Name of the Game...

Survival. That's the best you can hope for this year. Meanwhile, inflated and/or outrageous expectations seem to be the theme for the year. How many times have you heard these lines over the course of this season thus far - "BYU has a real chance to crash the national championship party"; "Florida will get even with Tennessee and win by 30+"; "Texas will exact it's revenge on Texas Tech"; "This could be the year of the mid major". I think it would be in all of our best interest (us being the true CFB faithful) if we take a minute and reset our expectations.

Here are my thoughts, observations and pontifications from week 3 in the college game..

• Anyone else waiting for some team, any team, to REALLY show us something impressive? I sure am.
  
• You know how I feel about rankings in general this early in the year, but if there's one team whom I think deserves to be ranked in the top spot it's probably Alabama. Of the so-called top tier teams (and top 5), they're the only one with a truly meaningful win (over VaTech).
• USC - told you so... I know this is par for the course for these guys (they've done this now 6 times in the last 8 years), but this USC team is nowhere near as good as past teams. Not even close. Take McKnight off that team and they are middle of the pack team.
  
• I hate to say this Texas fans, but this team has a loss coming. I'm not sure when it will be - OU, OSU, Kansas, Aggies? I'm not sure, but my gut tells me this team ain't going through the year unscathed. I'll say this again - Colt is trying way too hard and it just seems like his head is getting in the way on a lot of plays. Waaaay too many turnovers thus far for the year. He still ended up throwing for something like 70%, but stop turning the damn ball over.
  
• Here's why I insist there's a loss coming: special teams coverage has not improved in, oh, about 6 years; although we would all agree that Tre Newton gives us hope at RB, the Horns continue to lack a true, power run game; Colt can't go 15 pass attempts without throwing a pick; our offensive line is struggling - this was supposed to be core strength. Look, I'm not coming down on Texas like they suck - they don't, but they are absolutely vulnerable to a loss by damn near anyone....but not UTEP.
  
• Alight Aggie faithful - Here's my take on the game (caveat: reading recap/looking at stats): Uhhhhh, I guess it was good because you were at home and you won, but sheesh - sounds like it could have been even closer than it was, but you were able to force a couple of big turnovers (I'm assuming you forced them and it wasn't just someone dropping a ball). Sounds like there's a lot of good mojo being developed between Jerrod Johnson and Uzoma Nwachukwu, but the loss of Fuller is going to hurt. Something to think about Aggie fan - you won the turnover battle 2-0 which is ALWAYS good, and it sounds like you *needed* to win that battle. I would say that one concern you likely have is the defensive performance. You put up a whopping 573 of offense which is really something, but you gave up 521....to Utah State. They also got 31 first downs to your 30. One good stat though is the 3rd down conversion, holding the Aggies (the Utah State ones) to 28%. That always helps. All in all, and much like most teams in the country, I think it's fair to say that the Aggies are looking fairly impressive and seem to be really have some offensive weapons. UAB should be another good warm up game so to speak, but you still get Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Texas and travel to Tech and Oklahoma. Very much looking forward to seeing the Arkansas game in a couple of weeks.
  
• I have absolutely no idea what to think about this Florida State team. No idea at all.
  
• Game of the week next week: Miami at Virginia Tech. Let's take a quick look at Miami's first four games this year - at Florida State, Georgia Tech, at Virginia Tech, OU at home. Who in the world thought that they'd be looking at 2-0 heading into Blacksburg next Saturday? I imagine with some of Saturday's losses, Miami may be starring down a top 10 ranking this week. After watching their defensive speed, I have a hard time seeing Virginia Tech or Oklahoma putting up a whole lot of points. Who knows, but I like Miami's chances to be a big surprise team so to speak - after that run, their schedule gets MUCH lighter with the most notable road game coming in Chapel Hill in mid November.
  
• Speaking of Virginia Tech, tough win over Nebraska on Saturday. What can you say, Tyrod Taylor made some huge plays (another reason I'm reeeeeaaaally looking forward to Miami game next week) when it counted the most. Tough lost for the Huskers and definitely a hard-fought game. It's tough when your QB tosses 2 INTs without any TDs. Nebraska had more yards and more first downs - that's a lot of positive material to take away.
  
• In most instances, I hate to say that teams should "feel good" about a loss, but if there's anyone who should it's Tennessee and Nebraska.
  
• If you must rank your heisman hopefuls this early - it's a two-man race. Jahvid Best and Joe McKnight.
  
• And here come the Auburn Tigers. What a turnaround the Auburn defense had after the first quarter. The Mountaineers put up a truck load of yards as they always do, but 4 INTs is not going to get it done. Auburn just may be for real folks.
  
• Notre Dame's superstar wide receiver Michael Floyd looks like he may be out for the year - or at least for a long time. That is a huge blow to that offense.
• Tell me which sophomore starter YOU would rather have right now: Terrell Pryor of Ohio State or Jacory Harris of Miami?
  

NFL Notes:

• I'm not sure who's been the most consistently overrated QB in the league the last couple of years - Jay Cutler or Tony Romo.
  
• FANTASY UPDATE: Santonio Holmes absolutely broke my heart like 6 times on Sunday....just days after I dumped a very good receiver to pick him up. Ugh. Unless Manning throws for like 400 yards and 5 TDs tonight, looks like I'll be 2-0 so I'll take that. Larry Fitzgerald is absolutely killing me.
  
• New England's next two opponents are the Falcons and Ravens (I think) - where in the world is Belichick going to find a defense for those games?
  
• I know we're only 1/8th through the year, but is there a more stealth 2-0 team than the Falcons? Just one - the Niners.
  
• Here are a few things that I find shocking: The Cowboys run game shredded the Giants on Sunday night. I know they have a solid running game, but the Giants front seven is sick. Another thing that was shocking - the Cowboys have not sacked anyone this year and have not forced any turnovers. I heard an announcer allude to that early in the second half and I'm pretty sure they didn't get any after that last night. I found that astonishing.
  
• And that's why they paid Eli Manning all that money.
  
• Longhorn Watch: Cedric Benson (in case you didn't know, he's on the Bengals now) went through Green Bay's defense like sh*t through a goose on Sunday. In Green Bay. Lord, these guys were my Super Bowl pick.
  
• You think Al Davis regrets cutting Jeff Garcia? JaMarcus Russell is beyond terrible. He cannot play quarterback in this league. Period. He's too dumb.
  
• I'm not sure who's going to stop the Saints this year - sure as hell won't be anyone in their division. This could be *their* year.
  
• This Crabtree business just keeps getting better and better. I hope someone (the league, agents, anyone) is documenting this and turning it into a series for college kids heading into the draft. The title should be, "Trust me. You're stupid. Just do what I say".
  
• They have to get more consistency out of Washington, but the Jets are pretty good...pretty good indeed. Now we all know why Pete Carroll wanted Sanchez to come back so badly.
  
• What in the world happened to the Titans defense? Believe it or not they are 0-2. This just doesn't look like the same team we saw last year. It can't ALL be the loss of Haynesworth, can it?
  
• I'm saying it again - maybe for the 3rd time, but I still say Denver sneaks up and into the playoffs. 2-0...I'm just saying.
  
• Just when I prepare to write off Kurt Warner last week, he promptly goes out and breaks the single-game record for pass efficiency. Let me be clear - he owns the *league* record. 92.3 completion percentage. Unreal.
  
• Longhorn Watch II: Sticking with the Bengals, Quan Cosby (yeah, that one) is returning punts for Cincy and evidently doing it pretty well. Returned 5 on Sunday for an average of 22 yards per. Not a bad way to make a living.
  
• How f'ng bad does the loss of Troy Polamalu hurt the Steelers? They are a completely different team without him on the field - the secondary looks like they have no idea what they are doing. His loss alone (I firmly believe) cost them that game on Sunday in Chicago and I suspect may cost them another one before he returns.
  
• I'm taking the Dolphins tonight, in a tight game. Miami 27 and Indy 21

Non-Sports Thoughts for the Week:

• If you are over the age of 45 and currently active on the World Wide Web, and specifically, facebook, this message is for you. First and foremost, when someone you know forwards an email with any sort of message/stats/warnings/contests/rumors, the likelihood of it being inaccurate is MUCH higher than the likelihood of it being accurate. Stop regurgitating it as it's the Gospel. Second, Facebook is not an email program, stop treating it as such. And finally, when you TYPE YOUR MESSAGES IN ALL CAPS, IT GIVES THE IMPRESSION YOU ARE SCREAMING. Please stop doing that. If you didn't notice that all caps were on, or you have no idea how it happened or how to turn the caps off, then it's time to step away from the computer.
  
• I hope to publish an op-ed piece soon by investigative journalist and renowned global warming expert, Weston Butler. We're just working out the details....
• And just when you thought my disdain and disgust for politicians couldn't get any worse - I recently read a quote by a prominent republican member of one of the 10,000 committees when he said, "on healthcare, we're in agreement on about 80% there on getting a bipartisan bill, but it's the last 20% that's causing the issues". You f'ng mean to tell me that you're 80% in agreement and this bullsh*t behavior we've seen is over roughly 1/5 of the details. You are ALL fired.
  
• Caught some of the Emmys last night (is there anything more boring than an awards show these days?) and I know this is common in Emmys/Oscars, but every damn category has the exact same 5-7 movies/shows being nominated. You mean to tell me we can't cut this down by about 2 hours if this is going to continue to be the case?
  
• I'm not playing another round of golf without taking a lesson - my game has gone somewhere and I have no idea where it went. I literally have no clue what I'm doing when I address each shot - I just get lucky on about every 5th or 7th shot. Maddening.
• I'm officially adding Cuatros to my list of banned places to watch sports - the only other member on that list is the Tavern. There may not be a restaurant/bar in town that is more poorly managed than Cuatros.
  

That's what I got gang - as always, I'll be back on Friday with a weekend preview.