Last night saw the first D-IA college football games. There were a couple of good ones, a potential upsets (didn’t happen,) and a reminder that it’s early in the season.

First, hats off to the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks. For 3 quarters, they had the look of a I-AA team playing like a I-A team holding the Arizona State Sun Devils even at 14 a piece. But for two missed field goals, they could have been in the lead. This was one of those games where NAU was supposed to come in as cannon fodder so ASU could warm up for the real schedule. While the final score was 35-14 with ASU winning, the game was much much closer than the score indicates. Also, a tip of the hat to ASU – the team never gave up and did pull out the win.

Next, how ’bout those Rockets? University of Toledo Rockets that is. They traveled to Big 12 country to serve as a warm-up game for the Iowa State Cyclones. Didn’t quite work out the way it was scheduled for ISU with Toledo pushing them to 3 overtime periods and finally winning when UT couldn’t convert the 2 point try at the end. Look out MAC, I think Toledo will have something to say about the championship this year.

Finally, a glimpse at the SEC with “Ol’ Ballcoach” Spurrier and the Gamecocks of South Carolina taking on the Mississippi State Bulldogs. It was a sloppy, sloppy game with USC pulling off the shutout. Now, does that mean USC’s defense is really good or that MSU’s offense is really bad? Last year, MSU’s offense ranked 113th out of 119 teams…..I’ll go with bad offense. Meanwhile, MSU seems to have had some improvement on defense holding the Gamecocks to 15 points.

What do we take away from this? It’s early in the season and things are bound to be different than the preseason hype and expectations. There will be upsets, teams won’t perform as anticipated, there will be injuries, new stars will emerge most of us don’t know yet, and early on, the play will be sloppy (see Florida State vs. Miami 2005 edition, and I’ll bet 2006 edition.) I won’t be surprised if Northern Illinois tests Ohio State for 3 quarters tomorrow either – one things sure, they’re not going to simply lay down and quit (nor would we want the Huskies to do so.) The story tomorrow will be how the “green” OSU defense performs against a pretty talented offensive unit from NIU. Prediction: OSU 31-23 (OSU is favored by 18.)

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Ohio State’s 2006 record: 0-0
Tune: Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson

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