Trying to pick the NFL can sometimes be an exercise in futility but being a glutton for punishment, I’m going to take a stab at it. My guess is that by season’s end, my college football score will be significantly higher than my NFL average but that’s what makes the NFL great. Any year could be “the year” for your favorite team.

Sunday, September 9

Kansas City at Houston - KANSAS CITY

Miami at Washington - WASHINGTON

Denver at Buffalo - DENVER

Carolina at St. Louis - ST. LOUIS

Pittsburgh at Cleveland - PITTSBURGH

Atlanta at Minnesota - MINNESOTA

Tennessee at Jacksonville -(reluctantly) JACKSONVILLE

New England at New York Jets - NEW ENGLAND

Philadelphia at Green Bay - PHILADELPHIA

Detroit at Oakland - DETROIT

Chicago at San Diego - SAN DIEGO

Tampa Bay at Seattle - SEATTLE

New York Giants at Dallas - DALLAS

Monday, September 10

Baltimore at Cincinnati - CINCINATTI

Arizona at San Fransisco - ARIZONA

Watching the Colts/Saints game, flipping occasionally to Oregon State/Cincinnati, which is being recorded on my TiVo. Some thoughts on the Colts game.

• Will the Colts line be held in the same regard as the Denver line as far as run blocking is concerned? Will they ascend to that level? They have made Joseph Addai, Edgerrin James, and Dominic Rhodes into 1,000 yard rushers.
• The Saints offense is non-impressive at this point and vanilla. Given who the Colts have at the corners, I thought we would see more of a vertical passing game then we have from the Saints so far.
• Why, oh, why is Sean Payton wearing a visor indoors? I mean, I understand the cap. The cap has become an indoor head accessory. The visor has not. It would be like me walking into the newsroom tomorrow with a beanie on.
• If I have to listen to this John Mellancamp This is Our Country Chevy commercial all-season, there is a fair chance I will end up sticking bamboo skewers in my ears by week three.

College football notes

• If Oregon State has any chance of winning this game against Cincinnati, they had better figure out how to block for Yvenson Bernard and protect the quarterback. So far, they have done neither.
• I can no longer take Louisville seriously or the Big East for that matter. How can I take a conference or a supposed top ten team seriously that gives up 35 points (with 13 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter) to Middle Tennessee? The same Middle Tennessee that lost to Florida Atlantic last week.

 This is the time of year where I lose months of my life with no idea what happened. Weekends spent on couches and in armchairs staring and sometimes yelling at the television. The NFL is back, college football is in full-swing. God bless Mike and Mike for continuing to talk about baseball despite the fact that no one cares.

Tonight the NFL opens with what promises to be a heck of a game between the Saints and the Colts in Indy. While I am excited for the game, I am not at all looking forward to the concert and all of the other non-football related crap that the NFL will put on tonight. I’m picking the Colts to win at home. There are few stadiums in the league that are as loud and mind-jarring at the RCA Dome with fans in full pitch. I’d expect to see a high-scoring affair but the New Orleans secondary is no match for Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison, Dallas Clark and Joseph Addai catching passes out of the backfield. Last season, I thought Reggie Bush was far and away the most overrated player in the NFL. The amount of production the Saints got out of him last season was wildly out of proportion to the attention paid to him in any given game. I would hope to see Bush in more of a feature back role but he is undeniably dangerous when lined up in the slot.

Week Two Picks

Thursday, September 6
Middle Tennessee at #10 Louisville – LOUISVILLE
Oregon State at Cincinnati – OREGON STATE

Friday, September 7
Navy at #16 Rutgers – RUTGERS

Saturday, September 8
#3 West Virginia at Marshall – WEST VIRGINIA
Maine at Uconn – UCONN
Bowling Green at Michigan State – MICHIGAN STATE
Miami (OH) at Minnesota – MINNESOTA
Nevada at Northwestern – NORTHWESTERN
Akron at #11 Ohio State – OHIO STATE
Miami (FL) at #8 Oklahoma – OKLAHOMA
Grambling State at Pitt – PITT
Eastern Illinois at Purdue – PURDUE
Duke at Virginia – VIRGINIA
#20 Nebraska at Wake Forest – NEBRASKA
Alabama at Vanderbilt – ALABAMA
Rhode Island at Army – ARMY
Louisiana – Monroe at Clemson – CLEMSON
Buffalo at Temple – BUFFALO
Samford at Georgia Tech – GEORGIA TECH
#12 Cal at Colorado State – CAL
Utah State at Wyoming – WYOMING
NC State at Boston College – BC
Northern Arizona at Arizona – ARIZONA
Ball State at Eastern Michigan – BALL STATE
Oregon at Michigan - MICHIGAN
Fresno State at #25 Texas A&M – TAMU
#24 Boise State at Washington – BOISE STATE
UAB at Florida State – FLORIDA STATE
Cal Poly at Idaho – IDAHO
West Virginia Tech at Western Kentucky – WESTERN KENTUCKY
South Carolina at #13 Georgia – GEORGIA
North Carolina at ECU – ECU
Troy at #6 Florida – FLORIDA
Kent State at Kentucky – KENTUCKY
Missouri at Ole Miss – MIZZOU
Notre Dame at #17 Penn State – PENN STATE
Air Force at Utah – UTAH
BYU at #14 UCLA – UCLA
Memphis at Arkansas State – ARKANSAS STATE
Rice at Baylor – BAYLOR
Toledo at Central Michigan – CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Maryland at FIU – MARYLAND
Western Illinois at Illinois – ILLINOIS
Northern Iowa at Iowa State – IOWA STATE
Southeastern Louisiana at Kansas – KANSAS
#23 Hawaii at Louisiana Tech – HAWAII
Ohio at Louisiana-Lafayette – OHIO
Southern Miss at #15 Tennessee – TENNESSEE
#22 TCU at #4 Texas – TEXAS
UTEP at Texas Tech – TEXAS TECH
Mississippi State at Tulane – MISSISSIPPI STATE
San Diego State at Washington State – WASHINGTON STATE
San Jose State at Kansas State – KANSAS STATE
Florida Atlantic at Oklahoma State – OKLAHOMA STATE
Southern Illinois at Northern Illinois – NORTHERN ILLINOIS
North Texas at Southern Methodist – SMU
Indiana at Western Michigan – IU
Syracuse at Iowa – IOWA
South Florida at Auburn – AUBURN
#9 Virginia Tech at #2 – LSU
New Mexico State at New Mexico – NEW MEXICO
#7 Wisconsin at UNLV – WISCONSIN
Colorado at Arizona State – ARIZONA STATE

As we cruise into week two of college football, we have already learned some valuable lessons that will help dictate our football viewing strategies for the rest of the season. First and foremost, that no game involving Notre Dame is worth watching, even if Jimmy Clausen is starting, as Charlie Weis announced yesterday.

Let me just go on record as saying that Rutgers and Louisville have officially gotten on my nerves. I get it, guys. You schedule your games for Thursday and Friday night to get some national airtime but I am not at all interested in seeing Louisville beat up on the mighty Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State University. Ditto for Rutgers thumping Navy on Friday night. It’s not good football or good television, it’s just annoying. Given how weak the Big East is, you would think one of these schools (lump in West Virginia for kicks) would schedule someone of some import to gain some credibility for those teams, the conference and the Heisman candidacies of the league’s top players. But who wants to play USC, Texas, Oklahoma or LSU when you can line up against Middle Tennessee State, Marshall and Navy? They can play those games but I’m not watching them.

GAME OF THE WEEK: Virginia Tech at LSU - 9:15 ET - ESPN

What was billed at the beginning of the year as the best non-conference matchup of the season, which it still very well may be, has turned into a game of reluctant excitement for most college football fans after less than spectacular week one performances by both teams.

For LSU, they managed to turn on the afterburners and leave Mississippi State in the dust after an average-to-poor performance in the first half in Starkville. For Virginia Tech, they couldn’t seem to close the door in Blacksburg on Saturday against ECU, beating the Pirates by just 10 points, seven of which came on an interception return for a touchdown toward the end of the first half.

The matchup is intriguing but if you’re LSU, you have to feel better about this game than the Hokies do. Given the monsters that the Tigers have up front, you have to figure Bo Pelini is going to throw a number of blitz packages at Sean Glennon, who looked like a deer in headlights at certain moments against ECU, and force him to make bad decisions, leaving Jonathan Zenon, Chevis Jackson and Craig Steltz to do what they do best: intercept the football.

On offense, new offensive coordinator Gary Crowton will have to prove that this offense has some depth, dimension and creativity after a stagnant performance against Mississippi State Thursday night. Running the ball could be difficult given who the Hokies have playing linebacker and the cornerback/receiver matchups in this one are intriguing.

O.G.I. - OTHER GAMES OF INTEREST

Oregon State at Cincinnati - Thursday - 7:30 ET - ESPN

Oregon State running back Yvenson Bernard may be the nation’s best kept secret at tailback and he will get a chance to show out Thursday night when the Beavers take on the Bearcats in Cincy. Last week, Bernard hung 165 yards and 2 TDs on a pretty good Utah team and will look to do the same on national TV Thursday night. Meanwhile, the Bearcats come into the game from a week where they scored 59 against Southeast Missouri State, including more than 300 yards on the ground. On the other side of the ball, Oregon State held the Utes to 20 yards rushing. I’d expect the Beavers to roll big in those and for Bernard to have a huge game.

Miami at#8 Oklahoma - 12:00 ET - ABC

Two or three years ago, this would have been the game of the week, nay of the season, but with Randy Shannon rebuilding Miami football, the game manages a small blip on the radar on this week. I’m expecting Oklahoma to hang a big number on The U but the game could be worth a watch if you didn’t buy third season of The Office, which came out this week.

#20 Nebraska at Wake Forest - 12:00 ET - ESPN

Hats off to teams like Oklahoma and Miami, Wake and Nebraska for scheduling early season games that are worth checking out. Wake quarterback Riley Skinner is not likely to play in this game after separating his shoulder against BC last week and that could make a difference. If you haven’t gotten a chance to see Sam Keller and Nebraska, this game presents a good opportunity to do so and it’s certainly a better game than Oklahoma/Miami.

Oregon at Michigan - 3:30 PM - ABC

This game is interesting for a couple different reasons. The most obvious being that many people, myself included, want to see how Michigan will respond after suffering the greatest upset in the history of the sport last week at home. My guess is that the Michigan faithful will yell and cheer and get rowdy and show that they are still behind their team, that is unless they lose again at home to a team they should be. It will also give people a chance to see Oregon, a team not many people are familiar with. The Oregon offense against the Michigan defense is a matchup worth watching regardless of the game’s backdrop

South Carolina at #13 Georgia - 5:45 ET - ESPN2

Certainly the most intriguing SEC matchup of the week (sorry Vandy/Alabama). The game will serve as a test to see just how much the new and interception-free Matthew Stafford has matured. I expect Georgia, based on how they played last week against Oklahoma State, to win big but it’s a regional and SEC rivalry and anything could happen. One thing that will happen in this content, win or lose, we will find out just how far Matthew Stafford has come.

#22 TCU at #4 Texas - 7:00 PM ET - Fox Sports Net

Only the second game this week between ranked teams, TCU and Texas’ matchup will be watchable… at least until LSU/VT comes on. I’m not really sure what to make of TCU but Texas is ranked that high for a reason and they’re awfully good. TCU defensive end Tommy Blake will need to get in Colt McCoy’s face early and often if the Horned Frogs are to have a chance in Austin.

UNDER THE RADAR GAME OF THE WEEK

South Florida at #18 Auburn - 8:00 ET - ESPN2

The Tigers, fresh off a solid if unconvincing win, over Kansas State play host to South Florida and the Bulls are certainly upset-minded. For most of America, it will be one of their first exposure to USF quarterback Matt Grothe, who has Big East coaches singing his praises. The multi-talented Grothe is as dangerous with his legs as he is with his arm. I’m not sure we’ll see an upset in this one but USF could give Auburn a game that is worth checking out while the VT/LSU game is at commercial.

Tallied 57-9 after the first week of college football picks.

Season average: 63% 

Week one is officially in the books. For the most part, it went without incident, with the obvious exception being the biggest upset in the history of college football. You know some producer in LA is working right now to secure the rights to an A-State football picture with Burt Young from Rocky (left) as Mountaineer coach Jerry Moore and Mekhi Phifer donning his dreads once again to play A-State QB Armanti Edwards. Imagine the possibilities.

Game of the week: Tennessee at Cal

This week’s marquee matchup had me glued to my coach for the duration. Aside from ESPN inexplicably reporting on the debate between environmentalists and university officials about cutting down trees outside of the stadium in Berkeley, the broadcast was well done and Brent Musberger proves that he is the best play-by-play man in college sports. But I mean come on, do you care about the campus politics at Cal? Are they going to tell us about the cafeteria workers at LSU next week? If it doesn’t relate to college football or the traditions of college football that are unique to the campus the game is being played on. I simply don’t care.

Below the trees where hippies had set up tents, a game was being played. A game where the Vols got completely outcoached, outplayed and at moments outclassed. I knew Tennessee was in trouble in the first half. There were two plays that were indicative of the mindset the Vols went into this game with. The first was on the DeSean Jackson kick-off return where, instead of pursuing Jackson (whom he had no chance of catching, even if another player picked him up and threw him at the streaking returner) UT punter Britton Colquitt decided to grab the head of a blocker and slam him to the turf in frustration. Where I’m from, when you stop chasing an opposing player streaking towards your endzone, it’s called quitting regardless of who you hit. Secondly was on the bubble screen to Robert Jordan inside the UT 10-yard line when linebacker Rico McCoy decided to take himself out of a play that resulted in a touchdown to take a cheap shot at DeSean Jackson. Was it worth it, Rico? This play was indicative of the kind of stupidity the Tennessee defense played with all night. I’m not sure John Chavis’ defensive scheme changed from last year to this year. Unfortunately for the Vol defense, you can’t hit what you can’t catch and they had no match for Cal’s speed.

But what about SEC, hit-you-in-the-mouth football? Where was that Saturday night? Tennessee gave up more than 6 yards a carry and they were giving it straight up the gut, off-guard and off-tackle for big gains, particularly on first down. You’re not going to win too many games giving up 6 yards a carry.

On the other side of the ball, Cal looked really good but not great. There was nothing that I saw that demonstrated to me that this team can beat USC. Watching Nate Longshore play quarterback is mind-numbing. If they had someone else playing quarterback, someone better, they would have hung 60 points on Tennesse — that’s how many opportunities Nate Longshore missed Saturday. In the second quarter, Longshore threw the worst imitation of a fade that I’ve ever seen in my life and then missed overthrew and skipped the ball in front of a wide-open receiver in the end zone — Cal settled for a field goal. He fumbled a snap on the goal line, mishandled a shotgun snap that hit him in the square in the hands, one-hopped a screen and made the lamest attempt at a block on a reverse that I’ve seen in a long time. Longshore is probably the 4th best quarterback on the 2nd best team in the Pac-10. If the Golden Bears can’t beat USC, you can bet Nate Longshore will have something to do with it. And for the record ESPN, football is interesting, the length of Nate Longshore’s hair from one year to the next is not. On defense, Cal is unimpressive and lack physicality, especially at the corners. If Tennessee had anything closely resembling starting SEC wide receivers, the game might have been much closer.

Just how concerned was the Tennessee coaching staff about Erik Ainge’s injured pinky? It was hard to tell but they either had no confidence in his pinky, to the arm it was attached to or to the ragtag receiving corps because what I saw Saturday night was a completely vanilla offense that lacked creativity and the ability to get vertical. The numbers for Ainge look decent enough but they don’t tell the whole story. When you’re down 14 points or more, you can’t be nickel and diming your way down the field because it chews up a ton of clock. Why not take a shot or two downfield? Well Tennessee didn’t and they lost. Arian Foster though proved to be the most developed and potent offensive threat that Tennessee has and the David Cutcliffe would do well to get the ball in his hands early and often for the rest of the year.

One thing is for sure after Saturday night: DeSean Jackson is for real. Simply put, the kid has the speed and athleticism of Percy Harvin and the hands of Calvin Johnson.

WATCH OUT FOR: Georgia/Matthew Stafford

If there was a more convincing performance by a quarterback in a big game this weekend than Matthew Stafford’s game between the hedges against Oklahoma State, I didn’t see it. The true sophomore was 18-24 for 234 yards, two touchdowns and most importantly NO INTERCEPTIONS. It appears as though Stafford has matured from a quarterback who hemorrhaged interceptions last season and is ready to assume his rightful place as one of the SEC’s most accurate passers. But what Georgia did to Oklahoma State goes beyond Stafford. The ground game looked great, Knowshon Moreno looked as good as advertised, splitting time with Thomas Brown and Kregg Lumpkin and what can you say about the Bulldog defense? They held one of college football’s most explosive offenses (some of that praise was self-proclaimed) to 266 total yards and 70 rushing yards. I didn’t buy into Georgia as the 13th best team in America but after handling Oklahoma State they’ve earned that seed and maybe even a higher one.

MOST DISAPPOINTING: Virginia Tech

Gameday’s in town, it’s the first game back in Lane Stadium after the largest mass shooting in U.S. History, emotions are running high and you only manage to score 17 points? Against the East Carolina Pirates? If I’m a Hokie fan, I’m starting to feel real nervous about my trip down to Death Valley next weekend because unless Sean Glennon learns how to step into his throws and be an effective quarterback, it’s going to be a long night in Baton Rouge. I just don’t understand how, with all the emotion and everything that happened Saturday in Blacksburg that Virginia Tech didn’t play better than they did. Is a part of that because East Carolina is better than everyone thought? Maybe. But come on, you’re the 9th best team in America. Frank Beamer and his staff have some real soul-searching to do this week because I think they know that if Brett Clay doesn’t throw that interception at the end of the first half, things might have gotten pretty uncomfortable in Lane Stadium.

It’s going to be a long year for: Notre Dame

121, -9, 130, 3. Those are the numbers of total yards, rushing yards, passing yards and turnovers tallied by the Notre Dame offense Saturday afternoon against Georgia Tech. As a unashamed enemy of all things Notre Dame, I love nothing more than to see Notre Dame get waxed, particularly at home but this wasn’t even fun to watch. Demetrius Jones, Evan Sharpley, Jimmy Clausen, heck they could have thrown some hair gel in Brady Quinn’s hair, styled it to look like he had taken a shower with his favorite kitchen appliance and given him Clausen’s jersey and it wouldn’t have changed the fact that Notre Dame just has nothing on offense and more of the same on defense. They made Georgia Tech, who is a decent if not unspectacular ACC team, look like USC and Tashard Choice look like Ray Rice. But here’s the part that makes my heart all warm and fuzzy: Notre Dame might not get their first win until — wait for it — November 3 when they host the Middies of Navy. The Irish are at Penn State, at Michigan, they have Michigan State at home, they travel to Purdue, to UCLA, play Boston College at home before hosting the Trojans in South Bend at the end of October. Oh how sweet it is. And if you think Notre Dame can and should beat Michigan State, I wouldn’t be so sure. The Spartans looked pretty good on their way to a 55-18 thumping of UAB this weekend. Ditto for Purdue who will likely throw the ball all over the field against the pass defense-deficient Irish.

College football is officially back. Welcome to Saturday.

As of right now, Appalachian State is hanging with Michigan at the Big House and East Carolina is crashing the party at Lane Stadium and just took it down the field in convincing fashion. I would expect both of these games to end the way you would think they would but this is whats great about college football.