From the Notebook

Posted Sep 9, 2009 by Ryan Lavner

Updated Sep 9, 2009 at 02:16 PM

The fall sports season is officially under way, and since we no longer have to subject ourselves to Little League Baseball, World Cup qualifiers and preseason NFL games in which teams’ quarterbacks play no more than two legitimate possessions yet every talking head in America has enough “information” to make a supposedly informed decision, it’s time to celebrate the week that was.

During the first week of September we saw:

—The second-rated running-back prospect in the senior class, LeGarrette Blount, deck a second-string Boise State player in the face in the aftermath of Oregon’s season-opening loss to the Broncos on their unicorn field. Blount was rightly suspended for the season, all but ending the troubled 22-year-old’s hopes of playing on Sundays next fall. He was given the option to stay on scholarship, to continue training with the team, but he failed to show up when practice resumed earlier this week. Get with it, kid.

—Georgia, your noteworthy scribe’s alma mater, muster one drive inside the Oklahoma State 20-yard line, and that possession came on the opening series of the game in a 24-10 season-opening loss to the Cowboys on Saturday.

The Cowboys’ defense, lest you forgot, allowed more than 400 yards of total offense a year ago. Georgia had trouble gaining 300 on Saturday. And Georgia, lest you forgot, lost two stars in Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno to the NFL draft. Now, it has a red-headed, fifth-year senior quarterback who has already drawn the ire of Bulldog Nation.

Final verdict: 8-4 season. Ouch.

—Oklahoma quarterback and reigning Heisman winner Sam Bradford get buried in the turf, separating the AC joint in his shoulder. Bradford, presumed to be the top selection in the 2010 NFL Draft after deciding to come back to Oklahoma for another season, is expected to miss two to four weeks. Not a season-killer. Although having Bradford behind center makes the Sooners a formidable team in a stacked Big 12, their opening schedule isn’t too arduous for a redshirt freshman.

Oklahoma probably wouldn’t beat Texas anyway, and the Sooners will face stiffer-than-expected challenges from Miami and Baylor in the next month. Oh, and tight end Jermaine Gresham, the best player at his position in the country, is also out for the season with a knee injury.

—A soft-spoken man from Wisconsin, Steve Stricker, who has produced more tears per month than career victories, win against a playoff-caliber field—the FedEx Cup Playoffs, obviously!—at the Deutsche Bank Championship outside Boston on Monday.

Stricker, who vaulted to second place in the world rankings following the victory, won for the first time with both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the field, a significant achievement for a player who, earlier this decade, considered giving up the game because he couldn’t shake the snap-hooks off the tee.

Stricker should have won last week in the playoff opener, and now, perched atop the FedEx Cup points standings with two events remaining, he has a chance to claim the $10 million prize—and, possibly, the PGA Tour Player of the Year award—when the playoffs wrap up at the end of the month in Atlanta.

—The best college football game of the season—although here’s hoping it wasn’t—during Miami’s thrilling victory over Florida State in Tallahassee on Monday night. It was refreshing to see these two teams—which for much of the past three decades have dominated the college football landscape before recently falling on hard times—return to prominence. If only for a night.

Jacory Harris, who somehow threw for close to 400 yards, was spectacular throughout, and it’ll be interesting to see if Miami, which plays four top-25 teams in a row to start the season, can sustain this surge of momentum. The belief here is that the ‘Canes will finish this daunting opening stretch 2-2. 

—The fervor over the NFL reach fever pitch, because in case you haven’t been tuned in to ESPN for the past three weeks, the regular season apparently starts Thursday. And more games are on Sunday. And four more teams play Monday. In case you didn’t hear. Because the NFL is starting this week.

Can’t remember a year in which there is no definitive frontrunner to win the Super Bowl. It’s usually the Patriots, but they have questions about their retooled defense and how sharp Tom Brady will be. The Cowboys haven’t won a game bearing any sort of significance since the mid-1990s, Pittsburgh may not have enough offensive playmakers to cover up an aging defense and Indy is without several weapons on offense, Bob Sanders at safety, and, most importantly, its offensive coordinator, Tom Moore, who retired at the end of last season.

A fearless NFL prediction: Baltimore over Philadelphia in the Super Bowl. Stay tuned for weekly waffling.