Well, gee, what can I say about last weekend? The Big East did relatively well, despite losing a couple of stinker games. But then again, with the patsies that most of the teams played, they were supposed to. This coming week, there’s a few better teams, and another whopper of an OOC game to look forward to. I’ll take a #1 vs. #6 matchup any day of the week and twice on Saturday.

Each week, I’ll take a look back at the previous weekend’s Big East games, and a look ahead to the next weekend’s upcoming Big East games, with maybe a few national games to watch thrown in. Hopefully, you’ll think it’s informative, insightful, and down-right funny. I know I sure as [heck] do.

To quote my roommate Brian when playing NTN trivia, "Here we go, dude!"

"I screamed, I yelled, it was better than Cats." And that’s why I have no voice this weekend. The Hokie D, Pride and Joy, and LS/KJ powered Tech to an impressive win over the reigning SEC Champions that was as satisfying as any I’d seen in a while. Despite being near even in the stats department (see TSL's game recap for details), an opportunistic defense and special teams gave the Tech offense a short field to work with all day, allowing Beamer to prolong the quarterback controversy for another week or two. Bryan Randall will be starting next week against Marshall, because Grant Noel had his knee scoped, and he’ll dress anyways. There have been Vick sightings on the practice field, in addition to two sightings on the sidelines on Sunday. Stay tuned, folks.

Must-win game? Was it ever. Head Coach Rich Rodruiguez made his bid to become college football’s next Steve Spurrier by racking up 560 yards of total offense, with 332 of it through the air. Nice try, coach, but the Ol’ Ball Coach would’ve racked up 80 on these dogs. Too bad they took out margin of victory from the computer polls, huh, coach?

I think the biggest surprise of the day was that FAMU was able to rack up 17 points on this team’s 4^th stringers. Well, Miami does have 6 first-time starters on defense. They say the biggest improvement is between the first and second games, and if that’s true, then watch out Florida. WAIT, STOP THE PRESSES! This just in. The new biggest surprise of the day is a quote by LB Jonathan Vilma: "The more we talk, the less we are focused. We'd rather have something to say when it's over." Something’s rotten in the state of Florida, if a Miami middle linebacker doesn’t like to talk trash…..

Boston College, picked 2^nd in the BE? BWAAAAHAHAHAHA! Apparently they have a good team on paper, but looking at this result makes me think that the only chance they have of beating the Hokies is if they play on a day that doesn’t end in "Y". They also have a running back controversy; after starter Horace Dodd was ineffectual (6 yards on 8 carries), Derrick Knight came off the bench to make his bid with a 15 attempt, 105 yard day. But then again, is a running back controversy really that much of a big deal? Apparently it was.

Well, it looks like we found somebody that can run on Richmond. TB Tanardo Sharps can, gaining 118 yards in the first half alone. It appears that the Owls’ no-huddle spread offense can actually work against a Division 1-AA team. No word yet on how it does against a real defense. In other news, the American Owl Council has postponed its’ new promotion entitled "Owl, the other other white meat", waiting for the results of the Oregon State game this weekend.

See, I told you. They weren’t playing Virginia Tech, so it was a close game. Starting QB Rod Rutherford was shaky all day (9-22, 97 yards, 2 TDs, 3 INTs) and true freshman backup Tyler Palko threw only one pass, an incompletion. You know, they need to hire that "two-bit carny hypnotist" from The Natural. "Playing to the level of your opponents is a disease. As contagious as syphilis. Ah, but curable. Imagine you’re playing Virginia Tech….." There go all your problems, guys.

Tony Soprano had a pretty bad day, but the coaching staff had worse. Rumors out of New Jersey tell me that two graduate assistants were "knee-capped" by 9mm rounds, a linebackers coach had his hand sawed off, and a bloody horse’s head was found in Coach Schiano’s bed. It may have been a 2-for-1 deal, as near-Triple-Crown winner War Emblem has been reported missing….

Syracuse was humbled again in their season opener, as they gave up 615 yards in a national-TV loss to the pamphlet-distributors. Hey, Bring ‘Em Young is a pretty good team, but good enough to wipe the floor with Syracuse? Uhhh…..never mind. In other news, traffic at www.coachpmustgo.com has jumped 50% since last Thursday…..

Funny Quote of the Week #2: "We've played (in previous years) Virginia, Vanderbilt, Rutgers and Arkansas State. Of all the [I-A] teams we've played, this Temple team is the best one." (Richmond coach Reid). I don’t think it will matter against Oregon State, though, coach. Look for the Beavers to smother the Owls.

Now, if they can mistake aTm’s Corps of Cadets for our Corps of Cadets, maybe they can think that they’re VT, and maybe……naw. Their Corps is about 20 times the size of ours. A close win at best for Pittsburgh, maybe a loss.

Now if somebody could only sneak into the WVU locker room and replace the blanks with real bullets……

Stanford’s quarterback is not playing in this game, but who knows if BC’s QB is either. I mean, he didn’t seem to play last week.

This is the game of the week. Why? Because VT isn’t playing. Definitely a Game to Watch From the Parking Lot.

Time for this year’s ABC bowl, sponsored by "Just Shoot Me". Please. Pretty Please with sugar on top.

Something has GOT to give here. Two teams that make their living coming back from 0-2 deficits. They can’t BOTH lose, can they? I think this game equates to the feather-soft, completely resistible force meeting the massless, inertialess, highly-movable object.

This may be a bit outside the scope of the title of the article, but I thought it would be helpful for those tailgaters out there with satellite dishes and TVs. (The only way to go, IMnsHO.) So each week I’ll pick a few games that are going on outside the Hokies’ time slot that some might be interested in seeing while guzzling down their beverage of choice. (*cough* Captain Morgan’s *cough*) Since we don’t have a game this weekend, I’ll toss up a few games. And since I can’t get away from my Rooting Guide roots (pun intended), I’ll let you know who to root for.

This should be a great scorefest. Those who like defense, avert your eyes.

It’s a good idea to scout out the next opponents, so we know who to yell at.

For those (like me) who like to see Alabama get their [derrieres] kicked.

This is THE game of the weekend, y’all. They haven’t played during the regular season since the mid to late 80s, and now this has national championship aspirations written all over it. Watch the other games, but when this one comes on, for God’s sake, change the channel to watch it and put down the remote!

Let’s see if Colorado State is for real. This should be interesting after their upset of Colorado.