Football
Tony's Barwis-100 of Things to Look Forward to this Football Season
By Tony GerdemanWe are now just four weeks away from the fastest four months of the year. If you're anything like me, it can't get here fast enough. Before we know it, we'll be smack dab in the middle of October wondering where the first half of the season went.
In an effort to slow things down for myself, I think about the things that I am looking forward to each season, and jot them down. It allows me a chance to prepare for the season and not be caught off guard by it. Nothing whizzes by you when you're expecting it.
So, with that in mind, here are 100 things that I'm looking forward to seeing this season.
1. The dawning of the Dayne Crist Era at Notre Dame. Finally, Charlie Weis will have a quarterback that he can groom in his own image.
2. Clemson vs Alabama on August 30th in Atlanta. Somebody's season is going to end toute suite.
3. Running backs running the ball at Florida. LOL, just kidding.
4. Seeing if Texas Tech can win more than two conference road games for the first time in Mike Leach's career.
5. The seamless implementation of another new Badger quarterback. Like AA batteries in a remote.
6. Randy Shannon getting the Canes back to the 9-3 heights where Larry Coker had them.
7. Georgia Tech's offense under Paul Johnson.
8. Rey Maualuga.
9. Following the season of whichever desert-based running back I draft for my fantasy team.
10. Rich Rodriguez running his offense with Lloyd Carr's recruits and the guaranteed bumbling involved therein.
11. Brent Musburger talking about "the guys in Vegas".
12. Tulsa's offense (the only offense in the nation that can get a fullback 1,000 yards receiving.)
13. LeSean McCoy leading Pitt to .500 glory!
14. Nevada quarterback Colin "Crazy Legs" Kaepernick. Make it a point to watch him some random Wednesday night on ESPN this year.
15. Knowshon Moreno taking a hit, spinning off of it, taking another hit, spinning off of that, and so forth.
16. Chris Wells delivering a hit, running over it, delivering another hit, running over that, and so forth.
17. West Virginia at Colorado on Thursday, September 18th. This will be the best Thursday night game of the year to this point and it will be another opportunity for Dan Hawkins and the Buffs to announce their re-arrival.
18. Auburn at West Virginia on Thursday, October 23rd. This will be the best Thursday night game all year long. You can bet that the Mountaineers--and their fans--will be foaming at the mouth (literally) for another shot at an SEC team.
19. Terrelle Pryor reading the defensive end and taking the ball up the field and into the endzone.
20. Seeing if Jon Tenuta's blitz packages at Notre Dame are as "fine-tuned" as their offense.
21. Southern California at UCLA on December 6th. Rick Neuheisel wants to announce his team as national players with a victory over the Trojans. (Although it hasn't done much for Oregon, Oregon State or Stanford.)
22. Drew Weatherford's play and Bobby Bowden's constant looks of incredulity at all of the suck.
23. Utah quarterback Brian Johnson against Michigan's defense.
24. Northwestern's offense and a healthy Tyrell Sutton for once.
25. Penn State's Derrick Williams back in the same offense that made him a star in 2005.
26. More stories on how LSU's Herman Johnson was the largest baby ever born in Louisiana--and how calm Tim Tebow was when he delivered him.
27. Watching Tony Barnhart run onto the field to celebrate with the Georgia Bulldogs when they get their first touchdown against Florida this year.
28. Wisconsin running back John Clay. He's like Beanie Wells, but more nuanced in cheeses and sausaged meats.
29. Watching Tennessee blow out Georgia for a third straight year.
30. Alabama linebacker Rolando McClain staring into the backfield intent on not screwing up.
31. Seeing what Tim Brewster can do with JUCO All-American quarterback/athlete David Pittman on offense.
32. Watching freshman running back Darrell Scott and his LeSean McCoy-like impact on the Colorado Buffaloes.
33. Florida State opening against Western Carolina and Chattanooga. (If you don't think Bobby Bowden wants the wins record, you need look no further.)
34. Marvin Austin and Greg Little's second time around--and if it really means anything since they're just Tar Heels.
35. Seeing Everson Griffen become the next great USC defensive end. (I don't know who the last one was though.)
36. Finding out if Percy Harvin follows the DeSean Jackson "blow the whistle! blow the whistle!" strategy prior to leaving for the NFL.
37. Notre Dame at Washington on October 25th. "Ty's Revenge"--and I'm not referring to his recruiting while at Notre Dame.
38. USF's Matt Grothe bouncing off of tacklers like chicks at a Penn State pool party.
39. Southern Miss at Auburn on September 6th. If Auburn is still working out kinks, this one could get interesting.
40. Ohio State at Southern California on September 13th. It's the game of the year not involving Georgia and Florida and nearly everybody is expecting a USC rout.
41. Seeing if Hawaii's BCS millions have allowed them luxury items like soap in the shower and water in the tub.
42. Florida at Florida State on November 29th and the Seminoles' eventual collapse in the second half.
43. LSU and Ohio State both play Troy this year--so based on how they each do against the Trojans, we'll finally get to put an end to all of the arguing about who is better, LSU or Ohio State.
44. Shootout after shootout in the Big XII.
45. Matthew Stafford's continued rise to goodness.
46. Central Michigan's Dan LeFevour and his quest for Tebow-like enlightenment.
47. West Virginia's offense as new head coach Bill Stewart wants it--there are rumors of forward passes!
48. Jimmy Clausen playing upright this season.
49. Zac Robinson rushing for 1,000 yards and passing for 3,000 yards for Oklahoma State.
50. Joe McKnight running the wheel route against everybody but the Buckeyes.
51. Florida State wide receiver Greg Carr catching inadvertent jumpballs from the accuracy-intolerant Seminole quarterback, whoever that might be at the time.
52. Arrelious Benn being even more a part of the Illini offense. (He's the only wide receiver in the nation that should have a BTK rating of 90 in "NCAA Football".)
53. Nick Saban's image showing up on the side of a grain silo in Tuscaloosa.
54. Cincinnati's offense--provided Demetrius Jones wins the quarterback job.
55. Tom Rinaldi's heart-wrenching stories of overcoming adversity on College Gameday. Week One will bring us a harrowing tale of how Matthew Stafford has scalp allergies and can't use hair gel.
56. Desmond Howard saying "we" when talking about Michigan on College Gameday.
57. The furthering of the Mike Barwis legend. While at West Virginia, Barwis strengthened and conditioned eight NFL draft picks in just five seasons!
58. Auburn running the spread with Kodi Burns.
59. Watching Wisconsin's linebackers running and hitting people like they were invited to a Penn State football party.
60. The Buckeyes getting back to their intercepting ways. (After 21 interceptions in 2006, the Buckeyes managed only 11 last season.)
61. Tim Tebow doing better than .500 against ranked opponents for once.
62. Seeing how LSU's quarterback situation works out. Maybe Jarrett Lee is the next Colt McCoy...sorry Tiger fans.
63. Ole Miss at Arkansas on October 25th--the teams will switch coaches at halftime.
64. Seeing a halftime interview from a Michigan coach that involves more than glares and scowls.
65. Missouri's Jeremy Maclin getting the ball and looking for space.
66. Watching Iowa receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos--he's the poor man's Jeremy Maclin.
67. Pitt and Notre Dame on November 1st. Not since your little league coach got picked up for DUI and you had to have your cousin Lonnie coach your team against your archrivals, who were coached by your coach's brother, who he was racing when he got busted and who subsequently got busted himself and are now coached by your neighbor who owns the Number 1 Chinese down the street, has there been a coaching matchup as epic as this one?
68. Seeing who the next Southern Cal running back to transfer will be. I'll say Broderick Green.
69. Jorvorskie Lane and Mike Goodson getting more carries than Stephen McGee this season for Texas A&M--unlike last year.
70. Minnesota exacting revenge on Florida Atlantic on September 20th in the scatteringly-attended Metrodome.
71. Georgia getting consecutive wins over Florida for the first time since 1989.
72. The short-pass onslaught from Michigan. Third and eleven? How about a running a wide receiver screen off of a play-action!?
73. Alabama at LSU on November 8th. There will be a record amount of death threats in the south that weekend--for the 3,000th weekend in a row.
74. Michigan State finally winning the close ones--except against the Buckeyes.
75. Seeing what Illinois does to replace Rashard Mendenhall and J Leman.
76. Watching USC's defense being let loose. (Except, of course, against the Buckeyes.)
77. Oklahoma's DeMarco Murray becoming a workhorse.
78. Kent State's 5'5" running back Eugene Jarvis--assuming I draft him in my fantasy league this year.
79. Colt McCoy's rebound from an 18-interception season last year.
80. Seeing how long it take Charlie Weis to take the play-calling back.
81. Oklahoma at Washington on September 13th. The Sooners haven't made it through September without a loss since the 2004 season.
82. Southern California at Stanford on November 15th. Stanford is in troubllllllllle.
83. Noel Devine getting the twenty carries per game that Bill Stewart is claiming he'll get.
84. Running back Jahvid Best becoming the latest, greatest Cal running back.
85. Brian Robiskie streaking down the sidelines trying to catch up with a Todd Boeckman deep ball.
86. Notre Dame receiver Duval Kamara catching fades in the back of the endzone.
87. Seeing how long it takes for Rich Rodriguez to let freshman athlete Justin Feagin take over the quarterback job.
88. Seeing if linebacker A.J. Edds is half the player Iowa fans think he is. If he is, Mike Barwis may have just met his match.
89. Baylor's offense if freshman quarterback Robert Griffin (he runs a 4.3) wins the job.
90. Seeing how Chris Colasanti does stepping in for Sean Lee as the next great one at Faux Linebacker U.
91. Seeing if Georgia has a gamebreaker out wide.
92. Freshman receiver DeAndre Brown at Southern Miss. He's supposed to be some type of freak--which explains the Southern Miss thing, I guess.
93. Seeing the bounces go the other way for the Kansas Jayhawks this year. (Last season, they were +21 in turnovers--in the five years prior they were -5, -8, +4, -7, -7.)
94. Ohio State defensive ends making themselves known to America--and the parts of Canada that have television.
95. Seeing if Alabama freshman receiver Julio Jones can justify the statue that has been erected in his honor.
96. Seeing how terrible the Pac 10 is and how nobody seems to discount USC because of it.
97. Evan Royster and Stefphon Green being a very good one-two punch at running back for the Nittany Lions new spreadish offense.
98. Notre Dame at Boston College on November 8th. Notre Dame views Boston College as their little idiot stepbrother--well, the idiot stepbrother is looking for their sixth-straight victory over Notre Dame.
99. Rich Rodriguez's welcome to the greatest rivalry in all of sports on November 22nd.
100. Michigan State at California on August 30th. If the Spartans can pull this one off, then people will have to start taking them seriously--for a week or so.
Now, I was going to stop here, but due to Mike Barwis' encouragement, I was able to increase my max to 105!
101. Notre Dame at Southern California on November 29th. (For those of you who own every Faces of Death tape and still want more.)
102. Joe Paterno answering questions every week about whether or not something happened that week that has him leaning one way or the other towards retirement.
103. Seeing how many carries Caleb King takes from Knowshon Moreno.
104. The seven-ten split known as Michigan's safeties.
105. James Laurinaitis snatching a Mark Sanchez pass out of the air, tucking it away and running towards the endzone.
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