Monday Afternoon Kicker

I always figured if I were a football player I would be a kicker. Trust me, I'd be most suited for that position if I worked at it.

So the first weekend of full football action is all but two Monday night NFL games away from being complete. For the first week since the beginning of January we had a full slate of college and pro football. If you were like me you even took in some high school action.

That's right, I was an NFL game away from the Triple Dip. Friday night Stef and I went out to Owen J. Roberts High School to meet up with our friends Mike and Heather, as well as Erica. Mike and Heather work with the West Chester East High School marching band, and Erica helps out with the OJR band. Yep, band nerds are always friends with fellow band nerds; what can I say. If you're reading this chances are you are or once were considered a "band nerd".

Anyway, East lost the game against OJR, unable to hold a 14-6 lead in the final minute of the fourth quarter, and losing 20-13 in the overtime session. East is not supposed to be very good this year but I felt like I witnessed a fun high school football game anyway. From there it was out to State College, Pennsylvania.

Penn State was all about revenge on Notre Dame after the 2006 clash left the Nittany Lions leaving South Bend without very much luck in a 41-17 drubbing. But Penn State was dominant on defense, not yielding an opposing offensive touchdown for the second straight week to start the season. Penn State would welcome the "phenom" freshman Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame's much-hyped starting quarterback, and it was obvious that a couple things happened;

• Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis skimmed down the playbook, relying largely on the familiar half back screen pass and dump passes to the outside that killed the Eagles in the 2005 Super Bowl.
• Clausen was getting frustrated and bewildered
• Anthony Morelli needs to aplay a lot better, but...
• ...Penn State's defense is very capable of winning a lot of games by themselves.

The atmosphere from section WAU was great, although not quite Ohio State great. That could be expected though, as Notre Dame is not nearly the quality opponent Ohio State was. Still, even after the interception returned for a touchdown put Notre Dame up 7-0 early, the fans were in the game the whole time and the first ever stadium wide White Out was a success. Notre Dame fans were easy to pick out.

I would have uploaded the pictures I took form both days to my Flickr account, but I left my camera dock at my parents' house, and for some reason this computer does not recognize my SD card, so until I get my dock back I am unable to do so.

The Eagles atrted their season yesterday, and yesterday was a great day to sit on the futon and veg out in front of the tv watching football (we didn't get home from State College until 4:30am). Unfortuneately, the Eagles lost the season opener to the Packers in dissappointing fashion. Special teams, a unit that used to be the most solid on the team a few years back, was atrocious and literally muffed a shot at victory for the Eagles. McNabb had a number of poor passes that were low or deflected, and I felt Briwn Westbrook was underused, but Andy Reid's coaching career has a losing record on opening day, so I am not one of those fans who is ready to jump all over the team or coaches, as I'm sure a number of Philadelphia fans are. Sure, they ruined my second straight perfect week in my picks, but it's a long season anyway.

On a side note, I am in strong contention to win two separate football pools this week, although one doesn't award a monetary prize. So tonight, go Ravens and 49ers!

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