Last Saturday featured several high-profile, intense matchups. I missed some of them (like most of the AU-LSU game) because I was at our game against Troy.

We play on Thursday this week against Virginia, an opponent we haven’t beaten since I’ve been here. The Hoos probably aren’t half as good as they were last year, and they weren’t exactly national champions. Additionally, they will probably start a freshman QB – if you want to know how well first time QBs (much less freshmen) fare against our defense, well, just ask Brandon Cox and Kyle Wright. Also, we’ll be in retro Old Gold jerseys with white helmets (although I’m forced to think that back then, we probably still wore white at home, but I don’t know this for sure). (And to be really out of date, they’d need some sleeves.)

I’ll have a full writeup Friday, but some of the games this weekend are rediciulous. Check out Colorado @ UGA: The Buffs will bring their buffalo, but they could probably forget to bring the team and do just as well as CU is 26.5 point underdogs. (Nonetheless, I’ll be watching and hoping for a miracle.)

ABC will have Iowa St. @ Texas and Penn St. @ Ohio St. I have no idea which they’re going to show here, but neither contest should be close. Also at 3:30 on ESPNU: Rice @ FSU. Are you kidding me? Rice is a 30 point ‘dog. 7:00 is the “watch Sun Belt teams get owned by Big 12 teams” hour, as Troy goes to Nebraska and MTSU goes to Oklahoma. (I hope they both win, though.)

Due to the lack of a nationally appealing game, ABC also has a split 8:00 telecast: ND @ Mich. St. and USC @ Arizona. The former should be the better game, though only the latter will have any Song Girls present. Meanwhile, on the other Disney networks, you can watch Florida dismantle Kentucky on ESPN and watch as Chuck “Clown Boy” Amato continues to try to get fired at Boston College on ESPN2.

The SEC matchups were so bad this week CBS scraped up Alabama @ Arkansas. Right now Arkansas is a one point favorite, so this may end up being one of the best games of the day. I’ll like it the best if Alabama loses, that’s for sure.

First, let me thank Nick for inviting me to share my misinformed thoughts on college football this season. Hopefully, I will at least give people something to laugh about (my commentary, that is). I guess I’ll start this week’s post by discussing the only game I actually watched: LSU at Auburn.

I arrived at Jordan-Hare Stadium around 10:30 AM CT, four hours before kickoff. The general vibe of the students outside the gates was optimistic nervousness. By 2:10 PM, pregame festivities had begun. The eagle who flies before each Auburn home football game did about three full laps around the student section, which I took as an omen from God that Auburn would win the game.

The game was pretty lacking as far as offensive excitement. Early in the first half, John Vaughn channeled himself from last year’s LSU game, hitting the left upright with a crappily-kicked football. Apparently, Vaughn is no longer in the good graces of Damon Duval, Auburn place-kicking demigod from years past. LSU called a timeout with seconds left and kicked a field goal to end the half 3-0. All was silent and apprehensive in Jordan-Hare.

During halftime, an interview of Tre’ Smith was shown on the big screen. For those of you who don’t know, Tre’ Smith is the white running back who beat Alabama three years ago and has done little since. In fact, Tre’ Smith’s sole mission on the Auburn football team last year appeared to be fumbling the ball and/or failing to make positive yardage on punt returns. During this year’s Washington State game, Tommy Tuberville gave Tre’ three consecutive downs to punch the football into the end zone. When Smith failed, Tuberville regained his senses and sent in Brad Lester to score on fourth down.

Anyway, one of the questions Tre’ answered in the interview was what three things he would bring with him if he were trapped on an island. Tre”s response was, “A helicopter, some fuel…and a trillion dollars.” Initially, I wondered, “What are you going to do with a trillion dollars on a deserted island?” Then, I realized the genius of it. You could fly the helicopter to land and spend the money on things! What kind of question is that, anyhow? If you were going to a deserted island with the knowledge that you would be stranded, of course you would bring things that would help you escape.

Apparently, Mississippi State isn’t the only school with hidden water fountains. I had some trouble finding them in Jordan-Hare this weekend, due to the incredible lines at the concession stands blocking all visibility. My friend Josh and I had to ask a policeman, who kindly pointed us towards some dispensers of lukewarm dihydrogen monoxide. There is nothing like tepid water to wash down contraband PBJs snuck into the stadium in one’s pockets.

Somewheres in the second half, the Auburn offense made their way down the field, and Brandon Cox thrust forward on a third-and-one for the touchdown. John Vaughn made the only kick necessary for Auburn to win (an extra point), because LSU was unable to score the needed touchdown in the fourth quarter. Even though Auburn’s secondary looked like Swiss cheese, JaMarcus Russell couldn’t put the ball in the end zone. It was pretty exciting when the clock finally read 0.00. I think I hugged two or three people in the frenzy.

Elsewhere in the nation, Notre Dame was destroyed by Michigan, ending another potential media favorite. As much as I detest the media’s obsession with USC, I think it would be even worse if they also fell in love with another overhyped school. Speaking of USC, Auburn is still significantly behind them in the coaches’ poll and barely ahead in the AP poll. Something is wrong with these voters. They seem to think beating a team that used to be good (Nebraska) by 18 points is better than beating a team that is currently good (LSU) by 4. They might be right, but I’m still going to be bitter about it.

Does anyone know what is up with Florida State or Miami? Both teams have fallen pretty far (though not as far as the aforementioned Nebraska). And the Mississippis are an embarrassment to the SEC. Mississippi State couldn’t even beat Tulane, despite scoring their first 29 points of the season. Ole Miss lost to Kentucky. That’s right, Kentucky. It looks like the SEC West has turned into the former SEC East, where only two teams are good.

Next week’s matchups are looking pretty lackluster. The only one I might watch is Penn State at Ohio State. An upset there would put Auburn squarely in the national title picture, assuming they win their next ten games (quite an assumption). Alabama goes to Arkansas to see if they (by “they”, I mean either team) can regain some dignity in the SEC. It’s now three weeks until Auburn plays Florida. Here’s hoping I can make it that far without going crazy.

Oh, one more bit of news. My girlfriend Laura watched most of the second half of the Michigan State/Pittsburgh game, which her school (MSU) won. I’m so proud! Tune in next week to see if she watched the Fighting Irish come to Spartan Stadium (or, better yet, if she attended the game in person)!

Also, since I never formally did so, I’d like to point out that a friend of mine from high school, Kenneth, has joined the site. You should probably call him Tito, though. Since he goes to Auburn, hopefully we’ll get some non-GT perspectives in here.

Saturday was interesting. I got really sunburned at the Troy game, but it was good to finally see Tech do some interesting things on offense (reverse to Calvin!). We need to beat the tar out of UVA this Thursday, but I’ll explain more on that later.

Auburn managed to pull out a victory against LSU in a contest best deemed a “defensive struggle.” But they have the inside track to winning the SEC West, and perhaps the whole thing. What was weird, though, was the strange “announcing the penalty and then reversing the call” thing that happened on LSU’s last drive. I still don’t know if the ball was tipped before the interference occurred. That play is reviewable (I’m pretty sure) but I don’t recall one being announced.

Stranger still was the review at the Oklahoma-Oregon game where the ref said that video provided conclusive video evidence that an Oklahoma player touched the ball first on an onside kick by Oregon, when replay showed that there was conclusive video evidence that an Oregon player touched the ball first. I’m favor of replay, but generally when you have it you should get the call right and not make things worse for yourself. That was the worst thrashing I’d heard officials take on-air since the Alamo Bowl debacle last year, though. (Speaking of this – refs need to take elocution classes or something. These guys are horrible at explaining what they mean on these reviews.)

Florida-Tennessee was good, but even better was FSU-Clemson, especially for what will probably be the most memorable half-time interview this year. (Though it will be difficult to top the Mich. St. coach’s “AND THE COACHES ARE SCREWING IT ALL UP” from last year.) If you haven’t heard, Clemson had a FG and extra point attempt blocked in the first half. When Tommy Bowden was asked about this, he said something to the effect of, “That’s it. We’re not kicking any more. Not for the rest of the game.” And he stuck it, too, execpt for the go ahead score near the end of the game, where they got off a successful extra point.

The ACC just sucks right now. UNC barely beat Furman, NC State lost to Southern Miss, Maryland got destroyed by West Virginia, and Virgnia lost to Western Michigan. I never thought beating Troy and Samford handily would make us look good. We could have 3 or 4 coaches get fired this off season.

The non-exhaustive list (all times Eastern):

• Troy @ GT, on in select parts of southern Alabama, 1:30: Well, I’ll be there.
• LSU @ Auburn, CBS, 3:30: Tigers win! Seriously, though, an interesting matchup between the two best teams in the SEC West. Slight edge to AU due to not being in Baton Rouge. I’ll be rooting for AU, due to childhood loyalties.
• Miami @ Louisville, ABC, 3:30: Old Big East vs. New Big East! Either Miami’s defense dominates or the final score will be 50-45. (I don’t think Louisville has a good defense, and I don’t think Miami is as bad as they were at FSU.) So if Miami fails to dominate definsively, the team with the last possesion wins.
• Clemson @ FSU, ESPN, 7:45: I probably wouldn’t ordinarly be interested in the Bowden Bowl, but this has conference implications (though both teams are not in Tech’s division). A true test for both teams – if Clemson wins this game, they’re on the inside track for their division, I’d say.
• Florida @ Tennessee, CBS, 8:00: So CBS is getting into this primetime act, eh? Beats the pants off ABC’s game – I saw Bill Callahan on ESPN Thursday night and he looked down right depressed talking about his game. I think UF or UGA is on the inside track for SEC East, but Tennessee can make a statement here (in terms of the SEC, they already beat down Cal).
• TAMU vs. Army, ESPN2, 9:00: Dad went to USMA, and Bobby Ross is their coach. (FYI: He coached Tech to their 1990 National Title.)