lots of cannon fodder for the big boys.

On with the hilarity:

USC @ Arkansas - As is the case with many of the big-time programs, USC lost almost all their stars to the draft. Regardless, I like the Trojan scrubs against a team made up of the best Arkansas players from the last 15 years. Arkansas gets 8 points, and I gotta tell you, if I was still betting, I'd be all over this one.

Notre Dame @ Georgia Tech - While we're on the subject of tantalizing point spreads, Chan Gailey's boys are getting a mere 6.5 here. Brady Quinn and Co will have this covered before the first TV timeout.

North Texas @ Texas - On the other side of the coin, Texas spots the Mean Green 41 in Austin. Sure, Texas wins big. Sure, UNT is not in the same league as the mighty Longhorns. But 41 points in the first game of the year? Gimme some of that.

UAB @ Oklahoma - The first game of the post-Rhett Bomar era. The Sooners still have Adrian Peterson, and Paul Thompson may remind us of Switzer-era OU scrambling QBs before he's done. I have a semi-man-crush on Bob Stoops, so I'll be a Sooners booster every week except for the Red River Shootout. Just so you know where I stand.

The Citadel @ A&M - This, right here, is what I hate about non-conference. The Citadel, which is no doubt a fine institution of higher learning (or not), does not belong on the field with a Big 12 team, even the Aggies. I can't even find a point spread on this one. Hell, A&M ought to hang half a hundred on 'em by halftime. Ridiculous.

Memphis @ Mississippi - This is probably the Redneck Game of the Week, which tells you all you need to know about early-season college football scheduling. Ole Miss wins on the field, but Memphis cleans their clock in the post-game barbecue cook-off.

Boston University vs. the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team - In one of the more confusing spectacles ever staged at Nickerson Field (and there have been a whole pile of confusing spectacles held at Nickerson Field, home of the USFL Boston Breakers back in the day), a bunch of 40-something white guys with aftermarket dentistry, dressed in full hockey regalia, including late-70s vintage skates, face off against the BU chapter of Alpha Phi, champions of the Sorority Flag Football League. I predict a hard-fought 0-0 tie, followed by a massive kegger which is broken up at 9:00 p.m. by Mace-wielding campus police.

Go (insert your team here)!

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