5th and long - Week 1

Hello U.S. Americans and welcome to college football season, 2007. I'll run through all of the Big 12 games each week, as well as some others of interest. This bloggy crap is a derivative of an e-mail I send out to friends and family, so I usually try and cover their alma maters as well as other "national interest" games. So there will probably be an odd choice show up in here from time to time. I've managed to finish about .500 against the line the last 4-5 years, so at $25 a game it's not enough loss to get me kicked out of the house, just sleeping on the couch some here and there. I'll put up Thursday's games today and update it later with the rest of the weekend later on. I hate Non-Con weeks because it makes for a huge schedule. The Vegas line (Sheridan, USA Today) will go next to the favorite, a ( ' ) denotes half a point. Let's roll.

#2 LSU (18) @ Miss. State (ESPN) - Starkville is never an easy place to play, and opening the year with a conference game is always a tricky deal, especially when you're talking about an MNC like LSU is this year. But don't worry. Somewhere along the way, Les Miles will insert Ryan Perrilloux as the starting QB or something and mess it all up. Probably won't be Thursday night, however. Meanwhile, Sylvester Croom is supposedly one of the guys on the "hot seat" at MSU, though he inherited a terrible football team when he took over and they showed some signs of life during the late part of last season, losing close games to the powers-that-be in the SEC, while taking down Georgia in the same stretch. It'll be an interesting night, but if things don't go well for the Bulldogs, they won't be chanting "Crooooooom," they'll be booing. LSU...28-16.

Weber State @ #24 Boise State - Can't find a line on this one, probably because Weber is I-AA or somesuch. And this isn't the NCAA Hoops Tourney, so no Weber upsets here. BSU...45-10. I ain't even putting Louisville on here, they're a Top 10 team playing tonight against Murray State, which again would be great in March on the hardwood, but not so much tonight.

Kent State @ Iowa State (3') - Well the Gene Chizik era is officially under way tonight in the city of the Ames. Iowa State is looking to redesign their helmets, which is probably a good idea, since I never really understood that bird in the tornado deal, which kinda looked like the Chicken Lady from the old "Kids in the Hall" TV show. College Football News (heretofore known as CFN) says Bret Meyer could be considered the best QB in his conference. I kinda quit reading right there. He's got his days, and he's still got 12-th year senior Troy Blythe to throw to, but I can't buy the best in the conference line just yet. OK, not ever. ISU will be a little too big and physical for the Flashes and will win, but I don't look for it to be real pretty for either team in Week 1. ISU...24-17.