(This was my first football note on FB. I didn't realize that I'd struck a chord with people until I saw that there were 38 comments. I've been doing weekly football recaps - every week, without fail - ever since. Haven't decided whether to include those here. My FB notes basically fit into one of two categories: football and 'everything else'. As I've kept those pretty separate and this blog is about 'everything else', I may leave the football stuff to FB. Oh well, I have four and a half months to decide.)
So this is a Week 1 update/recap. Before I begin, a note regarding these: I know the college and NFL seasons are on different weeks as far as number. I will use the NFL week number for this and future editions for the sake of clarity - and because the NFL uses week numbers more than the NCAA. Also, this will usually be out Tuesday mornings. I want to have it done before I read Tuesday Morning Quarterback on ESPN.com so reading that column (which I recommend for all fans: but you'll need at least a half hour and a general thirst for knowledge as he talks about more than football). Now to the fun stuff, college first.
I was impressed with Miami's effort against Florida...well, on defense. The offense did some nice things, but it performed about as well as expected given the circumstances.
The UCF/USF game was great. High drama, and I'm mad the series is ending.
East Carolina: they're for real. May be the best team in either Carolina state, other than Wake Forest. They'd probably beat Clemson and South Carolina. Surely they'd whoop Western Carolina, who got whooped in the rain by FSU.
Most college fans know this was a slow week so I'll just talk about the big game for next week and then head to the NFL. SC 35, Ohio State 24 (fire away, William). Chris Wells is going to play, but SC had the week off and they're at home.
Now to the NFL...everyone can read a scoreboard so I'm just going to talk about what was interesting in a more qualitative fashion.
Of course this has to start with Tom Brady's injury. Needless to say it's devastating for the Patriots. And Liz, here you go: I will have to rescind my Super Bowl prediction. I do, though, think the Patriots will still make the playoffs. They will switch places with the Jets (referencing the original predictions). The Jets will be the....shoot, let me just do it again in the same format since all this text would get confusing.
AFC Division Winners: New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers
AFC Wild Cards: Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots
AFC Wild Card Round: Jaguars over Jets, Chargers over Patriots
AFC Divisional Round: Jaguars over Steelers, Colts over Chargers
AFC Championship: Colts over Steelers
Super Bowl: Cowboys over Colts
Okay, now that that's out of the way...I obviously think the Pats will do alright with Cassel. They're basically in the same boat as the Packers, the way I see it. They have enough talent to do some things and have that awfully weak division to contend with. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they still won the division.
Next topic...Shawne Merriman. Someone finally made a decision that made some sense. He's having the surgery. But his team was horrible yesterday. They looked worse than anyone in the league. Losing to the Panthers at home without Steve Smith? As good as the Broncos looked, maybe I should revise that pick. Always knew Cutler had it in him.
Who else looked really bad...the Rams, obviously. The Texans, Jets (I don't care if they won), Lions (220 to Michael Turner: are you serious?), and Redskins looked pretty lousy too.
I already mentioned the Broncos as a team that looked good. I think the best-looking team, though, was the Cowboys. The Steelers, Eagles, and Bills also looked good - although I'm not quite as impressed with the last two of those teams.
Players...a couple people I've mentioned already: Turner, Cutler, Eddie Royal, Aaron Rodgers, Willie Parker, and whoever got that last block on Roscoe Parrish's return TD.
Finally, my top 5 college and pro teams:
5. Ohio State
4. Florida
3. Oklahoma
2. Georgia
1. USC
5. Eagles
4. Broncos
3. Packers
2. Steelers
1. Cowboys
Fire away.
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