The glorious day that is opening day is finally upon us. But first, last night, Tulsa pretty much stomped Tulane, jumping out 17-0 after a TD and a Pick-6 20 seconds apart. They coasted from there to a 37-13 win. GJ Kinnie looked good, as did their sophomore wideout Damaris Johnson, who handled return duties and racked up 252 total yards and a 66 yard punt return TD. Remember that name.
Now, a few previews of today’s action:
The biggest games are, of course, previewed in the big weekly column. These are a few more that are popping up in my local listings…
Western Kentucky at Tennessee, Noon, SEC Network (which means Fox in my town): This is WKUs first full season in 1-A after two transitional years playing about half-and-half. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle things down the stretch, and I’m actually going to keep an eye on this game and see if WKU has a chance to at least fight for a few Sun Belt wins. UT is favored by about 30, and I suspect it could be worse since Lane Kiffin will want to make a splash and the Gators are probably gonna win by 50 against their cupcakes.
Nevada at Notre Dame, 3:30, NBC: Like most of you, I can’t stand Notre Dame. So I’ll be rooting for Nevada urgently, and this is a game they might have a chance to win. Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick is getting a lot of buzz- maybe not for Heisman, but he is on the watch list for two major awards. The Domers are favored by about 2 touchdowns, but I like Nevadas chances to keep it closer than that. Nothing would make me happier than to shut this hype-wagon down in week 1.
Western Michigan at Michigan, 3:30, ESPN2 or ABC: Take the Nevada preview above, swap Tim Hiller for Western in for Colin Kaepernick, and you have the preview of this one. I’ll be keeping an eye on it especially if things get away from Nevada.
Buffalo at UTEP, 9PM, CBSC: I won’t lie, I’ll probably be watching Va Tech vs. Alabama and BYU-Oklahoma tonight, but this should be a good non-BCS matchup to check on during commercials or halftime, if it’s kicked off by then. Mike Price for UTEP is on the hot seat, and a win over a pretty good non-conference team could turn the heat down a degree or two. Meanwhile Buffalo is looking to move from conference power to national name, and this would help that progress too.
Other matchups I’ll be keeping an eye on today: Rice at UAB, 4 PM; Florida Atlantic at Nebraska, 7 PM; Louisiana Tech at Auburn, 7 PM, ESPNU.
Follow along with me on my twitter feed (to the right) and maybe an evening update here if there’s time. And don’t forget- there are still more games tomorrow!