Not much to say about Bama or Cal – they both won, they both could have looked better doing it, and Cal still has a QB controversy not improved by Tedford’s refusal to grant Kevin Riley a single snap against Arizona State (apparently overthrown passes and an INT aren’t a problem if you’re wearing a 6). But the real story of this weekend was the two teams of my acquaintance who spotted their foes two touchdowns in the first quarter…and shut them down the rest of the way.
Never has the NFL’s disdain for the Redskins been so obvious as when the schedule came out. Opening with three division road games in the first five weeks (plus the Saints) made it pretty clear that Roger and his little band of reprobates wanted Washington out of the way in a hurry. Before the season started, I’d have predicted 1-4 over the first five, maybe 2-3 if luck broke incredibly well. Didn’t expect 4-1 – and as for the 1, I have seen nothing indicating that the Giants would be materially better than the Redskins when they meet up again at FedEx. It’s not like the Skins were blown out in that game…and in the next month, they get to play the Rams, the Browns and the Lions. Oh, and they still haven’t turned the ball over yet on the year.
But Vanderbilt…what can you say? The backup QB picks apart Auburn with the short passing game when the run isn’t there, the defense throttles both the spread and the power-I, the announcers are blown away, and it all ends the next morning when Vanderbilt rises to #13 in the AP poll. If they win next week, it will match their best start since 1928…and give them their first taste of bowl eligibility since 1982.
This is a special year, and if you didn’t believe it before, the completely full student section should tell you. In my day, they turned out in coats and ties and Laura Ashley dresses, showed up at the beginning of the second quarter already bombed, and left halfway through the third to go back to the frathouse and drink some more. Now they show up in all black – some of them with their entire body painted black and/or gold, even the co-eds – and they stay all the way through to the end, through a curtain call for the team, and sing the entire alma mater at the end. When they screamed out the bit about “CONQUER! AND! PREVAIL!” there were chills up my spine.
If this is really it – if this is where the corner was turned and the the miserable sad-sack Vandy of old that always fell apart down the stretch was finally buried – history will record that our world turned around at 8 PM on October 4, 2008 in Nashville, at the expense of the Auburn Tigers.
Magic.