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.
that I enjoyed the first bit of the post-Brady Quinn downward spiral that the team took at the beginning of the season. And I enjoyed the prospect that they wouldn’t get their first win at least until November (that didn’t work out but the thought was exciting) but the laughing stock that Notre Dame football, under Charlie Weis and his purported genius, has become isn’t even fun to talk anymore.
