College Football: Only 5 Games Highlight Week One, Another 29 Must Win Their Opener

Ah, finally, the first start of the 2008 NCAA college football season begins on Thursday (8-28-08) with 14 games scheduled, followed by 2 games on Friday, 55 games on Saturday, 2 more on Sunday and 2 on Monday. The most interesting game for the opening night is the one between Buffalo and Texas-El Paso (UTEP).

Two years ago, Turner Gill took over as Buffalo’s head coach. He only went 2-10 his freshman year, but he defeated Kent State University, the FIRST team with a winning record the Bulls had beaten in 8 years. Buffalo had been a doormat in the NCAA for far too long.

Gill’s Bulls went 5-7 last year and 5-3 in the Mid-American Conference, Buffalo’s first conference winning record since the Bulls became a Division I-A school. Gill was named MAC Coach of the Year. Turner Gill was part of 3 national championships as a coach at Nebraska, and his positive influence on Buffalo is becoming apparent.

UTEP is interesting because of Mike Price, the former Washington State University head coach who led the Cougars for 14 years, compiling three 10-win seasons (he was 20-5 in his last two seasons) and 5 appearances. in bowls.

Alabama signed Price away from Washington state, but he never coached the Crimson Tide due to an off-field incident that resulted in a lawsuit Price won against Sports Illustrated. Price led UTEP to two straight 8-4 seasons and two bowl appearances, but then had back-to-back 5-7 and 4-8 seasons.

The Buffalo-UTEP game is the more interesting game because Turner Gill and Buffalo are going to continue to climb the ladder of success, or Mike Price and UTEP are going to come back. One coach will win and another will lose in this matchup. We will let you know what happens if you lose the results in the tube.

Here are my picks for the other 4 games of real interest this week, two of which involve teams ranked in the AP Preseason Top 25 Poll.

Nick Saban begins his sophomore year at Alabama (ranked 24th) by traveling to Clemson (ranked 9th) for his first game. This wasn’t what he had in mind when he signed with the Crimson Tide, but then again, this is the SEC, aka (also known as) the suicidal energy conference. Clemson of the Atlantic Coast Conference could be a problem with a capital T.

The Big 12 Missouri Tigers (No. 6) will host Illinois (No. 20) of the Big Ten. Coach Gary Pinkel’s Tigers went 12-2 last year and crushed Arkansas 38-7 in the Cotton Bowl. Heisman Trophy finalist Chase Daniel will return as the Tigers’ quarterback.

All Daniel did last year was throw for 4,300% 2B yards and 33 TD passes and he compiles a QB rating of 147.9 (this is not a typo).

The other two standout games find Colorado State traveling to Colorado for in-state bragging rights (this is no way to start the season for either team), and Mark Dantonio’s Michigan State Spartans traveling to California. As an MSU alumnus, I’d like to remind Dantonio that he’ll be facing much tougher teams than California this season, such as Ohio State (No. 2), Michigan, Wisconsin (No. 13) and Penn State (No. 22).

Here are 21 teams ranked in the AP Poll that must win their opener to justify their preseason ranking:

Georgia (No. 1) hosts 1-AA Georgia Southern. Although this is an in-state rivalry, I highly doubt Georgia is going to lose this game, especially if the Bulldogs plan on winning the BCS National Championship game this year.

Ohio State (No. 2) hosts AA Youngstown State. Buckeye coach Jim Tressel led Youngstown State to 4 I-AA national titles and 6 other playoff berths while coaching at Youngstown State, and he hasn’t forgotten where he came from, giving Youngstown State a huge payday that otherwise they would not enjoy.

Southern California (USC) (No. 3) travels to Virginia.

Oklahoma (No. 4) hosts AA Chattanooga. Are you serious, mate? I wouldn’t want to be the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Florida (No. 5) hosts Hawaii. Congrats to Hawaii on facing a quality Top 5 team on the road in their opener.

Louisiana State (LSU) (No. 7) hosts Appalachian State. Last year, 1-AA Appalachian State made its Big House debut in Ann Arbor, defeating the heavily favored Michigan Wolverines. Trust me when I say Appalachian State is not going to sneak up on LSU.

West Virginia (No. 8) hosts AA Villanova. Rich Rodriguez left West Virginia last year for a bigger job in Michigan. Good luck, West Virginia.

Auburn (No. 10) hosts Louisiana-Monroe.

Texas (No. 11) hosts Florida Atlantic. Florida Atlantic could take a beating.

Texas Tech (No. 12) hosts AA East Washington. Eastern Washington could find out what a passing attack is in college football. Eastern Washington has no chance of winning this game. Last year, the Texas Tech Red Raiders were No. 1 nationally in passing offense, No. 2 in total offense, No. 4 in passing efficiency offense and No. 6 in scoring offense. The game will end before it starts. Even prayer won’t help eastern Washington.

Wisconsin (No, 13) hosts Akron.

Kansas (No. 14) hosts Florida International. Florida International could be nothing more than a hit-and-run after this outing.

The state of Arizona (No. 15) hosts AA from Northern Arizona. Watch out Sun Devils, these in-state rivalries can be surprising.

Brigham Young (BYU) (No. 16) hosts AA Northern Iowa.

Virginia Tech (No. 17) travels to East Carolina.

Tennessee (No. 18) travels to UCLA. This game marks Rick Neuheisel’s debut as head coach of the Bruins following his “troubles” and his departure from the University of Washington. Neuheisel has some tests to do. Remember a guy named Norm Chow (think Southern California national championship team)? He is Neuheisel’s offensive coordinator. The defensive coordinator is a guy named DeWayne Walker. Let’s see if Neuheisel can put together a big upset and Game 1 win for the Bruins, Neuheisel’s alma mater.

South Florida (No. 19) hosts Tennessee-Martin. Can you believe South Florida was actually ranked #2 nationally last year?

Oregon (No. 21) hosts Washington. Could Tyrone Willingham’s Huskies find a way to win this game and start saving his coaching job in Washington?

Penn State (No. 22) hosts AA Coastal Carolina. Wow, I wouldn’t want to be Coastal Carolina.

Wake Forest (No. 23) travels to Baylor.

Pittsburgh (No. 25) hosts Bowling Green. Once again, former NFL coach Dave Wannstedt is trying to put his alma mater, the Pittsburgh Panthers, on the map as one of the top contenders this season.

Here are 8 more unranked teams (favorite teams first) that better win their opener if they hope to squat this year:

Arizona hosts Idaho.

Arkansas hosts AA Western Illinois.

Boise State hosts AA Idaho State.

Boston College travels to Kent State.

Connecticut hosts AA Hofstra.

Kansas State receives North Texas.

Michigan hosts Utah.

Nebraska receives western Michigan.

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley