Monday Morning Cornerback: Week 1

Well, the good thing is that football nuts like me can crawl into our caves, homes, sports bars, arenas, etc and not run a muck causing chaos within society. NFL gets under way next week, but college football, which in my mind is way better got under way this week.

Biggest news/Biggest shocker: #3 Oklahoma loses to #20 BYU

Sam Bradford sprained his shoulder and was hurt at the end of the second quarter. The score was only 7-7 at the time of Bradford’s departure. The Sooners struggled all day long to move the ball. The offensive line with four new starters sucks right now, and hopefully they get better for Bradford’s sake. They had 7 holding and false start penalties. The Sooners’ defense was okay. They held BYU’s high powered offense to only 14 points, but allowed too many yards in the passing game especially late in the game.

The case can be made that if Bradford was in the game, the Sooners’ would have pulled it out, which is probably so, but line play needs to be fixed as soon as possible. I understand the coaching staff’s reservations with the o-line, but they never turned Bradford loose. They played as if he was a true freshman and not a Heisman trophy winner. It’s typical of Sooner coaches to nutt up, but we normally see it in big games and not this early in the season. The Sooners have got to get it together if they want to get back to a national championship game.

Best Game: Miami vs. #18 FSU

This game doesn’t have the same flair that it once had but the ghosts of Hurricanes and Seminoles past were exorcised for this game. The last game of a great football weekend was easily the best. Two young and uber athletic teams put up 72 points combined with five lead changes. The score seems like the defenses took the night off, but both defenses played well causing two turnovers a piece, it’s just that the offenses out performed everyone’s expectations.
Both young quarterbacks looked great. FSU’s Christian Ponder should have been the hero leading his team down the field at the end of the game. Ponder was one pass away from being a South Florida heartbreaker had it not been for a dropped pass in the endzone. Jacory Harris’ veins look like a snake’s belly that just swallowed a rat. There are huge chunks of crushed ice in Harris’ veins. He came up big at the end of the game, and threw for a Canes record 386 yards on 34 attempts for 21 completions and 2 td strikes.

The road does not get any easier for these two teams. Miami will not be able to breathe until they play Florida A & M on October 10th. Before then, they will play 14th Georgia Tech at home, travel to Blacksburg to play #13th VA Tech, and come back home to face #12 Oklahoma. I love the guts of Coach Shannon for scheduling such a tough schedule, but I also question his sanity. FSU has to worry about #7 BYU in two weeks.

Either way, we know Florida is putting work, and it looks like the old 90s will be back as the top three Florida schools rise to prominence once again.

Quick Cuts and Jukes

- I think several members of the Boise State football team are cowards for letting Byron Hout get knocked out and not doing anything about it.

- OU’s offensive line needs a lot of help and the coaches need to relax and let loose.

- The Bama/VA Tech games wasn’t as much of a defensive bore as I thought it would be. Did anyone notice Tay Cody’s pure dominance?

- OSU almost lost to Navy. Nope not Oregon State. No, Oklahoma State played Georgia this week. I mean the Ohio State Buckeyes almost lost to the Naval Academy, 27 – 31.

- I have no clue how Josh Cox can throw a ball too high for A.J. Green.

- The LSU vs. Washington game was a really good game. I wonder if Jake Locker played for Florida how good he’d be. Jordan Jefferson is going to be nice and LSU’s wideouts remind of Ike Hilliard an Riedel Anthony. Chris Polk looks icey in her jersey and even colder on the field.

- Jevan Snead didn’t look like the 1st team All-American QB I selected at the start of the season. I hope he gets it together for both of our sakes.

- I applaud teams with the guts to play top tier competition in week 1 given that college football has no preseason to work out kinks in their game.

That's all I got,


Ricky Writer