THE WORLD OF BAX: Kick-Off Weekend!

Welcome to the adult male equivalent of a 5 year old child’s wait during the week before Christmas. The anticipation, the waiting and sheer volume of pent up energy is about to give way to the unbridled joy of college football! Similarly, I’m thrilled to finally be moving beyond writing about the possible and instead writing about the actual events that take place. It will certainly be a nice change to write about the play on the field versus the play in my head or on my Xbox 360 game.

Week one offers us a great opening slate for the season. Spread out over the course of five days, this weekend offers everyone (except Purdue and Notre Dame, who have unfathomably scheduled byes to open!) the opportunity to watch their favorite teams kick off and enjoy the first week of the three month playoff that is college football. What a great way to kick off the year.

In this column every week, I’m going to preview a number of the biggest games and pick the winners. If you think you can beat me, go ahead and make your own choices for the games I’m picking and email them to me at matt.baxendell @ gmail.com! I’ll be keeping a record all fall and I’m going to give the best fan prognosticator some face time after Thanksgiving! Without further ado, here are my picks for ten of the kickoff weekend’s best games.

North Carolina State @ #17 South Carolina

Thursday, 8 PM Eastern

This is easily the most high profile game on college football’s opening night. Head Ball Coach’s team looks to kick off a great fall at home against a rebuilding NC State team that isn’t expected to do a lot. Expect South Carolina to roar out on defense and cause a lot of turnovers by Russell Wilson, NC State’s redshirt freshman quarterback making his first career start. South Carolina wins this one relatively easily.

South Carolina 31, NC State 17

Bowling Green @ #23 Pitt

Saturday, Noon Eastern

Pitt begins its season of promise against one of the best teams in the MAC. While this is a game that Pitt should win, the Panthers have disappointed in past openers. A statement by Shady McCoy and company could go a long way towards signaling that a new era is underway in Pittsburgh. Expect Pitt to establish McCoy on the ground early and take advantage of having a passing game (unlike last fall) en route to controlling the ball and scoring enough points to win the game against a feisty Falcons squad.

Pitt 27, Bowling Green 16

Utah @ Michigan

Saturday, 3:30 PM Eastern

This might be the most intriguing game all weekend, as it features the country’s biggest coaching acquisition’s debut against a borderline top 25 opponent. Michigan might remember last year’s opener, which managed to unite Penn State fans and Ohio State fans in their common hatred of all things Maize and Blue. The Wolverines will want to come out and erase last year’s bad memories and get Coach Rich Rodriguez off to a good start in his first season in Ann Arbor. However, Utah is a strong, tough opponent and Michigan’s offense looks like it could have some serious struggles moving the ball. Expect a low scoring affair, but the Wolverines pull it out late thanks to their defense.

> Check out the College Sports Fans 2008 college football team previews and the 2008-2009 college basketball previews today!

Appalachian State @ # 15 LSU

Saturday, 5:00 PM Eastern

Normally, when the defending National Champions open up against a D-1AA opponent, it really isn’t considered a big game. Then again, anything can happen when Armanti Edwards is involved, right? However, LSU has a superb defensive line and Edwards will have a lot more trouble with the Tigers than he did with Michigan. Expect LSU to come out and win what could be a fairly competitive game. Remember, LSU only beat Appalachian State 24-0 back in 2005 in Edwards’ freshman season. The Tigers don’t let lightning strike twice, but this isn’t a cakewalk.

LSU 37, Appalachian State 17

Florida Atlantic @ #13 Texas

Saturday, 7:00 PM Eastern

Texas had better be careful with this game. The Longhorns start a secondary that features a ton of freshmen and FAU has a very talented quarterback in Rusty Smith. The fact is that Texas has some issues defending so they’ll need to score a lot. Colt McCoy is a good quarterback who is going to have to carry the offense with the Longhorns facing their weakest tailback situation in years. Games like these will make ‘Horns fans miss Vince Young, who would make this game seem a lot less scary.

Texas 38, FAU 27

Alabama vs. #8 Clemson

Saturday, 8:00 PM Eastern

This game is one of the highlights of the opening weekend. Played in Atlanta, both teams feature fanbases which have absurdly high expectations. As for the teams themselves, Alabama sees this game as a chance to show that they’re ‘back’ and Clemson sees it as a chance to validate themselves as a preseason top ten team. I tend to think that Clemson’s powerful running attack and overall skill on defense will stop an Alabama team that is expected to play a fair amount of freshmen. Expect Clemson to make a statement in this game and knock off the Tide, which hasn’t won a big non-conference regular season game in close to two decades.

Clemson 34, Alabama 20

#16 Illinois vs. #3 Missouri

Saturday, 8:30 PM Eastern

This is THE game of the opening weekend. Missouri and Illinois played a really exciting game in Missouri’s 40-34 win last fall and this game could be equally thrilling. Both teams should feature strong quarterback play with Heisman finalist Chase Daniels and budding superstar Juice Williams running the offenses. However, Missouri has a better defense returning and Illinois still has some concerns in the run game. Expect another really exciting game, but Missouri should kick off a possible championship run with a down to the wire win in St. Louis.

Missouri 37, Illinois 35

Washington @ #20 Oregon

Saturday, 10:00 PM Eastern

This game got a lot more interesting with Oregon’s Nate Costa going down with a knee injury less than a week ago. I’m also on record predicting Washington to be a bowl team this fall. Well, even though it is week one, I’m calling an upset alert! The Huskies feature one of the nation’s best quarterbacks who also happened to nearly lead the Huskies to an upset over Oregon last fall. Expect Locker and company to stun the Ducks in my Upset of the Week.

Washington 38, Oregon 31

#11 Tennessee @ UCLA

Monday, 8:00 PM Eastern

Much like his counterpart at Michigan, Rick Neuheisel has a pretty tough opening act. Unlike Rodriguez, Neuheisel is almost certainly not going to win his debut as head coach of his alma mater. Tennessee travels west to open the season for the second consecutive year and the Volunteers are one of the Nation’s best teams. UCLA is in for a tough opening act and I expect the Volunteers to win via the time-honored ‘A lot versus a little’ fashion.

Tennessee 41, UCLA 17

Don’t forget to send me your picks and bring on the games!

By Matt Baxendell
CollegeSports-fans.com Staff Writer

Matt Baxendell is collegesports-fans.com’s newest staff writer. If you’d like to join his college football therapy group, email him at matt.baxendell @ gmail.com with all your questions, comments, and anything else you would like to share. Also be sure to check out Matt's 2008 conference previews here at CollegeSports-fans.com!

More college football articles from Baxendell:

• College Football Preseason Top 25 & National Title Contenders
• 2008 college football conference previews
• NCAA Football 2009 video game review