The 2009 college football schedule is out!
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USA Today is still worth purchasing if only for the full-page schedule logs. I’m an old football fogey who loves reading sporting schedules in print, unfolded on a table or on my laptop keyboard. Unfortunately, many newspapers don’t have the space anymore to devote full pages to logs ... too bad, but what can you do?
Monday’s edition of the multicolored fish wrap, as it has been called, treats us to the 2009 major-college football schedules from A (Air Force) to W (Wyoming).
Here are my top five games of the opening weekend.
1: Sept. 3 (Thursday). Oregon at Boise State.
Wow. You want to know why BCS honchos don’t want a playoff? Here’s an opener with huge ramifications for both programs. This IS a playoff. Boise State, which is going to be loaded next year, needs the win to make an early BCS statement with the hopes of becoming the first ‘non-BCS’ team to go undefeated and actually finish No. 1 or No. 2 and advance to next year’s national title game at the Rose Bowl.
Oregon, with a new coach, Chip Kelly, will be a national-title contender in September if it can open 4-0 with wins at Boise and then home against Purdue, Utah and California.
2. Sept. 5 (Saturday) Charleston Southern at Florida.
First game for defending champion and prohibitive pre-season No.1 OK, this game is going to be 89-3, but it’s only two Saturdays before Tennessee and first-year Coach Lane Kiffin come to the Swamp. Wonder what ex-Gator quarterback Shane Matthews would say if Urban Meyer lost to Kiffin, not that it’s going to happen.
3. Sept. 5 (Saturday) Nevada at Notre Dame
Gulp. Charlie Weis probably needs to win nine in ’09 to keep his job, but Nevada is hardly an opening cupcake, returning WAC offense player of the year in quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Nevada could challenge Boise State for the WAC next year and is far better than the San Diego State team that should have upset the Irish in last year’s season opener in South Bend.
4. Sept. 5 (Saturday) Louisiana State at Washington
Former USC assistant Steve Sarkisian’s first game after taking over the worst Washington team (0-12) in history. Good luck.
5. Sept. 7 (Monday) Miami at Florida State.
Oops, sorry, this USED to be a big opening-weekend game. (Sub in Georgia at Oklahoma State on Sept. 5.)
P.S. If I missed a more interesting opening-weekend game (sorry, San Jose State at USC doesn’t count), chances are I’ll hear about it.
-- Chris Dufresne
