Posted: September 2, 2014

1. The first Quest trip of the year got off to a lovely start (picture as much sarcasm as possible and then multiply by 100). Eleven of us sat in the Swamp for 5 hours and saw 10 seconds of football. Thank you mother nature. I can’t fault the officials for postponing / canceling this game but it sure did suck. The first Gator game for the kids was not to be this year. A lot of money was spent flying, staying, eating, and shopping in Gainesville and we had a good time, but we did not see anything more than one kickoff. I certainly hope this is not foreshadowing of the year to come. Stat of the night…In the six hours around kickoff, there were over 1,100 lightning strikes within an eight mile radius of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. That’s a alot!

2. Can someone explain how it is possible that Vanderbilt lost to Temple? I guess the James Franklin era at Vandy was a mirage. I hope Commodore fans enjoyed it.

3. South Carolina has some serious holes on defense. I am not sure I can buy into Texas A&M yet, but I know that the Gamecock defense has some serious work to do, especially in the backfield. I will hold out judgment on the Aggies until I see that offense again.

4. I am not liking my UCLA pick anymore. The Bruins were not impressive at all and their offense has some serious flaws that I did not think would be so glaring. September 13 at Texas just got a whole lot more interesting to me. If teams improve the most between games 1 and 2, then the Bruins have some improving to do.

5. Ohio State’s problems are not on offense. With 300 or so days to prepare for the Navy rushing attack, the Buckeyes gave up 370 yards rushing. That could be a problem. Coach Meyer will probably get it squared away, but if I am a Buckeye fan, I am a little nervous.

6. Is Syracuse ever going to be good at football again? An overtime win against Villanova says check back again next year.

7. After one game, the California Golden Bears have matched their entire win total from last year. I did not see this result coming at all. It could be a real bad year for the Northwestern Wildcats.

8. Georgia is going to be very good. September 13 the Bulldogs play the Gamecocks. Based on what I saw this weekend, CBS may want out of this game.

9. The Wisconsin Badgers carrying the banner for the BigTen versus the SEC, managed to blow a 17 point lead. Back into the hole they came from goes the Big10.

10. Tennessee’s win over Utah State will get more impressive as the season goes on. Based on what I saw this weekend, the SEC East could go back to the old days with Georgia, Tennessee, and possibly Florida competing. But there is much football to be played and I do not want to overreact…yet!

11. Conferences that looked good…SEC, Pac12, and Big12, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

12. We must be careful not to overreact to things seen during Week 1 as good coaches figure things out and teams do improve, but it certainly is fun to speculate.

Let’s enjoy the journey!