College Football Corner--thrills, chills and spills...

Happy post-Labor day (that means no white unless you’re on the road or the Redskins)— now that we’ve put away the grill and our town pools have closed (because you know, it’s never warm on a September weekday)—time to focus on football... VIRGINIA TECH amidst a stadium of teary eyes kicked off its campaign with a 17-7 victory over East Carolina—one can only imagine the challenge of focusing in such a cauldron of emotion—and although the Hokies have moved on, Hokie Nation will still be healing for some time. UPSIDE—the defense held ECU’s offense under four yards per pass attempt while cornerback Victor Harris got the Hokies into the endzone for the first time all day on a 17 yard interception return for a touchdown. DOWNSIDE—offensively the Hokies were handcuffed; Brandon Ore was held to 70 yards on 23 carries while Sean Glennon was sacked four times and intercepted once—and the team also lost a pair of fumbles. Against ECU that’s manageable, against LSU that could be disastrous. MARYLAND suffered a five minute hiccup late in the first half against Villanova: a dropped 50+ yard pass by Isaiah Williams, a very accommodating drive by the defense and a red zone interception thrown by Jordan Steffy turned what could have been a 24-0 lead at intermission into a 10-7 advantage. The Terps played to their own level in the 2nd half, scoring on their first three possessions while forcing a turnover or a three-and out when the Wildcats had the football. UPSIDE—an offensive line that got a solid push the entire evening (4.8 yards per rush, no sacks allowed) and the defense came up huge in the second half (28 yards allowed). DOWNSIDE—the defense looked very ordinary in the first half (allowing an 8 play, 84 yard march just before the break) and the passing game averaged less than ten yards per completion—one wonders how the over-reliance on short-stuff will work against West Virginia. VIRGINIA had its worst fears fulfilled in their 23-3 loss at Wyoming. Oh my—and it wasn’t even that close. At first glance this schedule looked to be rather soft—but with a loss to the Cowboys all of a sudden North Carolina in Chapel Hill and Pittsburgh at home get pushed from potential gimmees to likely disasters. UPSIDE—Duke comes to Charlottesville Saturday. DOWNSIDE—Jameel Sewell did not begin 2007 on a positive note: 11 of 23 for 82 yards passing and five carries for minus six yards; meaning in 28 plays from scrimmage he accounted for 76 total yards. Sewell received little support from his running game— Cedric Pearman gained just 18 yards on 7 tries. Defensively, the Cavaliers were pushed around for 218 yards rushing and 471 total yards by the Wyoming Cowboys—I mean, name one Cowboy of note outside of Fennis Dembo (or Jim Kiick for you baby-boomers). This week's spotlight in Presto's Picks--sacks; more than just an accountant's error...