Cliff's Notes Saturday 9/10/11

Another truncated post? Jeez, I need to get my act together!

*This week was actually sort of dull. I know I might be asking too much of early season games, but come on! Last week we had LSU/Oregon, next week we get FSU/Oklahoma. This week? Georgia/South Carolina? It was an exciting game, but let's not get too carried away.

*Georgia's loss to SC probably cements them as the best 0-2 team in the country. Mind you, an 0-2 record and a nickel is worth 5 cents, but you can't call Georgia a slouch team.

*Arizona State donned some slick-looking black alternate uniforms this week and knocked off Missouri. What can I say, I'm a sucker for black alternate uniforms, so long as they don't have Tron numbers and orange clown shoes.

*Oregon State got smacked by Wisconsin. Could be a great year for the Badgers. Could be a terrible year for the Beavers. In all likelihood, it's gonna be both.

*Virginia Tech avoided puking up an inexplicably stupid loss to ECU. Barely. Now they have the mighty Arkansas State Red Wolves

*Auburn's gonna be this year's version of LSU: inexplicably winning games they have no business winning.

*Ohio State escaped Toledo. That Miami/OSU game could actually be interesting!

Moving downward...Tales from the Bottom 95

*Louisville showed improvement last season, then they lost to FIU on Friday...the heck?!

*Carolina won despite desperately trying not to. How desperate was it? Well, they fumbled on a kneel-down play. That's how ugly the game was.

*Clemson beat Wofford by 8. Go ACC.

*Notre Dame/Michigan was a very good game with an exceptional finale. Heck, that may have been the game of the week! (<-No sarcasm!)

That's it for this week. See you next time...

Saturday in Cliff's Notes: 9/3/11

Between work and travel, I haven't had time to compose an unnecessarily long and verbally abusive post. No matter, I shall rectify this with a super-short (for me) rundown of the first Saturday's slate. Behold! The bulleted list of the Top 25!

• The following ranked teams played a 1-AA (FCS) school in their season opener: Nebraska, Arkansas, Virginia Tech, and Michigan State. Unbelievably enough, that's not too bad...
• The following ranked schools played teams from other major conferences: Oregon, LSU, Boise State, TCU, Notre Dame, and Georgia. (Note: I use the Coaches Poll when writing these, so Southern Cal's game against Minnesota doesn't count. Much like the rest of SC's season...) Unfortunately for fans, 4 of those schools were playing other ranked schools, meaning they had 2 of the most challenging games of the week. This sort of scheduling won't ensure good first weeks! Letting Nebraska, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech pummel members of the SoCon while Georgia has to play the #5 team in the country isn't fair to Georgia! There really should be some sort of rule against this. Well, that or a system that didn't virtually lock out any team who lost in week 1...
• Of further note, in the matchups involving ranked teams and unranked major conference teams, the ranked team lost. This proves little more than something that's been said over and over again: preseason polls are heavily overrated.
• As a Virginia Tech fan and a Western Carolina grad, I have to admit that the App State/Virginia Tech game was the most entertaining television I've seen in a loooooong time.
• Auburn's scare at home should really wake up Tigers fans. Last year's senior-heavy team is gone, and this year's edition of the Tigers might resemble Gene Chizik's other teams...
• East Carolina held an edge on South Carolina for a while. Virginia Tech had best not get complacent...
• South Florida upset Notre Dame. Seriously, when are college fans going to learn their lesson about the Fighting Irish?

There's more that could be said, but let's move further south on the rankings radar, down to Tales from the Bottom 95:

• This year's FCS wins weren't as noteworthy as last year's JMU over Virginia Tech win. Still, the ACC was involved in an FCS/FBS upset, thus upholding the conference's proud tradition. This year, Duke carried the torch.
• But don't go accusing me of East Coast Bias: Oregon State also fell to Sacramento State! I look forward to the coming arguments (probably from the Sporting News) about how the Pac-12 plays the toughest schedule and how Sacramento State is a tough team and how this loss proves nothing. Seriously, can't wait.
• Kentucky struggled with Western Kentucky. The SEC may yet turn into a conference of haves and have-nots.
• Michigan won a game so convincingly that they didn't even play the 4th quarter! How long until they're ranked again? I give it two weeks: beat Notre Dame and Eastern Michigan, climb into the Top 25, probably beat San Diego State, enter conference play and just turn on the highlight reels from '09 and '10. We've seen this show before...
• The ACC avoided any really egg-on-face level losses this season (Duke sucks at football, don't act surprised.). That said, the conference on the coast didn't look that impressive with Wake blowing a late lead, Boston College losing to Northwestern, and the rest of the conference playing 1-AA schools, Sun Belt Schools, or conference games.
• One final ACC blurb: Maryland and Miami. Fun game, close game, blah blah blah. My focus is on Maryland's uniform. The State of Maryland seems extremely proud of its hideous excuse for a flag, so much so that they permit it to be worn on their university's uniforms. And, somehow, it manages to look even worse there. Please let this be the last time I see those things...
• Other conferences? Eh, it's week one. We'll keep tabs on things during the nonconference schedule, but don't expect any real judgment until week 3 or 4. Until then, enjoy the new season! I intend on it...