CU DOES win

I don't often get to sit down and watch Colorado play as a fan, because my Saturdays are generally pretty occupied. Last night was a lot of fun, both because CU won and because I was amazed at what was happening. Bill Stewart as head coach was a bizarre hire when WVU made it, and it looks even worse now. That was the worst clock management by a coach I may have ever seen, Zook included.

This is a big weekend ahead, for a lot of reasons. UF should take care of business in Knoxville, but if Tennessee can run things get interesting. Between that, LSU-Auburn, Wake-FSU, Georgia-Az State, even games like Vandy-Ole Miss are interesting this weekend. It's the best SEC schedule for a single week I can remember. The only game no one gives a crap about is Wofford-South Carolina, which of course is the game I would normally be covering. I won't be, though, because I'm heading home to deal with a family situation. It will feel much more appropriate to be in Tampa for UF-UT than it would have to be siting in the press box for the Gamecocks and Wofford.

How bad are the concerns about the economy, gas prices and so forth getting? Bad enough that some people think the NCAA may look to reduce the size of the March Madness field or limit the amount of distance teams can travel as they design the field. I don't think it will go anywhere near that extreme - that's the NCAA cash cow, they can't mess with it too much. Meanwhile, the media continues its laserbeam focus on the important issues - a survey shows more people would like to watch football with Barack Obama than John McCain. Great - just great.

Your life is probably more interesting than mine, so you likely weren't home on Saturday night watching the second half of Wisconsin and Fresno State last week. I had nothing riding on the game - hadn't picked it on air, don't play in a pool and don't root for or against either team. As a neutral party, I was amazed at the instant replay ref overturning a call on the field that certainly appeared correct to me. At minimum there was no evidence to make a change of the original call. It was just bizarre. Turns out I was right - the guy upstairs screwed up a correct call. This can't happen. They have got to stop putting officials upstairs who don't know how to use the technology or understand the job. People need to be trained specifically to be replay officials because it's a job with a different skill set than the one the guys on the field need. You don't guess - evidence is either clearly there, or it's not. Too many officials who've been sent upstairs think their job is to make a call even if they don't really know for sure, because that's what has to happen on the field.

Gut feelings about the weekend's games: Wake beats FSU, UGA cruises past ASU, and UCF surprises BC. Tampa Bay beats the Bears, Jags and Dolphins fall to 0-3. Have a good weekend - I'll be flying Monday so there may not be a blog that day but check in and see.