Stealing the spotlight: Here in the rodeo country of Hugo, Oklahoma we are very familiar with the phrase “out of the gate”, and just like a bull out of the chute, 2010 college football is “right out of the gate in the race for a National Championship”.  Eight teams, four games, three neutral sites and whole lot of anticipation highlight opening weekend. I’m thrilled that the Versus Network FINALLY worked out their issues with DirecTV. I hated missing all of those great MWC games last year. This season the Versus network starts out with a bang on Thursday night as #12 Utah hosts #18 Pittsburgh. What a big game to start the season. The Utes and the Panthers both have high expectations this year as both teams are contenders for conference crowns. On Saturday night in Arlington, Texas, fresh off of the most successful season in Horned Frog history since 1938, #6 TCU will entertain #19 Oregon State. 15 minutes later, #14 LSU and #36 North Carolina kickoff in the Georgia Dome, and on Monday night in Landover, Maryland, #3 Boise State begins what could be an unprecedented race for Number One against ACC favorite, #17 Virginia Tech. The Bronco/Hokie match is one of the best opening season games in my recent memory.

Debunking the preseason myth: In a previous article I touched on the myth that teams so drastically change from one season to the next that my preseason rankings are not accurate. One of the ways to measure team strength is to look at Las Vegas spreads. I’m not a fan of gambling, but the “experts” are right about 74% of the time straight up. The Billingsley Report was 73.2% in 2009. Among the 39 games being played between FBS teams on opening weekend, the LV spread only projects 3 teams to win games that the Billingsley Report considers as “underdogs” (because of a lower ranking). #73 Michigan is a 3 point favorite at home over #37 Connecticut, #74 Tulsa is a 6 point favorite on the road against #58 East Carolina, and #51 UCLA is a 1 point favorite over #59 Kansas State in Manhattan. 3 teams favored by less than a touchdown each hardly constitute a mass transformation of the FBS. This is typical of each opening weekend, and during the season, it’s rare that I see more than a 5 game difference between my rankings and a favored team in Las Vegas.

Bowl Implications in September?: Remember, 6 is the key number when thinking Bowl Games and there are some crucial match ups being played opening weekend that will go a long way towards determining that magic number in the win column come December. Northwestern at Vanderbilt, Minnesota at MTSU, SMU at Texas Tech, Purdue at Notre Dame, Southern Miss at South Carolina, Washington at Brigham Young, Kentucky at Louisville, UCLA at Kansas State and Colorado vs Colorado State in Denver should all be outstanding competitive games. I’ll be watching with extra interest knowing the outcome could mean the difference in a bowl game invitation for some of the teams involved.