What We Learned on College Football’s Opening Night

The first night of college football went off without any major surprises last night, whetting our appetite for a full slate of games on Saturday. As we go through the initial weekend, we have to remember that it’s week one, and no one is probably as good as they seem, and no one is probably as bad as they seem.

Case in point: Oregon gets rocked last year by Boise State on the opening Thursday night of the year, while also losing Mike Tyson LaGarette Blount for the season. Some thought the Ducks were already food for the slaughter, but the club responded with a Pac-10 title.

Here are a few casual observations from the several games that I watched. I’m not one to toot my own horn, but I must admit that my channel surfing skills are in midseason form.

Nice win for the Utes. What about the camo? (cbsnews.com)

Utah: Rowdy Fans, Weird Camo
It seemed the opening night crowd that threw off its opponent the most was in Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Salt Lake City. Pitt had several pre-snap penalties, which seemed to be created by the boisterous Utes fans. True, the Panthers were starting a new QB, but who would have thought a mormon dominated crowd could create so many problems?

And what about Utes’ coach Kyle Wittingham using the tiemout-at-the-last second trick twice on Pitt’s kicker at the end of regulation. It worked once, but the second time he outsmarted himself. I wonder if college or the NFL will make a rule to stop this in the future? While the OT victory over Pitt was impressive, the weird blue/aqua camouflage Under Armour some of the Utes players were sporting is questionable at best.

South Carolina: The Real Deal?
SC rolls over Southern Miss in the annual ‘South Carolina on ESPN to open the year’ bit. One week and a few playmaking freshmen later, it looks like Spurrier may have put together a solid team. While Cock fans (not a homosexual slur) shouldn’t get too excited about a victory over a middle of the road C-USA team from last year, Southern Miss typically plays the tougher teams on its schedule fairly well. We’ll see how the ol’ ball coach and QB Stephen Garcia respond once they get into the meat of their schedule.

Best Game of the Night: In Birmingham?
While most people probably skipped over the Florida Atlantic-UAB game on the schedule, we missed out on a good old fashioned barnburner. Despite UAB’s 345 rushing yards, Howard Schnellenberger’s FAU team came back from 16 down to win 32-31. The Owls blocked a potential game-winning 28-yard field goal as time expired, leading Schnellenberger to spout out some celebratory grunts.

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