First, let me start with some musings on Week One:
Can we all agree that the ridiculous Lucy Van Pelt Rule has to go. This Rule, for those of you unaware, is the one that allows a coach to call time from the sideline approximately on millisecond before the kicker attempts a field goal. It was named for Linus Van Pelt's older sister, who did pretty much the same thing for years. Ridiculous and . Any coach who pulls this crap goes down about 10 notches in my book. Just because you're allowed to do something, doesn't mean you should. In my world, this would be flagged for unsportmanlike conduct, but notions of "sportsmanship" have long since disappeared from American playing fields.
Either of the two college games played Monday will be better than ANY professional game played this year.
A tip of the cap to UNC's T. J. Yates, who was my early pick for the Xavier Lee Award this season. He looked great on Saturday, and, I think he leads the nation in passing. Not bad for a kid who has spent the better part of his career looking like a deer in the headlights.
A note to certain of my Covers Bretheren: Teams that play in 1-AA (FCS) are 1) not "Division 2 teams," and 2) and, more importantly, they are not all the same team. I will confess that even I sometimes have trouble remembering whether Sam Houston State or Steven F. Austin is "the good one" (it's the latter by the way), but if you don't know your Illinois State's from your Indiana State's you're going to have an awfully though time making sense of early season results. In my opinion, and in that vein, Duke's win over Elon is far more impressive than it might initially appear, and Ole Miss' loss far less telling than it might seem. As for Kansas, well, that result might, in fact, tell you an awful lot about KU.
Looks like LSU is what it is. They have very good talent at certain skill positions, but the lines are crap, the backers only fair and their coaching more than suspect. I don't think Jordan Jefferson's mechanical issues are fixable. He has a long wind up and eventually throws the ball a bit like a dart. His OL won't give him enough time for such crap. He's also dumber than Mike The Tiger (Mike VI, for those of you scoring at home). I have it on very good authority that JJ didn't play as early as he might have because he simply couldn't learn enough plays. I doubt he's gotten any smarter since then.
Just when you thought Virginia Tech couldn't make its uniforms any more hideous...