FINALLY !

The new football season kicked off in grand fashion yesterday afternoon and evening, and it was absolutely great to be able to watch football again! Some great games and great individual efforts put forth yesterday, along with a couple of early upsets to set the table for what should be a tremendously exciting collegiate football season.

Teams one through eight in most pre-season rankings pretty much rolled right over their opponents, with the exception being Missouri having to fight off a pesky Illini team that would not go away. But after that, three top twenty teams were the victims of early season shockers.
Clemson being manhandled by Alabama, Virginia Tech's loss to ECU and Pittsburgh inexplicable home-opener debacle against Bowling Green.

Outside of the top 25, it was another humbling loss in the Big House for the Wolverines, this time to Utah. Rich Rodriguez, welcom to Ann Arbor. What should be of concern to Michigan is that they were only able to put the ball in the endzone following turnovers by the Utes.

The other score, a field goal, were the only points for Michigan that wasn't preceded by a turnover. Meantime, Brian Johnson showed that he might be unknown outside of Salt Lake, but has some skills.

Meantime, I hope Dave Wannestadt has some thick earplugs the next few days to help blunt the loud yells for his head on a platter. And Clemson, though playing a tough Alabama ballclub, showed yet again it is not quite ready for prime time.

Some positive notes, quite a few players stood out for me. Cal running backs Jahved Best and Shane Vereen, while Cal QB Kevin Riley had a solid showing in his first start. Michigan St. sophomore wideout Dell and LB Greg Jones. Oregon has one of the quickest teams in the nation on both sides of the ball and used it to run down a young Huskie ballclub. But in a couple of years, look out for Washington. Their sophomore QB Jake Locker and fresman wideoutsdid a pretty good job against a tough Pac10 defensive opponent. And the Huskies have some young talent on defense as well.

Misourri's offense and defense took it right to Illinois for most of the game, but had lapses at times too. The injury to Maclin is disconcerting and he will hopefully be back in action soon. 6-6 tight end Coffman played out of his mind and have some NFL scouts drooling already. Chase Smith and counterpart Juice Williams showed why they are solid behind center, and I liked the play of Illini DB Marques Williams.

So while the season is now officially underway, there still needs to be a few games played before I go out and start making predicitons on who is #1 through #20. In fact, on Monday night, there's yet another college season opener on tap as UCLA takes on Tennessee, which should be a dandy as well.

Just around the corner after our collegiate Monday night treat is the beginning of the 2008 NFL season when the Redskins and the Giants tangle. I can't begin to tell you how great it is to have football back and I wore out my remote yesterday going back and forth through all the games.

Heck, I still have games to watch that I recorded but didn't get to watch yet, like the SoCal shellacking of Virginia. Glad I have Monday off ! Enjoy the holiday everyone.