College Football's Return Brings a Couple of Blockbusters

Tomorrow is the first day of September, and college football is back — or, at least, it will be tomorrow night.

It doesn't feel like football season around here yet — how could it with daytime highs still cracking the century mark in most places in Texas? — but that doesn't change the fact that football is back, and that is definitely a psychological boost. It is an indication that better times are ahead — must be ahead.

Most of the matchups in the Top 25 are typical for this time of year. The ranked teams are at home against clearly inferior foes.

There are exceptions, of course. Mississippi State is ranked and will be on the road tomorrow night. Two other ranked teams — South Carolina and TCU — will be on the road against unranked opponents this weekend.

A Top Ten team — #5 Boise State — will be on the road against a ranked rival, #19 Georgia.

But the real treat for college football fans this weekend is a game that has no home field advantage — technically speaking — only a regional one.

Third–ranked Oregon and fourth–ranked LSU will square off at Cowboys Stadium on ABC Saturday night, and the winner could very well be playing for the national championship in January. Both schools have been there before — and it is even possible that they could be destined to meet in a rematch at the end of the season.

Of course, it is also possible that either or both of these schools could flame out. I have written here recently of the minefield of a schedule that awaits LSU, and, although only two other schools on Oregon's schedule (Stanford and Southern California, back to back in November) are ranked in the preseason Top 25, four others received some support in the Associated Press' first poll of the season.

It's all ahead of us, football fans. Let it begin.

Thursday

• UNLV at #11 Wisconsin, 7 p.m. (Central) on ESPN: Wisconsin has beaten UNLV three straight times.
  
  The schools have played each other fairly regularly — and on both campuses — in recent years. The Rebels' last victory over the Badgers came in 2003 at home. They've never won at Wisconsin.
  
  I'm betting it will stay that way. Wisconsin should win.


• #20 Mississippi State at Memphis, 7 p.m. (Central) on FSN: They don't play each other every year the way they once did, but these schools resumed their series last year after an eight–year break, and they're continuing this year — and one thing has gone unchanged. Through good years and bad, Mississippi State has tended to beat Memphis.
  
  Last year, Mississippi State opened the season with a 49–7 win over Memphis. It was the first time they had played since Oct. 19, 2002, when Mississippi State won, 29–17.
  
  In fact, Mississippi State has beaten Memphis 11 straight times. Memphis' last victory in the series was in 1993, 45–35.
  
  Mississippi State should make it an even dozen.

Friday

• #14 TCU at Baylor, 7 p.m. (Central) on ESPN: When I was growing up, these schools were Southwest Conference rivals who met each year in what frequently amounted to a battle for last place.
  
  Times have changed. The Southwest Conference no longer exists. These teams are in separate conferences now, and TCU has been a factor in the national championship equation on several occasions, not unlike the days when my parents were children and TCU was a national power. Baylor has struggled, competing in a conference that includes Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech, but enjoyed something of a breakthrough season last year.
  
  The teams haven't played each other annually since their SWC days, but they have met occasionally — last year, for example, when Baylor came to Fort Worth and lost to TCU, 45–10. They played in Fort Worth to open the 2007 season as well — and with a similar outcome. TCU won that game, 27–0.
  
  Their last meeting in Waco, where they will play on Friday, was in 2006. TCU won a 17–7 defensive struggle that day.
  
  Prior to that, the teams hadn't met since the last Southwest Conference season in 1995. That game was played in Waco, and it was Baylor's last triumph over TCU, 27–24.
  
  TCU's last SWC win in Waco came in 1993, 38–13. I expect the Frogs to win there on Friday night.


• Youngstown State at #17 Michigan State, 6:30 p.m. (Central) on Big Ten Network: I have found no evidence that these schools have ever played each other in football, but I really don't need any precedents to make this prediction.
  
  I expect Michigan State to prevail.

Saturday

• Tulsa at #1 Oklahoma, 7 p.m. (Central) on FX: The Sooners have won five straight against their instate rivals since 2001.
  
  Tulsa's last win in the series came in 1996 — on the same field where they will meet on Saturday. Before that, I think you have to go back to the FDR administration to find the last Tulsa triumph.
  
  Stranger things have happened, but I don't think Tulsa will reverse the trend against this year's Sooners. I'll take Oklahoma.


• Kent State at #2 Alabama, 11:21 a.m. (Central) on SEC Network: I don't believe these schools have ever faced each other.
  
  But, really, does it matter? On the face of it, I expect Alabama to roll over Kent State.


• #4 LSU vs. #3 Oregon, 7 p.m. (Central) on ABC: Seldom does one see such a crucial contest so early in the college football season, but that's what the folks in Arlington, Texas, have in this one.
  
  The teams have been in the national spotlight in recent years, and both have played for a national title, but this will be their first head–to–head meeting since 1977, when LSU hammered visiting Oregon, 56–17. Obviously, that won't give you much insight into this year's contest. The guys who played in that game are in their 50s today.
  
  I think the LSU squad of 2011 is good but overrated. I think Oregon is talented as well — and may well be the better team, but I'm not sure that Oregon will be able to prove that in the opener, especially after traveling through two time zones to play the game. LSU's weaknesses are more likely to be revealed in the course of a brutal conference campaign.
  
  But, this week, I'll take LSU. If nothing else, the Tigers should be better prepared for the anticipated 99° conditions.


• #5 Boise State at #19 Georgia, 7 p.m. (Central) on ESPN: These schools last met on Sept. 3, 2005, in Athens, Ga., and the Bulldogs won the game, 48–13.
  
  Trevor Amicone of the Deseret News says it is one of the 10 must–see college football games this year.
  
  That 2005 game is the only time since Boise State (originally a community college) moved up to Division I–A that the schools have faced each other. There isn't much history to go by. But I'll pick Boise State in an upset.


• Louisiana–Monroe at #6 Florida State, 2:30 p.m. (Central) on ESPNU: Let me start by saying that I think Florida State is a good team — but I also believe the Seminoles are overrated.
  
  That isn't likely to matter against Louisiana–Monroe, but it probably will make a lot of difference later in the season.
  
  Well, that is something to worry about at another time. For this week, Florida State should have little trouble.


• San Jose State at #7 Stanford: I'm not sure why, but these two schools did not face each other last season.
  
  They met in 49 of the previous 51 seasons, and some of the games were pretty close, but most of the games have been lopsided in Stanford's favor — like their last encounter in 2009, a 42–17 home win for Stanford.
  
  San Jose State hasn't won at Stanford since 2000 and has lost six in a row there since. Make that seven. I'll go with Stanford.


• Louisiana–Lafayette at #9 Oklahoma State: This will be the eighth time these teams have faced each other since 1986.
  
  There was a time when they played each other on a reasonably regular basis, but, until last year, they had only played once since 1999.
  
  OSU, it is safe to say, cruised to victory last season, and I expect the same this season.


• Chattanooga at #10 Nebraska: Big changes are happening in Lincoln, Neb., this season.
  
  The biggest, of course, is the Cornhuskers' jump to a new conference. If you've been a college football fan as long as I have, you can't help but feel a little sad at the thought of Nebraska leaving behind its rivals, old and new, especially its series with Oklahoma.
  
  In the days of the Big Eight, the Oklahoma–Nebraska series was one of the great annual rivalries in college football, and it was still a big deal, even if it was reduced to an occasional thing in the Big 12.
  
  Many times, Nebraska and Oklahoma had teams that were ranked in the Top 10 at the same time, and their regular–season battles often played prominent roles in bowl bids and national championships. Once, the teams were so good and their regular–season meeting was so thrilling and so intense that they were invited to play in a rare postseason rematch in the Orange Bowl.
  
  It's a new era now, though, and Nebraksa begins it with an opponent the Cornhuskers have never faced — Chattanooga. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that the coaches are taking a businesslike approach to the game — as they should. Nebraska may be thinking down the road to its Big Ten opener, but it should stay focused long enough to dispose of Chattanooga.


• #12 South Carolina at East Carolina, 6 p.m. (Central) on FSN: It's been more than 10 years since these schools, located about four hours apart, met on the gridiron.
  
  In that last meeting, on South Carolina's field in 1999, East Carolina prevailed, 21–3.
  
  Two years earlier, on the same field, East Carolina lost, 26–0.
  
  They met just about every year between 1985 and 1997 — and South Carolina won about two–thirds of the time, although East Carolina had the upper hand in the early 1990s. Who has the upper hand now?
  
  Well, considering that South Carolina is coming off what was its most successful season since joining the SEC — and East Carolina is coming off a 6–7 season that was capped with a Military Bowl loss to Maryland — I'm going to predict that South Carolina will win.


• Appalachian State at #13 Virginia Tech, 11:30 a.m. (Central) on ACC Network: Most people know only one thing about Appalachian State's football team. Four years ago, the Division I–AA team from North Carolina traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich., to take on the Michigan Wolverines — and won in a shocking 34–32 upset.
  
  Appalachian State tried to duplicate that accomplishment the following year when the Mountaineers took on LSU — but the Tigers prevailed, 41–13.
  
  I'm inclined to think Virginia Tech will win this one as well.


• Missouri State at #15 Arkansas, 6 p.m. (Central) on ESPN3.com: Missouri State was once known as Southwest Missouri State.
  
  Arkansas and Missouri State have met three times in the last 11 years. Two years ago, the Razorbacks opened the season with a 48–10 win over Missouri State. In 2005, the Razorbacks kicked things off with a 49–17 win over Missouri State. In 2000, they blanked Missouri State in the opener, 38–0.
  
  Oddly enough, even though the schools are less than two hours from each other, I have found no evidence that they ever played in football when Missouri State was known as Southwest Missouri State.
  
  That really doesn't matter, though. The Razorbacks will be breaking in a new quarterback, and the running back who was expected to shoulder much of the responsibility for the ground game has been lost for the season, but I still expect Arkansas to win the game.


• South Florida at #16 Notre Dame, 2:30 p.m. (Central) on NBC: These schools have no history on the field, but, intriguingly, South Florida's coach, Skip Holtz, is the son of Lou Holtz, who was the last coach to lead Notre Dame to a national championship.
  
  Skip Holtz went 8–5 last year in his first year coaching South Florida, and he beat Clemson in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
  
  Brian Kelly is starting his second year at Notre Dame. He also went 8–5 last year, winning the Sun Bowl against Miami.
  
  It ought to be a good game — and a good indication whether Notre Dame is on the path back to national prominence. It would be a great story if Lou Holtz's son defeated his father's former employer, but I don't think it will happen. I think Notre Dame will win at home.


• Akron at #18 Ohio State, 11 a.m. (Central) on ESPN: The last time Akron played in Columbus, the offense didn't score. Ohio State won their 2007 encounter, 20–2.
  
  They haven't played each other regularly. They met in 2001, with Ohio State winning that one, too, 28–14, but I have seen no evidence that they played each other before that time.
  
  Series history doesn't really mean anything in this one — but offseason developments almost certainly will mean something to this year's Buckeyes. There's a new coach in town, and team leader Terrelle Pryor, who once spoke about returning for his senior year to protect his collegiate legacy, instead will be serving his five–game suspension in the NFL.
  
  By mid– to late October, I expect Ohio State to tumble from the Top 25 — after facing Miami (Florida), Michigan State, Nebraska and Wisconsin. As Stewart Mandel observes in Sports Illustrated, "Even a program as stacked as OSU isn't immune to a down year."
  
  Well, I expect it to be a down year for the Buckeyes. But, for now, I expect Ohio State to win.


• Miami (Ohio) at #21 Missouri, 11 a.m. (Central) on FSN: When these two schools met last season, I believe it was the first time they had faced each other on the gridiron.
  
  Predictably, Missouri won, 51–13.
  
  They will be playing on the same field this year, in Columbia, Mo., and I expect pretty much the same result. I'll take Missouri.


• Florida Atlantic at #22 Florida, 6 p.m. (Central) on ESPNU: Florida Atlantic has only been playing football since 2001, and it has only been a Division I–A team since 2005, but it does have a record against some of the heavyweights in college football — including the team it will face on Saturday, Florida.
  
  They met in November 2007. Tim Tebow, who would be presented with the Heisman Trophy a few weeks later, led the Gators to a 59–20 victory.
  
  No reason that I know of for expecting a different outcome this Saturday. I predict Florida will win easily.


• Utah State at #23 Auburn, 11 a.m. (Central) on ESPN2: If these schools ever faced each other before, I have found no evidence of it.
  
  Utah State has played teams from the SEC before but never — apparently — Auburn. That's understandable — Utah and Brigham Young are the Utah schools with the football reputations. Utah State hasn't had as many wins as losses since 1997 and hasn't won a bowl game since 1993.
  
  Auburn isn't as good as it was last year, but the Tigers will be good enough. Auburn will defeat Utah State.


• Minnesota at #25 Southern California, 2:30 p.m. (Central) on ABC: Last year, these teams met for the first time in 30 years, and USC won, 32–21.
  
  I expect pretty much the same outcome this time. I think USC will win.

Sunday

• SMU at #8 Texas A&M, 6:30 p.m (Central) on FSN: The last time these schools met in College Station, the Aggies rolled to a 66–8 victory. That was in 2005.
  
  That was the first time the teams had faced each other since 1995, when they were still Southwest Conference rivals, but you have to go back to the mid–1980s to find SMU's last victory over A&M, a 28–20 triumph at Texas Stadium.
  
  SMU's last win over A&M at College Station was in 1983, 10–7.
  
  Longtime SWC followers will recall that '83 and '84 were years when SMU was a national contender — thanks to the NCAA violations for which the school would be penalized severely a few years later. SMU is not as good as it was then, and A&M is better than it was. That, along with the home field advantage, should be enough to power A&M to victory.


• Marshall at #24 West Virginia, 2:30 p.m. (Central) on ESPN: This is the sixth straight season that these instate rivals have faced each other, and West Virginia won all five of the previous meetings.
  
  Most of the time, West Virginia has cruised to victory, but Marshall made it interesting last year, losing by 24–21 at home.
  
  This year's game will be played at West Virginia, however, where the Mountaineers have won by an average of 31–7.
  
  And I expect West Virginia to win by approximately that margin this time.

The Challenge of Being Preseason Number One

Mark Schlabach of ESPN points out that the team that is ranked #1 in the preseason poll usually doesn't win the national championship.

The only exception in recent years has been Southern California in 2004 — and USC, as we all learned, had to cheat to do it.

It wasn't always that way. In the 1970s, as I recall, the preseason polls frequently were right — but not always. I had my own experience with that. I grew up in Arkansas, as I have said here before, and the Razorbacks shocked just about everyone in Lou Holtz's first year at the helm, going 10–1 in the regular season and thrashing heavily favored Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, 31–6. They finished #3 in the nation.

That definitely made some people sit up and take notice. The next year, 1978, the Razorbacks were ranked #1 when the season began, but they stumbled early and never lived up to the hype.

That might not happen with this year's top–ranked preseason squad, Oklahoma. The Sooners were 12–2 last year and won 80% of their games against ranked teams. They have appeared in more than one–third of the last 11 national championship games.

They could live up to the hype.

If they do, though, they will be tested. Four of the games on their schedule are against teams currently ranked in the preseason Top 25 — Florida State, Missouri, Texas &M and Oklahoma State — and who knows what will happen with the University of Texas before the Longhorns and the Sooners square off in their traditional October brawl?

Personally, I'm not convinced that the Sooners will win it all.

Perhaps it is my bias for the Southeastern Conference — which is, I believe, justified by the fact that the SEC champion has won the national championship for the last five years — but I believe the SEC's champion will play for the national title again.

I am not sold, however, on the idea that it will be either Alabama or LSU, both of whom are in the preseason Top 5.

Alabama, of course, won it all year before last — but the Crimson Tide has lost its Heisman Trophy–winning running back and its starting quarterback — and you don't just replace talent like that. Alabama is good but overrated and may struggle with a schedule that has five foes who are in the preseason Top 25 and at least two others who might find themselves in the Top 25 before September is over.

LSU is also talented, but its schedule is, if anything, tougher. The Tigers open the season against #3 Oregon, then must face five Top 25 opponents — and that could be six if Tennessee upsets Florida on Sept. 17.

Actually, the rap on the SEC is that there are so many good teams every year — which is true — that whoever wins it all is likely to have been eliminated from national championship consideration because it lost one or two nailbiters to equally talented SEC rivals.

But that, however, has not been true. If it had, SEC teams would not have won five straight national titles. Someone always emerges from the pack. Sometimes it is the team that was expected to excel, and sometimes it is a surprise, but someone always gets the early momentum and most of the breaks.

That will end eventually — as everything does. But not yet. And perhaps not this season.

And my sincere guess is that it could be any one of maybe half a dozen SEC teams. Four different schools have won SEC and national championships in the last five years. One of those four could win it all again — or Georgia, Arkansas, South Carolina, even Mississippi State could rise to the top.

All eyes will be on Oklahoma on the first weekend of the season, but the smart money will keep an eye on the SEC.

The Aggies and the SEC

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When the name of Texas Gov. Rick Perry surfaces in news reports in the other 49 states these days, it is most likely in connection with the recent announcement of his candidacy for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

But here in Texas, folks aren't concerned with his presidential ambitions. At least, not yet.

Maybe Texans have been a bit spoiled, but they aren't terribly impressed with the mere announcement that a Texan is seeking the presidency. Many have done that.

Come back and talk to them if and when Perry is the nominee. They should have plenty to say. He's been governor for a decade.

Barack Obama's immediate predecessor, of course, was elected governor of Texas twice, and his father, who wasn't born in Texas but represented one of the state's House districts in Congress at one time, was vice president for eight years and president for four. The Democrats even nominated a Texan for vice president.

Two other presidents in the 20th century were born in Texas — Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson.

As I say, the presidential campaign isn't what folks in Texas are talking about right now. Their immediate concern, as always, is football — and lately they are interested in what the future holds for Texas A&M.

Perry's fate they will find out about in due course.

In recent days, word got out that A&M wanted to leave the Big 12 and join the Southeastern Conference, and journalists who were following Perry as he coyly made his way to South Carolina (where he sought to upstage the Iowa straw poll by announcing his presidential intentions) asked him about it.

Perry, as you may know, graduated from A&M in 1972. Currently, he probably has the highest profile of any A&M grad, and it is assumed by many that the governor has some special insights and/or connections to the decision makers in College Station.

If he does, though, Perry didn't mention it.

"As far as I know, conversations are being had," the Dallas Morning News quoted Perry as saying about the situation. "That's frankly all I know."

Turned out, Perry was right. Conversations were "being had."

And, apparently, because of those conversations, the decision makers in College Station jumped the gun a bit and announced that the Aggies were moving to the SEC. Problem was, the invitation hadn't been extended.

At least, not yet.

That was the encouraging part for Texas A&M, its student body and its supporters across the nation. The Aggies were not flatly rejected by the SEC — which, with five consecutive national championships divvied up between four schools, must be regarded as America's elite football conference.

The SEC left the door open for future expansion — which could very well include Texas A&M — after it carefully surveys the terrain. That says something, I think, about A&M and the SEC.

A&M's football program has struggled in recent years, but the Aggies seemed to be turning the corner last year, winning their last six regular–season games (including victories over Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas Tech and arch rival Texas). Some weaknesses were exposed in their Cotton Bowl loss to national power LSU, but, overall, the season left a good taste in the mouths of Aggies everywhere.

The 2010 season was the Aggies' most productive since 2006 and the closest they have come to a double–digit victory season since the 1990s. Preseason polls have A&M ranked among the nation's top programs. The sky seems to be the limit.

Well, except for one problem that I think played a key role in the collapse of the old Southwest Conference — and is probably contributing heavily to the impending collapse of the Big 12.

What is the problem, you may ask? It is the University of Texas' commitment to sucking all the oxygen out of any conference in which it competes.

UT did that in the old Southwest Conference, where it routinely pounded schools like TCU, Baylor, Rice and SMU, usually handled programs, like Texas Tech and Houston, that occasionally emerged as threats and usually repelled Arkansas and A&M, which were the most persistent challengers. It cast a huge shadow over the other teams in the conference with its vast financial resources, its massive and influential alumni base and its athletic prestige.

In fact, the only three games that made the Longhorns break a sweat most years were their contests with OU, A&M and Arkansas.

(That may have been the most shocking thing about legendary coach Darrell Royal's final season in 1976. In two decades as UT's coach, Royal never had a losing season — but, in 1976, Texas lost as many games as it won. Texas lost to Baylor and nearly lost to SMU — and was just another team when Royal departed.)

In the early 1990s, Arkansas made the decision to join the SEC. Perhaps athletic director Frank Broyles and the decision makers in Fayetteville realized that it was becoming the Longhorn Conference, and it was doomed to collapse under its own weight.

Maybe the decision makers in College Station are sensing the same thing in the Big 12 today. Nebraska and Colorado have already left the conference, and A&M may have realized that no conference will ever be big enough for Texas and even one other big–time program — let alone two or three or four.

The SEC is clearly big enough to accommodate several big–time programs, and it is open to the idea of adding more. A&M is on the SEC's list of prospects.

All it needs is to be patient for a year or two.

Random Football Thoughts

A sure sign that the college football season is approaching is the release of USA Today's preseason poll.

That poll was released yesterday, and it ranks Oklahoma #1. USA Today's Jack Carey calls it a "salute ... to tradition," and I guess that is true.

There are aspects of the Top 10 that are very traditional. OU at #1, with Alabama #2, LSU #4, Florida State #5, Texas A&M #9 and Wisconsin #10, is reassuringly traditional.

But then there are the teams like Boise State (#7) and Oregon (#3), who have been major contenders in recent years but meant nothing when I was growing up. They were the schools that Oklahoma and Alabama would put on their schedules to pad their stats.

I only remember Stanford (ranked #6) being a factor in the national polls once when I was a child — and that was primarily due to the presence of the eventual Heisman Trophy winner on the roster.

And Oklahoma State (ranked #8) was nowhere when I was growing up.

So, while USA Today's preseason Top 10 does resemble the ones I remember from my formative years, it isn't exactly a flashback. Not completely. There are a few variations.

That's a good thing, I suppose. Every sport — team or individual — needs its standouts, the ones that are usually contenders for the championship. It encourages a sense of stability, of continuity.

The sense of drama is provided by those who emerge to challenge the establishment for the championship.

As I have mentioned here many times, I grew up in Arkansas and got my B.A. at the University of Arkansas. It's part of my DNÅ to fantasize about the Razorbacks playing for a national football title — and there have been times in my life when they have been contenders, but they've always fallen short.

As the 2011 season approaches, the rankings reflect a healthy respect for recent history. The Southeastern Conference, after all, has produced the last five national champions, and Oklahoma has played in four national championship games in the last 11 years — so it is reasonable to rank OU at the top and Alabama, a perennial contender long before the Crimson Tide won the national title year before last, just behind the Sooners.

Those two might very well end up facing each other for the national title in January.

But there are many challenges facing both schools before they can punch their tickets for the national title game.

In Oklahoma's conference, Texas is the only other school to win a national championship since the inception of the BCS, and Nebraska was the only other member of the conference to play for one (losing to Miami a decade ago).

Nebraska (#11 in USA Today's preseason poll) hightailed it to the Big Ten and, thus, won't stand in OU's way. But four other members of the conference could — Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, #21 Missouri and #24 Texas — as well as nonconference foe #5 Florida State.

Alabama probably faces an even stiffer challenge. Four of 'Bama's five divisional rivals in the SEC — LSU, #14 Arkansas, #19 Auburn and #20 Mississippi State — are in the Top 20. One of the three teams the Crimson Tide must face from the SEC's other division — Florida — is in the Top 25, and another (Tennessee) received some votes in the poll but not enough to be ranked.

Alabama also must face Penn State in the second week of the season, which figures to be an early test for both. If they are still as highly regarded in the polls at that time, the Nittany Lions should have something to prove when they play the Tide. They finished 7–6 last year but enter the 2011 campaign ranked 25th by USA Today.

Obviously, it is by no means certain that either team will play for the national title — but it might be a little easier for OU since the Big 12 won't be playing a conference championship game now.

No such luck in the SEC. The survivor of what figures to be an all–out battle between five talented teams (and one potential spoiler) in the SEC West will have to face the champion of the SEC East in a championship game, and the SEC East could produce Florida or Georgia or Tennessee (the schools that won all the division titles between 1992 and 2009) or possibly South Carolina, the school that won it last year.

Recent history suggests that the SEC champion will have an outstanding quarterback. Nine of the last 11 MVPs in the SEC's championship game were quarterbacks.

Recent history also suggests that the winner of the SEC West is not the team that won it the year before — or even the year before that. Four different schools have represented the SEC West in the championship game in the last five years. Arkansas was one of them, but the Razorbacks haven't been in the title game since 2006. They may be overdue.

Frankly, I think the Razorbacks might have been the favorites to win the SEC West this year if Ryan Mallett hadn't decided to skip his senior year. But he did, and now the Razorbacks will have to break in someone new.

In the past, that might be a big problem at other schools, but Arkansas was never overly dependent on its quarterback when I was growing up there. The offense was always centered around the running backs, and, if the quarterback could take the snap from center and hand off to the tailback without fumbling somewhere in between, he did his job satisfactorily.

Things are different now, though. Bobby Petrino, the current coach, is a devotee of the passing game, and a team definitely needs more than just a guy to take a snap and hand off the ball at quarterback when the passing game is as vital as it is in Petrino's playbook.

Mallett's replacement will have some growing pains as he works his way into the offense, but there are a lot of experienced players around him to ease the transition.

The Razorbacks could be the champions of the SEC West. They face Missouri State, New Mexico and Troy in their first three games, which should give the new quarterback a little time to get something of a handle on things.

Then Arkansas faces a back–to–back–to–back challenge — a trip to Alabama on Sept. 24, a date with Texas A&M here in north Texas on Oct. 1 and a home game with Auburn on Oct. 8. If the Hogs can get past those three, they will have a well–earned week off, followed by road games against Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. Both schools have had their moments in the sun in the last decade, but recent history suggests they will struggle in 2011.

If the Hogs are unblemished at that point, they will take an 8–0 record into their home game with South Carolina, followed by home games against Tennessee and Mississippi State, who may or may not be ranked by that time. Then the Razorbacks wrap up their regular season with a post–Thanksgiving trip to Baton Rouge to play LSU — who also may or may not be in the rankings by that time.

Clearly, it's a tough schedule for the Razorbacks, as it always is. Success in the SEC depends as much on good fortune and lucky breaks as it does on talent, and, if Arkansas can avoid major injuries, the Hogs just might be playing for the SEC title — and perhaps the national title.

Well, I can dream, can't I?

Bubba Smith Dies

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Hearing the news today that Bubba Smith is dead brought back a childhood memory.

And it isn't a memory of his role in the "Police Academy" movies — which, actually, came along after I graduated from college.

The Associated Press quoted authorities as saying the death did not appear to be suspicious, but the cause is not yet known. Smith was 66.

When I was a child, Smith may have been the most feared defensive player in football. At 6'7" and 265 pounds, he was often the example that was cited whenever someone wanted to make the most extreme comparison someone could make regarding size (i.e., "He's as big as Bubba Smith").

Those are impressive numbers today, but even a casual football fan could probably name, off the top of his head, several current players who are both taller and heavier. Size and talent do not always go hand in hand, and not all of them would be All–Pro players, but Smith was.

Don't get me wrong. Size has always been important in football, but before Smith came along, teams actively sought more of a balance between athleticism and size in their linemen.

Smith played in something of a transitional period. He was a blend of immovable object and irresistible force when more and more linemen — on both sides of the ball — were content simply to be immovable objects.

My childhood memory is of something of an offhand joke that my father made when I was in my football card collector period. One afternoon, I had purchased a couple of packs of football cards (I guess I would have been about 9 or 10).

I opened them in the car on the way home, and a card of Bubba Smith was in one of them. I told my father.

"I got Bubba Smith!" I exclaimed (or something similar).

"Do you get two cards for him?" my father asked and chuckled at his own joke.

You had to be crafty to play the line in those days. You couldn't just get away with being big. You had to be clever. And you had to have a lot of confidence in yourself.

I was reminded today of a great story about Smith from back in the days when the college all–stars played the defending Super Bowl champs in the game that kicked off the NFL's preseason schedule.

As an All–American at Michigan State, Smith played against Bart Starr and the Green Bay Packers in that exhibition game on Aug. 4, 1967. Early in the game, he burst through the line and tackled Starr in the backfield (I'm not sure if they were calling that a "sack" yet).

When the play was over, Smith said to Starr, "All night long, old man, all night long. Big Bubba's gonna be right here on top of you all night long."

Actually, Green Bay offensive lineman Jerry Kramer recalled in his account of the 1967 NFL season, Smith never got to Starr again. Kramer wrote that he was impressed with Smith's quickness but said he had trouble using his hands and, once Kramer adjusted, Smith posed no problems for him.

Smith was just a college player at the time, though, and it wasn't long before, as a member of an astonishingly talented Baltimore Colts team, he played in the Super Bowl himself, losing to Joe Namath and the New York Jets.

Two years later, he was a member of the Colts' only Super Bowl–winning team in the 20th century, but he refused to wear the ring he received for participating in Super Bowl V. The game was so sloppy (nearly a dozen turnovers) that he felt embarrassed to wear it.

(It is ironic, I suppose, that, on the 40th anniversary of that game last January, I wondered on this blog if Smith's survivors would put the ring on his finger before he was buried. Maybe the only way we will know is if the ring surfaces on Ebay or something like that.)

Smith is enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame, but he is not in Pro Football's Hall of Fame. Perhaps one day he will be.

One of his teammates on those Baltimore Colts teams, tight end John Mackey, was inducted into the Hall of Fame nearly 20 years ago and, ironically, died just last month.

There aren't many tight ends in the Hall of Fame, but one, Shannon Sharpe, will be inducted this weekend.

In all, seven individuals will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Some of them, like Sharpe, will be quite familiar to modern fans; others (Les Richter and Chris Hanburger) are remembered by few. At least one (filmmaker Ed Sabol) never played the game.

Bubba Smith will not be one of the inductees — but, if there is any justice, one day (perhaps one day soon) he will be.

He just won't be around to see it.

The 1936 Berlin Olympics Revisited

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It was 75 years ago today that the Summer Olympics opened in Berlin.

The Nazis had seized power a few years earlier. World War II had not yet begun, but the antisemitism that controlled the thoughts and actions of Germany's leaders was already in place, and those leaders were eager to show Aryan supremacy to the world — as beneficiaries of an Olympic bid that was awarded before they came to power.

The propaganda potential for the Summer Games may never have been higher.

Even though the Nazis had not risen to power when the Olympic bid was awarded, many nations, including the United States, considered boycotting the Games rather than appear to be endorsing the Nazi regime.

But the Berlin Olympics would not be remembered for Aryan triumphs. Those Summer Games are remembered for the triumphs of a black man — Jesse Owens — which is ironic because the legally sanctioned racial discrimination in Germany was against Jews, especially European Jews. Segregation based on skin color was still the law of the land in much of the United States.

As a matter of fact, in Berlin, Owens was able to move about more freely than he could in America. He could eat in restaurants, drink in bars, travel around the city in public transportation without encountering the problems he would face in his homeland.

It was an environment that was manufactured for the occasion.

Aware that the world would be watching, Germany undertook a massive effort to "clean up" Berlin and temporarily removed all traces of its policies against Jews — until the Games were over.

Thus, what was seen was not real. But there were some lasting innovations that came to the Olympics as a result of the Berlin Games.

Foremost, I suppose, was the relay of the Olympic torch from Athens. Many people believe — mistakenly — that the torch relay dates back to the first of the modern Games near the end of the 19th century.

In fact, though, it is a tradition that began in 1936.

Much was made of the fact that Adolf Hitler did not congratulate Owens on any of his victories in the 1936 Summer Games — and Owens started winning gold medals almost immediately.

He won four of them in all — two in sprints, one in a relay and one in the long jump.

There was talk that Hitler snubbed Owens and refused to acknowledge his triumphs, allegedly because his victories in the Olympics challenged Nazi theories of racial superiority.

But, while there is no doubt the Nazis were cruel, sadistic supremacists, that tale about Hitler snubbing Owens may have been mostly propaganda.

Owens himself contradicted those reports. "When I passed the chancellor, he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him," Owens said.

Owens also said that, if anyone snubbed him, it was American President Franklin Roosevelt, not Hitler. "The president didn't even send me a telegram," he said.

It was true that Hitler didn't publicly congratulate Owens — but that was how he handled all medalists, including the ones from Germany, after Opening Day — in keeping with International Olympic Committee regulations.

There seems to be no doubt that Hitler was rooting for his Aryan athletes, hoping they would validate his theories of racial supremacy, but he maintained the kind of outward neutrality that the IOC expected from the host nation.

Supposedly, Hitler did shake Owens' hand in private, and a photograph captured the moment. Owens, it is said, carried the photo in his wallet.

Based on Owens' own testimony, as well as accounts from others, there seems to be little mystery to me surrounding Hitler's treatment of Owens. A more enduring mystery may be one that Mhari Saito is trying to unravel for NPR.

Saito writes that the German Olympic Committee gave each gold medal winner an oak sapling. The United States' athletes won 24 gold medals in the Berlin Games, and four of them belonged to Owens. Consequently, he received four oak saplings from the Germans. Saito is trying to track them down.

"One of Owens' trees towers over Rhodes High School in Cleveland, where he trained," writes Saito. "There is no plaque marking it, but track coach Tyrone Owens [a distant relative] says it has long been a source of pride."

The fates of the other three oak trees are less certain.

"Some say one died," Saito writes. "Another tree was said to be planted at the Cleveland home of Jesse Owens' mother, but it fell when the house came down in the 1960s."

What happened to the fourth tree? Owens, who died in 1980, said on camera in a 1966 documentary about his return to Berlin that one of the trees had been planted on All–American Row at Ohio State. Only one problem with that, Saito reports — there is no oak on All–American Row.

In fact, Saito writes, Ohio State has no record of Owens planting a tree on the campus. Considering the attention his participation in the Berlin Games received, you'd think there would at least be an article about such a planting in the OSU student newspaper.

Well, Owens may have been mostly right. Saito says there is an oak near OSU's library. "And arborists determined it is the same species, age and size as the famous oak in Cleveland," Saito writes.

But it is undocumented so now there is a great tree DNA hunt on that is intended to prove whether the oak near the library could be one of Owens' oaks.

Beyond all that, it is known that the 1936 Games were groundbreaking and had a lasting influence on media coverage of sports.

Television was still many years away from becoming fixtures in American homes, but the 1936 Olympics, nevertheless, were the first to be televised live. The coverage was extremely modest compared to what modern viewers associate with the Olympics, but, in 1936, more than 70 hours was provided to special viewing rooms in Berlin and Potsdam.

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Hitler's favorite filmmaker, Leni Riefenstahl, was chosen to document the Games. Known as a pioneer in filmmaking, Riefenstahl introduced many techniques that are standard in sports coverage today.

She was particularly known for the diving sequence in her film on the Olympic Games.

Riefenstahl, of course, is remembered for "Triumph of the Will," her documentary on the 1934 Nazi rallies in Nuremberg.

It was a groundbreaking work in what is remembered as an innovative filmmaking career. Shortly after her death in 2003, The Economist wrote that the film "sealed her reputation as the greatest female filmmaker of the 20th century."

That may have been true, but she was in her early 30s. She lived past the age of 100. That doesn't say much for her accomplishments in the last seven decades of her life, does it?

Some lives are like that, I guess. Some people enjoy their greatest accomplishments early in life. Perhaps Riefenstahl was one of them.

That certainly seems to be the case with Owens. He struggled a lot after the 1936 Olympics and died of lung cancer at the age of 66.