Carolina vs. Mississippi St.

Dev:
We'll have one of the best offenses we've had in awhile, mainly due to the addition of CORY BOYD. We have Spurrier. Mississippi State won 3 games last year. Their defense is stout, but we have too many options. Luckily, our green defense will be able to contain their offense. Cocks win by double digits.


wty:
Carolina's D vs. Miss. St.'s O: Carolina lost its top 10 tacklers from a year ago, meaning there will be tons of new faces out there Thursday night. However, they will be well coached, extremely athletic, and have the ability to surprise some people this year. The Bulldogs starting QB started the last three games of the 2005 season, completing just 44.4% of his passes with 2 TD and 5 interceptions. The young Gamecock defense has an opportunity to feast on him.

Carolina's O vs. Miss St.'s D: The Bulldog defense was tough last year and returns 9 starters from the 8th-best defensive unit in the SEC last season. Carolina has nuerous offensive weapons in Sidney Rice, Blake Mitchell, Mike Davis, and Cory Boyd. Coach Spurrier has had 7 months to gameplan and is still angry about the way Carolina lost in the Independence Bowl.

The Call: Carolina 30, Miss. St 13

Crummy:
As long as the equipment staff has found Blake a better fitting helmut/facemask the offense should put up good numbers this season and especially against the Miss. St. defense. I also look for the young Gamecock defense to go out with plenty to prove. Finally, Spurrier should be in full force, a bit angry about the loss to Misery to end last season, and be ready to outcoach the SEC this year.

The Big Kahuna

Who wins it all this year? Leave your answer in the comments.

Crummy: Notre Dame at Georgia Tech

Certainly one of the most hyped matchups of the opening weekend of the college football season, Notre Dame versus Georgia Tech live from Grant Field at Bobby Dodd Stadium in ATL is sure to be a hard fought battle. The Gameday crew will be in attendance increasing the hype of the game, especially since Mr. Herbstreit is predicting Brady Quinn as the Heisman winner (a little hometown favoritism perhaps?).


Notre Dame goes into the game ranked #2 by the Associated Press and tied for #3 by the Coaches. Tech goes in unranked, but that means practically nothing right now and is a result of a lack of hype coming off of back-to-back losses to end last season.

From last season’s performances, it is clear that Quinn (over 3000 yards passing and 32 TDs), Jeff Samardzija (consensus All-American), and Darius Walker (1000 yard rushing) can put up some big numbers on offense. However, the big question mark is the defense. Notre Dame’s defense returns 9 starters who were a part of the team that gave up over 600 yards to Ohio State’s offense in last year’s Fiesta Bowl. The main weakness appears to be the secondary, but Charlie Weis emphasized strengthening the DBs in the off-season. We will find out if his efforts have paid off as veteran Tech QB Reggie Ball and Heisman hopeful Calvin Johnson look to pick apart the questionable Notre Dame secondary.

The key to the game for the Ramblin’ Wreck will be holding ND to as few points as possible as the offense (returning 8 starters) did not put up big scores last season. While Chan Gailey’s defense will be relatively inexperienced this year, his defenses are generally successful at getting at and sacking drop-back style passers (i.e., Quinn).

The Irish will win this game by more than enough to cover the 7.5 point spread.

Southern Cal at Arkansas

The remnants of (#6) Southern Cal's explosive offense will make their way to the University of Arkansas's Razorback Stadium this Saturday to complete a home and home series. Last year, the Trojans mercilessly walloped the Razorbacks in a 70-17 win.

But that was last year? LenDale, Reggie, and Matt won't be at this game. Snoop won't be singing the national anthem in Fayetteville. After experiencing a humiliating 4-7 record last season, the Hawgs are ready to let the entire nation know one thing- they have a few more games to lose before they turn it around.

Trojan's receiver Dwayne Jarrett almost scored as many points as the Razorbacks last year. The Hawgs will be playing without phenom running back Darren McFadden, oh, and Nutt's going to be Dickless. The line's at -8.5 for Southern Cal- go with your gut - they'd cover if it was -18.5.

penny: florida state @ miami

well kiddos, its nearly september and that means two things...the long awaited return of college football and a hurricane is about to hit south florida. outside of boarding up houses and stocking up on dry goods everybody here is stoked for florida state vs miami.
florida states' drew weatherford is about to have a huge year, but he'll be overshadowed through the season by lorenzo booker. he put on 15 pounds this off season and has gone from scat back to running people over in spring drills. mickey andrews, lifer at offensive coordinator, has found the candidate to take over where greg jones left off two years ago. buster davis at middle linebacker hopes to anchor a back seven which returns only two starters.
on the other side of the ball, former national champion coach larry coker finds himself on the hot seat after back to back 9-3 seasons and a 40-3 ass kicking at the hands of lsu at last years peach bowl. everyone's favorite florida state drop out, jay '109 solo tackles in a season' williams, reports breaking in 4 new coches has been shaky for coker. personality conflicts and differences in opinion of team direction have flared between the head coach and personal hired not by coker, but by miami's athletic director. kyle wright is the real deal, but his favorite reciever in ryan moore and the team's top returning rusher in tyrone moss have both been suspended for the first two games of the season. keep an eye on returning all-american brandon meriweather at safety.
forget that the 'noles are dogs in this game, they not only cover but win. theres no such thing as a home team in the citrus bowl...there will be as many garnet and gold shirts as there are orange and white. lack of team chemistry in coaches and player replacements will hamper miami for the first couple games of the year before they redeem themselves 3 weeks into the season with a win at louisville.

CFB Pick'em Contest: Week 1

Ok folks, so here are the games for this week's contest. Just download the file, make your selection (don't forget to save the file after selecting), and email the file back (summerofdev@gmail.com).

All entries must be in by Wednesday evening. Like I said before, the contest will be using point spreads. Here's an example for anyone that isn't familiar with them:

USC (-6.5) at Mississippi St.

That spread means that the oddsmakers believe that Carolina will beat Mississippi St. by atleast 6.5 points. So if you agree with that prognostication, then just type in USC in the cell next to the game and email it back. Good luck!

The SoD College Football Pick'em Contest

I'd like to officially announce the 1st annual Summer of Dev College Football Pick'em Contest. The contest will be fairly simple. We'll announce each Sunday which 10 games we'll be covering. The contest will use the early betting lines and all entries must be submitted by Wednesday of that week. The early deadline is due to the fact that all members of the SoD firmly believe in football being played as many days out of the week as possible, so most Thursday night games will be included in the contest.

But wait, there's more..

Knowing how hard-hitting and insightful my analysis [link 1, link 2, link 3] was last season, I've decided to take it up a notch this year. Each writer of the SoD will give a preview of a certain game for that week's contest, along with a joint prognostication of USC's next game.

So what do I win?

This contest will be purely for braggin' rights. Side-bets between members are allowed (and encouraged). Also, if any other blogs think their writers can go toe to toe with the Summer of Dev staff.. I'll gladly tally individual entries as part of a group also. The scores will be published here. Each week's winner will have their picture (either submitted or one from my archives) framed on the SoD until the next round of games. In the case of a tie, no pictures will change because I'm too lazy... unless there are numerous perfect entries, in which case we'll just nail up some more picture frames. The overall winner will have their mug on display until the end of the college basketball season.

Questions? Shoot us an email.

The Jug Returns

It returned for round 2.


Long has this bottle haunted me. It's been almost SEVEN years and I've avoided that 3 liter jug of the 'cheapest, driest, red wine.' So what brought it back?

Well, a few weeks ago I found myself drowning in awkward conversation. Drowning in awkward conversation in the one of the most awkward settings I can be in. I kill the silence with stories about how well I can sew throw pillows, how I like Celine Dion, and about my new talent in ironing. Realizing the picture I was painting, I decide to tell my tough-as-nails story about the Jug-o-Wine(tm).

For the ignorant, the basis of the story is that during my freshman year in college I decided to drink a bottle while listening to Dayroom's one hit wonder 'Cheap Bottle o' Wine.' (I highly recommend the previous link if you never had the opportunity to hear them.) During the binge, I somehow lost consciousness only to wake up to 'friends' advancing with shaving cream and toilet paper. Luckily, I used to carry a buck knife and somehow during the fisticuffs that ensued half of my thumb was cut off. 7 hours in the emergency room.. 6 stitches.

So.. that doesn't make you tough, just stoopid...

Well, 2 weeks and a 'script for some antibiotics later and I decide it's time to take out the stitches.. myself. Unfortunately, I used a dull pair of scissors which consequently frayed the nylon suture. The split wire then snagged random fascia and capillaries on its way out but I finished the mission regardless.

The story doesn't carry much weight anymore, so I figured an encounter with The Jug would help enlighten.

Kickin' some balls

So my kickball team, Kick in da Pink, made it's debut tonight. The weather was perfect. The beers were flowing. And a score of twenty year olds came out playin'.

It took us awhile to gel. We didn't run through our kicks. We dropped easy popouts. Before we knew it, we were down 4-1 in the bottom of the ninth. There's a man on first with two outs. One of the girls is up in the kicking order. She's instructed to hit a hard ground ball towards third base and nails it. We rallied 5 runs to steal a 6-4 win.

I haven't slept since Sunday and I have two finals tomorrow.. but I think a few celebratory beers are in order after one of the greatest kickball comebacks I've ever witnessed. Go PINK!

The Trials and Tribulations of Chap

So I was standing in my front door the other morning at 5 AM when the Killer Attack Wolf Dog darted between my legs into the frontier. No big deal.. I let him run free every now and then and he'll usually be back on my porch in 20 minutes. After an hour though, he's still not back. He isn't back at 7 either, which is when I started heading to class.

aight, still no big deal.. one of my neighbors will probably grab him and just throw him on their porch. Good thing I took his collar off earlier last night.

I got home around 4 expecting this issue to be resolved, but it wasn't. I go look for him in the marshes behind my house. I drive down every street in my neighborhood. I took the hunt on foot.. right in time for the afternoon showers. I looked crazy walking around in the rain yelling for my dog.

None of this worked. I file a report with the SPCA. Then I found a picture of him and went to FedEx/Kinkos to make some fliers. After Kinkos donated $30 worth of color copies to the cause, I headed back to tape them around the 'hood. I just finish taping the first copy to a stop sign when a car pulls next to me.

'Hey, you missing a dog?'

Hot diggity damn! This was easy enough.

'Yeh, I sure am.'

'What's he look like?'

Dammit. He looks like the dog in the freakin' picture on the flier I just posted. Don't waste my time.

'He looks like a mix between an Australian shepherd and a collie.'

'Oh, ok. Well if I see him I'll give you a call.'

Great, I'm glad we went over all this.

'Thanks.'

After the car drove away, another one pulls up behind it.

'Hey, are you missing a dog?'

My systolic raises. My teeth are clenched. My pheochromocytoma starts acting up.

'Yep, I sure am.'

'Ok, I think I saw a dog that looked like that this morning. He was following some lady that was walking her basset hound. I think they were on Tiffany St.'

'Thanks for the tip!'

So I jumped into the car and sped off for Tiffany St. I felt like I was playing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. I drive down the street. No signs of Chap, a lady, or a basset hound. I take one more drive through the street and I see this woman in her front yard.

'Hey lady, you got a basset hound?'

'No, but we found this lost dog this morning.'

There was Chap amidst a family of five that was showering him with attention, food, and hygiene. He walks back to me with his ears tucked back.

'He's such a sweet dog.'

'Yep, he sure is.'

The patriarch of the family of five asked for some proof that he was my dog. I pointed to the stack of missing dog fliers.

'Have a good evening.'

Nocturnal Pork Products

Never

ever

begin a 5 hour glazed ham project at 7 PM, especially after getting minimal sleep for the past 120 hours. Don't feel sorry for me.. the insomnia wasn't from anything school related. I've just been getting some other randomness in during the final stages of the SoD2.

Since the oven timer was set for 5 hours, I figured I could get a quick nap. Sometime during my dream where I was staring into a terrarium while that Shakira song seemed to be on repeat, I woke up.

'Man, that was a nightmare. What day is it? Why is the living room light on? Why is the tv on? 3:30? OH NO, THE HAM!!!!!!!!!!'


Anyway, now it's 4:00 AM and I can't sleep (see picture above). Breakfast's ready!

Sweater Vests Pay-for-Play

The top ten ranked Oklahoma Sooners have decided to enter the 2006 season without their starting quarterback.

A preseasoning ranking hovering around 6 and a potential Heisman candidate in running back Adrian Peterson primed the Sooners to receive media attention that could only be topped by Notre Dame. Unfortunately, they'll be getting alot of attention now for the dismissal of starting quarterback Rhett Bomar (2,018 yds, 10 td, 10 int.) due to receiving excessive payments from a known Sooners booster's company.

Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops wasn't available for an interview, but I would assume he's pretty fired up.

'First, Tressel and Phil get me to wear this ridiculous sweater vest..'

'..and now I'm losing my quarterback because it turns out you can't pay college football players. We followed their directions to the Tee and still got busted. Maybe they should stop giving advice.'

Luckily, the Sooners will have a true freshman, walk-on sophomore, and juco transfer ready to take the helm for the opening kickoff one month from now.

Gonna need some spackle

This guy deserves some type of award. Maybe drunkest Elvis impersonator to attempt a sobriety test?

Click here for a larger view.