Game Day Thoughts

There were way too many schedule fillers for the fourth week of the college football season.

Florida Atlantic-Ohio St.
North Texas-Georgia
Texas St.-Texas Tech
Colorado St.-Alabama
Florida International-Louisvillle
Bethune Cookman-Florida St.
New Mexico St.-UCLA
Savannah St.-Miami
Idaho St.-Washington
Louisiana-Monroe-Baylor

A couple of those games involved some adjustments to the rules to stop the bleeding. Louisville and Florida International let the clock run in the final minutes. Miami and Savannah St. agreed to a twelve minute fourth quarter to get the game over. Georgia's 45-21 win over North Texas was the closest game of the bunch. Despite the lopsided scores, these games are a good thing for the little guys. The games bring in a nice sum of much needed money. It also gives their players some exposure. It can get some of them drafted. A few years ago, I was introduced to Presbyterian College as Cal went to Clinton, South Carolina to fill their schedule. On this day, Presbyterian defensive back Justin Bethel was the best football player on that field. He, pretty much alone, kept the Blue Hose in the game early. He's with the Arizona Cardinals now. That game against Cal might have gone a long way to getting him in the NFL.

Speaking of Cal, their defense got some rest this week. I can't say that they earned it but they definitely needed it. Cal had their bye. The fourth week is a little early for a bye but the defense, in only three games, has given up enough yards for an entire season. They needed a week off to get healthy and get ready for a track meet with Oregon next week.

The Minnesota Vikings host the Cleveland Browns in their home opener. This is the Vikings last season in the piece-o-shit Metrodome. The Vikings are facing a very different Browns than probably expected. At least, on offense. In the past week the Browns lost their starting quarterback to injury and their top running back to a big trade. Quarterback Brandon Weeden injured his thumb. Running back Trent Richardson was traded to the Indianapolis Colts. All in the span of one week. Pretty incredible. Richardson and Weeden were first round picks in the 2012 NFL Draft. That wasn't very long ago. They were supposed to be the future of the Cleveland Browns franchise. Richardson is no longer part of those plans after only 17 games. Weeden's future as the franchise's future seems in question as well. Not because of his thumb injury but because it's believed that the Browns are building up ammo to trade up, if need be, for a franchise quarterback in the 2014 NFL Draft. Quite a change in such a short time. The Vikings had better not approach this game as a gimme because of the sudden happenings in Cleveland. There are no gimmes in the NFL. The Browns have a real nice defense.

Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly is a fool if he thinks that his stupid "swinging gate" conversion attempts will work consistently in the NFL. His first stab was a failure on Thursday against the Kansas City Chiefs. After the game, he assured the world that it can work. Says that he can steal a point with the attempt. When his team fails at the attempt, he has a point stolen from him for being stupid. That's the only stealing that will take place. I think what bothered me most in his explanation for the attempt was when he said that it can work if executed properly. Well Chip, every play can work if executed properly.

Outside of the Vikings-Browns game, I think that Green Bay Packers-Cincinnati Bengals intrigues me the most. Houston Texans-Baltimore Ravens, St. Louis Rams-Dallas Cowboys are nice matchups too. Indianapolis Colts(and their new back) visiting the San Francisco 49ers looks like a keeper among the later games. Atlanta Falcons-Miami Dolphins too.

It's already week 3.