Week One College Football Open Thread

Ohio High School football started last weekend and Thursday night the college football season gets going. Football finally returns to TV and if you’re like me you’ll be glued to the TV way too long this weekend to the point where a late night WAC game will seem like a good thing to watch and gamble on (I have lost too much money gambling on pre-season NFL)Plus, since it’s not the NFL your team might actually have a chance of pulling off a winning record (can I get a Who Dey!!!).

Every Thursday for the next thirteen weeks WDR plans to bring you this open thread to rant and rave about all things college football. The plan is to bring you a top ten and a little preview of the games and players that are on TV that week. The focus will be to talk about the players in these games that are worth watching as potential 2009 Bengals NFL Draft Picks.   (for instance I’d take the USC line backing corps from last year over who the Bengals have starting right now).

After the jump I give you my preseason top ten, the games on TV this weekend and the players worth watching in those games. In the comments let us know who you’ll be watching this week, who'd look good in a Bengals uniform next season, and what you think is going to happen in college football this season.

Games on the tube this weekend

Thursday

NC State at South Carolina:  8pm ESPN- How long can Coach Spurrier last until he puts Stephen Garcia into the game? The Wolfpack look to avoid being awful in Tom O’Brien’s second year.
Players to watch: USC MLB #52 Jasper Brinkley and USC CB #1 Captain Munnerlyn. Both are among the best defensive players in the SEC and will be playing on Sundays.
Pick: South Carolina

Wake Forest at Baylor 8pm FSN- Wake might be the second best team in the ACC this year. Baylor should be awful again as usual.
Player to watch: WF CB #2 Alphonso Smith- A little on the short side he still looks to be a first day NFL draft pick.
Pick: Wake

Oregon State v. Stanford 9pm ESPN2- The Pac Ten is wide open below USC. It should be interesting to see which team starts to emerge as this is a week 1 conference game.

Player to watch:  OSU WR #19 Sammie Stroughter- He is an explosive punt returner and looks to help with the passing game as well after missing last season.
Pick: Oregon State

Eastern Kentucky at UC 7:30 No TV- Since this game is not on any TV that I’m aware of you can go watch this thriller live in Clifton or listen on the radio. If I was in town I’d go have some wood fire pizza at Pomi’s then drink at a tailgate before going in and enjoying the fact that Nippert is one of the few stadiums in college football that serves beer.

Player to watch:  UC CB #21 Mike Mickens- He’ll take away half the field against EKU.

Pick: UC

 
Friday

 
SMU at Rice:  8pm ESPN- June Jones hopes his offense can revive a SMU team that’s been dead for over two decades now.

Player to watch:  Rice QB #16 Chase Clement- He accounted for 3,912 total yards and 37 touchdowns last season.

Pick: Rice

 
Saturday

East Carolina vs. Virginia Tech (in Charlotte) 12pm ESPN- ESPN’s noon game is the best team in C-USA against perennially the best team in the ACC.

Player to watch:  VT CB #1 Victor “Macho” Harris- He passed on the draft to return for his senior season. He’s a good tackler who needs work on his man to man coverage.

Pick: East Carolina in an upset special

Youngstown St. at OSU 12pm BTN- If you have the Big Ten Network you will get to watch the Bucks plaster YSU and hopefully the debut of Terrelle Pryor.

Player to watch:  OSU DE #87 Lawrence Wilson- He was supposed to dominate last year before he got hurt early in the season. In his return to action it’ll be interesting to see if he can become the star most expect him to be.

Pick: OSU

USC at UVA 3:30 ABC/ESPN2- USC’s defense looks to be great but everyone will want to see how the offense looks against a UVA squad that won a lot of close games in 2007.

Players to watch:  UVA LT #75 Eugene Monroe- He looks like a first round talent and is the best tackle in the ACC. He will be tested mightly by USC’s defense which is stocked full of future pros.

Pick: USC

Utah at Michigan 3:30 ABC/ESPN2- A very good Utah team takes on UM in Rich Rod’s first game. How will his offense look without Pat White at the helm?

Player to watch:  UM CB #14 Morgan Trent- Much has been made of UM’s improved conditioning and if it helped Trent add some speed then he could be much improved.

Pick: Utah

Alabama at Clemson:  8pm ABC – (in Atlanta) College Gameday is doing their broadcast in Atlanta for what is without a doubt the biggest game of the weekend. How much does Alabama improve in Nick Saban’s second season? Can Clemson open strong or will the team not reach its high expectations once again.

Player to watch:  Clemson DE/OLB #7 Ricky Sapp- This junior had five sacks and 22 quarterback pressures as a sophomore. He doesn’t get as much pub as the offensive stars but big things are expected of him.

Pick: Alabama

 
Illinois vs. Missouri (in St. Louis) 8:30 ESPN- Both of these teams will be looking to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke. This game was a high scoring thriller last season. Juice Williams has a lot of pressure on him to prove he can become more than just a running quarterback. Arrelous Benn is arguably the most physically gifted receiver in the Big Ten. Mizzou has high expectations and wants to play in a BCS game this year and a win in this game would be a big first step.
Player to watch:  Missouri QB#10 Chase Daniel- He needs to show that last season wasn’t a fluke and that despite his size limitations he has the tools to play in the pros.

Pick: Illinois

 
Washington at Oregon 10pm FSN- Who doesn’t love watching late night Pac Ten games after a long day of drinking and watching football. Hopefully Jake Locker and UW can put some points on the board to keep it close.  The ducks look to prove that it can replace Dennis Dixon and Jonathan Stewart. If the offensive system is plug and go good with the rb’s and qb’s then Oregon will finish near the top of the Pac Ten.

Player to watch:  Ducks LB #13 Jerome Boyd- He looks to lead a defense that will have to pick up the slack until the answers on offense become clear.

Pick: Oregon

 
Sunday

 
UK at UL 3:30 ESPN- This game is one of my under the radar favorite college football rivalry games. Both schools hate each other and the game is always a high scoring affair. It will be interesting to see if both teams can continue to produce points now that Brohm and Woodson are in the NFL.

Player to watch:  UK CB #32 Trevard Lindley- A very good tackler he looks to make some plays as the best player in UK’s secondary.

Pick: UL

Colorado vs. Colorado State(in Denver) 7:30 FSN- This is another underrated instate rivalry game.  Colorado has had some good recruiting classes and Coach Hawkins needs this game because the Buffs schedule is brutal.

Player to watch:  CU DT #86 George Hypolite- He is the playmaker on the Buffs line that needs to generate more pressure.

Pick: Colorado

Monday

Fresno State at Rutgers 4pm

ESPN- Fresno State is playing their typical killer non-conference schedule again this year.  Rutgers has most of its squad back but Ray Rice is no longer around and it remains to be seen if Mike Teel is good enough to now carry the offense on his shoulders.
Player to watch:  RU WR’s #88 Kenny Britt and #7 Tiquan Underwood- They both need to repeat their 1,000 yard seasons from last year.

Pick: Fresno

Tennessee at UCLA 8pm ESPN- If UCLA has a healthy QB at game time this could be interesting. Last year Tenn. got smashed by Cal out on the west coast in their opener. This year they look to do much better.

Player to watch:  Tenn SS #14 Eric Berry- One of the top safeties in college football Berry must now lead a secondary that struggled last year.

Pick: Tennessee

Here is my 2008 preseason top ten 10) Wisconsin 9) Clemson 8) Auburn 7) West Virginia 6) Mizzou 5) Georgia 4) Oklahoma 3) USC 2) OSU 1) Florida

National Champs:  I like the winner of the OSU-USC to win it all and in the end I think this is the year OSU takes down an SEC school to go to 1-9 all-time vs. the SEC in bowl games. But for right now I need to see more from Boeckman before I can feel confident with having OSU at #1.

Comments

[Paul Katz]

Where did you purloin this article from?

[Andrew Simon]

We haven't factored in how many picks Goddell is going to take away from the Bengals for re-signing Henry.

[KY UK KY]

GO CATSSSSSSS

[Nick]

Wake Forest is the best team in the NCAA.....bar none