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.