Who Needs a Home When You Got The Swamp!

To the right is a picture of Rick & me at The Swamp for the opening game against Hawaii. Rick is homeless as a result of a fire that burned down his beautiful house in Ft. Lauderdale last week. I am also homeless as a result of a flood that drove me and Rhonda out of our lake home in Orlando last week. Both of us will be out of our respective homes for months. Thursday I called Rick who was in North Carolina on business and after he told me about his fire and I told him about my flood, I told him I had an extra ticket to the Gator's opening game against Hawaii, would he like to come? Like a true Bull Gator, he not only said, "Yes!!!" But "Heck, YES!!!!!!!!! I'm changing my flight to Orlando as we speak". So I picked him up at the airport and we headed to Gator Country. Who needs a home when you got The Swamp?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!

1st Weekend Recap

• Trojans-- The Trojans dismantled the Virginia Cavaliers 52-7 @ Virginia. QB Sanchez put on a commanding performance. He was 26 for 35 for 338 yards with three picture-perfect touchdown drives in the first 11 minutes. Then the Trojan offense hit warp drive and made the hyperspace jump. I hate to see what would have happened if Sanchez had not hurt his knee a couple of weeks earlier. Obviously he's 100%. The Trojan "D" was utterly dominating. Congrats, cousins, it looks like a great season coming right up.
• LSU Tigers -- The defending national champs easily took care of last year's Cinderella Appy State beating them 41-13 for the home opener @ Baton Rouge. The Tigers essentially ran the ball at will. Charles Scott rushed for a career high 160 yards on 16 carries. LSU looked like a steamroller rolling over the poor Moutaneers... while the steamroller driver ate a sandwich and spoke on his cell phone. Congrats, Luisleon, you got a couple of easy off-conference games coming up and then dum da dum da daaa... the SEC will come knocking at your door. Enjoy it while you can.
• Iowa Hawkeyes-- The Hawkeyes crushed the Maine Blackbears 46-3. Like LSU, the Hawkeyes ran the ball at will and ended with a total 245 yards rushing. Congrats, Ted!!! Good luck the rest of the season.
• Gators-- It was a windy and rainy day at The Swamp thanks to Hurricane Gustav and the Gators breezed through Hawaii 56-10 without breaking a sweat. It was an interesting game (if you're a Gator). Florida was without some of it's principal weapons on both sides of the ball. Heisman candidate wideout Percy Harvin stayed on the sidelines because of a sore heel and All -SEC middle linebacker and defensive leader Brandon Spikes also sat it out (sore toe). Veteran TE Aaron Hernadez also sat it out, not sure why. I think Meyer wanted to let some of the freshmen play. Tebow never took off his Clark Kent suit and played with one hand tied behind his back. At the beginning it almost looked like a scrimmage as Tebow kept handing off to a number of brand new running backs to let them stretch their legs with all the urgency of a backyard barbecue game of tag football. Then the running backs warmed up and between them, the defense, and special teams, the Gators put up 42 points in about 15 dazzling minutes. During those blinding moments, Brandon James returned a punt 74 yards to the house, Strong Safety Ahmad Black returned an interception 80 yards to paydirt and various and sundry running backs kept dazzling the home crowd with incredible speed as they crossed the goal line untouched. While the Gators scored at will, I got the following text message from Jason: "Dad, you realize that all our points have come from 1. Defense 2. Running backs. Urban's genius is beyond my comprehension... he is toying with them." Jason is right, of course. We barely opened our playbook. There's no tape for Miami or Tennessee to watch. We just ran a Saturday afternoon scrimmage. Toward the end of the game Hawaii finally scored a field goal against our third-string D (after the first attempt was blocked by our second string) and then a last minute touchdown after the Gator D bench had been completely emptied. By then our defensive coordinator Charlie Strong had taken off his headset and was chatting with our offensive coordinator Dan Mullen who had come down from his box. The game had been turned over to the graduate assistants and the big boys were just shooting the breeze, enjoying the breeze.
• Texas A&M Aggies-- Pete, my heart goes out to you, buddy. You guys still have some rebuilding ahead of you. Arkansas State 18, Texas A&M 14.

Party Animals

I hope the University of Florida can overcome their hangovers to play in today's "big" game. Now, among their many awards and accolades, they have been named the #1 party school in the country. Best of luck and better have some hair of the dog.

Good Times in JAX

All I can say is "WOW"! To meet the infamous LuisLeon and Joaq was an amazing adventure! Good times, good food, good wine (too much of it obviously if I was singing the praises of TT @ the end of the night) and great camaraderie! And to think it all was due to the blog and the love of our schools. Unbelievable! Anyway, I, the token Aggie, am ready for the CFB season to kickoff. Now many of you think the season has started since the Pac 1 + 9 played a game already, but the real season starts when the 12th man comes out onto Kyle Field, sending the students into a frenzy and tees it up! That, my friends, is when CFB starts! I'm looking forward to the beginning of the Coach Sherm era (have I said good riddance to Coach Fran yet?) and the Aggies winning the Big 12 South! That's right baby, shock the world...or the majority of the South! Can't wait to meet up with more fellow bloggers at a tailgate/game of our choice! Good luck to all and of course, Gig 'Em!

Welcome Ted!

Just wanted to say that, yes, blame me for the invitation of a Big 10 fan. Actually, I used to be one when I was young and living in Michigan. Truth be told, I secretly sometimes root for Michigan when playing certain teams (that shall remain nameless) represented by this blog . Suffice it to say, Ted is a fine balance to the south-and-west-bottom-heaviness of the blog. This will be a fun season and I am looking forward to the beginning of college football. Great to have you, Ted, with us in this Band of College Football Brothers and Sisters.

How do I get an Iowa banner up at the top of the blog?

Thanks for the invite. Happy to join the fellowship. Blame Nora for me being here, but I was wondering if it would be too much to ask to get some Big Ten representation on the e-masthead up there. Just floating a balloon here, but wondering about an Iowa banner. If I've already overstepped my welcome, again, blame Nora. She also suggested I voice my feelings that the Big Ten conference is the premiere athletic conference in the nation, but that's no way to make friends when just stepping into this big tent. Cheers, Ted Hawkeye

The Power of The Blog to Bring Us Together!

The last two days were fantastic and a testament to the power of our blog. I was doing a case in the panhandle of Florida and remembered that the famous Cuban Cajun, Luisleon, lived in the vicinity. I emailed him that I was at the Marriott Baypoint resort in Panama City Beach and he promptly replied that he was ten minutes away, shutting down his computer, and jumping in his speedy beemer so please have a cold one waiting at the waterfront bar. I complied and soon we were chugging cold ones, eating sushi, and generally having such a noisy blast that we came darn close to being kicked out of the bar (all the fault of the ragin cajun). We called Vic and put him on speaker so the whole bar could hear our wild trash talk. The party continued the next day when Luisleon and I took off on a four-hour road trip to Jacksonville. I had a case there the next day and Luisleon came up with some lame excuse about a corporate meeting in Jax so we could continue the adventure. We checked into the Hyatt Grand Riverside and soon Luisleon was quaffing martinis (I was drinking skim milk) at the bar. We were beginning to make dinner plans when I got an email from Natalie who was in Sacramento. As usual, I replied "to all" that I was at a bar in Jax with Luisleon. Instantly the famous "Aggie Twelf Man", Pete Dunn, emailed back saying that he had just bogeyed the 17th hole at Sawgrass, just down the road at beautiful Ponte Vedra Beach. Soon the ragin Cuban Cajun and I were cruising down AIA to meet Dunn and his clients at Ruth Chris' Steakhouse. Now, I must take a moment to set the record straight: I was stone cold sober (having only had milk) as we drove toward Ponte Vedra. Luisleon, on the other hand, was utterly out of control. He was so wild that he picked up my blackberry and started texting and emailing other blog members (principally Victor) from my blackberry. The fact that he started using my bb instead of his own bb which he had in his other hand is conclusive proof of his state of mind (or unmind) so, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, please ignore the rantings that came from my blackberry on the evening of August 26th. They were clearly the product of a demented cajun. Pete and two of his clients (one was another lsu cajun --"Skeeter", the other a nc tarheel) were waiting for us at the bar. I ordered another milk. Pete was a wonderful and generous host. We had a superb dinner and notwithstanding our protestations and attempts to pick up the tab, Pete had made prior arrangements and treated us all to a veritable feast of the finest food and drink, even rare California wines which, to maintain my sobriety, I sadly abstained from drinking. We really got to know each other after dinner at the bar (where I continued to have milk) and had so much fun that we closed the place down. When we looked up all other customers had left the joint (or were driven out by the wild rantings of my fellow bloggers --specially the cajuns). We were all so captured by the moment that we even pledged to visit College Station together and Pete got so sentimental and teary-eyed that he even praised Tim Tebow and called him the best QB in the history of the world!!!!!

First Games - Coming Right Up!

The First Games of the principal blog participants are, in order of kickoff time:

1. August 30th 12:30PM Eastern/9:30AM Pacific: UF v Hawaii @ The Swamp
2. August 30th 3:30PM Eastern/12:30PM Pacific: USC v UVa @ Virginia
3. August 30th 5:00PM Eastern/4:00PM Central: LSU v App State @ Death Valley
4. August 30th 7:00PM Eastern/6:00PM Central: Tex A&M v Ark St @Coll Station

Check your local stations for TV listings - unless you're headed to the game.

To Rob-Tiff, Jason-Ashley, John, Brother Rick, The Jenkins Clan and Other Assorted Gators

If you haven't checked Coach Urban Meyer's Gator Football website lately (Different that Gatorzone.com - the official site), it's been tweaked some more and it's really awesome. The latest update is streaming Gator band music. There's an awful lot of video and audio content so you need a very high speed connection and the latest version of Adobe Flash Player. It's worth checking. Click here: Coach Urban Meyer

Check Out The Pump Up Videos To The Right & Get Crankin'!

To the right are some college football pump up videos. Click on any of the clips, crank up the sound, and feel your summer-weary heart come alive with the sights and sounds of fall. And, Victor, specially for you, click above on the title of this posting "Check Out..." for a real nifty embedded bonus video. Also, attached is a Texas A & M 2008 Pump Up Video for Pete Dunn. All Pete has to do to view the video is click on: A&M Oh, what the heck, I've gone video crazy. Below are some more videos. Just click on the name of your team for another video: Trojans LSU Tigers Gators

What's With The Injuries?

Like So Cal, and a number of the other top teams, the Gators have been plagued with pre-season injuries. We've lost five players for the season with torn ACLs in the last couple of weeks. First we lost two safeties who would have seen a lot of playing time. This is a position where we don't have much depth. Although what we have is very good, including Will Hill, a five star incoming freshman out of NJ who was ranked by ESPN as the top safety recruit in the country and the top athlete overall by Rivals. Hill is going to have to grow up in a hurry because Urban in going to throw him into the thick of it right away. We also have veteran safety Major Wright returning and he has garnered a lot of accolades as a leading tackler. On offense the most significant loss was senior TE Cornelius Ingram "C.I." He is a super athlete who played in the national championship team two years ago and passed up a high draft in the NFL to come back with the Gators for his senior year. What is it about the Gators & UF that so many top athletes are willing --even eager-- to pass up NFL and NBA millions just to hang one more year around our beautiful campus?? Unlike Fayetteville, Gainesville is obviously a very difficult place to leave. In any event, I can't wait for the season to begin. If only to stop these crazy preseason losses.

L.A. Struck by QB Injury Virus

Bloggers, First it was UCLA (the "other" school in town) that was struck by major injuries. One of last year's starting QBs (Patrick Cowan) went down with a severe knee injury in spring practice and will be lost for the season. Then, the other starter from last year (Ben Olson) fractured a bone in his foot, underwent surgery on Monday, and will be out 2 months, meaning, in the best case scenario, he will miss the Bruins' first 5 games. Disaster!! The LA Times this morning pictured the 3 quarterbacks who will be vying for the starting position and I had not heard of one of them, including a Junior College transfer. The Bruins are in deep trouble. Next, SC's Mark Sanchez dislocated his kneecap last week. He is listed as day-to-day, although it sounds more serious than earlier reported. He is set to be examined by the team doctor tomorrow. We shall see. In the meantime, waiting in the wings are Sophomore Mitch Mustain, the highly touted transfer from Arkansas (yes, the same Arkansas from the SEC). After leading the Razorbacks to an 8-0 start, Houston Nutt (who has gone nuts) benched him and Mustain left Fayettville (which sounds like a great place to leave). Many thought, at the time, that Mustain had made a terrible mistake in transferring to SC, since the Trojans were loaded at QB. Now, if Sanchez falters or cannot come back strong from his injury, Mustain will look like a genius since he will be handed the reigns of the offense of one of the top 5 teams in the country. He is not alone because battling him for the starting job right now is none other than Aaron Corp, a 6-5 super-freshman (red shrit) who guided local high school powerhouse Orange Lutheran ( I love our Lutheran brethren) to the California State Championship when he was a Senior. Enough about L.A. What about Baton Rouge? College Station? Luisleon and Pete Dunn; you guys have to give us the low-down about your respective schools. Let us put some wings on this old blog and have it take to the sky. What do you say, Tigers and Aggies? The season is only 16 days away. Take care and stay strong. Victor