Student body right........student body wrong  

I was right about South Florida. Welcome to the big time Mr. Leavitt. South Florida’s performance on Friday night was nothing short of dominating. The offense did just enough to win the game (Matt Grothe can lead my team any day), but the story was definitely the South Florida defense. The Bulls absolutely shut down the vaunted West Virginia running game for the second straight year, and even knocked star QB Pat White out of the game. It is just shocking to me that guys like Ben Moffit (who proclaimed his Butkus Award candidacy) and Trae Williams were not recruited harder by bigger programs, and a kid like Matt Grothe is leading the South Florida Bulls while both Florida State and Miami would KILL to have him under center. The South Florida performance was so good, it almost overshadowed my receiving the most formal, and strange, challenge for a fist fight in the history of the world by some lunatic drunk guy at the bar I was watching the game at. Needless to say with Frazier and the rest of the323 posse grabbing my back there was never any threat of real danger, but this maniac certainly did put a damper on an otherwise awesome evening of football.....seriously this guy's desire to get his ass kicked by me was insane. He attacked the two other biggest guys in the bar just to get a shot at me before being thrown out. I don't even think rolling with Phil Loadholt would have slowed this guy down.

I was wrong about Clemson. Let’s be clear, I am NOT giving up on my boy Cullen. In fact his gritty performance in the face of an intense pass rush and a myriad of dropped passes only made me have more respect for him. But on Saturday we learned that there is nothing special about this Clemson team. It’s just the same old thing for Tommy Bowden and company. Clemson had absolutely everything going for them going into this game. Their star tailback duo was finally on track, and the Yellowjackets were reeling coming off two straight losses. When Clemson scored an early TD to take the lead, it looked like goodnight GTech. Of course an idiotic and undisciplined penalty took the TD away, and the Tigers didn’t sniff the endzone the rest of the night. Tommy Bowden was outcoached, outclassed, and outdone in every facet of the game. His team looked unprepared, undisciplined, and just plain awful. But hey, should this really be a surprise to any of us.

I was right about California. I had a sneaking suspicion they were for real. More impressively, I was right about DeSean Jackson. I believe it was Frazier who mocked my selection of the diminutive Bear receiver as my Pac-10 offensive player of the year, but who’s laughing now. John David Booty has been thoroughly pedestrian, and Dennis Dixon was flat out beat by the supremely talented Jackson. Jackson had a monster day, hauling in 11 passes for over 160 yards and 2 TD (and that doesn’t even take into account all the punts sailed out of bounds in good field position thanks to his threat as a return man). Not since Braylon Edwards have we seen such a monster performance in a big game. Jackson was clearly the best player on the field, and was the difference in the game. California is going to be very tough to beat this year so long as Jackson stays healthy and Justin Forsett keeps running tough. Their matchup with USC looms larger and larger…..let’s just hope the Trojans don’t look past the Ducks when they visit Autzen.

I was wrong about Alabama. This team has a bright future under Nick Saban, but they aren’t ready yet. They have some pieces in place, but this team is just too young to compete consistently, especially on the offensive side of the football. John Parker Wilson has his moments, but his OL is still maturing, and they give up way too many sacks. On defense, you can see the talent, but the unit is just not capable of putting together a full game performance (even in the win against Arkansas the defense disappeared for nearly a quarter and a half). Florida State is nothing great, let’s make that clear, but they had more than enough veterans on that team to win the game fairly easily at home.
I was right about Anthony Morigami. Three picks against Illinois in a game the Lions absolutely HAD to have….including the third on the last play of the game inside the Illini 10. Seriously, this guy is the biggest choke artist since John Cooper. You can’t make this stuff up.

I was wrong about Florida and Auburn. And if I might quote Ron Burgendy, “I’m not even mad….that’s amazing.” The bottom line is that Auburn’s coaching staff delivered one of the all time greatest gameplans against a team they had no business hanging around with much less beating. Three true freshman starters on the offensive line? No problem, Al Borges will just attack the Gator defense with a slew of three step drops and take advantage of the inexperienced corners. Worried about all the Gator weapons on offense? No problem, Will Muschamp will commit 8 guys to the line of scrimmage and turn the Gators offense into a one trick pony (Tebow accounted for nearly 90% of Florida’s offensive yards). I don’t care how good someone is, one player cannot beat a team. And finally, Tommy Tubberville my hat is off to you. That decision to go for the TD on 4th and goal, already up a score showed a lot of intestinal fortitude. I think most coaches would have taken the 10-0 lead. I was unaware Tommy had the stones for that one.

I was right about Boston College. Seriously, could I have asked for a better year to purchase season tickets? I think not. Although next year I think I’ll try to get some seats in the shade.