Football is Back and So Are We!

Summer is officially over, and I could not be happier about that! It's been a long couple of months since competitive soccer ended and all we had to look forward to on a daily basis was baseball. Boring. Granted, we were teased with the women's world cup, three grand slam tennis tournaments, and some great golf. Sadly, these events came and went faster than- insert college basketball and Italian restaurant joke here-. We finally have something to sustain us until February! Or until these new uniforms burn our retinas.

Of course the football season has only half begun. The NFL kicks off Thursday night, unless the GOP force Obama to hold his speech during the game- not a way to win votes. However we do have college football, and week one was surprisingly good. What we will try to do is to have a Monday morning quarterback piece where we go through and break down how the SEC did the weekend before and give our weekly picks as to who will win the other BCS conferences and who has a good chance to be the darkhorse in each conference. Midweek we will preview the big games for the upcoming weekend. Friday we will try to do something on Kentucky's upcoming match up. Once the NFL gets going we will dabble a little bit into that, but primarily we will be focused on college. So with that said...

SEC Standings and Results Week One

EAST

1. Florida 1-0: The Will Muschamp (and Charlie Weis) era got off on the right foot as the Gators dismantled Howard Schnellenbergers undermanned FAU squad 41-3 in the swamp. Florida QB John Brantley looked pretty sharp under the tutelage of the former Notre Dame head man. Florida looks to be possibly a dark horse for the SEC East, but no more. This game marked the beginning of the end for legendary coach Howard Schnellenberger. The former Miami head man will be hanging it up at the end of the season. It's still all about the U.

2. Kentucky 1-0: Kentucky defeated WKU 14-3. Yeah. Everything about this game was terrible. 25,000 people filled and NFL stadium to watch this abomination. Kentucky will probably finish second to last in the East. Huge improvements are needed.

3South Carolina 1-0: Steve Spurrier announced that Garcia would not start under center for the Cocks. That resulted in an early whooping. Garcia came in and all was right in the world as USC cruised to a big 56-37 win over ECU. South Carolina still remains my pick in the East.

4.Tennessee 1-0: One of the many games impacted by bad weather this weekend. Didn't matter though. Tennessee out muscled an undermanned Montana squad.

5. Vandy 1-0: Vandy came out strong against Elon in a big win. Don't expect this every week. Or ever again this season.

6. Georgia 0-1: The dean of the SEC lost in Atlanta to Boise State on national TV. This has to be the last year for Mark Richt right? Who knows. Georgia had flashes of light, but again look to be middle of the pact-esque for the third straight year.

West

1. Alabama: 1-0: The AJ McCarron era started right where the McElroy era left off. Bama looked sharp on all sides of the ball as they beat Kent State 48-7. Bama is my pick to win the SEC.

2. Arkansas: 1-0 The de-facto Sugar Bowl champs are in a rebuilding mode. They beat Missouri State 51-7 as there new QB Tyler Wilson got eased into the starting job. The hogs special teams also shined in this beat down.

3. Auburn 1-0: The defending national champs needed a miracle to beat Utah State. It was clear in this game that Auburn will struggle this year as they look to replace multiple key positions. However like UK, a win is a win.

4. LSU 1-0: Starting QB suspended. Bad publicity for the school. Off the field distractions. Going up against one of the fastest defenses in the land means disaster for LSU against Oregon right? Wrong. Backup QB Jarrett Lee threw for one touchdown in a game that showed the strength of the overall LSU team which notched 20 points off turnovers. LSU looked scary good and efficient as the Mad Hatter dialed up the right amount of crazy to make a statement. LSU is my dark horse to win this league and possibly the BCS title.

5. Mississippi State 1-0: The bulldogs went to Memphis and dominated early against a horrible CUSA team. Hard to get anything out of this win- other than MSU is probably the 3rd or 4th best team in the west.

6. Ole Miss 0-1: The Right Reverend Houston Nutt should never play religiously affiliated schools again. Independent BYU came into the grove and walked out with an ugly win. Ole Miss continues to drop early games to inferior opponents. At least this opponent wasn't from the FCS (Div2)

WEEK ONE CONFERENCE CHAMPION PREDICTIONS

ACC

Prediction: Florida State: Big opening win, high expectations, great talent.

Dark horse: Virginia Tech: Beamerball

BIG12

Prediction: Oklahoma: The Sooners have the best talent from top to bottom. BCS contenders. Landry Jones has cemented himself as a stud QB after a trial by fire during the Sam Bradford injury era.

Dark horse: Texas AM: Do what Nebraska couldn't do- win the title on your way out.

BigEast

Prediction: WVU: The 'Neers fought the weather on Sunday to beat Marshall at home. New coach Dana Holgorsen brings his Oklahoma State explosive offense with him in his first year as the head man in Morgantown. They also have Gino Smith as QB which helps.

Dark Horse: South Florida: South Florida too had to battle weather, Catholics, and Brian Kelly in week one. They conquered all in a very impressive win against Notre Dame in South Bend.

BigTen

Prediction: Nebraska: The Huskers bring the power of the Big 12 into the lame of the Big Ten. Their newness helps them a lot. Not to mention they have the better team.

Dark Horse: Wisconsin: Hard to pick against Bret Bilema in Big10 play. I would love to see a Nebraska-Wisconsin Big Ten title game.

PAC12

Prediction: Oregon: Despite the loss, they have the talent and experience to win the new Pac12.

Dark Horse: Stanford: Andy Luck.

SEC

Prediction: Alabama: Tough pick. I think the winner of a certain game will go on to the SEC title game for a right to go to the BCS title game. That SEC West game will be Alabama v .....

Dark Horse: LSU: Mark it down. LSU Alabama will be a battle.

Happy Labor Day! Thank goodness football is back!