Week 1 Saturday Six Pack: A Toast To A New Season

Week 1 2012 is here, and I hereby propose a toast to the new season. It couldn’t come fast enough — and not simply because we have gone eight long months without pick-sixes, flawlessly executed option pitches, final minute Hail Maries, Fat Guy Touchdowns, MACtion or any of the rest that makes the autumn the best time of year, either. The 2012 offseason was simply rotten.

Months of one item of bad news after another mounted, prompting debates about banning the sport. And all that was just white noise for the worst thing to ever happen in college football’s world.

We welcome the season not to forget all that transpired these many months, but because we can remind ourselves why we love the game. The pride. The camaraderie. The excitement. The fun. There is no forgetting or moving on from all college football has been through, nor should there be. But the season comes as a much needed distraction, so let’s raise a glass high and welcome 2012.

Eye-Opener: Notre Dame vs. Navy (in Dublin, Ire.)

College football Saturday kicks off at 9 a.m. ET this year. How perfect is that? It’s a holiday weekend, so you have two days to catch up on sleep, errands or whatever else is on your docket Sunday and Monday. Get your game day started with football, breakfast and

Maui Brewing Co. CoCoNut Porter

, which pairs nicely as a follow-up to your coffee. Trust me, I tested it while visiting the island of Kauai.

Then again, a Guinness might be more suited to this thoroughly Irish showdown. Notre Dame visits the Emerald Isle in the biggest to-do in recent college football memory. The script is simple: the Fighting Irish visit the homeland, face a rival with its own international appeal but one likely to provide UND a victory. But a funny thing happened on the way to Aviva Stadium…

Brian Kelly suspended three 2011 starters in linebacker Carlo Calabrese, quarterback Tommy Rees and running back Cierre Wood. The former are less impacting with UND featuring a deep linebacking corps and Rees likely to be supplanted at quarterback before his May arrest. But the loss of Wood means unproven Theo Reddick will be getting the majority of carries against a Navy defense that ranked in the bottom third of the FBS last season.

Meanwhile, the Naval Academy comes in with some confidence against a rival it once came nowhere near defeating. Head coach Ken Niumatalolo has beaten the Fighting Irish twice, including a 35-17 win in Kelly’s first season at Notre Dame.

THE WEEK 1 SIX-PACK

Clemson vs. Auburn

A battle of Tigers and a rubber match of sorts, Clemson and Auburn have split match-ups in the previous two campaigns. Each used its September victory as a springboard to a conference championship. Clemson has more than an ACC championship in mind this season, returning the core of what made last season’s team tick. However, the absence of wide receiver Sammy Watkins will loom large, denying Tajh Boyd his most important compatriot against a retooled AU defense.

Neither team’s defense was exactly stingy last season. They were more the guaranteed scores for weary offenses sporting beer goggles at last call. Each has a new defensive coordinator, so there’s a definite wait-and-see approach to gauging those units. If Clemson is stuck in the same rut it was at season’s end of 2011, new Tiger quarterback Kiehl Frazier will get an opportunity to settle in without two-time 1000-yard rusher Michael Dyer. That leaves change-of-pace back Onterio McCalebb to shoulder a big load of the run attack.

Tulsa at Iowa State

Paul Rhoads has led Iowa State to bowl games in two of his three seasons in Ames. To reach a third out of a loaded Big 12, the Cyclones need a strong non-conference run. That includes beating a very good Tulsa team at home. The Golden Hurricane has won at least eight games in seven of the last nine seasons, and is primed for another successful campaign despite replacing quarterback GJ Kinne.

That’s because Bill Blakenship has a varied running game around which to build the offense. Trey Watts and Ja’Terian Douglas combined to rush for nearly 1800 yards. New quarterback Cody Green is a transfer from Nebraska. He’ll be throwing to many of Kinne’s top targets, including Bryan Burnham and H-back Willie Carter.

Slowing Tulsa’s oftentimes prolific offense starts with the dynamic linebacking duo of Jake Knott and AJ Klein.

Miami at Boston College

These two ended mutually dissatisfying 2011 seasons against one other, an Eagle win. Each enters the new season with lingering questions: Miami is embroiled in NCAA investigations that could stunt the program’s growth under second-year head coach Al Golden, while Boston College head coach Frank Spaziani occupies one of the hottest seats in the nation.

The actual teams also have question marks on the roster. Miami lost running back Lamar Miller, and gone from BC’s stout defense is one-man tackling crew Luke Kuechly. The Eagles also lost Montel Harris, though the running back had been largely replaced in the Eagle offense by a committee. BC’s capable run game against a talented Hurricane defense is the key to this game, though the quarterback play on both ends will be intriguing.

Boston College quarterback Chase Rettig has worked with a new offensive coordinator every season he’s been in Chestnut Hill, while Stephen Morris takes the reins in Miami, but Memphis transfer Ryan Williams is waiting in the wings.

Nevada at Cal

These teams last met in 2010 in a contest Nevada won by three touchdowns, and used as a launch pad to the best season in program history. For Cal, it set the tone for the worst season in Jeff Tedford’s tenure in Berkeley.

The rematch is under much different circumstances. UNR is a team capable of winning the Mountain West with talented dual threat quarterback Cody Fajardo operating out of the Pistol, but replacing wide receiver Rishard Matthews is a difficult proposition. The Pack’s first game without him is against a very good Golden Bear secondary.

Nevada was so-so defending the rush last season, though finished by holding Southern Miss to 171 — a figure that may seem high, until you consider the Golden Eagles averaged almost 40 yards more than that per contest. Whether Cal offensive coordinator Jim Michalczik opts to test the Pack early with Isi Sofele, or tries to spread lanes for the speedy back early by letting Zach Maynard test his long ball will be intriguing.

San Diego State at Washington

Each team lost a top tier running back from a season ago, yet could improve offensively. How? An improved receiving corps on each side will catch passes from two talented quarterbacks.

Keith Price is widely considered the Pac-12’s second best quarterback, coming off a 3000-yard, 33 touchdown season in which he completed two-thirds of his attempt. Price returns with an outstanding group of receivers that includes Jermaine Kearse and Kasen Williams, and tight end Austin Jenkins-Seferian. Jenkins-Seferian is one of the premiere tight ends in a high quality Pac-12 crop, and could be the X-factor against Rocky Long’s unique stack defense.

SDSU has its own talented tight end target in Gavin Escobar. Combined with USC transfer Brice Butler and returning top target Colin Lockett, Oregon State transfer quarterback Ryan Katz has a diverse group around which to spread the ball. Expect the Aztecs to challenge a Washington defense that struggled mightily last season.

Michigan vs. Alabama

The Dallas Palace is again host to the marquee game of Week 1, this year pitting the defending BCS championship and SEC representative Alabama against a Michigan team coming off its best season in five years. This one has been discussed, dissected and debated from the moment the last piece of confetti dropped on the New Orleans SuperDome turf.

The Big Ten has not fared well against the SEC as a whole in recent years. Ohio State laid two eggs in consecutive championship games against Florida and LSU, and there was the 2010 season’s bowl debacle in which the SEC blasted the Big Ten in one contest after another. Those defeats resonate through Big Ten Country, so in a certain regard this match-up is about more than just Michigan securing its return to college football prominence. Saturday night’s prime time affair is an opportunity for the whole Big Ten to exact a small measure of revenge in the eternal debate of conference supremacy.

Michigan’s different than the stereotypical Big Ten team. Rich Rodriguez’s zone read option didn’t last, but his players have acclimated well to Al Borges’ West Coast offense. Borges has allowed Denard Robinson leeway in freelancing some, and when Shoelace is doing it well there are few better in the nation. Moreover, running quarterbacks have posed the biggest challenge to Alabama’s almost impenetrable defense in recent seasons. Examining Crimson Tide losses during this four-year run of excellence under Nick Saban and the very few losses Alabama has suffered, a regular variable is a dual threat quarterback.

That said, it’s Alabama’s game to lose. The Tide will pound the football effectively against a revamped Wolverine defense, and AJ McCarron can provide just enough to spread UM out. The Crimson Tide defense is collectively young, but no less talented. It’s one NFL talent after another ready to harass and confuse Robinson.

Six-Pack of the Week: Green Flash Hop Head Red IPA

Labor Day Weekend is what I have always considered the unofficial end of summer. The beginning of football season ushers out summer and welcomes in autumn. There’s no more appropriate way to close out summer than with an excellent summertime beer. Green Flash Brewery is based in the San Diego area, but readily available nationwide. It puts out some quality brews, and Hop Head Red IPA is among the best. It’s got the dryness and hoppy bitterness one expects of an IPA, with a light citrus flavor perfect for late summer.