Thoughts From Campus

Right on cue, I woke up Saturday and the air in Atlanta was a little cooler and crisper. Things just felt right. The sound of ESPN's Gameday show was the perfect music to get my day started.


I went out to lunch for the earlier games to have a beer and some wings at the local sports bar (Taco Mac). After lunch, I made the grocery store pit stop to load up on snacks for the 3:30pm games. My personal interest was in the USC game to watch true freshman quarterback, Matt Barkley. Fortunately, I have two flat screen TVs in the same room, so I was able to watch the Georgia/Oklahoma State game at the same time.


I took a break to grab some dinner with friends and made it home to catch most of the Virginia Tech/Alabama game. My long day ended around 1:30am when the Washington/LSU game ended.


Here now are some random thoughts from the first week of college football:


Coach RichRod had a tough week with the media, however, once Saturday arrived, he was able to put all that behind him and showcase a few of his prize recruits, particularly two freshman quarterbacks named Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson. It's no surprise under Coach Rod that this offense is clicking early. The Wolverines will be back sooner than later.


Georgia's loss at Oklahoma State begs the question: how does a program under Mark Richt (one of the best quarterback mentor's in America) look vulnerable with the loss of Matthew Stafford? If Georgia wants to be considered an 'elite' program, they need not miss a beat when they lose guys to the NFL. Coach Richt might want to take a page out of Pete Carroll's plans and go with the freshman, Aaron Murray. If the Dawgs lose a few more games with Cox under center, it might be time to throw Murray into the deep end and sink or swim the rest of the way.


Speaking of Pete Carroll, his true freshman quarterback, Matt Barkley looked poised in his first game as a Trojan. The 18-year old phenom from the quarterback factory that is Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California, was a humble 15 for 19 for 233 yards with a TD in his debut. More importantly, he had zero interceptions and no fumbles under center. It certainly helped that Coach Carroll was able to utilize his stable of running backs most of the game, which kept the pressure off Barkley. Next week, however, is a much bigger stage for Barkley as the Trojans travel to 'the horseshoe' to take on Ohio State. I look for more of the same from USC -- keep the ball on the ground with Joe McKnight, Stefon Johnson, Allen Bradford and CJ Gable.


Who is going to be the first coach to smile after a win? Charlie Weiss at Notre Dame or Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech. Geez...talk about bitter beer face. Weiss looks like a guy who just found out his gastro-bypass procedure didn't take. Some guys have different ways of motivating their kids. Apparently Weiss and Johnson's theory is never let them think they're doing well. Time will tell if this shtick gets old or shows signs of success.

Regardless of what you think about Bob Stoops, you have to feel terrible for his Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Sam Bradford. Bradford left the game with a shoulder injury and could be out up to 4 weeks. This kid could have left college after last season and been a first round draft pick, but decided the college experience was more rewarding at this time in his life. Let's hope he gets a chance to finish out this season.


What are the Florida Gators really accomplishing by opening their season vs. Charleston Southern and Troy at home? They might be better off scrimmaging against themselves for another two weeks. When the BCS computer processes all the data at the end of the year, I think teams should be penalized for scheduling multiple cupcake games. I can understand opening your season with ONE 'warm-up' game, but the Gators scheduled three of these games. Yes, throw in a scrimmage against Florida International on November 21st and the trifecta is complete. In all, they only play 4 road games all year and 3 of those games are @ Kentucky, @ Miss State, and @ South Carolina. It's the 300 pound gorilla in the room - no one wants to talk about what a joke the Gators 2009-10 schedule is this year.


Finally, a quick comment on the ACC this year. Not to overstate the obvious, but Miami and Florida State need to step their game up this year. It's critical to the ACC conference that these programs return to glory. We keep reading about Randy Shannon's great recruiting classes at Miami, well, now it's time to produce. Over at Florida State, Coach Bowden needs to show that he still has 'it' and isn't sticking around just to pad his wins for the record books. Virginia Tech doesn't look as good as projected. Tyrod Taylor isn't the answer. You wonder if Coach Beamer thought he might catch lightening in the bottle and find the next Michael Vick.

It was certainly an eventful week one to the college football season. We are all guilty of making quick generalizations about programs off of just one week. This was just my "knee-jerk" reaction to things I saw this past Saturday. We won't know who the contender and pretenders are until probably October 15th. Until then, we can only watch, enjoy and hope that these next few months feel like an eternity...