Thursday, September 2, 2010

Back In The Saddle Again

Strike the band, wake up the mascot, clap your hands and cheer because College Football is BACK!

That's right folks it's the moment you've all been waiting for...the 2010 College Football Season, and it starts TONIGHT.

We kick things off with both USC's in action tonight.  The Carolina Gamecocks will take on the Southern Miss Golden Eagles at 7:30, while the So. Cal Trojans head to paradise to take on the Hawaii Warriors.  Both games should be pretty exciting, and may be closer than expected.

The Gamecocks have a history of coming out of the gates slow (like last years 7-3 win opener against NC State), and have a nack for letting undeserving jobbers hang around (like last years 14-10 win over Vandy or 2008's 23-13 win over Wofford).  Southern Miss could prove to be quite the formidable opponent, as they return some of their explosive offense from last season.  That includes Senior quarterback Martevious Young who finished last season with 1,861 passing yards and a passer rating of 145.70.  The Eagles also return Young's favorite target in DeAndre Brown, but believe me Stephon Gilmore will be up to the task.  The real task for the Gamecock defense will be replacing Eric Norwood.  Norwood was the heart of the spur defense, and the whole team for that matter.  On offense the pressure will be all on quarterback Stephen Garcia...as usual.  Hopefully Garcia can have a breakout season, and keep the ole ballcoach and Connor Shaw from breathing down his neck.  Be on the lookout for the patented Spurrier visor through tonight though.  It's early and mistakes are going to be made.  But breathe easy Carolina Fans.  I think Carolina is a way better team this year, and certainly more focused.  It's ridiculous that they don't have South Carolina ranked in the Top 25.  The Gamecock offense will prove too much for the Eagles' defense, and all will be well.  So get on your feet Carolina Fans for the Mighty Sound of the Southeast.

Now to the other USC.  After a swift roundhouse kick to the face from the Hokies in the Chik-Fil-A Bowl, Lane Kiffin tucked his tail and ran leaving Rocky Top high and dry.  Now he'll make his coaching debut with the evil empire of the west coast, and I hope its a miserable one.  I'm definitely not calling for an upset alert by any means, but it would be nice to see the scary Warrior mascot badger Kiffin with a spear or some steel drum mallets.  It definitely won't be an easy season for Kiffin after taking the reigns of the Trojans after the Watergate of College Football (I think Pete Carroll bolted even faster than Nixon though).  As for tonight we know the Trojan offense will score often, as the Warrior defense is traditionally as porous as a sponge cake.  Hawaii's offense though can rack up tons of points and tons of yards.  Hawaii has at least 2 quarterbacks (Timmy Chang and Colt Brennan) on the NCAA All-time passing list.   This season the pass-happy Warriors return Bryant Moniz, who threw for 2,396 yards last season.  The pineapple chunking Hawaii offense might make things interesting  if they can get things rolling against a nameless, faceless Trojan defense.  If nothing else the Warriors are guaranteed to look awesome even if they play horrible.  They've got sick colors with the Black and Green, and the tribal design accents in the uniforms place them high on the coolest uniforms list.  Plus the Under Armour logo looks almost like the Hawaii H, which ups the cool factor even more.  So Aloha Nui Loa to the Warriors.  Surfs up Bra!

Other than these two games we have some snoozefests going on.  (2) Ohio State takes on Marshall and (15) Pitt takes on an unkown Utah team.  Also we'll have a Sunshine State color war, as the thirteenth-ranked Miami Hurricanes take on the Florida A&M Rattlers in the clash of the Orange and Green.

So grab you some good ole Bar-B-Cue before the Carolina game (or box of Chicken from the best BoJangles in the Palmetto State in front of Williams-Brice Stadium), and get your Big Kahuna burgers ready for a midnight snack for the So Cal/Hawaii late game.

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