And So It Begins

As we are solidly in the middle of the first weekend of college football, I figure that there is no better time to unveil my pre-season All-American team. Although there are more than 11 offenseive and defensive players listed, the team is selected to account for the various offenses and defenses used around the country (trip receivers, spread, 3-4, 4-3, etc.). I chose to explain my picks in some instances, and not in others. Why? Because I am busy watching football. Now here are the Pepster Preseason All-Americans.

Offense

QB - Colt McCoy, Texas - Led his team in passing and rushing last year, and his completion percentage is off the charts.

RB - Jahvid Best, California; Jonathan Dwyer, Georgia Tech; Jazquizz Rodgers, Oregon State - Best might be the best player in the country, averaging over 8 yards per carry last year.

WR - Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State; Mardy Gilyard, Cincinnati; A.J. Green, Georgia - Gilyard is probably the best player nobody has ever heard of, and A.J. Green is the best sophomore receiver in the SEC, not Julio Jones.

TE - Jermaine Gresham, Oklahoma; Aaron Hernandez, Florida - Gresham came back instead of being a sure-fire first round draft pick last year and Florida's offensive hopes depend a lot more on Hernandez than people realize.

T - Trent Williams, Oklahoma; Ciron Black, LSU - Both big and strong, and keys to their respective offenses. Black is a fourth year starter. Williams is the only returning starter on the line for Oklahoma.

G - Sergio Render, Virginia Tech; Rodney Hudson, Florida State- Render is a mountain. Tech will need him to jump start their running game.

C - Maurkice Pouncey, Florida - Florida deserves multiple offensive All-Americans, especially since I did not select Jesus at the quarterback position. And frankly, I can't tell the Pouncey brothers apart.

Defense

DE - George Selvie, South Florida; Jan Jorgensen, Brigham Young - Just watch Selvie play and you will see why. Jorgensen is the conference career sack leader, in a conference that does a lot of passing. My apologies to Greg Hardy and Sergio Kindle.

DT - Terrence Cody, Alabama; Gerald McCoy, Oklahoma - Not only are they immovable objects in the middle of the line, they make plays as well behind it.

OLB - Sean Weatherspoon, Missouri; Eric Norwood, South Carolina - Norwood is a beast, while Weatherspoon just makes tackles.

ILB - Brandon Spikes, Florida; Joe Pawelek, Baylor - You know I watch too much football when I place a Baylor player on my preseason All-American team. I think Spikes is the best player on the Gators, but somehow this will be misinterpreted as a dig at Tebow.

Keep an eye on Sean Spence, Miami.

CB - Trevard Lindley, Kentucky; Janoris Jenkins, Florida - Jenkins is a phenomenal athlete, and Lindley has garnered votes for All-American each of the past two years.

S - Taylor Mays, USC; Eric Berry, Tennessee - The easiest position to select on the team.

Special Teams

K - Shane Popham, Wake Forest - Not that I think is particularly that good, just wanted to see if anybody actually paid attention to whom I selected at kicker, and he seems to have kicked 1,000 field goals against FSU.

P - Zoltan Mesko, Michigan - Simply because of his name.

R - Brandon James, Florida - If he sees a hole, he's thinking touchdown.

Forgive me for any typographical errors, I didn't feel like proofreading with games on the television. Stay tuned for my weekly college football updates.

The Ole College Try

This is your weekly wrap-up of the college football season, told from a couple of days distance simply to let some of the stories simmer a bit and to gain a bit of perspective. Although you may have a different take on the past weekend, I can only truly comment on games that I have seen, and I didn't see as many as I would have liked.

Heisman Watch

(Still) Favorite - Chase Daniel QB Missouri - 36-43 for 439 and 2 TD's. He keeps rolling. If he keeps this up in conference play, hand him the trophy.

Sleeper - Glen Coffee RB Alabama - 10 carries 162 yards and 2 TDs against Arkansas this week. He has well over a 8 yards per carry average this season (404 yards on 47 carries).

Rising - Knowshon Moreno RB Georgia - 149 yards on 23 carries after traveling across the country to play at Arizona State. But, more importantly, 9 TDs on the year. As we saw with Tim Tebow last year, that is how you gain votes.

Falling - Patrick Pinckney QB East Carolina - Not bad stats against North Carolina State, but for East Carolina to win any major awards or crash the BCS bowl games they needed to go undefeated, and that opportunity is now lost.

Statistical Favorite - Graham Harrell QB Texas Tech - 322 yards and 4 TDs against UMass, but more importantly 9 TDs in the last two games. It looks like his numbers are getting ready to take off, and having the best receiver in college doesn't hurt either.

Defensive Leader - Brandon Spikes LB Florida - He has had at least 10 tackles in every single game this year, including 10 against Tennessee. Trust me, this isn't a token mention just to appease those of you that think I hate Florida. Spikes is for real. He better be, I gave an Ole Miss alum 16 1/2 points for next week's game. Ruth's Chris - hear I come.

Player to Watch

Charles Scott. Jr. RB, LSU - He is averaging 9 yards a carry and has gained over 100 yards in each of his first 3 games this year, including 132 against a stout Auburn defense.

My New Favorite Player

Still "Boo" Jackson - QB Ohio University, until someone knocks the crap out of Tebow.

Predicted BCS Championship Game Matchup

Still USC v. Oklahoma. No reason to change this now.

Rant(s) of the Week

1. Nothing really to rant about this week involving the games, so let's just say if you are going to be a fan cheering for a team, please at least know what in the hell you are talking about.

Congratulations of the Week

To Wake Forest - for beating Florida State for the 3rd time in a row, including last week in Tallahassee.

And more importantly - to SYRACUSE for actually winning, even if it was 30-21 over Northwestern

Underperformance of the Week

Northwestern - see above.

Trivia Question of the Week

John Parker Wilson of Alabama recently set school records for both TDs and total offense. Which former Tide player(s)' records did he break for each category. Answers next week.

Last Weeks Answer

Troy Edwards, Louisiana Tech has the most TD receptions in Division I history with 50

Matchup(s) to Watch

1. Alabama v. Georgia - Back to back huge conference games for Georgia, plus it is the only battle of the weekend pitting two top 10 teams against each other. This should be a great one.

2. Illinois v. Penn State - Can one or both of these teams capitalize on the suckiness that is Ohio State and the rest of the Big 10, and if so, which one? Let the Juice loose and see if the Nittany Lions can contain him.

3. Syracuse v. Pittsburgh - Can Syracuse make it two in a row? Can Dave Wannstadt learn to coach? The answers to all these, and more coming this week.