Pass or Fail-Week 1

Before I get into this week's Pass or Fail, I wanted to point out my newest endeavor: Lexycasting.

The idea behind Lexycasting is having someone reporting on a program with a 2-3 minute broadcast that can be contacted via your cell phone.

Each week, I will have a post up after reviewing the previous week's game early in the week, any mid-week news, a 2-minute drill prep post for Saturday's game, and then at least a post game post, if not some at half or during the game.

Want to know how to access it? It's simple. Just dial 1-888-622-2413 and just follow along to listen to the post.

Now, on to what this post is really about, and that's the first week in college football.

After one week, it should be quite obvious who gets the Epic Fail of the week, but what about the other fails and passes after a long weekend of college football?

Head of the Class: Notre Dame and Michigan create a match-up worth watching. I was very skeptical this past week about how Notre Dame and Michigan would perform after Rich Rodriguez's lawsuits and Charlie Weis' billboards, but both teams stepped it up and showed out. Notre Dame jumped on Nevada early and then pounded 21 points on the scoreboard in the 2nd quarter to cruise past the Wolfpack 35-0. Michigan did the same to Western Michigan, in what I had figured to be a close game, and disposed of the Broncos 31-7. Now, the two teams meet in Ann Arbor this week in what has become must see TV the way both teams performed in week one.

Pass: Daryll Clark goes off. If anyone was looking for a potential Heisman candidate at the QB position to take Sam Bradford's place, Daryll Clark made a great case against Akron on Saturday. Clark threw for 353 yards on 29 of 40 passing, all career highs, and connected for three touchdowns as the Nittany Lions rolled 31-7 over the Zips. Clark should not face a QB at his level all season, even Terrelle Pryor from Ohio State. The biggest issue for Penn State this year is playing for twelve consecutive weeks and having the final two off as other teams continue to play and improve their strength of schedule.

Fail: Navy blows it. Ohio State is one of those teams that can get caught looking ahead sometimes. Last season before playing USC, the Buckeyes struggled against Ohio before heading to the west coast to get walloped. This year, the Midshipmen brought their triple-option to Columbus and decided to wreck havoc on Scarlet and Gray. Navy had pulled within two points after a touchdown with 2:23 brought up the necessity to go for two. The Middies decided to pass on the play, and Ohio State LB Brian Rolle intercepted the attempt and ran it all the way back to give OSU two points and double the lead which they would hold on to. Navy was in shock after potentially having the chance to start the season off right, but couldn't make the plays when it counts.

Pass: Florida State and Miami turn back the clock. The question everyone was asking after this game was if both of these teams are finally back. The jury is still out on that, but the game between Miami and Florida State in Tallahassee Monday night was one for the ages. Not only did this game include questionable quarterbacks shining when it counted, but it also had one of the greatest endings in the series history. In usual fashion, FSU ended up on the losing end of an epic finish, but both teams showed great improvement, it seemed, from last year's debacle of an ACC season.

Fail: Those other 10 ACC teams face plant week one. Speaking of the ACC, FSU/Miami did a lot to save face for the conference after their Thursday and Saturday debuts. Thursday night, NC State managed to drop any ball worth a damn in their 7-3 loss to South Carolina. The weekend saw two losses to FCS teams (Virginia to William and Mary, Duke to Richmond), Wake lost to Baylor at home, and that was followed with two Saturday night losses on national television (Virginia Tech to Alabama, Maryland to Cal) in which both of the ACC teams looked overwhelmed for most of the game. Many analysts still believe that the Big East is the bottom of the barrel when it comes to BCS conference, but the ACC may deserve a look this season. The one saving grace may be the battle between Georgia Tech and North Carolina for the Coastal division title, and even that won't be enough to garner national attention and exposure.

Pass: Hello, my name is Joe Webb. If you don't know who Joe Webb is, it is about time you started to take notice. Webb is the starting QB for the UAB Blazers and will be the only reason why they may have a shot at a bowl this season. The Blazers have won only nine games over the past three seasons, but Webb may be the answer to their struggles. Here is what his first half against Rice looked like: scoring run of 15 yards, scoring run of 71 yards, touchdown pass of nine yards, touchdown pass of 22 yards. Webb finished the game with 194 rushing yards on 20 carries and 221 passing yards going 12 for 15. In other words, UAB had 516 total yards in the game, Webb accounted for 415 of them.

Fail: Lane Kiffin becomes the Mike Shula of UT football in one game. The Vols managed not only to beat Western Kentucky, but dismantled them and any dreams they had of enjoying their trip to Knoxville. Sure, Tennessee was going to win this game anyways, but for some reason, points 50-56 were aided by the arm of none other than starting QB Jonathan Crompton. The new starting QB for the Big Orange finished with five touchdown passes because he was still in the game with ten minutes left on the clock. Apparently the Village Idiot does not realize that another deer in headlights has done this before with bad results. You all remember Mike Shula's win over Florida in 2005 and Western Carolina in 2004 when the largest component of Alabama's offense went down for the season in those games. Now, I am not hoping this happens to Tennessee, nor do I expect them to get up by that much again this season, but it should be put in Kiffin's ear that bad things do happen to stupid people.

Epic Fail: This Blount actually does the hitting. Last Thursday morning, no one outside of Eugene, Oregon really knew who LaGarrette Blount was. Twenty-four hours later, his one-hit wonder on Byron Hout was seen on every episode of Sportscenter ten times an hour. Blount apparently didn't take too kindly to the words that Hout had told him after slapping his shoulder pads. Next thing you know, Boise State coach Chris Petersen is restraining Hout for the thoughts he expressed, but in fact ended up being the second bully who holds up the little freshman while the bigger guy knocks him out before both of them run off with his lunch money. Blount not only bounced away from the punch as if he just drilled a three to tie a NBA playoff game, he then proceeded to attack the fans in a manner that would have made Ron Artest proud. For his actions, Blount has been suspended for the season, and rightfully so.