Last year's biggest story of the college football season, assuming you don't count the meteoric rise of Tim Tebow from mere mortal to deity-like spring break philanthropic, was the first weekend upset of Michigan by Appalachian State University.

For those of us near ASU -- I was kicking it up there last weekend in fact -- it wasn't that big of a surprise. Okay, I'm lying. But we'd seen the Mountaineers dominate whatever the hell they're calling that lower division now for a few years, so it was at least somewhat plausible. Plus, Michigan looked way-hay past them.

This year though, um, not so much. LSU had to move the schedule for the game to 11:00 a.m. in anticipation of the evil storm Gustaff bearing down on the Louisiana coast, and there were reportedly "only" 70,000 or so fans (down from 90k normally) there to see the team play.

Well, I suppose some could already be tailgating and some might be ready to go at 6 or 7 a.m. It will take true dedication, though, with what will be a 10 am start time.

The approach of Hurricane Gustav has prompted Louisiana State University to move up the kickoff for tomorrow's season-opening football game against Appalachian State to 10 a.m., a university spokesman said Friday.

"Public safety concerns override game-day concerns," said Charles Zewe, chief spokesman for the LSU System, adding that the decision was made after consultation with the governor's office and state officials who are coordinating the state's response.

All the pre-game festivities, including the honoring of the BCS Championship team of last season.

Part of the reason for the earlier start time is because the state police that provide much of the security and manpower at and around Tiger Stadium. They have a strong likelihood of being called to help in other parts of the state when Gustav touches down.

While the weather in Baton Rouge is expected to be clear, with a hurricane or tropical storm things can change quickly. There is still the risk of needing to evacuate areas. The earlier start time gives people a chance. Not to mention, reduces the number of people getting too loaded before the game when there is the risk of a statewide natural disaster.

He can't click his ruby red slippers together three times and wish himself back at LSU. However, after a trio of disciplinary incidents, he finds himself wearing a ruby red Jacksonville State uniform. Just our luck, his Gamecocks were on Thursday night's undercard against Georgia Tech.

Perilloux started but didn't achieve much against Tech, tossing two interceptions as his team was routed 41-14. For the night he did throw a pair of garbage time touchdowns, but averaged a mere 3.7 yards/attempt in going 22/37 for 136 yards. He also led the Gamecocks in rushing, reaching 67 yards on 18 carries (3.7 average). Ho hum.

On the opposite side of the field, Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson late of Navy made his debut, taking his crazy run attack with him to Atlanta. The Yellowjackets were impressive against the lower division defense in totaling 349 rush yards and 7.6 yards/attempt. Not bad, now let's see you try that against a D-I defense fellas.

Start your work week off right with Monday Morning Coffee, where Fanhouse scours YouTube for the finest college football footage available. Either that or we give up after a couple minutes and just post the "I Like Turtles" kid.

Our long national nightmare is almost over, friends. Football begins this week. And yes, Week 1 is usually full of cupcakes, MACrifices, and the dreaded I-A/I-AA matchups. Either you win by 50 and the status quo remains the same, you only win by a handful and the panic sets in early, or ALL LIVING HELL BREAKS LOOSE.



When Appalachian State isn't saving boaters' lives or dropping incredible Gladiator references on a stunned Ann Arbor Crowd, they're out there taking on the college football universe with a limitless, unwavering drive. And really, after taking out Michigan, they had almost no choice but to bring on LSU; after all, what else are they going to say? "Today, Michigan! Tomorrow... North Texas!"? It doesn't really fly.

Cheers to you, Mountaineers. If you bring in 2008 at all like you did 2007, we are all in for another year of sweet, glorious anarchy.

Caught this on this afternoon's College Football Live. Unfortunately nobody seems to have the video up yet. What I would recommend is visiting this link here, and downloading the elusive commercial to your computer and watching it. We'll add it here if we find it.

The teaser intro from anchor John Anderson: "Sometimes it's not easy to find good talent for Sportscenter, which is why we brought in Les to help with recruiting".

In the absence of actual video, we present to you this amusing parody of Miles' press conference to debunk rumors of his having accepted the Michigan job last year.

There always are, of course. The trick is figuring out who is the obvious flop. Pregame.com looked at the ESPN Coaches Poll and flagged five worthies.

1)LSU (#6)
2)Clemson (#9)
3)Texas (#10)
4)Wisconsin (#12)
5)Illinois (#19)

I'll quibble about LSU, but otherwise these are some great choices. The further Texas gets from the Vince Young years, the more it looks like Mack Brown has taken the program to a solid but uninspiring place. They've got talent everywhere and a veteran quarterback and some nice runners, but nothing screams "look out for these guys". Particularly in a loaded Big 12, this is a classic "I've seen how this movie ends" team. They'll be in the top 25 at the end of the year, maybe even sneak into the top 10, but leave you scratching your head about how they got there, and also why they weren't a bit better.

Clemson's the screaming red alarm of the bunch. They're a bit like Georgia, in that they play well out of the spotlight and have some really good athletes and are managed reasonably well, but shrink when the burden of national expectation arrives. Clemson just happens to shrink more spectacularly than Georgia when it does happen.

The Tigers have a superstar freshman in DaQuan Bowers along with a host of offensive stars, but they'll almost assuredly do something to eliminate themselves from contention this year. It's what they do best.

Give us some feedback, who else is overrated? Or, defend yourself from Pregame.com's mockery if you're a Badger or Fighting Illini fan.

There's something jarring about calling the defending national champions a "wildcard" in their own conference, but such is SEC life. Then again, it's plain hard to repeat in college football, as only USC and Nebraska have managed the feat since the 1990's.

We must also remind you that although LSU trounced Ohio State in last year's title game, they did lose two games (both in overtime) and could just as easily have lost the home matchup against Florida. LSU is always good, but there's never been a time in recent memory where they've been The dominant team in college football. Maybe that changes this year?

Another thing there's no shortage of in the SEC is hype. Unbelievable, pervasive, deafening hype.

That's what makes it so difficult to choose anything of consequence in the SEC that will be significantly better than its pre-season billing. After all, can you imagine if Georgia, Florida, or LSU turn out to be markedly better than the pundits are saying?

Combine the hype with some teams destined for some certifiably terrible years it puts a guy like me -- charged with identifying not just one, but five underrated things in the SEC -- in a bit of a sticky situation. I'd really just love to write: "There's not one single thing in the SEC that could possibly be underrated." But, alas, I'm pretty sure that's not allowed, so I spent the afternoon throwing darts at depth charts (with apologies to Coach Saban) to try to find some things to put on the list that follows the jump...

As the football season approaches, true fans endeavor to spend their time gobbling up every morsel of information available. While we're all ready to see what unfolds when the season opens in a few weeks, it's worth taking a look back to the season that was and remembering some of the highs and lows for SEC football.

While we're currently separated from the 2007 campaign by a whole mess of off-season goings on and shenanigans, it's hard to forget the multiple Croomings, yet another MNC for the SEC, Mississippi's drop from really bad to absolutely terrible, or Tebow's Heisman season.

Let's take a look at the superlatives from the 2007 season:

We've gathered some of FanHouse's finest sportsblogging minds in an effort to get a better grip on how the SEC will shake out this year. Mssrs. Pete Holiday, Andy Katzer, and Yours Truly represent the Southeastern conference, and we've also brough in non-southern fried free thinkers Adam Jacobi, Bruce Ciskie and John Radcliff. Together, we've ranked the SEC West.

Talent reigns in the SEC, but questions haunt the West. Questions like: who'll step up at QB for Auburn and LSU? Can Nick Saban take his #1-ranked recruiting class and make an impact in his second year at Alabama? What about Bobby Petrino and Houston Nutt's do-sa-do in Arkansas in Mississippi?

#6: Arkansas - Average rank: 5.5

Petrino's an offensive wizard, but he's building his passing attack around Casey Dick, who suffered mightily in conference play last year. John Radcliff: "The people of Arkansas probably don't deserve this, but Bobby Petrino does. And I'm going to enjoy ever last second of it!"

#5: Mississippi State - Average rank: 4.83

Several of our bloggers thought highly enough to place Mississippi State at 4th, which in an odd way is a testament to head coach Sly Croom. Andy Katzer: "The Bulldogs' bowl appearance last year either shows huge strides by Croom & co., or proves that there are wayyy too many bowl games. It'll be interesting to see if MSU continues improving their improvement. Or something."