How rowdy can it REALLY get in Stillwater?
Five burning questions as we head into the first weekend of college football for 2009:
1. Oklahoma State is going to be rowdy, but is it going to be any rowdier than Knoxville or Baton Rouge? A lot is being made of the fact that this is probably the biggest home opener ever for Oklahoma State. Thanks to Mr. Pickens’ generosity, they’ve spruced up their stadium and the folks in Stillwater are anticipating the best season in school history. That’s really cool.
Sounds like a regular-season game in the SEC to me. I don’t doubt that the crowd at Boone Pickens Stadium will be rowdy. But it will be 60,000. That’s capacity. And how could it be any rowdier than the 92,000-plus at LSU or the 107,000 who show up at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville when Georgia comes to town. Those folks certainly don’t wish the Bulldogs well.
If Georgia loses on Saturday it won’t be because of the crowd. One thing you do learn in the SEC is how to focus on the road. Because if you don’t learn how to block out the crowd you don’t survive. Mark Richt’s teams are 30-4 in opponents’ stadiums. They are 10-2 against ranked teams when they play in the other guy’s ballpark.
2. Is the Head Ball Coach in trouble tonight in Raleigh? He very well could be. South Carolina handled N.C. State (34-0) last year in Columbia. But N.C. State has improved significantly since then and I’m not sure that South Carolina has. The Wolfpack is better at quarterback, better at running back, and better at wide receiver. N.C. State starts four seniors on the defensive line while South Carolina’s offensive line continues to struggle for what seems like the 45th consecutive year. But then there is this: Steve Spurrier is 18-1 in season opening games as a head coach. In fact, the only season opener he has ever lost came in 1989 when he was the head coach at Duke. He lost the season opener to South Carolina (27-21 at Columbia) but then went on to win the ACC championship.
3. Can the Alabama O-Line handle the Virginia Tech D-Line? Alabama will have three new starters on the offensive line Saturday night when the Crimson Tide meets Virginia Tech at the Georgia Dome. Virginia Tech returns three of four starters on a defensive front that led the Hokies to a No. 7 finish in total defense last season. You can bet that Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster is going to come up with a few wrinkles hoping to get past the Alabama offensive line and turn up the pressure on new quarterback Greg McElroy. Rebuilt offensive lines usually need a couple of games to jell as a unit. This is a pretty good opening test for the guys at Alabama. Will they pass it?
4. Is Florida going to cover the 73 against Charleston Southern? And tell me again: Why is Florida playing Charleston Southern? I don’t normally pay a lot of attention to point spreads but when Danny Sheridan put that one out there it got my attention. The short answer is “no” because I don’t think Florida will be of a mind to score that many points. They want to get this game over with as quickly as possible in order to make sure that nobody gets hurt. They’ll have a pretty decent test the following week against Troy State, who will be fielding their best team in Larry Blakeney’s 18 years at the school. Then, of course, there is Tennessee on Sept. 19. By the way, there were preliminary discussions about the possibility of replacing Charleston Southern with Utah as Florida’s opening game this season. In fact, Florida told ESPN that they would move Charleston Southern to another year if the Worldwide Leader could put together the deal. But a little bird told me that Utah want $1 million to come to Gainesville. The deal did not get done.
5. How much of the Georgia Tech offense are we really going to see against Jacksonville State? I’m guessing not very much. Jax State quarterback Ryan Perrilloux is suspended for the game. Georgia Tech will host Clemson on Thursday night, just five days later. Why put anything on tape for Clemson to see? Keep it vanilla, get QB Josh Nesbitt out as soon as you can, and get some work for Tevin Washington, the backup.
Draddy Trophy Named for William V. Campbell: This is not a burning question, but this is something you should know about if you’re a college football fan. Each December the Draddy Trophy goes to the top scholar-athlete in all of college football. It is known as the “Academic Heisman.” Among the previous winners are Florida’s Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tennessee’s Peyton Manning (1997) and Georgia’s Matt Stinchcomb (1998). This is really big deal.
The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame announced this week that the Draddy Trophy will be renamed for William V. Campbell, chairman of the software company Intuit, and a former player and coach at Columbia. Campbell played on an Ivy League championship team in 1961 and at the age of 39 changed careers and became an advertising executive. He became one of the leaders in high tech. He gave millions to charities, including a $10 million donation to the Columbia athletics department.
He used the lessons learned in football at Columbia and translated those into an incredible career in business. To learn more about Bill Campbell and his incredible story go to the National Football Foundation website at:
http://www.footballfoundation.org/news.php?id=2024
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243 comments Add your comment
Saint Simons
September 3rd, 2009
8:05 am
(((((45-42)))))hahaha and then we had a Tickle Pile on their campus!!!!
johnny
September 3rd, 2009
8:13 am
Oklahoma State is awfully tough whenever they are up for a game, and they WILL be up for Georgia. I still look for the Dawgs to take a close one. GO DAWGS!!!
MiltonDawg
September 3rd, 2009
8:23 am
Nothing compares to an opponent’s SEC stadium- just way too much hostility so the OK ST crowd won’t be a factor. NC ST will win tonight. UF’s schedule is pathetic..2 Nat’l titles in 4 years..yet they play such pansy teams. Way to man up Gators. After CSU, they have Troy and the Fla Int’l at the end. Lame.
m
September 3rd, 2009
8:23 am
The sec gets exposed this weekend….most overrated overhyped conference in history.
But unfortunately for the sec goobers on here, the games have to be played…and that’s when the sec gets exposed for the fraud conference that it is.
The ACC went 6-4 against the sec last year in the regular season. This year there are 7 games scheduled between the sec and the acc. Acc wins the majority easily….putting to rest this sec hype.
45-42….glad it still hurts so bad….and it is only the beginning.
Leon "Pooch-Kick" Trotsky
September 3rd, 2009
8:27 am
Tony,
Florida’s game with Agnes Scott College was cancelled at the last moment by Agnes Scott’s AD. An agreement with West Georgia College fell through so Charleston Southern was the only option.
Cuz
September 3rd, 2009
8:27 am
I think the Dawgs come home with a win at Slim Pickens Stadium. I just hope the team is not as overconfident as I am. 60,000 screaming fans should not intimidate the Dawgs.
GeoffDawg
September 3rd, 2009
8:28 am
I think one of the biggest questions for Okie State is if they can still focus going into this game. Not only do they have the pressure of hosting their biggest opening season game ever, but they have a number of other distractions with player arrests, QB internet rumors, season ending injuries, and players abruptly leaving the team. Even a seasoned program like Georgia’s didn’t fare as well as expected last year under similar conditions. How will the pokes handle it?
MiltonDawg
September 3rd, 2009
8:29 am
m you’re such a tool man. come up with something more original instead of spewing the same childish banter.
Cuz
September 3rd, 2009
8:29 am
m, it does not hurt. But if you want to continue to play your game, fine. Have a great time at Dragon Con this weekend.
Spike
September 3rd, 2009
8:31 am
30-4 road record in opponents home stadiums. Most if not all are in the SEC. Okie State ain’t nothin”.. Nuff said.
Reality Check
September 3rd, 2009
8:35 am
Thank you Tony. I am just about sick of hearing how UGA will have to deal with their crowd. Are you kidding me? I don’t doubt that they may be loud at times but this just another road game. In fact I would say other than Tech and Vandy, this will be the least rowdy of any of our road games this year.
I hope SC and the ole ball coach can pull it out tonight but unfortunately I think they are in trouble.
I think Alabama’s OL will be fine. I don’t think they will be dominating on Saturday but they have some very solid guys.
m
September 3rd, 2009
8:36 am
ugag couldn’t even win with Stafford and No-show moreno…how are they going to win with this scrub team they have this year?
TommyGator
September 3rd, 2009
8:37 am
I thought Utah was anxious to claim some fame from the Big Boys! $1,000,000 smackers negates a lot of cheap smack talk….and even a Congressional foray into :fairness.”
When it came right down to “put up or shut up”, things got quiet in Mormon land…..I guess it really is about the money.
Large Orange
September 3rd, 2009
8:40 am
Charleston Southern? I guess Sprayberry High School could not make the trip to Gainesville. Gimme a big old Gator break here. I love the SEC but would love to see Troy spank the Gators next week. That would have Little Timmy crying on TV again and offering free circumcisions if they lose another game. I fully expect the Vols to give them a run for the money this year. But then again, I have been wrong before. Goooo SEC!!
Furrdaddy
September 3rd, 2009
8:41 am
m:
SEC…most overrated, overhyped conference in history.
You have got to be a Georgia Tech fan so obviously you know nothing about real football being that your team equals most high school’s JV squads.
One win in the last 7 years and you goobers are still talking about it today because you still can’t believe that you actually won. I am looking forward to the GT smackdown as much as any game on the schedule so that we can shut you annoying little b.tches up for another 7 years.
Dooley's Cardiologist
September 3rd, 2009
8:46 am
Did a UGA fan really take a shot at Florida’s schedule. Don’t act like you haven’t played Western Kentucky, Georgia Southern and Arkansas State in the past. That is an argument that holds no water. UGA is known for usually having two laughable out of conference games a year. I bet the OK State game for this year was scheduled in a year in which they had a 5-6 record.
Dog in TN
September 3rd, 2009
8:46 am
Just watch and learn, m. The games will be played, then we talk.
Porty
September 3rd, 2009
8:48 am
Why do you leave the annual Florida beatdown off of Coach Helen Hunt’s road record?
Clay
September 3rd, 2009
8:49 am
Not only does the Ok State stadium only hold a Tech-like crowd of 60,000, I understand it’s not going to even be full. I read something in Oklahoma about a week ago that said as many as 10,000 tickets still remained. I know UGA still has tickets available. I’m sure there will not be 10,000 empty seats, but the crowd will not be a factor.
Got 12?
September 3rd, 2009
8:50 am
Bama will mix in shotgun formations and screen passes to take advantage of VaTech’s rush. McElroy will surprise a lot of people with his accuracy and arm strength. Bama wins by 14 totalling more passing yards than rushing yards.
S. Carolina loses tonight.
LOL @ 60K screaming fans. I have changed my UGA prediction: OK State is still the better team but they choke on Saturday.
Nachos
September 3rd, 2009
8:51 am
Is the Auburn game on TV Saturday?
Why do you UGA guys...
September 3rd, 2009
8:52 am
…continue to respond to m and Saint Simons? It’s not like they have said anything new in the past 9 months.
Reality Check
September 3rd, 2009
8:53 am
M – Whatever helps you sleep at night. You and about 20 other Tech fans are the only ones that think the acc is even in the sec’s class. I guarntee you we could pair up the teams to make it 11 and 1 or 10 and 2 for the sec against the acc. Why don’t you try seeding them and then see what the match-ups would look like. Like Tech playing Miss St., Vandy and UGA this year. Of course you should win at least two out of three. So does that make the acc better because one of their top teams beats two of our bottom teams?
GeoffDawg
September 3rd, 2009
8:53 am
Dooley’s Cardiologist – I’m of the opinion that playing an SEC schedule is tough enough and should be viewed as such by the pollsters but Georgia has been lining up quality OOC opponents (besides tech) for years now. i.e. Colorado, Ok St., Az St., Clemson,. Even when we do play the “patsies”, they’re still a notch above the patsies’ patsy in Charleston Southern. Gator players may be subject to assault and battery charges following this game.
tchance
September 3rd, 2009
8:53 am
to m and that idiot miss simons, count your blessings that by the time UGA played the insects, we had lost 29 scholarship players to injury including the entire offensive line except one. If Moreno and Stafford had the luxury of a healthy O line, things would have been ugly. So enjoy your one victory cause its going to be awhiile before you see another. Overrated conference? Just shows you are either extremly ignorant or blinded by jealousy fueled hate. We have owned other conferences in head to head and bowl games. While the SEC has the occasional upset, look at the overall numbers ust in the last 10 years…..scary!!!!
tim
September 3rd, 2009
8:53 am
My gator friends think I’m delusional, but Troy State is a really good team and they can beat UF..they should have beat LSU last year
Saint Simons
September 3rd, 2009
8:56 am
just a reminder, 45 – 42 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahahahahahahaha
Saint Simons
September 3rd, 2009
8:58 am
Don’t burn my burger tchance !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
GeoffDawg
September 3rd, 2009
9:03 am
I wonder if an objective psycho-therapist would reach the conclusion that St. Simons is certifiably insane. Or at the very least, suffering from extremem OCD.
GeoffDawg
September 3rd, 2009
9:06 am
Come to think of it, an analyst/therapist would probably do him some good. We should all pitch in to send St. Simons to a qualified analrapist.
Luke Duke
September 3rd, 2009
9:13 am
Troy State actually dropped the state several years ago. Maybe someone will get that when they upset Florida next week. Remember, this team was up by about 150 against LSU on the road last year and blew it in the 4th quarter.
Eric
September 3rd, 2009
9:14 am
One thing about these “burning questions”, nobody has the answers. We’ll all get them at the same time. WDE.
Nautidawg
September 3rd, 2009
9:20 am
m, how pathetic to you have to be to have special rings made up for a regular season win. What the ?#@! is that all about? Had your head up your a$$ against LSU, right! That’s what an early celebration will get you- “no class”. See you in Atlanta later this year and then we won’t have to hear from your or Saint Simons for a long time, again. WOOF! WOOF!
Kid Ray
September 3rd, 2009
9:21 am
Neither here nor there TB, but the UF spread is -63. The -73 is/was a typo.
RxDawg
September 3rd, 2009
9:24 am
I’m not much of a gambler….but Georgia +5.5 seems like the biggest sure thing (if there is such a thing) there is.
Phoque oSu
September 3rd, 2009
9:24 am
1. It will be rowdy, but come on….it’s 60,000 people. UGA plays against 80,000 or more on a regular basis, except whenever they play Vandy in Nashville. It will be about like playing Tech at Bobby Dodd……except that oSu will probably have the stadium full, and GT never does.
2. Google “This is South Carolina Football” and read to your heart’s content. I quote the paragraph that says the following, and this probably isn’t verbatim, but you get the gist of the idea: “3 coaches have won national championships elsewhere, only to have posterity scribble a moustache and horns on their legacies after they dared to believe that that could change South Carolina football”.
Yeah, I would say that the wailing and gnashing of teeth is beginning. Only 5 Carolina coaches have lasted more than 5 seasons. Spurrier may be the 6th to last longer, but it won’t be much longer after this year. Their fans are delusional, but the rest of the country sees them for what they are.
3. Yes, they can, but defense is likely going to rule the day in this game.
4. If Corch Urban Meyers CAN cover the 73, make no error….he WILL cover the 73. That’s the Corch Meyers we….and Corrine Brown (D) Florida….all know and love.
5. Very little. If the run is clicking, very little of the pass will be seen. Just the nature of men who coach the Option. I know. I’ve been around men who coach the option all my life.
Otto
September 3rd, 2009
9:27 am
Last I heard Auburn was on ESPNU at 7:30
Fletch
September 3rd, 2009
9:29 am
m is right, the ACC is much more superior than the SEC, this picture of the ACC championship game proves it
http://nittanywhiteout.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/acc_championship_game_crowd_view_2007_empty_stadium_jacksonville_altel_acc_sucks_sux1.jpg
Fletch
September 3rd, 2009
9:31 am
and the next year’s ACC championship game…
http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/images/articles/SBJ200812010701-01.jpg
absolutely pathetic
im4bama
September 3rd, 2009
9:36 am
COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS FINALLY HERE!!!!! THANK GOD!
My gut says OSU will beat UGA. The Dawgs do have an impressive road record but I think you add another loss to the road column. Of course I’ll be pulling for my SEC brothers in this one, so hopefully I’m wrong.
NC State beats USC. Spurrier should retire after this year. He’s had the worst luck in QB’s and they are going backwards as a team. He should have never left Gainsville in the first place. Don’t you know he wishes he didn’t.
Bama’s O-line will hold their own against Bud Foster’s D just fine.
Mikey
September 3rd, 2009
9:37 am
M, compare your W-2 to Matt Staffords and Knowshon’s, then shut the F up!
Denver Dog
September 3rd, 2009
9:38 am
Good thoughts Tony,
To all of you out there, quit paying attention to the idiots from Tech. Even the Tech people despise them. m built the parking garage that just fell in downtown Atlanta, and St Simons runs the terrorist training facility in the back woods of Camden County.
Tony there are some great games for opening weekend. I’d call the Ole ball coach sly enough to make us all think he can’t win. Bama will not roll. The dogs will rule. Tech and Fla will win big over not so big opponents. One of the great games will be Ill vs Mizzou in St Louis.
Next weekend in Athens, a classic SEC barn burner. Visor man will have his usual hatred for UGA at an all time high, and UGA will be tired after such a short turn on the game. Spurrier gets two extra days, again. He uses it wisely.
GO dogs.
Phoque the ACC
September 3rd, 2009
9:40 am
Love those pics of the ever-popular ACC title game. Now, why don’t you put some pics up there to show the delusional ACC fans what the attendance for a REAL conference championship game looks like? Pics from any SEC title game or Big-12 title game will do.
Pulpwood Smith
September 3rd, 2009
9:43 am
SEC overrated? I guess winning the National Championship the last 3 seasons in a row makes the SEC overrated?? So the ACC went 6-4 against the SEC….big deal…..2 off those wins were against Vanderbilt, who ought to be in the ACC, and one was against Mississippi State, who doesn’t have a pulse. Tech beat Georgia for the first time in 8 years, and the gloating among Tech people has been unprecedented. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then buddy. The ACC’s hired guns, Miami and Florida State, are both extremely pedestrian now, and from top to bottom the conference just isn’t that impressive. You don’t win National Championships, don’t compete for them, and aren’t even mentioned in discussions about them. 25,000 people attend your championship game. Nice. And Tech people are supposed to be smart? Nice perspective, goof.
Fletch
September 3rd, 2009
9:43 am
certainly….
http://www.secsportsfan.com/images/arkansas_florida_2006_sec_championship_game.jpg
Bull Gator
September 3rd, 2009
9:44 am
Hey MiltonDawg…already laying the ground work to be able to whine when UF wins it all this year? UF had the most difficult schedule in the nation when they won the BCS in 2006, and again when they won the BCS in 2008. It’s not our fault that we rotated off AL and Ole Miss this year, and that FSU has fallen from being a team that always finishes in the top 10 to a mediocre ACC squad.
DMW45
September 3rd, 2009
9:45 am
Tony, please – it’s the Old Ball Coach, not the Head Ball Coach. Please say it right.
Brae Bryant is GONE, Bammers!
September 3rd, 2009
9:46 am
im4Bama, Guess what? My gut tells me that VT is gonna stomp a mudhole in Bama’s a$$ and walk it dry, too. However, I am gonna stick with the SEC and show a united front against the ACC homers and go with Bama. Maybe you should show a little conference loyalty and do the same, huh?
Spike
September 3rd, 2009
9:46 am
Fletch.. Great job. A picture is worth a thousand words. M, take a look.
Bear Bryant is GONE, Bammers!
September 3rd, 2009
9:46 am
Sorry, I meant BEAR Bryant is gone, Bammers!