By Cabrone Brewer

College football’s kickoff weekend is never without its surprises on the field, but this season most of the opening day mischief came from the clouds above. Michigan and West Virginia had their victories cut short in the rain, while games at Notre Dame, Iowa and Tennessee all had serious delays due to severe weather near the stadiums.

And a media storm has begun to surface over Oklahoma and Texas as rumors place both programs looking at a move to the infant Pac-12.

Two of the weekend’s biggest surprises, however, came from the north Texas region. In a Friday night opening battle, defending Rose Bowl Champ TCU scored 25 points in the fourth quarter, but that wasn’t enough to keep Baylor from their first win over a ranked opponent since 2004, as kicker Aaron Jones booted a 37-yard field goal with 1:04 left to give BU a 50-48 edge over the #14 Horned Frogs. Bears’ quarterback Robert Griffin III threw for a career-high five TD passes.

From the new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, a game that many thought would go down to the wire, turned into a rout. Turnovers and inexperience at several positions put third-ranked Oregon in the hole as fourth-ranked LSU kept the pressure coming to catch the Ducks’ off-guard 40-27. It was the first season opening game of two top-five teams on a neutral field since 1984 and the 34th consecutive nonconference game won by the Tigers — the longest nonconference-winning streak in the nation.

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With the college football season set to kick off tonight, I’m going to take a look at the three biggest story lines for this weekends’ games. This will be a weekly feature, so be sure to check back each week!

1. My kingdom for a Tarheel

Twenty-first ranked North Carolina heads into their match-up against #18 LSU with major issues. Thanks to an ongoing NCAA investigation, UNC, a team with one of the best defenses in the country, will be without standout defensive tackle Marvin Austin for their season-opener. Other players could be held out of the game as well. This is a major distraction for a team that could have won the ACC. Read the rest of this entry »

Even though college football is months away, it’s never too early to discuss the Heisman Trophy. Vegas NCAA football odds makers have released a list of 26 candidates for college football’s top honor, and Alabama running back Mark Ingram, last year’s winner, is the favorite.

You can find the full list here. And here are my thoughts:

Tyrelle Pryor at number two seems way high on the list. Yes, he finally seemed to hit all of his potential in the Rose Bowl, and maybe Jim Tressel has finally figured out a way to utilize Pryor’s amazing potential.

But consider that Pryor was ranked 62nd in the country’s quarterback rating last season, and 85th in completion percentage. Or the fact that he had as many games (four) with under 100 yards passing as he did games with over 200. Read the rest of this entry »

The college football realignment dance continued today, with Boise State University announcing it will join the Mountain West Conference, leaving their former home in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).

This move makes sense on a number of levels. From a purely football standpoint, the Mountain West Conference (MWC) adds a major power in Boise State, which has compiled a 49-4 record over the last four years and has won a pair of Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl games.

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