College football - Week One

It's finally here!!! College football at it's best!!

The scheduled games (and my picks) are below:

Yes the season is finally here. It’s about freakin time too. Anyway, I am in several pick’em type leagues and here is how I am going to be filling my card out. Debate, criticize or whatever, but let’s remember that it’s just a game ok?

All rankings are from the ESPN.com Scoreboard page. I will also list any games of interest and any other games listed in my Public Yahoo league.

Cal faces a pretty stiff challenge going into Knoxville against a Tennessee team that everyone is expecting to rebound after a sub-par year. This is going to be a hard game to win right out of the chute and I don’t think they can do it.

Now there normally won’t be two games that qualify as games of the week, but seeing that the preseason rankings aren’t exactly accurate by any stretch, I’ll go with two here. First off, last year’s defensive struggle won’t be repeated this year. FSU and Miami both lost key players on the defensive side of the ball. FSU lost more and they have more question marks on offense. Look for Miami to win a close and relatively offensive game.

ASU has an offense to hang with the big boys, but can they develop a defense? Certainly their offense will click against Northern Arizona, but how will their defense look? This game might even be close for a half or so.

Northern Illinois isn’t a pushover by any stretch of the imagination. Although they aren’t on the caliber of Texas or Notre Dame, they can go into Columbus and sneak away with the win IF Ohio State is looking ahead. On paper this game doesn’t look like much of a contest.

Can Notre Dame find a defense to go along with the great offense? Calvin Johnson and GT will be a great first test. This game will go closer than many think.

This game is all about getting experience for Colt McCoy. Texas will blow North Texas off of the field.

Some people say Auburn is for real. Others don’t seem to pay much attention to them. Auburn thrives off of that type of non-hype, or at least they have in the past. This year they aren’t starting out of the top 10, they start at #4. Wazzu is improving, but they aren’t quite there yet.

All West Virginia has to do is win ONE game (at Louisville) and they are in the BCS title game. Marshall is a shadow of it’s former self and this is going to be another long year for the Thundering Herd.

Texas moves to No. 2 before showdown

By RALPH D. RUSSO, AP Sports Writer

As if Ohio State at Texas wasn't already a big enough game, now it's No. 1 vs. No. 2. The Longhorns moved up one spot to No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, right behind the top-ranked Buckeyes.

The two powerhouses will square off in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, a much-anticipated rematch of last year's 25-22 victory by Texas in Columbus, Ohio.

It'll be the first time since 1996 that the top two teams in the AP poll will meet in a regular-season game. That year, No. 2 Florida State beat No. 1 Florida 24-21 in mid-November. The Gators and Seminoles met in a rematch in the Sugar Bowl about a month and a half later, and Florida won 52-20 to earn its only national championship.

Southern California moved up three spots to No. 3 in this week's first regular-season media poll, and Notre Dame slipped two places to No. 4 after a 14-10 victory at Georgia Tech. The Fighting Irish share the fourth spot with Auburn.

Ohio State received 39 first-place votes and 1,568 points in the poll after opening its season with a 35-12 win over Northern Illinois. Texas, which began its season with a 56-7 win over North Texas, received seven first-place votes and 1,453 points.

Southern California and Auburn each received three first-place votes; Notre Dame got eight; and No. 6 West Virginia had five. The rest of the Top 10 is Florida, LSU, Florida State — up two spots after a 13-10 win over Miami on Monday night — and Michigan.

No. 11 Tennessee made the biggest jump, rising 12 spots after a 35-18 victory over California. Cal, which had its best preseason ranking in more than 50 years, fell from No. 9 to No. 22 after the meltdown in Knoxville.

Miami slipped five spots to No. 17.

Last year's meeting between Texas and Ohio State was the first between the two storied programs. The Longhorns' comeback victory, led by Vince Young, allowed them to clear a major hurdle on the way to their first outright national title since 1969.

That was also the year Texas was last involved in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 regular-season matchup. Texas beat Arkansas in 1969 in one of the most famous games in that rivalry.

The Longhorns are 4-0 in No. 1 against No. 2 games, the latest coming last season when they beat USC in the Rose Bowl for the national title as the second-ranked team.

Ohio State is 2-0 in 1-2 games, the last coming in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl. The No. 2 Buckeyes beat top-ranked Miami in that game to win their last national title.

There were no new teams in the Top 25. The only ranked teams to lose on the opening weekend were Cal and Miami.

Georgia came in at No. 12, followed by Louisville, Iowa, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, Miami, Clemson, Penn State and Oregon. The 19th-ranked Nittany Lions play at Notre Dame in Saturday's other marquee game.

The final five in the rankings were Nebraska, Cal, TCU, Texas Tech and Arizona State

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.