A Crown of Burnt Orange

My long wait is finally over as the college football season is finally upon us. Even though I'm a bigger fan of college basketball and the NFL, I think that college football causes me more offseason longing than any other sport. Maybe it's because the season is the shortest in all of sports or because the regular season is so important, given that there's no playoff. But in any case, I'm glad we're back to that time where every Saturday is dominated by a full slate of high stakes match-ups.

Making predictions is always a huge crapshoot, but I can't resist the urge to play prognosticator. Here are my picks for the BCS:

ACC Champ: Florida State
Big East: Va. Tech
Big Ten: Michigan
Big 12: Texas
Pac 10: USC
SEC: Georgia
At large 1: Oklahoma
At large 2: Ohio State

I'm picking Texas over Michigan in the Sugar Bowl. The Wolverines will be led by the fact that their schedule is softer than most years- they have Ohio State and Notre Dame at home and their toughest road game will be at Oregon. Is this the year John Navarre really breaks through and beats the Buckeyes? I'm guessing yes.

As for national-champ-to-be Texas, I'm thinking that the Longhorns will follow the same path as the 1998 Tennessee Volunteers. They've just lost their star, NFL-pedigree QB (Peyton Manning/Chris Simms) who couldn't get over the hump of beating their rival (Florida/Oklahoma). But they still have a stud wideout (Peerless Price/Roy Williams) and star-in-the-making at running back (Travis Henry/Cedric Benson) and a talented D. Starting out without much hype, the team will sneak up slightly under the radar and hoist the title trophy at the end of the season.

Other College Football Thoughts

* I'm not too optimistic about Stanford's chances this season. I'm glad Chris Lewis was named the starter, but all indications are that Coach Teevens is gonna throw Trent Edwards or Kyle Matter into the lineup the second Lewis scews up. And that's gonna be bad for his confidence and for the team as a whole. And can we please get someone decent at running back? Our leading returner rushed for 346 last season. Can we get a juco transfer? Anyone?

* My dream is to take an autumn-long vacation and just tour college football venues. Imagine just going through the Midwest and South, going to a different tailgate every week before attending a rivalry game like Alabama-Auburn or Florida-FSU. Pure heaven.

* Is it just me, or are the nonconference matchups getting better and better each year? Just look at these awesome games we have to look forward to:

Aug. 30: Washington at Ohio St.
Aug 30: USC at Auburn
Sep. 6: Oklahoma at Alabama
Sep. 6: Florida at Miami
Sep. 13: NC State at Ohio St.
Nov. 8: Tennessee at Miami

And this is on top of the annual rivalries like USC-Notre Dame and Miami-FSU. We no longer have to wade through a month of nonconference mismathces to see some quality matchups.

* It's because of these tough nonconference matchups that I'm making a bold prediction: This will be the first year that no team goes undefeated. Every single team in the preseason Top 10 (execpt for Oklahoma) faces at least two very tough opponents. And as I said earlier, the Sooners will lose to Texas.

* I hate Heisman hype. Why does everyone care so much about who wins the award? No other sport has ridiculous campaigns for the MVP trophy. You didn't see "TJ Ford for the Wooden Award!" billboards and he turned out just fine.

* I do, however, love BCS hype. Sure, a playoff would be ideal, but I don't see why everyone loves to bash the BCS so much, especially considering the wee fact that it's way better than the system we had before! There are no more cumbersome split national titles, and everything is much more equitable. With strength-of-schedule as a component, teams are no longer rewarded for feasting on the McNeese St.'s of the world, as Nebraska did throughout the '90s. The two at large bids mean that virtually any program gets a shot (no more complaining, BYU). And what else would we debate about in November and December?

 
The New Jinx

Football fans everywhere were crushed by the news that Michael Vick broke his leg in last night's preseason game. Though he'll only miss about four regular season games, it still means we'll be without the game's most exciting player for at least a quarter of the season.

The more pressing issue arising from Vick's injury was that of the ominous curse that's sweeping the sports world: The EA Sports Madden Cover Jinx. The country's most popular video game, Madden NFL, has been putting players on the it's cover for the last four years, and each player has been subsequently hit with undue malady. The 2001 edition cover (which was released in August, 2000) featured Eddie George, who had just led the Titans to the Super Bowl. After appearing on Madden, he had a subpar, injury-plagued season. The 2002 coverboy, Daunte Caulpepper had just come off of a breakthrough season in which he and Randy Moss tore up the field. His 2001 season was a major setback, as his interceptions went up while the Vikings' win total went down. Last year's victim was, Marshall Faulk, fresh off an MVP season. After the EA curse, his team mysteriously lost their first five games and inexplicably missed the playoffs. And now, a mere three days after the 2004 edition's release, coverboy Michael Vick goes down with a horrific injury. A mere coincidence? Perhaps. But if I were a guy like Jeremy Shockey, when EA Sports comes calling a year from now, I'd run like hell.