Seriously. I love it. Here’s what we learned after Day 1:
Michigan…probably not going to be a good year for you. New coach, new offense, no quarterback to speak of, defense looked so-so against Utah. Not a good sign.
Ohio State…scary good. They will be #1 at some point, although we’ll learn a lot about them when they play USC in 2 weeks. Still though, great offense, great defense, but will still probably manage to choke in the BCS title game. Sorry, it’s true.
USC…also scary good. USC/OSU could be your national title game and it would be incredibly entertaining. Either way, when they play in 2 weeks, it’s gonna be a great game to watch.
Georgia…will also be in the hunt, but something about them today didn’t look quite right to me. Don’t know what it is, maybe they gave up too many points, I don’t know, but I don’t really see them holding on to the #1 spot for the whole season, and I’m not sure they make the title game. Then again, stranger things…
People say the Big 10 is down, and during the Illinois-Missouri game they said “kind of a rough day for the Big 10.” Yeah, about that…
Wisconsin 38, Akron 10
Penn St. 66, Coastal Carolina 10
Ohio St. 43, Youngstown St. 0
Northwestern 30, Syracuse 10
Indiana 31, Western Kentucky 13
Iowa 46, Maine 3
Michigan 23, Utah 25
Minnesota 31, Northern Illinois 27
Cal 38, Michigan St. 31
Missouri 52, Illinois 42
11 teams, 3 lost. Yeah, definitely a bad day. Morons
Of course I have to talk about my Illini. The good news:
Juice Williams: 26-41, 458 yds 5 TD, 1 INT according to the Yahoo box score. I think it’s actually 2 INT which is crap because the 2nd pick was in Dufrene’s hands and then Witherspoon, the Missouri linebacker just ripped it out of there so it should be a fumble. I hate that about football. In baseball they have errors so if a defender botches a ball and it leads to a run it doesn’t count against the pitcher’s ERA since it wasn’t his fault. Same thing should apply if a quarterback hits his receiver in the hands, said receiver doesn’t catch the ball, and it’s picked off by a defender. That really wasn’t the QB’s fault. I digress…
The bad news: the Illinois defense allowed 568 yards. Look, I know Mizzou’s a great team. I know they’re a great offense, but you give up that many yards, you won’t win. Like at all. They have to get better. I saw a lot of sloppy tackling and that must change.
Overall though, I liked what I saw from Illinois on the offensive side of the ball, so that’s good.
And best of all, IT’S FOOTBALL SEASON!
