Signing day has come and gone, but I am not done with my opinion about the entire spectacle of it all.  Quite honestly, I am not a fan of signing day and all the hype that it brings.

Yes, there should be hype and excitement about fans wanting their schools to get the top players.  However, it is getting a bit excessive.  These high school football players are already starting to be treated like superstars.

We have already seen what happens to a number of them once they get that big head and develop the big ego.

Here are a few examples:

Isiah Crowell, RB:
Attended the University of Georgia as a highly touted running back and was very effective his freshman year.  He announced he was going to UGA by bringing a bulldog puppy up and telling everyone he named it Uga, for obvious reasons.  Although very cute and creative, what was soon to follow Crowell was not.  It was just plain stupid. Crowell was arrested in June of 2012 on three weapons charges with two of them being felonies.  Crowell was dismissed from the team and now attends Alabama State University.

Asiantii Woulard, Dual Threat QB:
This is more recent, being this year.  Woulard is a high school standout as a dual threat quarterback and chose to attend UCLA, and for those of you who don’t know UCLA stands for the University of California, Los Angeles.  So when Woulard was speaking and decided on UCLA, he said he would be playing his college football at UCLA University.  Though this may not seem like much, as a fan or current member of the team, I would want the incoming recruit to at least say the name of the school correctly.  A similar situation occurred with the next player who also was the center of a certain tattoo scandal.

Terrelle Pryor, Dual Threat QB:
Pryor was one of the most highly rated players coming out of high school in recent history, and he certainly backed it up.  He had the ability to burn opposing teams with his feet and arms. However, during his announcement he said The University of Ohio State which clearly as we all know it is The Ohio State University.  Pryor made statements claiming it was a knock on Michigan and how he wanted to stir up the rivalry a little more, and as a Buckeye fan that is fine.  The real issue is the impression it left on other people which was just plain stupidity.  Many attribute that to him getting such a big ego because all of the attention was on him that he didn’t even care to say the name of the university correctly.  Pryor always had a big ego and it really came out when he decided he was able to get free tattoos in exchange for a number of items (we have all heard the story).  This clearly was a direct result of his cockiness and ego thinking he was better than others and bigger than the NCAA rules.

Wild Cards:

Alex Collins is a running back from Plantation Florida and on signing day his mother was not happy with his decision to choose Arkansas over near by University of Miami, so she simply took the papers and was on the run. Now, nobody knows what the fate of Collins will be as a running back in college, but he seemed to have made a decision for himself and left his mother out of it (by the sound of it, a good idea).  This story swept the country because it was signing day and created even more drama to the soap opera type of day.

Reuben Foster is a LB recruit heading to Alabama.  What is interesting is that he has a huge Auburn tattoo on his forearm.  He was committed to Auburn before de-committing, but not before getting inked up with the Auburn Tattoo.  This just adds to why signing day and this whole process is too much.

Let us also not forget the infamous OL Kevin Hart.  He called for a press conference and announced he was going to Cal without even having an offer!

Athletes transfer, things happen that are unforeseen, and there are a number of factors that go into choosing a school.  Signing day gives them these huge egos that in some cases will end up making a huge difference in their lives like Isiah Crowell and Terrelle Pryor, or just makes you look flat out stupid like Reuben Foster.

The signing day events should be toned down and the hype should be toned down in order to preserve the mindset of these athletes.

The Ohio State University Buckeyes sit uncomfortably with a record of 4-0.  Yes they are undefeated, but they have not played up to potential and expectations. Many think Braxton Miller is a Heisman Trophy candidate and even though it is hard to argue 14 touchdowns in 4 games he is not playing particularly well.

He is running the ball effectively, but he is making very poor decisions at the time of the snap.  He is really struggling to know when to hand it off and when to keep it on those option plays, and that is making it easy for opposing teams to defend.

His passing has been poor, even though sometimes he shows glimpses.  Miller has been bailed out by his receivers quite a few times and is not connecting on the easy passes he should be.

Yes, the Buckeyes have the Urban Meyer spread offense, but they cant forget the basics.  The Bucks are very solid at Running Back.  Carlos Hyde will return this week at Michigan State, and Jordan Hall is coming off of a 105 yard game with an average of 6.2 yards per carry.

Rod Smith is also showing promise and should remain a solid contributor for the remainder of the season.  The Wide Receivers for the Buckeyes are a question mark.  To Braxton Miller’s defense, the receivers are failing to get separation and are running poor routes.

The defense is solid.  They have given up some big plays this season but they have come up with many themselves.  The secondary is comparable to the Green Bay Packers as they are both high risk high reward in the sense that they attack the ball and go for interceptions.

The Buckeyes open up their Big Ten portion of the schedule Saturday at Michigan State.  They need to play much better on both sides of the ball in order to get the win and go to 5-0.  Braxton Miller needs to make much better decisions, and the receivers have to get open in order for him to get the ball downfield.

The defense will have quite a load to handle in Spartan RB Le’Veon Bell who has looked fantastic this season.  Michigan State is coming off of a win against Eastern Michigan, but the previous week they looked terrible against Notre Dame.

It remains to be seen how this game will play out, but one thing is known for sure, and that is the excitement that this game, and the remainder of the Big Ten season are bound to present.

This week most teams will be starting their inter-conference play at we will start our preview in the great state of California in the beautiful city of Palo Alto where the Stanford Cardinal will be welcome the number two team in the country in the Trojans of USC. On paper USC should be able to absolutely roll over the Cardinal, but as history shows us that is not always the case. USC better be on upset alert this weekend and better be at the top of their game. Stanford has beaten the Trojans the last four years and that includes in 2007 when Stanford was a 42 point underdog. Matt Barkley always brings his A game so I do not think that will be an issue I just hope Lane Kiffen utilizes Robert Woods and Marqise Lee, as im sure he will, at the appropriate time. When Stanford throws out their two deep safeties it will be time to call on Silas Redd.

It is time once again for the city of East Lansing to welcome the Irish of South Bend. This game usually goes one way one year and the other way the next. Lately, Michigan State had had the upper hand, but overall Notre Dame still leads the series 46-28-1. The Spartans have not allowed an offensive touchdown this season and are looking for their first 3-0 start for the first time in 10 years. Notre Dame Sophomore quarterback Everett Golson is averaging nearly 300 passing yards a game and he has been highly talked about by ESPN analysts Mel Kipper Jr. and Todd McShay. The Irish are a big underdog, mainly because they have such a young team, but I believe if they can start off getting on top early we may see another upset of a Big 10 school.

Over the past several years, other than the Urban Meyer and Lane Kiffen controversy, the Florida-Tennessee rivalry has not been that high profile of a game. This year both teams are ranked in the top 25 and are both labeled underdogs in the SEC. In the last eight years Florida has had the upper hand and it has always seemed that whenever the Volunteers were in the top 25 the Gators destroyed them and kicked them back out. Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray threw for 310 yards and four touchdowns last week against Georgia State and in week one he threw for over 200 yards and two more scores. In every average category this year so far Tennessee outplays Florida including rushing yards, passing yards, and points scored. This game should be close, but it will depend on which “average” defense shows up.

College Gameday will be in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Week 3 Predictions:

Alabama 52-25 Arkansas

USC 35-32 Stanford

Notre Dame 17-25 Michigan State

California 23-24 Ohio State

Florida 32-42 Tennessee

BYU 21-17 Utah

Week 2 recap:

Although week two of the young college football season may have seemed uneventful, there were some games that deserve recognition.

Everything went according to plan for the top 7 teams in the country as Alabama, USC, LSU, Oregon, Oklahoma, Florida State, and Georgia all cruised to victory.

The same can’t be said for #8 Arkansas who was upset by Louisiana-Monroe in overtime.  Louisiana-Monroe rallied back from a 21-7 deficit at halftime.  They also accumulated 550 total yards compared to Arkansas who only totaled 377 yards.

Michigan State kept the train rolling with a 41-7 win over Central Michigan. Le’Veon Bell didn’t go over 200 yards.  In fact he didn’t even go over 100 yards, but he did add 2 touchdowns to the beat down.

Tajh Boyd kept Clemson rolling as well as they took down Ball State down with ease in a 52-27 victory.  Boyd threw for 229 yards and 3 touchdowns keeping his case as a possible Heisman candidate in tact.

Wisconsin had a very disappointing road loss to Oregon State in what many thought should have been a fairly easy win.  Ohio State was less than impressive in their 31-16 victory of UCF even though Braxton Miller did have 3 rushing touchdowns along with a passing touchdown.

Virginia Tech looked like Virginia Tech in a 42-7 rout over Austin Peay and Texas destroyed New Mexico.  Arizona upset Oklahoma State a week after they put up 84 points.

Michigan upset fans again by squeaking by Air Force.  However, Denard Robinson threw for 208 yards and 2 touchdowns, and rushed for 218 yards and two touchdowns.  Kansas State put a beat down on Miami, 52-13 and Florida took down Texas A&M 20-17 in Texas A&M’s SEC debut.

Although, it wasn’t as exciting as week one, it was still an exciting weekend of football, and as week three comes along there should be quite a few good games that could shake up the national championship discussions.

Finally, the college football season is underway.   It was an exciting weekend as always with some great games and plays including, quite possibly, the catch of the year.

That catch of the year came from Ohio State’s Devin Smith who made a leaping and twisting one handed grab in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown.  The Buckeyes started off slow and looked like they were so anxious that they played uptight.  However, as soon as the second quarter came along the Buckeyes rolled.  Braxton Miller accounted for 368 of the Buckeyes 538 yards with 207 in the air and 161 on the ground along with three total touchdowns.

Fellow Big Ten school, Michigan State, barely got by Boise State and rode the back of Le’Veon Bell who rushed for 210 yards and two touchdowns and added six catches for 55 yards.

Sticking with the Big Ten, Michigan did not fare too well against the Crimson Tide of Alabama.  Michigan’s poor play was a big disappointment to many as they were expected to be very good this season. Denard Robinson was not only shut down by the Alabama defense, but he also played poorly by making some bad decisions.

However, Alabama rolled.  Their offensive line was dominant and opened up some major holes for their running backs to get through and out into space.  AJ McCarron controlled the game from the beginning and was mistake free.  The Alabama defense looked like they will have the best defense in the country, yet again.

Former number one in the polls, USC, took down Hawaii with ease but still lost their ranking to Alabama.  Heisman favorite Matt Barkley threw for 372 yards and 4 touchdowns including 2 to Robert Woods.  Marqise Lee added 10 catches for 197 yards and a touchdown as well.

Oklahoma did not play like fourth ranked team in the country as they looked bad against UTEP.  South Carolina squeaked by Vanderbilt.  Oregon was up huge at halftime and then stopped scoring and ended with a 57-34 victory over Arkansas State.

West Virginia took down Marshall 69-34 with Geno Smith accounting for 5 touchdowns.  LSU looked solid without the Honey Badger and Clemson took down Auburn behind Andre Ellington and his 228 rushing yards.  This weekend recap can’t go without mentioning the 84-0 victory Oklahoma State had over Savannah State. Finally, Virginia Tech defeated Georgia Tech by a field goal in overtime escaping another opening game loss.

This was a very exciting weekend of college football and the rest of the season should be no different.  Alabama should continue to roll, and USC should keep up the offense for the rest of the season, potentially creating a great matchup for the national title.