It's finally here - college football 2011. It was a great opening weekend, complete with all the things I love about it. Here are some thoughts on a few games, along with a video for most of them. (Feel free to skip the videos if you're short on time.)
Alabama 48, Kent State 7
A great start to the season, as the Tide displayed a suffocating defense (90 total yards) and an offense with alot of weapons. AJ McCarron appeared to create some space in the battle for the starting QB spot, but we should probably not be too quick to jump to conclusions from one game. The offensive line had too many missed assignments, but they will get better.
More importantly, most of the family (sisters, nieces, father) gathered to watch football, eat too much food, and basically spend all day Saturday together. (Haley - sorry I forgot the sugar cookies.) That's what football Saturdays are really about. It was awesome to start it back up again. Can't wait to head up to Penn State this weekend with Macy and Haley.
Here is a highlight video on the game from UA:
Baylor 50, TCU 48
This may have been the most exciting game of the weekend. Definitely the best 4th quarter. We watched the end of it after a great meal at Outback Steakhouse (a game weekend tradition). TCU, a team that went undefeated last year, came back from 24 down to take the lead, but then Baylor drove to a last minute field. It was awesome!
Here are highlights of key plays from that 4th quarter:
Boise State 35, Georgia 21
Georgia's power ranger uniforms may have gotten most of the pre-game attention (they were ugly), but alot was on the line for college football fans in this game. Could the Dawgs beat the Broncos and spare us all a season of listening to pundits talk about the ridiculous notion of Boise State being in the national championship game?
No.
Boise QB Kellen Moore was impressive and the Broncos are obviously a very good football team. But that's all - a very good football team. Not anywhere close to the best in the nation. Now Georgia is one of my favorite teams - yes, a non-Bama SEC team that I actually like - but they are not currently at the top of the conference or a national contender. I hope they go on a tremendous run the rest of the season (starting with the USCe game this week), but they were 6-7 last year and beating them does not prove that Boise is an elite program. Sorry, Broncos. You are very good, but not great.
SportsCenter highlights from the game:
LSU 40, Oregon 27
The Bengal Tigers provided a bright spot for the conference, and looked physically dominant against a team that played for the national championship last year. For the second straight game, Oregon showed that its finesse offense is no match for the physical defenses in the SEC. LSU plays tough, hard-hitting football and that style is the reason that the conference has five straight BCS titles.
Highlights:
Florida State 34, Louisiana-Monroe 0
Finally, there is alot of buzz in Tallahassee about the program that Jimbo Fisher is building, and rightfully so. Here was a game, much like Alabama's, against a team that the Seminoles were expected to dominate physically. And they did. Hard-hitting, smothering defense produced a shutout and quarterback EJ Manuel had a great day. This is a team that will have a say in the national picture. I can't wait to see the big game against Oklahoma in person two weeks from now (thanks, Steve).
Highlights of the ULM win are in this link (embedding was disabled in youtube).
Yep - a great start to the season...can't wait for next week!
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