2007 NCAA Football Season

The opening game in Norman this year is Oklahoma vs Miami. I am so excited about that game. Miami is one of the most hated teams in Norman and this is the first time in forever I remember them coming here. I really don't remember playing them since 1986... I don't feel like looking it up, but they always beat us back then.

No Adrian Peterson. Breaking in a new quarterback. It's gonna be an interesting year, but this made me smile:

hmmm. I was wrong, Miami is our second game next season. Then we look like we will be at Miami in 2009,

Florida State at home in 2010, at Florida State in 2011, Air Force at home in 2010, at Notre Dame in 2013 and the game I have been waiting on all my life - Notre Dame in Norman in 2015.

We also have a home/away with Tennessee in 2014 and 2015.

TTTTTTeeeeeeeebbbbboooooooooowwwwww!!!!!!1111

Ok, even I admit, that was annoying.

Florida's OOC schedule blows next year. Yeah, FSU, but Western Kentucky and Florida Atlantic are patsies and Troy is decent but at home should be a win.

Tennessee, Auburn and FSU at home, LSU on the road. Pieces are set up for a possible return to the BCS.

Because the team that just won the national title should be worried about going into the whirlwind that is Troy, Alabama.

Thank you Nick Saban. You continue to show the world how much of a douche you are. I cannot wait to see you show your face at the next Bama vs. LSU game.

JS

Happy Signing Day!

SI.com has a pretty up-to-date blog of the signings as they happen.

Signing day is one of the creepiest days of the year.

The worst is if you happen to visit any message boards for teams who didn't get a commit that they wanted/expected. I used to check out some ND message boards (and still do for certain info), and things just get stupid around signing day. They'll say the most cruel bullshit about some 17 year old just because of their college choice. That's when you've taken shit a bit too far.

Don't get me wrong, I hope my team gets a great class, and I'm interested to learn about them, but there's a line and far too many people cross it during the end of the recruiting season.

I'm sure there was a lot of scumbag ND fans who ripped into Booker as a person, too. It's weird, because it's something I'd like to be excited about, but there are fuckups out there that ruin it for me.

I agree completely. When I saw ESPNU was doing full-day coverage, I got quesy. It just seems to cross the line and makes my dislike of the NCAA grow.

Not as creepy as altar boy tryouts.

Go Irish!

I cannot wait for the new season! I tried to satisfy my need for sports by watching the MLB All-Star game the other night. Ugh, that was horrible. Boring, boring, boring, cheesy and boring. Hell, I'd rather watch a Thursday night Sun Belt conference college football game. Signs that the season is near:
- My season tickets should be here in less than a month
- 6 friends and I just booked a limo to the labor day opening game at Clemson
- My local sports bar just put out a flier with GameDay wing and beer specials
- Summer practice
- The first NCAA violation smack-down of the season came yesterday
- The SI and ESPN articles and mailbags are rocking and rolling
- Athlon, Sporting News, etc. have their preseason mags and top 1-20 lists out or on their way
- Smack talking is in full effect. My new boss is a Gator...bring it on!
- Time to order the ESPN GamePlan package and reorder the Sports package on DirecTV so I can get ESPNU and all those local FoxSports stations. ESPNU is quite possible the world's worst sports network but they do carry games in the fall.

September can't get here soon enough!

I'm pumped! And ND isn't expected to do much this season, which is fine by me. I'm just eager to see the new defensive scheme (and ANYTHING will be better than Hack Minter's garbage) and how Weis handles the inexperience at QB.

Also, I am more than relieved that it appears that this upcoming CFB season will likely be the last one I'll spend living in the South.

I look forward to the days of reading NATIONAL college football coverage in a newspaper and listening to local sports talk stations where I can't hear the dip dripping out of the neanderthal caller's mouth as he myopically speaks of the infallible SEC.

So, I'll sit back and enjoy the theater of it all this one last time.

Where are you headed Carl?

I too am really looking forward to this year for ND. It should be a lot more fun to watch, with a defense designed to attack rather than give up yards and hope for field goals. It'll be cool to see ND with a mobile QB again. Hopefully Weis isn't just a guy who can design plays for pocket QBs.

BLASPHEMY! Heathen! Come on people, grab your pitchforks! It's time to teach Carl a lesson.

(although I agree that the SEC is God crap gets old)

So any predictions on the top 5 to start the season?

I'll say:

1) USC
2) LSU
3) West Virginia
4) Texas
5) Michigan

Wisconsin might suprise people and get in there.

My LSU Tigers have a favorable schedule this year, a stacked Defense, a lot of young talented RBs and a 5th year Senior at QB. Should be a good year.

Matt, thank you for Jimbo Fisher. Not that he's the greatest thing since sliced bread, but he is part of the transformation and rejuvenation that my beloved Seminoles have needed for years. His hiring (and Fredo Bowden's firing) is hopefully the catalyst to bring FSU back into national contention. For those who don't follow FSU, the number of changes this year is mind-boggling. The entire coaching staff except for the old man and the DC is almost entirely new. A new starting RB, hopefully a new starting QB, an entirely new O-Line, etc. The only thing that remains consistent is the depth of the defense which may be one of the most punishing and devastating ever. But with the ridiculously hard schedule and the new Offense, I see 8-4 at best. Hope I'm wrong, but I can live with that. This year.

Top 5 to start the season
USC
West Virginia
Texas
LSU
Wisconsin

Surprise teams - Virginia Tech and Kentucky. Virgina Tech may make a run for the top 5 and Kentucky won't, but will be a factor in deciding who does win the SEC.

Coaches who get fired after this season - Al Groh and Tommy Bowden.

Honestly, I am not quite sure yet. But I have finalized the list of potential future habitats to the following:

WEST
San Diego, CA
Sonoma, CA
Las Vegas, NV

MIDWEST
Chicago area

NORTHEAST
Boston area
New Haven, CT
Southern Maine

Yeah, quite a contrast. I'm leaning towards the Boston area right now, actually. But I have options, and that's great. The divorce will be final soon and while it will be EXTREMELY difficult to move further away from the kids and the place I've lived for 30 years I now know it's something I have to do. I'm 35 and single and I have a real chance of "starting over". And I haven't been truly happy here in GA for a while now. So, once I decide on exactly where I need to be and figure out how to make it work with the kids (I am not the type of Dad who will only see them once or twice a year) the real process will begin.

Now, all that said... GO IRISH!

Anybody else think Virginia Tech's season is going to be alot like the New Orleans Saint's was last year, both coming off tragedies and all? I've got a feeling a lot of the country will be behind the Hokies this year, making road games maybe a little less difficult. An interesting thing to consider is how Tech would be treated at a road game in West Virginia if the Mountaineers were still on the schedule.

Don't get me wrong... I do appreciate a lot of the traditions and rivalries among many of the schools here in the South. And indeed there are some elite programs here. It's just that the fans (and the media) bludgeon you to death with this SEC/ACC stuff for the entire season and it got old for me eons ago. Take the AJC's College Football section, for example. It's a pathetic joke.

There IS epic football played North of the Mason-Dixon and West of the Mississippi, you know. Not that I can blame UGA fans for not knowing that since their program would implode if they regularly played outside of that comfort zone. I think they might piss themselves when they go to Arizona State.

This is total and complete bullshit.

The minute we found out what happened, Stoops kicked the little assholes off the team and that was that. I like how we have to forfit every game of the season while universities who did a hell of a lot worse get a fucking slap on the wrist.

After the infraction was discovered, OU also shut out the popular local car dealership from any association with the university (which led to the guilty parties being put out of business - they had to sell it after it all came to light).

And now we are not even allowed to mention the win over Oregon in the Holiday Bowl that year.

Damn, I hope Stoops loses control and lets his team blow fucking Miami all over th damn map when we play them this year. Run the score up and keep going. Asshole.

I hope Rhett Bomar and J.D. Quinn and former Big Red Sports and Imports manager Brad McRae all burn in hell.

Jeez, it's not that bad.

And just because they kicked the guys off the team doesn't mean they still don't deserve punishment. Not that this is punishment, anyways. All those poor kids and coaches played the games. They can't actually take that away from them. It's a completely hollow gesture that OU should be happy to get rather than face real consequences.

Don't worry, you'll always have fond memories of your conversations about the 2005 Holiday Bowl.

Here's a link to Stewart Mandel's column about this subject.

Yeah, but I still have the right to be pissed and whine about it.

It would not be as bad as if USC got all their wins stripped the year that they won a National title because of the Reggie Bush payouts. They would lose an actual National Title and not just a Bowl Victory.

And I hope OU beats Miami 77-0.

Martianman, Hart is done. The Tallhassee Democrat obtained the letter TK wrote him via the Open Records Act. It basically said that FSU will not renew Hart's contract which expires in 2009. Which is very, very strange why they are beginning this so early. Speculation is that TK wants Hart gone after this season and is expecting Hart to resign prior to 2009 and take a job elsewhere.

Lots of folks on both sides of this issue. FSU's metoeric rise in the Director's Cup standings during Hart's tenure (80th to 15th I believe) has many academics and supporters saying he should stay. Conversely, many who think that the big three are the BIG THREE sports and our continued disappointment and chokes in those sports during his tenure is more than enough to get him fired.

I can see both sides of the argument. But I honestly don't overtly care for Hart as I think he has been too involved in supporting and propping up the Director's Cup and Title IX sports and not involved enough in making the hard decisions around football, baseball and baseketball. Sure I like it when we do well in all sports. But football is KING and should always be that way.

Carl, best of luck on the move. I will say that Chicago and San Diego are both fantastic cities to live, work and play. I've heard good things about Boston, but never lived or known anyone who lived there for an extended time.

I don't see why you're pissed at the NCAA, though. In this case, they did the right thing; they weren't too harsh and aren't going to cripple the team in the future, but they made a point about such actions.

USC is going to get away without anything, unfortunately.

I've always liked Jimbo, but I do think he's a bit overrated. He will do some good things for your O and bring a nice, competent, updated Pro-Style Offense to FSU with a lot of passing options.

I'm VERY interested to see what Crowton is going to do with LSU's offense. I haven't really been keeping up with it, but I assume he is going to incorporate a good deal of the Spread Option into the offense.

Crowton is a terrible coordinator.

How so?

He's just not very game-savvy. Sure, the spread offense is interesting, but everyone is running it now, so you need something more. Unfortunately for Crowton, he's pretty terrible at making in-game adjustment and even in-season adjustments. I remember watching the Bears when he was coordinator and he'd keep running the same plays that worked three games before even though they were now being snuffed out every time.

What it means is that with the talent at LSU, they're going to put up huge points in the offense, until they go up against a team smart enough and athletic enough to defend it, and then they're fucked because Crowton won't know how to adjust to a defense that knows what plays he's going to run. He's a spread offense coach without imagination, basically.

Well then its probably a good thing that Les Miles still has a lot of the control over the offense and has final say on all play calls.

Sportsline.com

USA Today Coaches' Poll just hit. 3 Big Ten teams are in the top 10 (Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio State), which will surely begin a firestorm of overrated comments.

Also Lloyd Carr got buried at the Big Ten press conference.

Somehow, even after getting pasted in its last two games last season, Michigan got two first place votes. I think #5 is right where they should be though.

Chad Henne isn't that good, yet people are blowing him up. I don't really get it.

It just goes to show what beating up on ND can do for a team's reputation, even when the Irish are in a down year.

At least you're not bitter.