1968Cayman:

That is the sense I got while in Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas. It is nice to see that kind of enthusiasm and support for top level amateur sports. It makes the whole thing a lot more fun too!

Mike

Glad to hear you had a pleasant experience . . . you should come over to the Plains sometime. It's said that Auburn is the third largest city in Alabama on game day.

My wife graduated from Auburn. Now that we are living in Knoxville, she is having to "embrace the orange". :) She'll have the last laugh, I'm afraid, as UT will struggle to beat Auburn this year...

I was in Knoxville last year for the first time. They do love their orange.

That's what makes college football fun. I grew up in Manhattan, KS, that town dissapears on KSU game days. Everyone is either at the game or watching/listening at home. Good luck finding something that's NOT purple in that town. "Paint it purple" was a popular saying for years, and it's been taken to heart.

You don't find that level of fandom and commitment to pro teams. Probably why I'm just a casual NFL fan.

Green bay is probably the only place that comes close. They get carried away with their packers.

Very good point, I agree. Probably why Green Bay would be my #1 choice of cities to see a game in.

What is up now boys!!!

Little ol, injured UCLA beats big bad Tennessee!!!!!!!!!!!!

The West Frickin RULED the opening week of college football in 2008!!!!!!!

Utah, UCLA, USC, Fresno St........................ The PAC and the WAC!

I am a frickin genius I guess!!!!!!!

Mike

The third string QB who obligingly threw 4 INT's and an SEC school still can't convert for a win (strongest conference and all)? Any anwers Mule?

Glad I stayed up for this one, great game.

I figured the UCLA QB would be run out of town at halftime.

I was at the Rose Bowl with the wife and eight friends. Great game. The wife went to UCLA along with 1/2 the spouses. I sort of grew up in Oak Ridge, TN. Enjoyed the heck out of the game.

DAMN IT! I fell asleep when it was 14-7 Tennessee. I hate missing a good upset.

I missed the game as we had cable at the bar & service had not been restored. It appears that a last second touchdown and overtime field goal put UCLA up by 3 over 10 pt favorite TN. Apparently Neuheisel had his guys more prepared than Fat Phil.

As for the Strength of the West, Wins over Rutgers and Virginia don't show a whole lot, nor does Oregon falling to Utah St.

Opening weekend, all the folks who were supposed to win did. A few overachieved, (UCLA, Alabama) and my Tigers whipped Appy State AND Gustav.

Mule, I turned it off at half time, I thought four int. were enough. At work this morning I heard from the guys that went to the game. I should have watched.
USC looked good playing nobody.

It's great to see that UCLA may return to form and be a legit contender out there. It looked obvious to me they wanted to win more so than Tenn.

Good thing the UCLA 3rd string QB, Kevin Craft didn't get injured. I think his backup was a high school QB.

You think Appy state is stronger than Rutgers (pretty good last year at least) and Virginia?

Don't know. My guess would be better than Virginia and comparable to Rutgers. The point I was making was that bearing these teams means little. My Tigers scored on the 2nd play then ran the score to 31-0, before putting in the reserves. I think it would have been silly to talk strength after this game. LSU, GA, FL, AL, SC, Auburn all dominated. AL dominated a top 10 opponent.

"The West Frickin RULED the opening week of college football in 2008!!!!!!!"

Was neither accurate or in any way meaningful. One thing about what there is no doubt, UCLA beat a more highly ranked TN Volunteer team.

USC jumped Georgia in both polls today.,.

Apparently the coaches and API have a different opinion. It's still way to early in the season, anything can happen and probably will.