FanNation - The Republic of Sport

My wife and I had just got back from our belated wedding reception and visiting my parents in Wisconsin. The air was charged for the season opener at Autzen here in Eugene. The Houston Cougars were in town, a great C-USA opponent with a bolt of lightning in the backfield in Anthony Aldridge. I showed up at work at the University a few minutes before six in the morning, wishing I could get to the stadium instead of being stuck back at my first day of work after ten days off... certainly not the most palatable of circumstances for ending a vacation!

But the college football action soon turned that around. The boss' computer was alight with scoreboards as we tried frantically to keep up with the action. The first thing to pop out at me was Michigan, number five in the nation, playing a tight contest with two-time defending I-AA champ Appalachian State -- in the Big House in Ann Arbor, nonetheless. The day had a supercharged feel in the air that portended something odd happening in the college football world. I kept watching the Wolverines, hoping that it would be them and not the hometown squad in Eugene that would face the chin music.

Doesn't this seem like ages ago? I got off work after watching the first half of the Oregon-Houston contest in the break room. I rode my bike along the Willamette River home, hearing the roar from the contest at Autzen as I pedaled along the opposite bank of the river toward our new apartment. The Ducks would go on to win the contest 48-27, shaking off the rust to open up new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly's spread. Dennis Dixon had played well enough, but still harbored many doubts among the citizens of Eugene. His implosion last season, culminating in Brady Leaf getting the Civil War start, had fans clamoring for a breakout performance...

It really does seem like ages ago... I set my bike gloves down on Brian Brohm's face as he looked out from the season preview issue of ESPN: The Magazine, still a Heisman front-runner and a national championship contender. I came in from the sunshine and the blue of a beautiful September day. The radio continued to spit out scores; Wyoming had defeated Virginia in Laramie 23-3 in the inaugural college football broadcast date for Versus. War Memorial Stadium was electric as the Cowboys asserted their right to be considered as a MWC force, pushing around the Cavaliers in the high-altitude haven of Jonah Field. How two seasons can change so far from first impressions!

Arkansas State kept close to Texas; LSU and West Virginia annihilated weaker competition; the Badgers doubled Washington State 42-21 in Madison and Cal avenged last season's loss against Tennessee 45-31; and both of last season's BCS championship game contestants won comfortably with new field generals under center (or in Tebow's case, in shotgun...)

Michigan gave sports fans a taste of the absurdity which was about to descend upon I-A football. Week one played out mainly to expectation, but the first defeat of a top-25 I-A squad by a I-AA opponent bookended by a lackluster performance by preseason consensus #1 USC against Erickson-less Idaho gave fans reason to steel their nerves lest their squads face an upset. If only we had all known how to read the signs better back on that sunny September day...