I used to get so excited for the opening week of college football.
Then, when schools were allowed to schedule a 12th game, instead of adding a strong rival, the standard became to schedule an East Cupcake to come your stadium for a nice payday and serve as the cannon fodder for the home team.
There were indeed many such games on Saturday. Like Oklahoma State's 84-0 win over Savannah State, whose coach actually said he was thankful the Cowboys held down the score.
But we'll worry about Oklahoma State come Nov. 10, when West Virginia University visits T. Boone Pickens Stadium.
For now, let's concentrate on the teams of local interest, where's there is nothing but good news.
Start with WVU. If Tyler Bitancurt hadn't missed the first extra point of the season, WVU would have scored 70 points for the second straight game, and if it had wanted to keep its starters in either of those games, could have had more.
Geno Smith's performance in West Virginis' 69-34 win over Marshall has made him one of the leading candidates for the Heisman Trophy and rightfully so. WVU isn't just visually impressive, it's also fun to watch. Sports is supposed to be entertaining and there may not be a more entertaining team than West Virginia and its air raid offense.
Yes, you can say it was only Marshall. But Marshall is going to win a lot of football games this year. Rakeem Cato is a budding star. Aaron Dobson is a big-time receiver. The Herd can make some noise in Conference USA.
On to Ohio. With their win over Penn State, the Bobcats now become the most likely major college team to go undefeated. Coach Frank Solich's squad likely will be favored in all of its remaining games. It is the class of the Mid American Conference, which had a pretty good day on Saturday, including Toledo taking Rich Rodriguez's Arizona team into overtime and Northern Illinois losing by a single point to Iowa.
Quarterback Tyler Tettleton gives Ohio a major talent at the game's most important position. Plus, coach Frank Solich knows how to prepare for big games. It would have been easy for the Bobcats to have gotten caught up in all that was taking place at State College on Saturday but instead they focused on the mission at hand and will be rewarded - perhaps later rather than sooner - with some mention in the national polls.
Then there's that "other'' team in Ohio LOL! Urban Meyer's debut at Ohio State was a statement game.
Meyer made it clear there is a new sheriff in Columbus, one that will take all prisoners.
If the Bobcats are the most likely team to go undefeated, then Ohio State may be No. 2 in that category, particularly given the Saturday performances of Michigan and Wisconsin.
Meyer is a master recruiter who will stock the Buckeye roster with 5-star recruits and have OSU ready to compete for a national title as early as next year.
Saturdays are going to be interesting in our neck of the woods.
Contact Dave Poe at dpoe@newsandsentinel.com
