Soul Food - College Football Began

"I can't believe I ate the WHOLE thing."
a 1970's Alka-Seltzer commercial

And eat I did... from the "emotional" kickoff in Blacksburg on ESPN (where Virginia Tech sputtered along to a shady win over East Carolina) to Cal's shellacking of Tennessee.

My previous post garnered some interesting comments, so I decided to respond to them in this post:

llr is going to the Southern Heritage Classic in a few weeks.

It's not just a football game... it's a Battle of the Bands! And llr, you can leave your guns at home.

the stepfather of soul wondered if his boss would have a good day on Tuesday because of a Tennessee win on Saturday night.

You should go into the office early, replace the regular coffee with decaf, and bring some Krispy Kreme donuts... because your boss is still going to be crying "Rocky Top" into that cup of coffee come Tuesday. By my way of thinking, Cal's whuppin' of Tennessee is worse than UT's win over Cal last year! If you can't beat a team of Bay Area wusses, how in the HELL are you gonna compete with Georgia, Florida, and Kentucky for the SEC East... I'm embarrassed for your boss.

dave j. said, "It's all Big Ten up here!"

Can you say Division I-AA Appalachian State?!? How in THE HELL does #5 Michigan lose to a team of guys who couldn't lift the Gatorade container to give their coach an ice water victory bath? How do you let a team from the Southern Conference hang 34 points on you during your home opener?

As we saw in last year's National Championship Game between Florida and Ohio State... the Big Ten is a JOKE!

CAPCity joked that she will see me after the spring thaw.

As you can see, I'm alive (yet, a bit bloated) and kickin'... I'll be around. I must admit that I am still having a few heart palpitations over Georgia Tech's dismantling of the Fighting (like little girls) Irish to the tune of 33-3. I'm sure those Irish Eyes are bloodshot from all that crying, since they ain't got a prayer with three (count 'em, THREE) nobody QB's!

My buddy dave s. thinks that Boston College will win the ACC this year (2007).

Dave, you need to stick to baseball! The Sox will win the AL East and maybe even limp into the World Series, where they'll get swept by the Mets... you heard it hear first! *smile* Now on to college football, to win the ACC, BC has gotta come down to Atlanta on September 15 and beat my Yellow Jackets under the lights at Bobby Dodd Stadium. IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN. Those northeastern cream puffs will not be able to stop the pass AND our stellar running attack... and our defense will hold BC to maybe one touchdown.

We should've won the ACC last year... we will win it this year. GO JACKETS!

Chris Chambers wrote "Are we so wrapped up in the excitement of college football every August that we forget most of these brothers recruited for [these] big schools can't even read, while right wingers are trying to destroy affirmative action and close off opportunities for our REAL students?"

I'm not a proponent of "dumb jocks." But for some schools, especially the BIG ONES, most of their revenue is generated by a successful football program (to the tune of 100's of millions of dollars. As long as there is a "plantation mentality" where these young men WORK for these universities for meager pay (tuition, books, room and board), we will continue to have these plantations churn out illiterate athletes who don't have the ability to get a college degree.

And you touch on the other consequence of these actions, the Black male students (such as myself) who are admitted on strong academic credentials are forever branded with the athletic/affirmative action label. I am 6'4" and over 200 lbs., so I must've gone to Georgia Tech on athletic scholarship to play football. WRONG! The last time I strapped on pads was when I played Pee Wee Football. I competed for and won a full academic scholarship from NASA to study electrical engineering. It is unfortunate that we are often measured by other's prejudices rather than our own merits.

On the flip side, I am guilty of the Fall Euphoria of College Football... and would be very disappointed if I were no longer able to take my family to the stadium on Saturday afternoon and root for my alma mater. I'll be honest, I'm really conflicted on this one.

THE RECAP

On Friday, I peered into my crystal football and came up with some predictions for select games on Saturday. I won't be able to do this every week, but this is a good time to see how my predictions went:

(12:00PM, ESPN) East Carolina at #9 Virginia Tech - In an emotional home opener, VT will dismantle the poor East Carolina Pirates.

VT only scored 2 touchdowns and one was by the defense on an interception. I was a little disappointed at how ESPN milked the massacre for ratings.

(3:30PM, NBC) Georgia Tech at Notre Dame - My beloved Yellow Jackets will travel to South Bend and finish what they started in their home opener of a year ago. We let the Funky Irish escape with a slim 14-10 win at the Flats, on Saturday, we will destroy the Irish and send their rebuilding season into disarray. Tech wins 31-14 and the Irish will finally break their 9-year losing streak in post-season bowl games, since they won't be going to one after this season.

I was more ON than off with this one... Tech won 33-3, with Notre Dame playing everyone but the locker room janitor at QB in the loss. I stand by my prediction that the Irish will not be playing in the post-season.

(6:45PM, ESPN2) Oklahoma State at #13 Georgia - The Bulldawgs are hosting an opponent from the Big 12 conference. This will be another opportunity for the SEC to demonstrate its dominance in college football: Georgia wins 24-10.

The Cowboys were amazingly stout during the first half, but they eventually wilted under the high pressure SEC defense of the Bulldawgs. UGA won 35-14 by holding OK State scoreless in the second half.

(7:45PM, ESPN) Kansas State at #18 Auburn - My brother-in-law played for the purple and white Wildcats from the Big 12 conference, we'll see pretty early on why he should've played for a school in the SEC! I expect the Auburn Tigers to take care of business and give the SEC a 2-0 win over Big 12 opponents on Saturday: Auburn wins big 45-14.

Kansas State hung in there and made a game of it, but they loss to Auburn by a score of 23-13. I am a bit surprised at Auburn's lack of offense.

(8:00PM, ABC) #15 Tennessee at #12 California - Loosen your belt for some dessert as this nightcap will be very sweet. UT is heading out west and their starting QB has an injured thumb on his throwing hand, I was expecting an upset at Cal, but I think the Golden Bears will hold off the Volunteers and pull off a close win. Cal wins 24-21. Damn, that warm banana pudding went down good.

DAMN! I wasn't expecting a West Coast ScoreFest, but Tennessee couldn't keep up with the Golden Bears and lost 45-31. The game was closer than the score indicates, but Cal was able to keep the lead they secured in the first half.

(Monday, ESPN) #19 Florida State at Clemson - College football gives the NFL the boot on ESPN's Labor Day version of Monday Night Football in a classic ACC Showdown, pitting father (Bobby Bowden of Florida State) against son (Tommy Bowden of Clemson). Even though, Florida State and Daddy have owned Clemson of late, it is about time for Clemson to make a run at returning to respectability. This is going to be a close one because Florida State is coming off of 2 down years, as well. I expect an old-fashioned southern fried barn burner: Clemson pulls the upset under the lights in Death Valley 31-30.

This game is tomorrow evening.

Until next week...