Notre Dame would make a Great WAC Team- NCAA Week 1 news and notes

First off, congratulations to title contest winner Bryan McMartin. We will be running an article written by you at a later date (as soon as you can find a computer to write it on that isn't mine).

So, what a terrific weekend to start off the season that was! We had some upsets, some big hits, learned a bit about freshmen players, and even got to see a punch in the face!

For those of you who are new, or don't remember last season (shame on you, since I'm sure this was the highlight of your week), let me give a brief rundown of what goes on at this blog. After the weekend (usually around the time the polls come out), I update with brief discussions of many of the games that were played, along with my point of view on what it means. There are also lists, contests, and all other sorts of goodies to help keep you occupied reading. So, without waiting, here comes the opening week rundown!

-Boise State vs. Oregon: Figured I would get this one out of the way first (especially since it was the first game of the season that actually mattered). Boise State's defense looked great, and.... That was pretty much it as far as highlights from this game. Apparently, BSU had issues with thinking that the Blue Turf was another member of the team, what with the fumbles. Oregon, surprisingly, looked like a bag of buttholes. I want to say here that I think Capital high School could beat them, but that is giving Capital too little credit. I KNOW Capital could beat them. Final thoughts on this one: Oregon is more than likely done for the season on a national level if they keep playing like that, and BSU is going to need to step it up or some hungry WAC team is going to take them. It remains to be seen how many of the miscues were simple "opening night jitters," or if they are a sign of something deeper. Knowing how Peterson coaches, the answer is more than likely the former. Oh, and to the BSU fans: Chanting overrated to a lower ranked opponent is one of the most classless things I can think of. It's both classless and stupid when they are the only ranked team on your schedule (meaning: you need them to be highly ranked to help your schedule if you want to play in January).

-Regarding the punch: Blount is an asshole. He deserves to lose his senior season, and is damn lucky he didn't lose his scholarship. Yes, Hout was taunting him, but in the real world, when someone says something to you that you don't like, you don't punch him in the face. Nor do you attack your own teammates. And you definately don't go after the opposing teams fans when they taunt you (admittedly, it was hilarious to see the face of the main guy taunting him go from pure joy to unbridled terror when it looked like Blount might reach him). This punch also demonstrates why I like Chris Peterson. When Hout was taunting Blount, you cans ee Peterson grab him and start telling him off. When Hout goes down, Peterson helps to pick him up AND GOES RIGHT BACK TO TELLING HIM OFF. Something tells me that maybe Coach Pete feels like getting yelled at by your coach and knocked down from one punch on national TV is punishment enough. Kudos to Peterson for how he has handled this whole situation (especially his recent comments regarding how we should be paying attention to the over one hundred players at the game who managed to not fight each other).
























All that said, it was a pretty sweet punch.

-USC Freshman QB Matt Barkley not only looks the part of a Southern Cal QB (look at him and tell me one other school he could play at), turns out he can play the part pretty damn well too. USC got off to a slow start against San Jose State, and then, after the first quarter, the floodgates opened. Barkley went 15 for 19 with 233 yards in his first ever college game. This is made more impressive by it being his first ever college game day while actually in college. And just to remind people of what else USC has at QB, AAron Corp went 4-4 in garbage time for 45 yards and a TD pass. Think Ohio State is a little more nervous now?

-They should be, because after needing a very poor play calling decision from Navy to lock up the game... Also, some advice to Navy: when the play style you have been using all game is working that well against a team that should be devastating you, it is probably a good idea to not deviate from that plan on the most critical 2 point conversion of the game (and possibly the season). Especailly when, if you had not changed, you could have beaten an overrated Ohio State team.

-Oklahoma State vs. Georgia was a game that I, unfortunately, had to miss thanks to a birthday party for my parents. From the highlights, I did see a couple of hits that would have carried jail time if they hadn't happened on a football field. Watching one, I could swear I cracked a rib.

-Notre Dame, led by the incredibly punchable-looking face of Jimmy Clausen, beat Nevada in convincing fashion which led to the title of this week's notes. Think about who their last two games have been against, and you'll see why. I'm not going to be saying much more about Notre Dame winning if I can avoid it this season, since A)Their schedule is, for the most part, pathetic (another thing that would make them fit in with the top of the WAC) and B) I can feel my blood pressure rise whenever I have to say something positive about them.

-I also didn't catch much the Alabama-Virgina Tech game, which is a shame, because it was a good game from the sounds of it. I wish VT would have won, but hey, no weekend goes truly perfectly.

-The reason I didn't see much of Bama-VT is because I was watching Idaho-New Mexico State. And for the first time since I started the blog, I feel like I can say something positive about Idaho without being a homer. The offensive line looks really good (and absolutely huge on the left side), and Nathan Enderle learned how to throw a pass to the right reciever. The defense finally got the hang of that tricky "tackling" business. All in all, it was a great game for Idaho (significantly less so for NMSU), giving them their first opening day victory since 1999, and for the time being, the undisputed lead of the WAC. Funny side note: when I pointed that out on a football forum I read, a BSU fan (I'm not making assumptions here, he said he was) said that that would end next weekend when Idaho played Washington (more on them later). I pointed out that, win or lose, Idaho would still be on top of the WAC due to no WAC games that weekend. The best response he could come up with? "Fuck you." Not only are they going to be on top of the WAC (conference standings only) for the next week, but WAC games don't start in earnest until October. That's a long time to see yourself in the top half of the rankings, which could provide a needed psychological boost. But even if it doesn't, I'd like to come back at that BSU fan and provide my response here: "No, fuck you."

-I'm not going to comment much on BYU-Oklahoma,. other than to say that if you are a team looking to make a national championship run and you are going to lose a game, it's good to get that loss out of the way on day one. Of course, I don't think OU is going to lose only one game (Hey there Texas! So nice to see you Oklahoma State! Thanks for letting us drop by Miami!) this season, but the unfortunate point remains that if you are going to lose, lose early.

-Washington looked like a real football team against LSU. With a few plays going the other way, UW would have started the season off with a win. I can promise you that they won't go 0-12 again. Also, allow me to say a few thigns to the LSU defense: When a player for the opposite team makes an 8 yard play for a first down against you, please don't showboat like you actually accomplished something good. Unless your tackle literally won the game by coming in the final seconds, you have no reason to celebrate the other team getting closer to scoring.

-Also, is it just me, or does Les Miles look like he hates you personally on the sidelines? I can almost hear him thinking "That's right, AFN, I know you're listening to my thoughts. When I find you, I am going to kick the shit out of you. That's right, I think words I would never say." Don't get me wrong, he is an outstanding coach (bad coaches tend to not win championships). He just looks so mad at you!

-Moving into Sunday, where Colorado State beat Colorado at Colorado. Think Hawkins can feel his ass burning from the INCREDIBLY HOT SEAT he is sitting on? Do you think his son, Cody (24-40 for 222 yards with 1 TD) might shoulder some of the blame? The answer is no, he doesn't. It's Coach's fault that he seemingly can't let someone else take a snap, even when Cody is seemingly rattled or just plain having an off day (losing to a team that you should beat handily would probably count as both). Side note: watching this game at the AngryFootballParents house, with the AngryFootballIncrediblyLargeAndGloriousHDTV led to a discussion with the AngryFootballFather. When I asked him if he would start me at QB at a Big-12 school, he immediately answered "No." This was the correct thing for him to say, as I would be too busy cursing at the refs, other team, and our Offensive Coordinator to be anywhere even approaching a rating of "developing." This led to more questions: "Big 10?" "No." "WAC?" "No." "Sun Belt, High School, Junior High, Optimist?" "No, no, no, no." Towards the end of the game, a message came scrolling along the bottom of the screen, informing us that after the "Foobtabll" game, the normal programming would resume. I asked my father if I could be the starting QB of a "Foobtabll" team, and I am happy to say that I will be quarterbacking that, just as soon as we figure out what the hell a foobtabll is.

-Finally, We come to Miami (the real Miami, not the one BSU plays this weekend) against Florida State. This was the epitome of good college football. Lots of big plays, big hits (Miami's kicker getting flagged for a late hit was awesome), and a game that came down to the very last play. This is one worthy of ESPN classic, folks. Look for both of these teams to make some noise later this season.

Cheers of the Week: Idaho, USC, Chris Peterson, Miami-FSU, Oklahoma State, BYU

Jeers of the Week: Legarotte Blount, Byron Hout, whoever decided to try a passing play for Navy with the game on the line, Florida's schedule, Jimmy Clausen's Face

Contest!
-Every week, I am going to have a contest to think of a title for the blog. The following critera must be met:
1. Funny.
2. Relatively inoffensive (no racism/sexism)
3. In by 5 PM Sunday.
4. Relevent to something that happened, or a program that you have a deeper knowledge of.

I'm not going to necessairly pick one every week, but if yours is picked, you win the "honor" of writing a guest article to be run whenever you submit it. Guest article must be done within one week of winning (unless you contact me regarding mitigating circumstances), timely (any articles relating to the punch at the BSU-Oregon game are officially too late), and not a rundown of a game (that's my shtick and you can't take that away from me!).

As always, questions/comments/death threats can be sent to angryfootballnerd@gmail.com where they will be promptly responded to or deleted depending on my mood.

See you next week, where we get to discuss this year's "Collision in the Coliseum" (USC-Ohio State game), which I am lobbying to get called "Hootennany in the Horseshoe." So, until next week, keep watching the skies!