Week One Knockout

There are few things that give me butterflies, sleepless nights, and anxiety all at the same time. Christmas Eve, the birth of my son, big auditions, first dates with a BAD Deal(fine woman in my lingo), and opening day in College Football. Last night the games didn't live up to the hype i built up in my mind, but the post game did!
Lets start on the field. #19 Utah opened their season against in-state rival Utah St. with big questions to answer. Could coach Kyle Winningham replace 11 starters that included Sugar Bowl winning qb Brian Johnson. Can they go undefeated and play in a BCS bowl game, back to back? Well, if week one is any indicator, the answers are yes, and YES! JC transfer qb Terrence Cain threw for 286 yds and 2 td's in the Utes 35-17 triumph over the Aggies. Brian Who?!!! While they did play Utah St. and not "Powerhouse St.", the Offense and Defense looked good for their first game of the year. With a game at #16 Oregon(not for long), and home games against #17 TCU and #20 BYU on their schedule, the Utes will have a few hurdles to jump, but im gonna do what 'Franchise' Players do and call it now. Utah Utes 10-2, lol. Sorry Mormons :-(.
We also had our annual SEC(Severely Embelished Conference) opener. Steve Spurrier's always overrated South Carolina team, versus ACC bottom feeder NC State. Every year the talk is "Spurrier finally has a qb!", "Spurrier has got his total offensive package in, watchout!", and "The Old Ball Coach has SC lookin good this year." South Carolina 7-3 over NC State. Some game! Honestly, the most exciting thing about this game for me was Dave the Bartender at Essex(new restaurant on Hollywood Blvd., great beer and happy hour selection) explaining how The "Real Budweiser" is from the Czech Republic and how it came to be. The SEC will once again rely on Florida and Superman Tim Teabow, and sports writers from the south and east coast to argue that they are the toughest conference in the universe. Florida will be a Beast, Alabama will take a step back, LSU will lose 2 games, Ole Miss will be Ole Miss, Auburn will be the first team to ask if its possible to just play defense the whole time, and the rest of the SEC will continue to be glorified Big Sky teams. See how boring that game was, i started talking about it, then went to beer and everyone else in the conference. Awful.
And finally we had the game of the night: #14 Boise St. vs. #16 Oregon. Coming into the season there was plenty hype on both sides of this match-up. Can Boise St. bounce back from their 12-1 season(i know it sounds stupid to say "bounce back" from a one loss season, but when you're in the WAC and you want to play in the BCS you can't lose a game, tough cookies!) and go undefeated? Can Oregon(a notoriously slow starter) open the season against a WAC team that should be in the Pac -10 and handle business with new coach Chip Kelly calling the shots? What will 17td scoring RB Legarrette Blount and Jr. quarterback Jeremiah Masoli do for an encore? Well, if you're a Boise St fan you couldnt be happier, not only did they beat Oregon(the only top 25 ranked team on their schedule), they humiliated them. The 18-9 score didn't tell the story. Seeing Masoli look flustered and under pressure all night, Blount consistently being tackled behind the line of scrimmage, was the real indicator. With QB Kellen Moore leading the offense, that almost SEC speed defense, and the frightening blue turf of Bronco Stadium, im again callin my shot! Franchise Lock: 12-0, BCS bowl appearance for the Broncos. You heard it here first!
As for the Ducks, last nights loss should've been a learning experience and a stepping stone to a 10-2/9-3 season. However, after last nights drubbing Legarrette Blount lost his natural mind while walking off the field amidst taunts and trash talking, and sucker punched LB Byron Hout. Blount then proceeded to push his teammates that were trying to calm him down, and in a move that felt eerily like Ron Artest's night at the Palace, tried to rush the stands to fight fans. This morning Blount, a potential 1st round draft pick was suspened for the remainder of the season. He will still be on scholarship and will be allowed to continue to get his education. I commend the University of Oregon for taking swift action and not putting football over sportsmanship and responsibilty. I also commend them for allowing the young man to continue to pursue an education, if he so wishes to. That being said, Oregon lost a game and a season in one night. I give them maybe 8 wins.
As for Blount, let me get on my 'soapbox' for a minute. Too often we as people make knee-jerk reactions, we cuss-out the driver that cut us off, we assume and make asses out ourselves, we get intoxicated and think driving is a good idea. Last night Blount cost his team wins, and he and his family MILLIONS, and for what? So what the dude was talking trash to you and you aint no punk. I'd rather be a punkass millionaire, than a Fed-ex delivery man with a nice left. Damn!!!