Week One

There have been a number of times that I missed the opportunity to look deep into my wife’s eyes, tenderly kiss her neck and whisper a “sweet nothing” in her ear.  These missed opportunities were not necessarily my fault; it was football season and I just couldn’t pry myself away from the game.  

Men are greatly distracted during football season and, as a man, I would like to try to defend my gender.  When we were young boys, we idolized the great football players of our era, watched them on television, and then pretended to be them in backyard neighborhood football games.  Most of us moved on to become the self-described stars of our junior high and high school football teams, but could only dream of playing in college and the NFL (National Football League).  Even though we have since realized that the combination of our parents’ genetic make-up was the only thing limiting our football careers, those dreams of what could have been still live within us. So from around the 1^st of September until mid-January of next year, every Saturday and Sunday, Monday nights, and some Thursday nights depending on who is playing, we men sit in front of our big-screen HDTV’s reliving our childhood dreams.  Plus we really like the speed, brutality, competition and the occasional shots of the cheerleaders.

 

Now let’s move on to what you can expect from this column each and every week.  Not only will we go over a bit of football terminology each week, we will also take a look at the week’s high-profile college and professional football games.  My hope is that I can instill upon you enough football knowledge that you can whisper a few “sweet nothings” of your own into your husband’s ear during this football season.  Imagine yourself sitting beside your husband on a Saturday afternoon, watching football of course, and saying softly, “I really don’t think that the preseason number 1, Georgia, can win the BCS championship with their tough SEC schedule this year.”  That would do it for me.  Believe it or not ladies, most men love for their wives to be able to speak somewhat intelligently about football.  We do not expect entire conversations regarding football we just like to be surprised with little tidbits of football information that let us know you are interested.  Don’t you love it when we notice those new shoes and how good they look with what you’re wearing?  Or how nice that new color looks on your hair?  Showing a little interest goes a long way, doesn’t it ladies?

 

This week’s terminology will be basic but something that all of you have to know to understand football; Downs and Yardage.  With each possession of the football, the offensive team gets four opportunities (downs) to move the ball 10 yards.  If the offense (this is the team with possession of the ball) moves the ball 10 yards or more in four downs or less, it receives another four downs.  If the offense fails to move the ball 10 yards after three downs, the offense generally uses the fourth down to punt the ball to the other team.

 

A first down is generally referred to as a “1^st and 10” because the offense has 10 yards to go to gain another first down.  If the offense moves the ball 4 yards with the play they ran on first down, the team would then face a “2^nd and 6” because it would be second down with 6 yards to go to gain another first down.  I could go on with my example, but by now either you get it or you don’t.  If you don’t get it and you happen to be watching football on TV with your man, just yell “FIRST DOWN” every time your team has the ball and they move it past the yellow electronic line drawn on the field.

Week One

There are not a lot of big games in college football this weekend, but there are a few games of interest:

 

Ole Miss Rebels at (20) Wake Forest Demon Deacons:

 

Ole Miss is a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).  With Coach Houston Nutt leading the way, the Rebels beat Memphis last weekend by a score of 41-24.  This marked the first time since 2003 that Ole Miss has scored more than 40 points in a game.

With their potent offense but weak defense, this should be another high scoring game.

 

Wake Forest is currently the #20 ranked team in the country.  The Demon Deacons are a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).  This team played lights-out on both offense and defense last week in a 41-13 victory over Baylor.  Let’s not get too excited yet about this win; we have to remember it was against Baylor.

 

Oregon State Beavers at (19) Penn State Nittany Lions:

 

The Beavers are members of the PAC-10 Conference and are coming off a loss last week.  With a long trek across the country for this game don’t expect Oregon State to put up much of a fight.

 

Penn State is ranked #19 in the country this week and is in the Big Ten Conference.  With their win last week, Coach Joe Paterno is tied for the all-time lead among major college coaches with 373 win.  That is ironic considering Paterno turned 373 years old last week.

 

Miami Hurricanes at (5) Florida Gators:

 

Miami is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).  This is not the Hurricanes team that struck fear in the hearts of its opponents in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s.  Last year Miami lost its last six of its eight conference games, so basically there is no where to go but up.

 

The Florida Gators are members of the Southeastern Conference and currently ranked #5.  With a 56-10 win over Hawaii, Florida is living up to high expectations.  Tim Tebow, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, will lead the Gators at quarterback this year to what some think will be a National Championship.

 

Now on to the big boys, the pros, the NFL:

 

Miami Dolphins at New York Jets:

 

This game will be all about the Jet’s 38-year old, future Hall of Fame quarterback, Brett Favre and the Dolphin’s quarterback, Chad Pennington, who was let go by the Jets once they acquired Favre and then immediately signed by Miami.  Sounds like a soap opera, doesn’t it?  This game means much more to New York than it does to Miami.  The Jets are hoping to get their season off to a fast start with their new quarterback while the Dolphins are just hoping to improve over last year’s 1-win season.  This game will not be a blow-out by any means, but the win should belong to the J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS.

 

Dallas Cowboys at Cleveland Browns:

 

Both of these teams are coming into this season with high expectations.  Dallas certainly has the talent at the skilled positions; QB (quarterback) Tony Romo, WR (wide receiver) Terrell Owens, and RB (running back) Marion Barber; to make another run into the playoffs this season.  While Cleveland is also a very talented offensive team with QB Derek Anderson and WR Braylon Edwards, the Browns defense is somewhat questionable and will probably lead to their downfall in a number of games this season.  Expect the high-powered Cowboys offense to put up big points against the over-matched Cleveland defense.  Go BOYS!

 

Carolina Panthers at San Diego Chargers:

 

The Panthers will be lead by QB Jake Delhomme, but he will not have his go-to WR Steve Smith who was suspended for two games because he broke the nose of teammate Ken Lucas during an altercation at practice. I think we can all agree that Mr. Smith needed a time-out because we do not hit our friends.  The Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson (aka LT) remains the premier running back in the NFL with his league-best 1,474 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2007.  With Steve Smith out and the Panthers having to travel across the country to play the Panthers, expect a Chargers win.

 

That’s all I have for this week.  Have fun sharing some of this insight with your husband while he is watching these games this weekend.

Week One

There are not a lot of big games in college football this weekend, but there are a few games of interest:

 

Ole Miss Rebels at (20) Wake Forest Demon Deacons:

 

Ole Miss is a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).  With Coach Houston Nutt leading the way, the Rebels beat Memphis last weekend by a score of 41-24.  This marked the first time since 2003 that Ole Miss has scored more than 40 points in a game.

With their potent offense but weak defense, this should be another high scoring game.

 

Wake Forest is currently the #20 ranked team in the country.  The Demon Deacons are a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).  This team played lights-out on both offense and defense last week in a 41-13 victory over Baylor.  Let’s not get too excited yet about this win; we have to remember it was against Baylor.

 

Oregon State Beavers at (19) Penn State Nittany Lions:

 

The Beavers are members of the PAC-10 Conference and are coming off a loss last week.  With a long trek across the country for this game don’t expect Oregon State to put up much of a fight.

 

Penn State is ranked #19 in the country this week and is in the Big Ten Conference.  With their win last week, Coach Joe Paterno is tied for the all-time lead among major college coaches with 373 win.  That is ironic considering Paterno turned 373 years old last week.

 

Miami Hurricanes at (5) Florida Gators:

 

Miami is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).  This is not the Hurricanes team that struck fear in the hearts of its opponents in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s.  Last year Miami lost its last six of its eight conference games, so basically there is no where to go but up.

 

The Florida Gators are members of the Southeastern Conference and currently ranked #5.  With a 56-10 win over Hawaii, Florida is living up to high expectations.  Tim Tebow, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, will lead the Gators at quarterback this year to what some think will be a National Championship.

 

Now on to the big boys, the pros, the NFL:

 

Miami Dolphins at New York Jets:

 

This game will be all about the Jet’s 38-year old, future Hall of Fame quarterback, Brett Favre and the Dolphin’s quarterback, Chad Pennington, who was let go by the Jets once they acquired Favre and then immediately signed by Miami.  Sounds like a soap opera, doesn’t it?  This game means much more to New York than it does to Miami.  The Jets are hoping to get their season off to a fast start with their new quarterback while the Dolphins are just hoping to improve over last year’s 1-win season.  This game will not be a blow-out by any means, but the win should belong to the J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS.

 

Dallas Cowboys at Cleveland Browns:

 

Both of these teams are coming into this season with high expectations.  Dallas certainly has the talent at the skilled positions; QB (quarterback) Tony Romo, WR (wide receiver) Terrell Owens, and RB (running back) Marion Barber; to make another run into the playoffs this season.  While Cleveland is also a very talented offensive team with QB Derek Anderson and WR Braylon Edwards, the Browns defense is somewhat questionable and will probably lead to their downfall in a number of games this season.  Expect the high-powered Cowboys offense to put up big points against the over-matched Cleveland defense.  Go BOYS!

 

Carolina Panthers at San Diego Chargers:

 

The Panthers will be lead by QB Jake Delhomme, but he will not have his go-to WR Steve Smith who was suspended for two games because he broke the nose of teammate Ken Lucas during an altercation at practice. I think we can all agree that Mr. Smith needed a time-out because we do not hit our friends.  The Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson (aka LT) remains the premier running back in the NFL with his league-best 1,474 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2007.  With Steve Smith out and the Panthers having to travel across the country to play the Panthers, expect a Chargers win.

 

That’s all I have for this week.  Have fun sharing some of this insight with your husband while he is watching these games this weekend.