Suddenly it's 1986 for Buc fans all over again

If they keep putting South Carolina on ESPN to open the season the law of averages says they have to play an entertaining game one of these years, right? Last night wasn't the night, although they still won 7-3. Spurrier showed he's willing to play power football and lay off the passing if that's what it takes to win. At least there was clear physical potential there for them to grow and improve in the coming weeks. I can only imagine what the mood is in Oregon today - the Ducks looked awful under new coach Chip Kelly in losing to Boise. That was before their star running back decided to act like a street thug after the game.

There were a couple of below the radar suprises last night. Troy lost to Bowling Green 31-14. This is supposed to be the best Troy team ever, and I'm sure Urban Meyer's just thrilled that he'll need to convince his players not to look past an 0-1 team to Tennessee. Villanova beating Temple isn't surprising in basketball, but it wasn't supposed to happen on the football field. They were talking bowl in Philly this year - never mind. Here's a list of all 43 remaining games being broadcast somewhere this weekend from Awful Announcing.

While I still believe Tampa Bay made the right move by parting company with Jon Gruden, my hope was that they would replace him as head coach with someone competent. Yesterday it became alarmingly clear that they did not. Raheem Morris's decision to fire his offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski before he even coached a single game for the Bucs demonstrated that he was simply not ready for the job. Maybe Morris can grow into the job over the next two years, but his lack of understanding who he was hiring like this can not happen. This harkens back to Hugh Culverhouse firing Leeman Bennett live at a press conference after having told him he'd be retained. The Raiders wouldn't even do something this stupid.

I'm looking forward to getting down to Gainesville tomorrow to see UF's opener. Of course there's zero drama in the actual matchup, but I want to get a firsthand look at how some of the young receivers perform on a gameday since they may not have Carl Moore at all this year. The most interesting matchup to me this weekend is Georgia at Oklahoma State. The respective coaches performance in big games indicates the Bulldogs should have the upper hand. I've been quite unimpressed with the way Mike Gundy has handled the buildup to this game - he appears to be showing the stress that comes with expectations in a big way. If Joe Cox can play at a decent level of performance, I think Georgia gets it done. I'm taking Labor Day off, so I'll also note that I believe FSU will play well enough to win in what hopefully won't be another stinkfest between them and Miami. Have a good weekend and I'll see you back here on Tuesday.