Week 0 Thoughts

So yeah college football was officially back this past Saturday as four FCS teams kicked off their seasons with the Jacksonville St/NC A&T tilt being the main attraction. So like I will every week some thoughts on what I saw...things I liked and not so much. One thing of note...I'm gonna try and get these done a quickly as possible but with a really crappy work schedule and having to rewatch a lot of stuff it will be hard not getting something done before Tuesday (hate that). Anywhoo...without further delays

Week 0 Thoughts

Welcome back

Let's start with the obvious... it's really good to see college football back. Yea I know, a lot of shit has been happening and will continue happening that takes you away from the game but the game is back and it was just really good to see. And the best part, this was like that tiny little food plate you get at the party before the first appetizer arrives

Sloppy start

• So the Jacksonville St/N. Carolina A&T was...well what you expect from two teams starting this early. Really sloppy, undisciplined play that would drive coaches absolutely bonkers. The worst being the personal foul on the second half kickoff...oh vey. At one point the Gamecocks had more penalty yards than total yards
• Adding on the sloppy play from JSU, 4 turnovers, 2 missed field goals and 14 penalties overall, and 1 for 11 on 3rd down
• While they did lose, you have to say the defense for JSU is going to terrorize the OVC. Part of the domination was in large part to a defensive line that lived in the Aggie backfield. The Aggies were starting a very inexperienced offensive line (16 starts total, 15 by the LT at RT) but not many would be able to handle the onslaught
• For about 15 minutes, this was a really exciting game. You saw the talent on the field shine as 28 points were scored in a blink of an eye by both teams in a punch, counterpunch style that is always fun to see. But the rest of the game was a bit of a slog, the 4th quarter was entertaining for drama purposes but still sloppy because of the heat and tired bodies.
• Just like I said about JSU...N. Carolina A&T showed they are gonna be tough to deal with on defense. Yes, Zerrick Cooper did throw for 300+ but it wasn't one of those overly convincing performances that made you stand up and say he handled the defense. When it counted the Aggie D came up big especially in the end on the strip sack by Darryl Johnson Jr.

ESPN...The good, bad, and depressing

So, I'm gonna get my ranting and junk about ESPN out of the way already, and no it isn't all bad. 

• First off...I am a huge fan of the new score graphic they have. Gone is the top/down verticle graphics that weren't bad but just didn't really look good in my eyes. The new graphic is pretty similar but is now horizontal and just makes for an overall easier viewing of things in my eyes. 
  

• That's good...now for the bad. ESPN really at some point needs to have more FCS announcers to call games. What happened to the guys that were calling games over the playoffs? First off, why do we need FBS predictions during a FCS game? Yea, I get the bulk of people watching are FBS people but how does hearing mid-level analysts give predictions any better than me and a few dudes drinking beer in a bar? It is an FCS game, the first one of the year, can we please spend more dead time on the FCS and stop treating how they did the Arena League?
• And now the depressing...this piggybacks off of the in-game stuff. Why is halftime nothing more than College Football Live? Spend 2 min on the game at hand then  "hey more Urban Mayer shit!" Come on...you can't spend 10 minutes focusing on something other than the mainstream football news? I know it will never happen but can we do an FCS show that comes on once or twice a week?

Prairie View near surprise

• I'll say this when I saw the score of this game I kinda blew it off but once I saw how things went down...man Prairie View had a real opportunity to steal one. Yes, Rice is all sorts of bad but even the bad teams run up on teams like the Panthers and at the start, it looked like that was going to happen.
• Then in a flash, 28 straight points over a quarter and a half and you thought an upset was in the air. But games like these show the gap in depth/talent between an FBS and FCS school...Rice just wore down the front lines of PV A&M. What was crisp/fluid technique turned into tired sloppiness and Rice took advantage in route to the comeback.

Predictable

• Of all the results, Duquesne getting beat by UMass was most predictable. The score was a bit lopsided but I don't think many outside of the players expected any type of drama and by the end of the first quarter there was little doubt
• Games like this, however, don't really show much in terms of how the season will go...the Dukes will still be in the thick on the NEC race and an open week beatdown won't change that