Gator Country

One of the things the Florida Gators will need to be prepared for are the "loud" fans among the 100,000-plus at Neyland Stadium on Saturday. / Gator Country file photo by Tim Casey

In the ever-increasing entity that is the intergalactic makeup of the college football universe, each week provides new insights, new storylines and new matchups for fans of every team – if not so much across the heavens, then at least across the country.

In Week 2, we saw the Big Ten lose so many games we almost forgot the Midwest’s finest were still trotting out D-1 athletes. We watched Heisman favorite Matt Barkley toss six touchdown passes against Syracuse in the stadium normally occupied by the Jets and Giants of the NFL, and then we saw Trojans coach Lane Kiffin promptly pay Barkley like an NFL player for his efforts.

We saw many of the powerhouse teams taking care of business against lesser opponents, but what we didn’t see coming was the successful rain dance of the Seminoles’ Chief Osceola. After going up 55-0 against hapless Savannah State, the fourth quarter was cancelled due to inclement weather. Maybe the Chief should head over to all of Savannah’s games.

We saw statements made in big blowout wins by up-and-coming programs such as Kansas State, Arizona and, of course, the seven-time losers of the “third week in September” participants in Tennessee. We saw a Mizzou squad enter the SEC in style, sporting extremely intricate decals on their helmets and some funky dark yellow jerseys, only to take a spanking from the “old men” of college football, the Georgia Bulldogs. Wouldn’t you know it, we watched Arkansas take the program’s biggest fall since former coach and fifty-something Bobby Petrino fell off his motorcycle with a 25-year-old blonde along for the ride. Louisiana-Monroe, after stinking up the field for 20 years, has the chance to run its record to 2-0 in the SEC West this weekend after knocking the then-No. 8 Razorbacks out of the polls altogether in last week’s overtime victory. The Warhawks take on Auburn this weekend. Coach Gene Chizik and the Tigers have decided that until Cam Newton’s love child with Lolo Jones (pure, total conjecture, but wouldn’t those be some insane genetics?) signs a National Letter of Intent with the Tigers, they’re just not going to worry about winning games anymore.

Finally, we watched an unproven Florida Gators football team roll into the home of SEC newcomers Texas A&M with a quarterback making his first career start and come back in the second half to escape College Station with an improbable victory.

Wait, can you hear that? That’s the sound of Coach Boom yelling in happiness. He’s Coach Boom; he only yells.

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