Conference Winner Picks:
Big 10 - Ohio State
Big 12 - Oklahoma
Pac-10 - USC
ACC - Clemson
SEC - Florida
Big East - USF
#23 Wake Forest @ Baylor - WF wins this one going away.
Georgia Southern @ #1 Georgia - Georgia blows out GS.
Youngstown St. @ #2 Ohio State - Ohio State wins
#3 USC @ Virginia - USC wins decisively
Chattanooga @ #4 Oklahoma - Oklahoma wins
Hawaii @ #5 Florida - Florida wins
#20 Illinois @ #6 Missouri - Missouri wins a close one
App. St. @ #7 LSU - LSU wins easily
Villanova @ #8 West Virginia - WVU wins
#24 Alabama @ #9 Clemson - Clemson wins
ULM @ #10 - Auburn wins
Florida Atlantic @ #11 Texas - Texas wins
Eastern Washington @ #12 Texas Tech - Texas Tech wins
Akron @ #13 Wisconsin - Wisconsin wins
Florida International @ #14 Kansas - Kansas wins
Northern Arizona @ #15 Arizona State - ASU wins
Northern Iowa @ #16 BYU - BYU wins
#17 Virginia Tech @ ECU - Va. Tech wins
UT- Martin @ #19 USF - USF wins
Washington @ #21 Oregon - Oregon wins
Coastal Carolina @ #22 Penn State - Penn State wins
Bowling Green @ #25 Pittsburgh - Pitt wins
#18 Tennessee @ UCLA - UCLA wins
College Football Predictions - Week 1 (Top 25)
The only game I'm really interested in besides the VA Tech game that I'll be at..is the Clemson, Alabama game. I went out and got a XM radio to listen to games this year and that will be one of them as I'm coming home. I see Alabama winning this game cause I feel Clemson is highly overrated.
According to this...the majority are picking VA Tech to win the ACC again this year.
And the majority see OSU going to the big game and once again losing but I don't see them making it that far once USC beats them and they lose at least one more game.
According to this...the majority are picking VA Tech to win the ACC again this year.
And the majority see OSU going to the big game and once again losing but I don't see them making it that far once USC beats them and they lose at least one more game.
ECU has a good team this year.. lots of returning starters from last year. Just got home from that game..man was it HOT! 93degrees and in the sun they said the end I was in was measuring around 130. For VATech..they obviously need to learn from this game since we only had 6 returning starters even play today. Glennon sucks, I've never liked him as a QB but the plan is to let him play out his senior year and use Tyrod for the next few years since picks put VATech a contender next year for sure.Roody wrote:*Note to self*
From now on go with my gut feeling on who I think will win as opposed to the popular pick.
Case in point. East Carolina.
Hell, Glennon threw another damn interception on the first damn drive of the same first game against the same damn team as last year.... I swear the guy is color blind and scared to throw the ball! The Tech Offensive cord needs to be fired too!(Note the site put up after last year)
That last min punt block was crazy, I started to have Boston College flash backs. All focus now is on the ACC Championship and with the way Clemson is playing tonight I don't think that will be a hard task once VATech gets their heads straight.
That UVA USC game was funny to listen too... I felt sorry for UVA cause they didn't have much to play with anyway after losing many of their best players from last year.
Ok a few thoughts the day after. The ACC looks beyond bad. I shudder to think that if this kind of play continues that they could get a BCS bowl which of course they will. Naturally it's just one week, but the conference offers up no team that even shows a proper balance worthy of a top tier team. Clemson came out yesterday and looked like they didn't even want to play and then their top 2 RB's got held to 0 yards rushing. 
Second what the heck was Jim Tressel thinking having Beanie Wells still playing like that with that kind of lead? I can understand it if you were playing a top level opponent, but man what the heck? At this point I agree with Sava that BW needs to be riding the pine next week against another low level opponent. No need jeopardizing his health further against a team they can beat without him.
Lastly, things went as expected with Michigan yesterday. At times they showed real heart in their attempts to overcome serious offensive deficiences, but simply put they need to shoot just to get to any bowl game this year and be happy with that. Utah is no slouch, but unless they make improvements this week they could struggle with Miami (Oh) and Notre Dame the next 2 weeks.
Second what the heck was Jim Tressel thinking having Beanie Wells still playing like that with that kind of lead? I can understand it if you were playing a top level opponent, but man what the heck? At this point I agree with Sava that BW needs to be riding the pine next week against another low level opponent. No need jeopardizing his health further against a team they can beat without him.
Lastly, things went as expected with Michigan yesterday. At times they showed real heart in their attempts to overcome serious offensive deficiences, but simply put they need to shoot just to get to any bowl game this year and be happy with that. Utah is no slouch, but unless they make improvements this week they could struggle with Miami (Oh) and Notre Dame the next 2 weeks.
Roody wrote:Ok a few thoughts the day after. The ACC looks beyond bad. I shudder to think that if this kind of play continues that they could get a BCS bowl which of course they will. Naturally it's just one week, but the conference offers up no team that even shows a proper balance worthy of a top tier team. Clemson came out yesterday and looked like they didn't even want to play and then their top 2 RB's got held to 0 yards rushing.
Those 2RB's that Clemson and ESPN call the "Gods of RB's have never been any good IMO. Just about every writer has been talking about their past performances and I don't like to look to the past so its rather funny when you look at last years game when VATech held those two to less than 50yards total rushing, maybe less I can't remember exact numbers but they didn't do much anyway. Clemson was highly over rated, as for the ACC as a whole...well if you look at every team they are all pretty much rebuilding regardless of how well clemson looked on paper. Its possible Clemson could go undefeated the rest of the season, its possible VATech could go undefeated the rest of the season and meet each other for the ACC Championship game as most figure they will. Its then possible for both teams to regain a top 10 ranking by the end of the season.
The BCS pre rankings and all the hype over alot of these teams early on within the first 3 games are often clouded by pour judgement based on what they did last season or who they have coming back. I see many teams in other conferences that will be in the same shape next year with the ACC teams ready to rock and roll to compete as a top 5 contender.
As you said, its only Week 1 and every team can have a bad start, every game must have a winner and a loser and it only takes a slight mistake to cost the game (ie: VATech's punt block for East Carolina's win). The thing that makes me rather curious as to the rest of the season with only 6 returning starters playing in that game is that VATech didn't have NO penalties...and that means alot in my book! I see them as only learning from that game and going on to win every other game they play this year and will indeed be a dominating force to be reckoned with come 2009.
USC has no speed limit
Fast Trojans defense overwhelms Virginia in a 52-7 victory in which it records seven tackles for losses and recovers three fumbles.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Quiet voices. The occasional pause. The Virginia players acted as if they had just witnessed a train wreck.
The Cavaliers -- the ones who play on offense -- were trying to describe what it felt like to face the USC defense.
Again and again, they arrived at the same conclusion.
"Their speed was pretty unbelievable," quarterback Peter Lalich said.
Tailback Cedric Peerman agreed: "Speed everywhere."
Forget about schemes and stunts. In the moments after third-ranked USC's 52-7 victory Saturday afternoon, Virginia tight end John Phillips mused, "They were really fast."
Fast enough to pounce on three fumbles and intercept a Lalich pass.
Fast enough to limit Virginia to 32 yards rushing.
"The holes closed awfully fast," Coach Al Groh said. "Those two linebackers can really run and close space and the two safeties play like linebackers."
Linebacker Kaluka Maiava had six tackles, as did safety Taylor Mays and Clay Matthews, who shifted between rush end and linebacker. The Trojans recorded seven tackles for losses.
Not that Virginia was particularly surprised.
Defense was clearly USC's strength entering the fall. The Trojans returned seven starters from a unit that stood near the top of the national rankings in several categories last season.
After watching game film this summer, the Cavaliers had an idea about the aggressive schemes they might face, the blitzes and man-to-man coverage.
Figuring the Trojans would come after the sophomore Lalich -- which they surely did -- Virginia countered with the shotgun formation and quick slant routes.
"Gives him a little bit longer to look at things," Groh said.
The strategy worked . . . some of the time. Lalich completed about half of his passes and made some sharp plays. During a first-quarter scoring drive, he threw to receiver Maurice Covington on the sideline and beat the blitz with one of those slants to Phillips.
But the bright spots were few and far between for a quarterback who ended up with 155 yards passing, for a team that converted only two of 12 third-down plays.
As the running game stuttered and the points stacked up for USC, Lalich was forced to throw often. The USC rush smelled blood, sacking him twice and spending much of the afternoon in his face.
"He had to make those [passes] without having the opportunity to get much of a look at the defense," Groh said. "The pocket didn't hold up very long."
Lalich, for his part, refused to shift the blame to his linemen.
"We had a lot of open guys I should have hit," he said.
In particular, he mentioned lofting a third-quarter pass down the middle of the field where USC defenders literally fought each other to make the interception. Cornerback Kevin Thomas came down with the ball.
"At that point I was trying to do too much . . . trying to get a big gain," Lalich said. "I had an underneath guy open and I should have hit him."
His words sounded a bit dazed.
A few feet away, wide receiver Jared Green also struggled to put the game in context, saying he would need to look at film.
Asked about the USC defense, he said: "I don't know what to say about those guys . . . it was a tough game, man."
Yeah I felt for them man I really did. It's hard for a team to take anything away from games like those and that makes it hard on a coaching staff. I believe we will get a good look at what kind of coach Groh will be this year by seeing how they respond in the coming weeks.Sava700 wrote:LOL poor UVA... I bet they had VATech flashbacks during that game