The Beginning of the Beginning

I almost broke down in tears today when I realized that USA Today's sports section made no mention of college football. It has been way too long since Division I-A was in session. Thank the Lord that we are only a week away from the fourteen best weeks of the year. Not that the first weekend of the season is going to be anything spectacular. Thanks to the added twelfth game, most of the major powers scheduled automatic wins. So did the lesser powers. Out of sixty-eight games, twenty-three (one-third) of them involve AA opponents.

The TV schedule isn't too appealing, either. I'd like to watch Tennessee/California, but I'll be witnessing Auburn's domination of former Big 12 powerhouse Kansas State. Anyway, here's the lineup (all times Eastern):

Tulsa at Louisiana-Monroe (Thursday, 7, ESPN2)

LSU at Mississippi State (Thursday, 8, ESPN)

Washington at Syracuse (Friday, 8, ESPN)

East Carolina at Virginia Tech (Saturday, noon, ESPN)

UAB at Michigan State (Saturday, noon, ESPN)

Washington State at Wisconsin (Saturday, 3:30, ABC)

Nevada at Nebraska (Saturday, 3:30, ABC)

Wake Forest at Boston College (Saturday, 3:30, ABC)

Georgia Tech at Notre Dame (Saturday, 3:30, NBC)

Missouri at Illinois (Saturday, 3:30, ESPN2)

Oklahoma State at Georgia (Saturday, 6:45, ESPN2)

Kansas State at Auburn (Saturday, 7:45, ESPN)

Tennessee at California (Saturday, 8, ABC)

Texas Tech at Southern Methodist (Monday, 4, ESPN)

Florida State at Clemson (Monday, 8, ESPN)


The entire season is irrelevant, though. The established sports media already declared USC to be the undisputed national champion of 2007, and their word cannot be challenged. "If USC is as good as most believe, chasing down the Trojans could be too much to ask." - The Associated Press ( http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2980349 ). Nevermind that the Pac-10 is a joke conference (as Tennessee will hopefully prove next Saturday) with only one contender. Nevermind that preseason rankings are no guarantee of success.

If you don't know this guy's name, you must have never been to ESPN.com.

Well, I guess I have a few months to elaborate on my bitterness against Pete Carroll's crew. I'll be back next Thursday with my predictions through Sunday. Don't lose heart; just one week left!