Damn...week one...I'm not making excuses...week one is traditionally a bookie week. I was anxious to get started and jumped the gun by posting my picks early, and it ended in disaster. Thank god in real life I had UCLA and Auburn to bail me out.
Notre Dame really struggled on offense on the road. Georgia Tech really showed some heart as a team, and despite losing-really impressed me with their defensive reads and also did a great job of ball control and small ball on offense. I'll be looking for them to squeak a few close ones out this season against good teams. Hopefully, it won't be at my expense next time.
North Carolina lost at home. In retrospect, I can only blame myself for not doing my homework here. Rutgers isn't the same team it was last year, their running backs are blue chippers. I watched in horror as these guys demoralized a solid NC front line in front of their home crowd. Stick to basketball, Tarheels.
South Carolina was my only lock this week, and they really played hard defense and got a key turnover to solidify the win. However, I can't really endorse the Game****s as a threat in the SEC until I see some offense. Steve Spurrier is known for the run n gun style he patented in Florida. After a failed tenure in the NFL, and last season's shortcomings in South Carolina, Spurrier really needs to employ some vertical passing into the offense-or they are destined to suffer losses to mediocre teams.
Boston College played the role of bookie's best friend this week, solidly outplaying Central Michigan thru the first half, only to become complacent in the second-allowing C. Mich to climb back into the game. In the process, Cetral Micigan still takes a loss, but they exposed a fatigued secondary and porous defensive line in B.C. that may rear it's head in Big East play later down the line for the Eagles.
Expect a big rebound in the coming week. NCAA doesn't have a preseason, and this weekend was a first glimpse into battlefield for these warriors. We have now seperated hope from hype (Cal, I'm looking in your direction), and we know who has suspect defense (Buckeyes, don't blink, that #1 slot could easily be gone soon), and we know how the new rule changes will play out. Next week, I won't be looking into crystal balls, I won't be staring at buckets of past statistics thru foggy lenses, I will have hard data and instinct to rely on. (But I didn't need that to tell ya, West Viginia is gonna score a lot of points.)
