FanNation - The Republic of Sport

If week one is a reliable predictor of things to come, the 2008 college football season looks to be a little less off-the-wall than 2007. Last year, the games, coaching staffs, and poll and bowl results were all shook up, from the minute Appalachian State beat Michigan. With a few games remaining over the holiday weekend, this year's off to a fairly typical start.

The only truly extraordinary aspects of yesterday's game were some of the numbers on the scoreboard, but that's to be expected when powerhouses like LSU, Oklahoma and Penn State play opponents chosen to give them a W in week one. None of the "cupcakes" hired to sweeten some FBS schedules was this year's Appalachian State - even Appalachian State got pummeled by the defending D-I champs. And this year's Michigan looked a lot like last year's Michigan, once again losing its first game at home to an unranked, non-BCS team. The Wolverines loss to Utah was no big upset, however; Michigan, also unranked, wasn't really favored to win.

One of the games decided in a manner other than what most expected - but not really an upset - was East Carolina over Virginia Tech. Anyone watching the game, though, shouldn't have been too surprised at the outcome as the teams seemed fairly evenly matched the entire time.

The story in that game, as in many of this week's games, was, pretty typically, about the quarterback and special teams.

Questions at QB

• Fifth-year senior Sean Glennon won the job at VT when sophomore Tyrod Taylor was red-shirted last week. I admit, that one definitely threw me for a loop, even though it makes sense...or did until yesterday, when Glennon looked just as average as he has in years past. He threw an interception on the first drive, and a second right after the commentator was discussing last year's struggles that led to him losing the starting job.
• Similar issues Thursday night for South Carolina as Tommy Beecher was supposed to be Spurrier's golden boy this year but left the game having thrown four interceptions, including one on the first drive. Enter Chris Smelley, who started several games last year and dominated during the 4th quarter.
• Rich Rodriguez debuted at Michigan with a walk-on QB, Nick Sheridan, in the starting line-up. He was replaced by Georgia Tech transfer Stephen Threet, who took the Wolverines down the field for two touchdowns and a "chance to tie" (anyone else think it sounds weird to hear that Michigan "might" have a shot at tying Utah??) Threet couldn't win the game though, so the situation's still up in the air.
• One situation no longer up in the air is the status of USC quarterback Mark Sanchez's recently dislocated knee. Current status? Really freakin' good. Loads of talent and lots of good looks make him the type of pure Hollywood QB the Trojans absolutely love. And the kind I love to see on the field for USC.

"You can have a good offense and a good defense but games are won by special teams" - Lee Corso

• Just ask Virginia Tech about that one. The Hokies recovered a fumbled recovery for a touchdown and got it right back on a fumbled kick return, en route to losing because of a blocked punt.
• Utah knows about the importance of special teams as well, getting great kicks from Louie Sakoda in their successful attempt at taking down the Wolverines.

And in other news...

• Brad Nessler, calling the USC-UVA game, actually felt it necessary to explain the way timeouts are noted on television. In case you hadn't figured it out yet, they're the yellow dots on your screen under the team's name and when a team uses a timeout, one of them will disappear. Is there a quiz on this later?