The greatest time of the year is upon us. Christmas morning is tomorrow: it’s the first day of the college football season. As such I’m sharing a little college football preview, primarily relating to week 1, but digressing to a couple of other topics. A couple of things to note: This took place via email, so there’s some back and forth that may not all be perfectly in order; Talk of USC presumed Aaron Corp as the starter, this was a week before Matt Barkley got the nod; Spelling could be an issue, primarily by Matt, as a lot of these are written from work, on the go; And finally, cursing is probably prevalent so if you’re sensitive don’t read on. Without further ado, NikeBlog.com’s 2009 College Football Preview:

JEFF:

Last night I was putting together my slate for week 1 of college football and I wanted to get everyone’s opinion on a few things:

1. Which games from week 1 are you most excited to watch (aka which games will you be focusing on most)?

2. What’s your upset special?

Here is the slate for Saturday 9/5:

Navy at Ohio State, 9 am, ESPN
Minnesota at Syracuse, 9 am ESPN2
Kentucky at Miami University, 9 am ESPNU
Akron at Penn State, 9 am, Big 10 Net
Montana State at Michigan State 9 am, Big 10 Net
Northern Iowa at Iowa, 9 am, Big 10 Net
Toledo at Purdue, 9 am, Big 10 Net
Towson at Northwestern, 9 am, Big 10 Net

Georgia at Oklahoma State, 12:30 pm, ABC
Illinois vs. Missouri, 12:30, ESPN
Nevada at Notre Dame, 12:30 NBC
San Jose State at USC, 12:30 pm, FSN
Western Michigan at Michigan, 12:30 pm ESPN2

BYU vs. Oklahoma, 4 pm, ESPN
Northern Illinois at Wisconsin, 4 pm, Big 10 Net
Alabama vs. Virginia Tech, 5 pm, ABC
Maryland at California, 7 pm, ESPN2
LSU at Washington, 7:30 pm, ESPN
Navy at

JEFF:

For the record, Here are my focus games:

9AM slot: Minnesota @ Syracuse…I want to see this Paulus kid play. I’ll also be focusing on the Ohio State game (outside shot at an upset special there)

12:30 Slot: I will have a good rotation between the Georgia vs Okie State , the ND game and the SC game. Nevada over Notre Dame is my upset special for the week.

5:00 slot: Rotation between BYU vs OU and Bama vs Vtech (I will go crazy of BYU beats OU)

7:30 Slot: Both the UW and Cal games should be interesting for Pac-10 fans. UW is going to get murdered on their home field.

MATT:

Upset special navy over osu – straight up

Focus – nevada – okie – sc – cal – va tech

Btw very sexy line up for week one

TIM:

Some focus games: ND v Nevada, Nevada will be up for UND and their offense is dangerous. I’m interested to see if ND is as good as everyone thinks and this will be a good test.

Also Tech and Alabama, two teams that could be good or awful, it will be a good test for both. BYU v Oklahoma is an interesting one too.

LO:
The Georgia v Ok st game is the big one fore this that weekend as well as the Navy game. I am actually interested to see how Washington fares against LSU, I hate Washington more than anything in the world but Sarkisian is no joke. I also want to evaluate LSU after a sort of down yr they had.
Usc v SJSU will be a game I watch closely as well to evaluate USCs young QBs and their Defense. Aaron Corp (somehow a fucking Davey O’brian watchlist member without having started a fucking game at USC and with 20 total pass attempts) and Barkley are going to struggle this year in my opinion. SC will have a down yr.
ND is going to lose and Ohio State will get a scare as well. Wow I can’t believe its coming!
Also what do you guys think about Chip locking down practices and todays scrimmage? Pretty tight in my opinion. Thoughts??

LO:

Oh and V Tech will get off to a slow start too after losing Evans
I don’t think LSU is going to be an elite team in the SEC again until next yr.

MATT:

Lsu s tight – they had no qb play last year -

Uw is shit – dirty shit

Shark might be worse then ty

LUCAS:

Georgia OK State should be a good game. I want to see if OK State has a legit shot at a Big 12 title, and obviously with Texas being pretty fucking loaded, OKState needs to impress in a big way, Georgia is a good test. Decent LB’s, meh secondary, young DL, despite their relatively high ranking, I think that Georgia should get carved up if OK State is actually as good as advertised. (and we all know from experience that they’re not. boo yah). I really think Dez Bryant should make people look silly in this one.

SJSU–USC: Sorry guys, I’m not buying the down year by USC yet. They’ve never given us any reason to think they can’t rebound from losing a QB that, by everything you guys indicate, wasn’t good anyway. I’m not necessarily saying Corp’s going to be great, but I think SC has earned the right for me reserve judgment until I see it for myself.

Jeff, you said that SJSU can usually keep it tight for a while. What are we looking for Corp to do to really impress here? If he starts slow is that because San Jose is playing well and it’s expected? Does he need to tear it up right away and go for 450?

BYU–Oklahoma. I’m buying Max Hall. Not as a Heisman winner, but I think he’s solid. Would be nice to see an upset here.

Nevada-Notre Dame: They’ve hit that “fuck you” status where I’ll watch a Notre Dame game just on the chance they lose.

Who do you guys like watching this year just because they’re fun to watch? I fucking love CJ Spiller as he was born with roller blades instead of feet.

JEFF:

I don’t know Lo, LSU got heated at the end of last year and Jordan Jefferson looks legit. They absolutly dismantled a top 15 Georgia Tech team in the bowl game. I think LSU is gonna win the SEC West (I’m not sold on Ole Miss). UW is gonna get slaughtered. Sarkisian is weak too. He is actually what held USC back from winning national championships the past few years. They have had the best defense in the country and more offensive talent than anyone. Hes gonna be a disaster at UW in my opinion.

LO:

LSU will have a little better Qb play this year. Shark can’t be worse than Ty although I wish he was because UW can stay in the cellar for all I care.
I forgot to say before the BYU over OU would be porno on network tv. Sick

JEFF:

Haha…yeah if BYU beats OU, I will blackout that night. It might happen too. BYU has basically their whole squad back. Max Hall is legit and Harvey Unga is Harvey Unga.

LO:

I like Jefferson too but I don’t think the Georgia tech was that tough last year, they had a weak schedule and a horse of a RB who got them to the bowl game in the first place. They bowl game didn’t impress me, and I saw how they played in the middle of the season., and it wasn’t just the QB. I should reserve my judgement on LSU until I see them play this year but I have to go with my gut. I’m not sold on Miss either Jeff but they play with passion.

ANDREW:

Anyone named Unga is not human. Well maybe a missing link or something from the past.

TIM:

Dude TO’s ex and that chick he took to the ESPY’s are both INSANELY hot. What I would not do for one night of consensual sex with either one of them. (Or sloan for that matter)

JEFF:

Georgia Tech was one of the teams I did not want to play last year. They ran that fucking option like a machine. I remember they ran all over Georgia and beat them. They also beat Florida State, Clemson, Miami, etc. and lost by 3 to vtech in blacksburg. They were pretty freaking saucy last year and LSU beat them 38-3….in my opinion that was the most impressive victory of the bowl season and thats why I think they are poised to have a good year this year (and shit all over UW week 1).

LO:

Clemson and Miami?? Great, we beat washington state and washington too, where’s our love lol. But yeah that option does present problems for sure if its run correctly but come on man. Ill give you flojo state though. LSU is overated once again and you will see them lose 3 games before bowl season

JEFF:

Believe it or not Miami was ranked when they beat them and had a lot of momentum and swagger going into that game. They were just coming off a victory over Vtech so you can downplay that victory all you want but it still was at minimum a good win. As far as Clemson, they had some serious weapons last year and there is no way in hell you are going to tell me that going into death valley and coming out with a victory isnt impressive. I don’t know why you are hating on G Tech homie….they were solid last year. They beat #11 Georgia and #16 FSU too. The fact that LSU beat #14 Gtech 38-3 is impressive…how can you dispute that?

LSU might be overrated but so is the entire SEC.

LO:

Championship Predictions anyone? Favs for the BCS games?

JEFF:

Fiesta: USC vs. Texas

Rose: Oregon vs. Ohio State

Orange: Georgia Tech vs.South Florida

Sugar: Oklahoma vs. LSU

National Championship: Florida vs. Penn State

JEFF:

I think Penn State will make the NC game this year because of their weak ass schedule. They get Ohio State at home and that looks to be their only decent game? I freaking hate the big ten…they play nobody and get some much love. Ohio state will get a BCS bid too because at most they lose 2 games (PSU and USC) because they play nobody.

TIM:

Nat’l championship I’m going with Texas v Florida.

You know who I’m excited to watch this season, Colt McCoy this kid just makes plays. Also interested in seeing what Julio Jones will do this year, if it’s anywhere close to last year there will be some crazy highlights.

JEFF:

Yeah Dez is a No pants guy for sure and as much as I hate to say it Jahvid Best is probably the captain of the no pants sqaud this year.

Timmy – Good call on Colt McCoy, he’s a stud. Julio Jones is a freak too.

MATT:

I know it may be nuts but if we beat boise we ll probably be the fav in all f our games – without seeing us play its a little agressive but if no no pants on the blue bitches its all down hill from there

LO:

Florida V Texas for the NC
Oregon and OSU for the Roses
No pants – Dez Bryant, Julio Jones, AJ Green from Georgia
Defense Monster of the year – Curran Lb Georgia
Db of the year – Walter Thurmmond III
Oregon newcomer of the year – Bryson Littlejohn
Sleeper – Diante Jackson (if he gets PT) you guys won’t understand until you see him play, he is fuckin stupid talented.

JEFF:

I know its gross. Cal keeps running a commercial down here of a bunch of Jahvid Best highlights and it makes me sick. At one point in the commercial, they say “moves out of a video game” and Best literally makes a guy fall all over himself trying to tackle him….its disgusting.
By the way, watch this video at the 34 second mark its the Jahvid Best play that I am talking about. Its gross.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IggFUVO4UA

LUCAS:

And of course there’s always the Noel Devine factor. Could this be the year he replicates his HS highlight tape?

Also, have you guys thought about the fact that instead of playing college football or NFL ball right now, Myron Rolle is studying at Oxford on his Rhodes Scholarship? What a ridiculous guy.

JEFF:

On a related note, one of the things I am really looking forward to seing next Thursday is how Chip Kelly acts on the sidelines. Is he going to be chest bumping guys, laughing and pumping his fist on the sideline like Pete Carroll, is he going to be stoic like Bellotti was or is he going to just be heated at all times like the Stoops brothers?

A lot of recruits like Pete Carroll just because he looks like a “fun guy” on the sidelines. Knowing that, I wonder if Chip will consider acting a certain way to help recruiting. Thoughts?

My guess is that he is going to be pretty calm on the sidelines (I hope i’m wrong though). Since he has to call plays he’ll probably be too focused to fuck around.

MATT:

They have no fucking clue how our defense is gonna play – we ll have lb s running around – big ass fast guys. We ll have three cover corners to lock down on the wrs and tj will fuck people in the mouth… Seriously kenny rowe is my surprise player on the team – teams will single him and he’s gonna terrorize off the edge – go time bitches

LUCAS:

I could definitely see Kenny Rowe getting into some buttholes. I was kind of hoping for it last year, but maybe his little position switch slowed him up. Either way, the time is now, no excuses this year

MATT:

Kenny rowe s gonna fuck