During the NCAA basketball tournament or College World Series -- or, heaven forbid, opening day in Major League Baseball -- I always get a kick out of it when folks call it the best time of the sports year.
No.
This, folks, is the best time of year. And it ain't even close.
Welcome back, college football. Gonna be a fun ride. Always is.
A few thoughts from opening day:
-- Tremendous effort by Connor Shaw, fighting off excruciating pain to help lead his team to a hard-fought win at Vanderbilt. There are questions about this kid's ability to make pressure throws from the pocket. There are questions about his durability over the course of a season (more on that in a moment). But there should be no questions about his toughness and commitment, and that goes a long way with teammates. He seems to be everything Stephen Garcia wasn't in that category.
-- The obvious positive to running the zone-read stuff with Shaw and Marcus Lattimore is that defenses have to honor both as running threats. Shaw is the jitterbug type, and he's capable of picking up large chunks if you focus too much on Lattimore.
The negative to this is Shaw's exposure to injury. Think of past SEC teams that have made the zone-read thing a staple, and most have done it with big, physical quarterbacks who could take a pounding. Garcia was one of those -- essentially a fullback who could lower his shoulder and plow linebackers and safeties. Shaw is not one of those, and he's going to take a lot of shots.
-- Looks like South Carolina's offensive line has a long way to go, particularly at left tackle. Brandon Shell was beaten repeatedly before getting benched in the second half. When you're having to replace your starting left tackle with your starting right tackle in the middle of an opener, there has to be concern there. And Vanderbilt was getting regular penetration with a four-man rush.
-- Jadeveon Clowney is a man among babies. And there were a lot of babies trying to block him. He toyed with them in the first half, doing just about everything he wanted.
Sammy Watkins and Jadeveon Clowney might be exhibits A and B for college players being NFL-ready as freshmen and sophomores.
And South Carolina's defensive line as a whole looks darned stoudt even without Melvin Ingram and Travian Robertson.
-- Lattimore looked good to me, but I agree with David Pollack that the presence of a bulky knee brace creates some doubts.
-- Alshon Jeffery was a tremendous weapon, even last year when he seemed overweight and out of shape. His size and playmaking ability downfield made it imperative for defenses to devote extra attention to him, and his biggest strength -- lunging and ripping down passes that were thrown in his general vicinity -- made life so much easier on his quarterbacks. They don't have that option anymore, and it hurts them.
-- A little surprised South Carolina didn't do more to get Bruce Ellington involved.
-- Big fan of James Franklin, and looking forward to the day that he presides over a program with maximum resources. But it looked like Vandy got a bit too cute with its play-calling at times, particularly the throwback pass that resulted in an interception when the 'Dores were poised to score in the first quarter.
-- Player South Carolina's defense misses most from last season: Antonio Allen.
-- Pretty good first run by Pollack. Anyone is better than Craig James, and Pollack is knowledgeable. But a major point deduction for saying "peel their ears back" at one point last night.
-- We knew Mike Leach had a tough task at Washington State, but raise your hand if you thought his team would go without a touchdown last night at BYU.
That had happened just twice in his 10 years as a head coach before last night.
-- Our Rivals friends in Auburn present an optimistic view and pessimistic view of Saturday and beyond.
Some of the former:
The defensive front: Defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder has established an entirely new paradigm along the line of scrimmage and it has nothing to do with allowing opponents to dictate tempo.
Auburn will aim to dictate tempo by challenging the offense at every turn. There will be blitzes, sure, but opponents will be feeling heat most of the time regardless. VanGorder will play the guys who get up the field and undermine the opponent's plan.
If that happens with any semblance of consistency, the Tigers will surprise people this season. A proper pass rush, not one that begins and ends with Corey Lemonier, will lower rushing yards allowed and will help the secondary cut pass yards allowed by a significant margin.
The depth is there. The strength is there. The belief is there. The numbers will be there, too.
Some of the latter:
Scot Loeffler will be learning on the fly. Prior to landing a job at Auburn earlier this year, Loeffler had less than one full season of experience as a coordinator.
It was at Temple, where he had a dominating back named Bernard Pierce. The junior rushed for 1,481 yards, 27 touchdowns and parlayed that performance into an NFL contract worth $2.65 million.
Loeffler knew he had a star in Pierce, knew he lacked front-line talent at quarterback and didn't overthink anything. Temple ran the ball 77 percent of the time and went 9-4.
It was a great season.
Loeffler has experience in the NFL (one season as a quarterbacks coach with the Detroit Lions) and worked closely with Tim Tebow at Florida, so it's not like he's a newcomer to the world of coaching. The more pressing issue is that he hasn't been a play-caller for very long and it's reasonable to assume that he's going to make mistakes along the way - particularly during his first month in that role.
It's easy to simulate situations in an office. Making adjustments on the fly in a crowded stadium with every player hanging on your words presents a far more challenging obstacle.
The truth is that nobody knows if Loeffler has what it takes to be a cunning strategist. At this point, he's a quarterback guru with the aptitude, experience and confidence to become a sharp play-caller.
-- Special thanks to the folks at the Cherokee, Anderson and Columbia Clemson clubs. Did speaking engagements at all three this week, and a lot of good folks at each stop. Flattering to see how many people out there are loyal, longtime subscribers to TI. Thank you all for the support, and hope I didn't put anyone to sleep.
LW
