What a crazy night to begin the season.

[Christopher Walker]

The hour and a half lightning delay in the Carolinas (which someone out there in the Internet keenly pointed out that this game suffered a lengthier penalization than Manziel will face come Saturday)...

A pair of FCS wins over FBS schools...

This: ... (that's a QB, guys)

On that note, some interesting glimpses at the new ejection penalty (actually rightfully) being applied to some egregious offenders...

The thrilling last minutes of the Utah/Utah St and Ole Miss/Vanderbilt games...

Tulsa absolutely getting thrashed by Bowling Green which blows the C-USA West race wide open (!!!) ...

I can only sum it up as such:

...

...

...

...

...

Thank goodness we've started.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Christopher Walker

[jdennis82]

1. I'm hesitant to think the Tulsa game should be viewed as an open door to the conference championship. Opening up the year with a Thursday night road game is tough. I expect them to bounce back in a big way.

2. I hope the outcomes of the night serve to reiterate the importance of not overlooking Idaho. I trust recent tough times in Denton have worked to remove any sense of overconfidence but maybe coaches have some new ammo to combat the temptation.

[oldguystudent]

Did Rutgers and Fresno play any defense? At all?

[PlummMeanGreen]

1. I'm hesitant to think the Tulsa game should be viewed as an open door to the conference championship. Opening up the year with a Thursday night road game is tough. I expect them to bounce back in a big way.

2. I hope the outcomes of the night serve to reiterate the importance of not overlooking Idaho. I trust recent tough times in Denton have worked to remove any sense of overconfidence but maybe coaches have some new ammo to combat the temptation.

Hate to throw ice water in a few faces (especially after you've already had your 1'st or 2'nd cups of coffee), but jdennis82 is right inasmuch as....

......we haven't beaten Tulsa U since I was a 17 yo senior in HS. We did it in grand fashion since we broke the SWC stronghold on an ABC TV televised football game weekend back in 1968 and won with a whole bunch of people in the Southwest seeing us beat the Golden 'Canes on television. (Back then I think most of the schools in the Sun Belt and a few in the new CUSA were playing NCAA College Division or NAIA level football and I honestly can say I was vaguely aware of most of that group's existence some of whom we would later call conference-mates).

I've predicted a 35-10 win tomorrow night, but I also have to remind myself how anything is possible on any given Saturday. After all, the USA did beat the Russians in hockey in 1980 and sports scribes were describing that as tantamount to a high school football team beating the Pittsburgh Steelers so with that.... I refuse to high 5 anyone tomorrow until after the game is (hopefully) safely tucked away.

GMG!

Edited August 30, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

[jdennis82]

To clarify, I'm on the record predicting a 7th victory for the season coming in the regular season finale in Tulsa for the Mean Green. But I fully expect them to be rolling by the time conference play begins, so a NT win won't necessarily mean a conference title shot. I was definitely bummed to see CUSA represent poorly against the MAC but those games happen with young players. It's a long season.