College Football Season Shaping Up Nicely

Good stuff around the country today. We got to escape wedding planning festivities for at least a little bit and grab some beers for the back-end of the UT/OU game. By the way, seriously on the Red River Rivalry? Can we call off the political correctness police? Enough is enough. Shootout. Red. River. Shootout.

Anyway, we came away impressed with UT, obviously. We also like McCoy, in general. Just a solid football player, great competitor, good feel for the game, touch kid… Basically, every cliche in the book works pretty well for this guy. Great win for Oklahoma St. at Mizzou as well. That said, we’ve watched a lot of Florida this year and that is a team that still gets our nod as best in the country.

The Gators remind us a heck of a lot of last year’s SC team. They’ve already lost to a team they clearly should have beat – at home no less. Given the SEC, they could lose again. But talent-wise I don’t see anyone else who really matches up with this team. Their speed on defense, the number of weapons on offense, it’s a scary package. Yes, that’s why they play the game. We’re just saying.

Meanwhile, Penn St. has also done absolutely everything you could possibly ask of them. After a few national TV appearances, it was clear this was a very, very good Nittany Lions team. However, I was still not expecting Joe Pa’s crew to roll into Camp Randall and dominate Wisco the way they did tonight. Big-time win. Big-time team.

All of these developments make for interesting viewing. It also makes a few games in the near-future pop onto my radar with even more intrigue surrounding them:

Next weekend: Mizzou in Austin against Texas
Everything says things should be in favor of the ‘Horns here. All the momentum coming off win over OU. Back at home in Austin against a team that just took a big uppercut at home from Ok St. I still think this is going to be a tight game. Very tight. What’s worse, even should the ‘Horns stay undefeated following next weekend battle against the Tigers, it’s not like the road clears for smooth sailing the rest of the way. UT’s schedule is BRU-TAL.

10/25: Penn St. in Columbus against Ohio St.
A national TV game under the lights in Columbus will have Terrell Pryor under the spotlight like never before. It will also tell us a whole heckuva a lot about the Nittany Lions. The Buckeyes are clearly not what they’ve been in past years. If Penn St. is all I think they may be, this game will go a long way towards proving it.

11/8: Alabama in Baton Rouge against LSU
‘Bama has dropped their last five to LSU. Assuming they can navigate Ole Miss, Tenn and Arkansas St. over the next three week, the Bayou Bengals will be the biggest obstacle in the Tide’s path to a real shot at the national title.

We’re starting to get fired up about college football season. It’s that time where enough has shaken out that there’s at least a bit of a picture starting to develop. Now, we see where the pieces of the puzzle start to fit…and keep an eye out for those games that can f it all up.