Game of the Week
Miami (FL) (1-0) @ #5 Florida (1-0)
Line: Florida -21.5

Five years ago, this would have been clearly the game of the week, but since Urban Meyer took over, the two programs have moved in opposite directions. With Meyer, it seems like Florida will continue to be a title contender while the Canes have dropped to the middle of the pack in the ACC. Whether or not WR Percy Harvin plays or not, Tim Tebow should have plenty of options against an always athletic Miami defense. It will be the play of one of Miami's freshman QB tandem Ricky Marve or Jacory Harris that dictates whether the Canes can hang in there or fold under the pressure.

I wanted to archive this post made by a self-proclaimed Tennessee booster in which he openly admits to giving football players money.

TennStud: The lady is correct; Jarrod Parris, while leaving, with a most beautibul lady from Covington, was asked by some others how many tattos did he have. He replied proudly "none", I'm not a thug. I gave him a $100 bill, as I have most every other Div 1 athlete who's at my home and I'm told doesn't have a tatoo. Mr. Williams, Dan's father, was here tonight and when someone queatined whether his son didn't have a tatoo, Mr. Williams, who's a USPO employee, said "that's right. His Mom told him he'd better not ever get a tatoo and I'm proud to say, he doesn't". Scores of lawyers, judges, business people were around and several said "that's great; if he doesn't make it in the NFL, make sure he calls me." I've given approx $1,000 in 100 bills lately, several to UT, for first rate, first class, individuals, who don't have tattos. Not all individuals with tattos are thugs, but ALL criminals, thugs, have tatoos! Not all mothers are as influential, as close to their son, influential with their son, as evidently, Mrs. Williams is with Dan! God Bless Mrs. and Mr. Williams.

Ring ring ring! Hello, NCAA? I'd like to report a violation please. Which team? Oh, Tennessee. Yes, the Tennessee Vols. In the SEC. Oh, it'll be a while until you can get to them? Ok. I saw a Washington player find a quarter on the ground and pick it up after somebody wearing Husky gear dropped it. Right, in the PAC-10. Probation? Announced tomorrow? Great!

I'll admit it. I lost a few bills by betting on Tennessee -7 this game. UCLA was supposed to lose, but they didn't. Bad for my bank account, bad for the SEC, good for the PAC-10.

Do the Bruins not suck as much as everybody thought? Or did Tennessee just play that bad? We'll find out in a couple weeks when the Bruins play BYU. If they're the UCLA that I know, they'll come back from an amazing win over a top-25 opponent and piss away any credibility gained by losing to a lesser team. Until then, when it comes to UCLA my wallet is staying in my pocket.

Here's a summary of what SI is calling the #1 conference in the US after week 1 of football.

2007 SEC East Champion Tennessee plays a middling UCLA team reduced to its 3rd-string JC transfer quarterback, razor thin offensive line and who lost their starting TE, RB and WR in the first half of the game, and loses.

Of course, the other SEC teams dominated. Arkansas squeaked out a 4-point victory over perennial football power Western Illinois, Auburn blows through world-beating team Louisiana-Monroe, Florida crushes annual BCS contender Hawaii, #1-ranked Georgia blows by powerful Georgia Southern (thankfully not looking past that game to Central Michigan next week), and LSU now gets to focus on Troy and North Texas after beating down super-tough IAA team Appalachian State. Mississippi State also lost to Louisiana Tech.

Surprise, surprise. Another article filled with quotes from SEC coaches and fans about how great the SEC is, bla bla bla. No doubt the SEC is an awesome conference, but to say an SEC team with two losses absolutely deserves to be in the national championship game over other teams with fewer losses is going beyond reason.

"If you can win the SEC championship, odds are you can play for the national championship, and that says a lot about the league," Bloom said. "When people look at the pre-season magazines, there are a lot of people who say that a two-loss SEC team, depending on what happens elsewhere in the country, can compete for a national championship again."

Is it just me or is there something wrong when there are two great matchups (Michigan St. @ Cal, and Alabama vs. Clemson), but one of them gets about 85% of the country. Does it make sense to anybody how even most of the Big-10 territories aren't showing the Cal/Michigan St. matchup? ABC, what's wrong with you? Why would people in Chicago be more interested in Bama/Clemson? The only thing I can conclude is that ABC/ESPN is trying to bring in some Big-10 territory Pay-Per-View dollars. And that I'm hung like a paint can. *Puts down paint can*

SEC Strikes Super Deal, I Wet Pants In Jealousy - No news is probably bigger today than ESPN and the SEC reaching a 15-year deal for all the conference's TV rights beyond those taken by CBS. Deal is worth about $2.3 billion. Forget about a SEC network. Also forget about unbiased rankings and polls for the next 15 years, especially considering that 1/3 of the rankings' formulas is based on the ESPN/USA Today Poll. ESPN officially becomes known as the "Eastern Seaboard Programming Network." With the reduced national exposure for other conferences, SEC fans will continue to believe that the SEC is composed of entirely superior athletes because they see them most on TV and, hey, they have to play other SEC teams. Derrr.

Chick-a-Chick-a-Bow-Wow - Chick-Fil-A turns the Alabama-Clemson game this season into a debut for its annual "Daytona 500 of College Football." In other news, the nation's mullet alert climbs to code orange.

The first games of the college football season are only a week away, and based on my experience the first couple weeks make for the best opportunities to make some money at the sportsbooks since college football in general is relatively unpredictable and nobody really knows how good or bad teams will be. Here are what my picks are going to be for a select few games going into the first week:

Tennessee -7 @ UCLA - September 1, 2008
Is there anybody here who doesn't hail from LA that thinks this game will be close? UCLA's offensive line is razor thin with crazy numbers of injuries in the offseason. They're starting a guy who would have been their 3rd string JC transfer at quarterback after their #1 and #2 quarterbacks were injured on successive plays. Some people may point out their all-star coaching staff of Rick Neuheisel and Norm Chow, but seriously, great coaches still need to have a quarterback and offensive line to coach! Defense will be solid, but not enough to send Tennessee into fits.
TCQB says: Tennessee 31, UCLA 9