Nearly eight months after Cam Newton hoisted the BCS National Championship Trophy, college football is finally back into our lives and entrenched into our Saturday afternoon plans.
Some things have changed since then (Ohio State’s Jim Tressel out at, Luke Fickell in) while others seem to stay entrenched forever (84 year-old Joe Paterno has given new hope to prospective head coaches in nursing homes everywhere).
Anyway, the first weekend has two especially attractive games previewed here (rankings as of AP preseason rankings):
No. 3 Oregon vs No. 4 LSU
Saturday 8 EST—The fast-paced Ducks’ offense will face a good litmus test against the Tigers on, literally, football’s biggest stage (Cowboys Stadium)
Chip Kelly’s crew returns QB Derron Thomas (2,881 yards, 30TDs/9ints) and RB LaMichael James (1,731 yards, 24TDs) among others but will have their hands full against an LSU defense that is traditionally stout.
Preseason 1st-team All SEC safety Morris Claiborne (37 tackles, 5 ints) headlines Les Miles’ seventh crew in Baton Rouge and somehow, despite all their questionable end-of-game clock management mishaps they’ve been able to pull out a few last-second miracles on their home turf.
Not this time though. Chip Kelly’s squad is surely sick of hearing about SEC dominance after losing the title game by three points to Auburn.
Prediction: Oregon 27, LSU 24.
