Visit our open thread to talk about tonight's games.
It's back. It's finally back. Quit pinching yourself -- it's true. College football will be on your television tonight. Yes, it's a terrible slate for the SEC, but it's SEC college football, so you'll watch it and lap it up like a national championship match. Because we are addicts, you and I. And we will smoke as much of this cheap dope as we can get our hands on until the good stuff comes around.
Mississippi State at Memphis, 8 p.m. ET, FSN: The Western Division Bulldogs open what many hope will be a breakout season. (Your humble correspondent counts himself as among those many, if for no other reason than it will help me avoid saying Woo Pig Sooie! several times in November.) Here's all you really need to know about Memphis: Tommy West was fired part of the way through Memphis 2009 season, when they went 2-10, and West was basically correct to say that the Tigers' awful football was the administration's fault. The next year, new head coach Larry Porter led them to a 1-11 record. Only nine starters are back this year, but when you're that bad, does it really matter? Mississippi State won't win this game by as much as they could have with the loss of several players for the opener. It will still be an easy game. On an unrelated note, we would ask the Mississippi State athletics department to stop scheduling games at mid-majors' stadiums. It's embarrassing for the entire league. Mississippi State 40, Memphis 10
Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky (Nashville), 9:15 p.m. ET, ESPNU: Ah, there's nothing like the first major neutral-site battle of the season, a classic tilt between ... Kentucky and Western Kentucky? Really? Just curious: Why on earth do two teams that share the same state decide to hold a neutral-site game in another state? In any case, if there is any program in the country that's in worse shape than Memphis, it's Western Kentucky. (Though the Hilltoppers at least have the excuse of having only become a full-fledged FBS team in 2008. And we're using the term "FBS team" loosely; they are in the Sun Belt Conference.) They won another game than the Tigers last year, though that extra game doesn't count for much when you play in the Sun Belt. They have 15 starters returning -- but, again, those 15 starters were part of a football team that was simply awful last year. Kentucky's offense might revamped this year, but the Hilltoppers don't pose much of a test. Kentucky 28, Western Kentucky 3