College Football Starts Next Week? And The Big Finish

Brian: College football is right around the corner as we are now under a week away from Boston College football. Unfortunately, for a lot of programs, it doesn't really feel like the season is starting when you schedule I-AA, Sun Belt and MAC creampuffs to start the season. Not so for BC and Northwestern, which will probably be one of the more intriguing matchups of week 1. In fact, of the 78 college football games scheduled for opening weekend, there are just six matchups between BCS AQ programs in week 1:

Wake Forest at Syracuse
Northwestern at Boston College
South Florida at Notre Dame
Minnesota at USC
Oregon vs. LSU
Miami at Maryland

Which of those matchups are you most looking forward to this coming weekend? Thoughts on college football's opening weekend?

Jeff: That is crazy that there are only six such games pitting opponents from BCS conferences together. I, of course, am most interested in the BC-Northwestern game because not only should it be competitive but we will see what the rest of the season likely has in store for us. Miami at Maryland also has some implications on our season as if Maryland starts off 0-1, that would seem like they'd be unlikely to compete for the division should Florida State falter. Wake Forest at Syracuse and USF at Notre Dame will also be two games where we can learn a little about future opponents of ours but nothing too definitive.

Oregon and LSU would've provided a great national stage matchup between two teams likely to advance to a BCS bowl this season if not the BCS National Championship Game. But unfortunately, the suspensions and problems surrounding both teams will take a lot of the hype around that game down a few notches. The game not listed here that I will definitely tune into is the Georgia vs. Boise State matchup from the Georgia Dome. If Georgia can take care of Boise State then the talks of Boise in the BCS NCG will be over for the entire season. If not, Boise State will be talked about in that game up until the very end and perhaps even finally break through and play in the national championship game.

Overall a pretty weak slate of games, but since BC has a good week 1 matchup my excitement for college football is at a maximum.

Brian: On Friday, Northwestern released its depth chart for the season opener and Dan Persa is listed as QB1. Just how much do you expect to see Persa play on Saturday?

Jeff: I expect him to play most of the game, just not be 100% of his old self.

Jeff: HD has gone through 24 of her top 25 players in the ACC, No mention of Kuechly yet, so is ESPN's ACC blogger showing some more BC love and making him #1?

Brian: Can this be considered showing some love, or merely stating the obvious?

Brian: BC loses another starting defensive back in Dominick LeGrande. Which was the bigger loss -- LeGrande or Okoroha?

Jeff: I thought Okoroha was developing into being the more valuable player of the two.

Jeff: Speaking of the exit of LeGrande, is it logical to assume he was not happy with his roommate and friend getting kicked off the team?

Brian: Either that or he got caught up in whatever was going on with O, but that's purely speculative.

Brian: Pre-Snap Read's Paul Myerberg tells us we shouldn't be surprised if the Hokies sleepwalk their way to a perfect 12-0 regular season record. Your thoughts?

Jeff: Earlier this offseason I disagreed because UNC and Miami were too good, then I was getting excited about BC's offense and thought the Eagles might knock off the Hokies if no one else did. Now I'm back to agreeing with Myerberg. We shouldn't be surprised.

Jeff: With the injuries and departures this summer from the team, how would you rank things on a 1-10 scale? 1 being normal offseason attrition and 10 being catostrophic losses.

Brian: Let's say a 7? 

Brian: Last one. Eight Hurricanes have been ruled ineligible by the school. Have any idea what the U will look like when the Eagles hook up with the Canes to end the season?

Jeff: Yes, my idea is that the Hurricanes will be back to full strength. I think those eight won't have any worse than a Pryor-esque 5 game suspension. The university might have bigger problems by that point, though.