College Football 2023: Week 0 Impressions

    Proliferation. 

    More than ever, Jacksonville State has joined the ranks of the big boys. We are up to 133 top tier teams now. Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State and Texas, meet your newest challenge to college Division I supremacy. Where is this school? Somewhere in the southern U.S., yes... Okay, Alabama. Football rich state. Makes some sense. Smaller schools in that state are pretty competitive: UAB and Troy State have been bringing it for years. Not as big as the Tide and the War Eagle, but pretty competitive. Enough to knock off some bigger schools sometimes.

    Like the victimized BYU when I was traveling back to the Middle East, my Cougars being outran by the Trailblazers while I tried watching in transit at the Indianapolis airport. Great memories. Oh, is Brigham Young a big boy? I think so, in my biased opinion. Then again, as a Deseret News writer wrote lately, the Cougs are fully capable of beating or losing to anyone. This why we play the game. This is part of why I love the game.

    Yesterday, Saturday, the last weekend of August, featured some games that were interesting to me. We call it Week Zero, before the official start of the season Labor Day weekend.

    And so Jax State went on to win their first FBS home game, against the favored UTEP Miners. Texas El Paso had stronger players, overall, but the... Gamecocks (watch out South Carolina!) exploited some weaknesses, capitalizing on their own strengths, like a scrambling quarterback and a defense picking off passes and recovering fumbles. 

    Welcome to the Big Time, Jax State. Newest member and possible contender in their conference. Sub Belt? Conference USA? AAC? Time will tell...

    The day started off at 2:30 in the afternoon from Dublin, Ireland, of course. The locally celebrated Fighting Irish dropped a whoop down on the Navy Midshipmen. The Ken Niamatalolo era is over, after 16 pretty good years. Say his last name three times fast. My wife asked me where he is after being fired from Annapolis, but I am not sure. We all liked him quite a bit. A great Church guy for us.

    The new, (and possibly 36th?) white-bearded Navy coach took it hard, losing to the ranked Notre Dame squad 42-3. Beers were downed in Ireland, yes.

    Higher ranked USC took care of San Jose State. The Spartans put up some fight, made some great TD pass grabs (I have seen highlights), but the Heisman winner Caleb Williams and crew ended up with 56 points and ran away with it in the Coliseum, sight of the 1932 Olympics, or something like that.

    Vanderbilt beat Hawai'i 35-28, giving the regular lowling of the SEC, the best conference in college football, hope that they might stand a chance this fall. Don't hold your breath, Commodore fans. SEC tv commentators were relieved on their show, I will note.

    Who else?

    

    The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs stuck with it and came back against the FIU Panthers. Florida International did pretty well last year (I think), so it was a disappointing finish for them. The Panthers started out the game up by a couple scores, but Bull Dogs were really bullish. Bully on them. 

    San Diego State handled the visiting Ohio Bobcats. It looked like it was played in former or present whatever Jack Murphy Stadium. Maybe? I don't know. I saw three BYU football games there in the past, but I could not quite tell. The professional Chargers have moved to L.A., so who knows or cares about San Diego now? I would think that the PAC-12 should care about this metropolis and school, because the last four PAC-12 franchises (yes, it's a business) could use the Aztecs to codger together some kind of league, if they are not completely cannibalized by the ACC or some far flung college conference like the Big Ten or Big Twelves, these syndicates of three or four time zones. And both my schools are a part of it! I guess I am lucky...

    Then again, when it comes to football, I am a lifetime IU Hoosier fan... We can win. We just usually don't. It is what it will be.

    Who else? Mercer beat North Alabama. Well, that is FCS. Never mind.

    This was Week 0, so maybe I covered it. Navy, Notre Dame, UTEP, Jax State, SDSU, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Vanderbilt, Hawai'i. USC and SJSU.

    There might have been one more. Lemme check my phone... Oh yeah! I did watch a bit of this game! Two independents, that I have seen play live in the case of the Minutemen.

    UMass crunched the New Mexico State Aggies. In Las Cruces. It was sunny and warm. That game and the LTech game were really hot, I think. 

    This was August, I was happy to chill, watch, read, write, play, and interact with my family. It was a good day of football for me. Nothing special, but nice to relax after working 12 days in row.

    The 2023 is upon us. Next up? My Hoosiers and Cougars will start up their years, September 2.

    Welcome back, college football. Welcome Europeans and all the rest.