Dave Sez

Opening Weekend

I can't believe opening weekend of college football is here! Normally, I would have been getting fired up all week and would have put out a decent preview. Instead, I've been watching and reading about the troubles in New Orleans and Mississippi. Kind of makes football seem insignificant, huh?

That distraction led to my completely missing that Wake's opener was not this weekend, but last night. Fortunately, regular poster Deacon chimed in with his displeasure with coach Jim Grobe.

A quick run through of the other games (trusting the handy helmet schedule hanging on my wall):

Boston College @ BYU - Tricky opener for the team that many pick as a sleeper in the Atlantic division this year. Or is it the Coastal? The Conference Division, maybe? Anyway, BYU is always a tough team and that's a long way to travel.

Clemson vs. Texas A&M - A pretty juicy inter-conference matchup! The #17 Aggies are slight favorites, but Clemson can beat anyone in Death Valley. This would be a great early win for the ACC (and perennially beleaguered Tommy Bowden).

Duke @ East Carolina - The battle for champion of the state!!!! Or something. I don't think this is the matchup the Pirates were looking for when they strong armed the state legislature.

Florida State @ Miami (Monday) - Already? Damn, that's early. It should be a hell of a game, but honestly I don't know what to expect from either team. Both mildly underachieved last year and both have critical new pieces, including their quarterbacks. If I had to guess, I'd go with the Canes at home. On a missed field goal.

Georgia Tech @ Auburn - Actually, this is a pretty good weekend of football, huh? Nice opportunity for the Yellow Jackets, but I have a hard time seeing them pull this one out. Keep in mind though that they may have the best QB, RB, WR combo in the ACC with Reggie Ball, P.J. Daniels and Calvin Johnson

Maryland vs. Navy - The boys on boats are still upset about an egregious middle finger flipped by an angry Terp forty years ago. I guess those midshipmen are a bit more sensitive than I would have guessed from the "cuss like a sailor" cliche. Something tells me that the rallying cry of avenging that bird isn't going to be enough against Fridge's boys.

NC State vs. Virginia Tech (Sunday) - The second-best intraconference game of the weekend. Tech is getting a lot of national and regional love, largely because of the surprising success last year and the return of Marcus Vick. I guess those pundits forget that Vick wasn't very good when he last played two seasons ago. If he didn't learn something during his one-year hiatus for impersonating R Kelly, he's gonna eat a lot of dirt courtesy of State's NFL-quality D-line. Don't be surprised if the Wolfpack makes it two wins in a row over the Hokies.

Virginia vs. Western Michigan - Something tells me that you won't be seeing the full offensive and defensive packages from Al Groh this weekend.

Wake Forest vs. Vanderbilt - This should be a competitive game and I see Wake pulling it out in the end. What's that? Oh yeah, they already played and the Commodores won. Oh well. Maybe Wake should find the bottom feeder of a weaker conference to play.

Have a great Labor Day weekend and enjoy your football! And if you have a second, head over the Network For Good and send a donation for Katrina relief.