"Steveo's Salvos" - May 2009 Edition

"Salvos" is presented as the editorial content of CollegeFootballFan.com focusing on current issues surrounding college football and news about some of the teams on the CFF schedule this year.  Originally from a newsletter, this web site, CollegeFootballFan.com, has evolved. 

We did it!!! - October 27, 2007.  CollegeFootballFan.com is #1!!!  Aside from any media types, no one can say that they've seen more College Bowl Subdivision teams than we have.  It's impossible.  There are 119 teams and now we've seen 'em all!  Great time with some big Nevada Wolfpack fans for the Grand Finale against Idaho in Reno.  Now we move on to more great football games season after season!  Western Kentucky becomes #120 in 2009.  We hope to be at their opener, but a certain Guest Game Analyst (GGA) we've had with us over the years will probably start playing Freshman football in HS this season.  We'll have to work around that.

Where it all started - This college football fan attended his first game at the age of 10 at old Palmer Stadium in Princeton, NJ when on a bus trip arranged by my gym teacher, Bob Exum, I saw Colgate knock off Princeton, 7-0.  It was the last loss for either team that year as the Tigers finished the season in a three way tie in the Ivy League for first place with an overall record of 7-2, 6-1 in Ivy play.  The Red Raiders finished that season 8-1-1.  Starting FB for the Red Raiders, Marv Hubbard, went on to play for the Oakland Raiders and played in the second NFL-AFL Championship game.  Almost 43 years after that date of October 15, 1966, I will witness the two teams who marked the first of any college game I ever attended when Colgate visits Princeton again on Thursday night, October 8, at 7 pm in Princeton Stadium.  This will also mark the 140th season since Princeton played Rutgers to start the great tradition on college football back in 1869.

BCS shake-up- Maybe Congress will get this right finally.  Hearings on Capitol Hill have started and ended with a message to the NCAA that they need to avoid making the rich college teams richer and avoid violations of anti-trust by opening up a national championship to more deserving teams that just the six "super" conferences and Notre Dame.  It's about time.  A playoff system of eight teams proposed by the Mountain West Conference will supposedly be reviewed at upcoming NCAA meetings for consideration.  If the NCAA doesn't come up with a new course of action, Congress may step in and legislate one.  Too bad that it has to come to this when a playoff is clearly the only way to come up with a true national championship like every other NCAA sport.  Those who say that it will destroy the bowl system provide a sorry excuse.   Twenty-eight other venues do a pretty good job attracting fans and TV revenue to other games just to get to see their teams get one more reward for a 6-6 season or better.  If done right, NCAA football will reap more revenue than they ever imagined.  Stay tuned.

First Saturday - We open on a Thursday night, August 27, when we attend a great D-2 rematch when Ashland visits Bloomsburg University.  Last year, Bloomsburg came from behind to win a 49-42 game in the opener over the Eagles of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.  We were waiting and watching for another game on Saturday, August 29, a date on which over many years we opened with the Kickoff Classic at The Meadowlands.  Well this won't be a kickoff classic, but we greatly anticipate the Wade Wilson Classic none-the-less.  Lincoln University will visit Cheney State, two historically Black schools in Pennsylvania.  Both will be new to our schedule and it should be a pretty evenly matched game at the D-2 level as the Lincoln Lions won a single game last season and the Cheney Wolves came up empty. Both teams will come out scrappin' for a win.

Tales 'round the Tailgate - The manuscript about our adventure to see 'em all is basically finished. 

The other Saban - Not Nick, but coach Lou passed away at the age of 87 on March 29.  Among the teams he coached, we saw him coach Army in our inaugural season when the Cadets fell to Rutgers at The Meadowlands, 20-0, in 1979. Collegiately, he also coached at Maryland, Miami (F), and Northwestern as head coach prior to Army.  He was the last surviving head coach of the original eight AFL teams.

The Draft -   You think the Hall of Famers brought back a lot of memories, this year's draft brought us back a lot just over the last few years.  Of the 32 first-round picks, we saw 18 of them play in college.  We should run a scouting service!  DE Tyson Jackson of LSU was the first to go as the third pick.  We saw him in Baton Rouge against Mississippi State last year. LB Aaron Curry of Wake, DT BJ Raji of BC, WR Michael Crabtree of Texas Tech, DT Aaron Maybin of Penn State, and WR Jeremy Maclin of Missouri were among some of the more notables.  We noted in our last regular season game last year between Pitt and UConn, five players in that game were drafted in the first two rounds - four from UConn and one from Pitt.  RBs Donald Brown of the Huskies went to the Colts and LeSean McCoy of the Panthers went to the Eagles.  Seven players from our home state of New Jersey went in the first round.  Among them, we saw Raji, Brown, DB Malcolm Jenkins of Ohio State and Rutgers WR Kenny Britt all play college ball.  Rutgers had five players from last year's team drafted.  Britt was their first first-round pick ever.  Little known players we saw play get drafted included DB Derek Cox of William and Mary whom we watched defeat VMI last season. The Jags scooped him in round three.  P Thomas Morstead who kicked and punted for SMU when we saw the Mustang comeback against Tulsa two years ago went to New Orleans in round five.  He's a big punter at 6'4", 225 lbs.  TE Eddie Williams of Idaho played in the final game that achieved our Goal in 2007 when his Vandals fell to Nevada.  He went to the Washington Redskins in the 12th round.  You never know where the best pro talent is eventually going to come from.

RU kidding? - Texas Southern?  That's who RU added as their fifth non-conference team.  A second FCS school with no tradition and a 3-8 record from last season is on their slate.  With FCS Howard, Florida International, and Army already on the 2009 schedule, RU must be banking on at least six wins for a bowl next year.  Maryland is the other non-conference game, but it's away as is Army on a Friday night (yuck!). We're not biting on season tickets even though we're on the wait list.  With a schedule like that, a down economy, 12,500 new seats, we'll take our chances on getting individual seats against Pitt, South Florida and WVU.  New AD Tim Pernetti woke up and realized that to get good games you have to book some early.  Home and home series are planned with Penn State and Miami over the next decade.  Of course, they blew a 10-year series with Notre Dame after they couldn't agree on where to play some of the games.  The Irish picked up UConn to fill most of those dates instead.  RU's still scrambling.

Big Tailgate - It looks like the local LVRHS game to be played on Friday October 2 will open things up for our Big Tailgate the following day when Army hosts Tulane at West Point. We couldn't have asked for a more competitive game at Michie Stadium and we truly mean that.  Since we last saw these two teams square off in 1996 in an Army victory on their way to a 10-2 season, the Cadets and Green Wave have each won six games against one another.  How many busses will we need? The following weekend, I'll return to West Point on a bus trip I'm arranging with my employer.  The Cadets host Vanderbilt on October 10.

Bad move - The Eagle Bank Bowl in DC move this year's date to the Tuesday after Christmas.  We were banking on it (no pun intended) again the Saturday before Christmas as the family enjoyed a weekend in DC last year.  We were hoping to do the same this year (can't believe Army's advertising like they'll be there this season).  Now the date will probably conflict with alternative bowl travel plans unless we come up with a road trip in a southerly direction to include the Meineke CarCare Bowl and others along the way.  We anxiously await this year's bowl schedule to see what we can come up with.  Florida, Texas and Tennessee all provided great trips the last three years.  We may end up back in one of them.