And it begins...

This weekend is my favorite weekend of the year. The week the college/pro football seasons officially begin. Yes, I know, my beloved Bulldogs won last week, but I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that beating Louisiana-Lafayette State Tech Middle School 55-7 is even close to an accomplishment.

My two teams (for those of you that don't know me personally I root for the greatest NFL team of all time and the most successful college football team of the past 20 years that has not won a championship, mostly because they are Florida's premier bitch) begin there respective seasons under very similar circumstances. Namely, they will both be missing their best offensive players for a significant portion of the early season.

Large Benjamin has been suspended by Emperor Goodell for four (4) games for being an idiot. He was ACCUSED of sexual assault/rape. However, after a two (2) month investigation, the GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) determined that there was not enough evidence to arrest Ben, let alone prosecute him. Despite the law enforcement agency's findings, Ben will not be with us for the first quarter of the our season. I think Ben is a giant douchebag who deserves a nice beatdown. However, there is no precedent for a player being suspended without being arrested and/or failing a drug test. One (1) game, I could live with. Two (2) games, I would think unfair. Four (4) games just pisses me off. I digress....

AJ Green, on the other hand, has been suspended by the National Collection of Amazing Assholes (NCAA) for four (4) games for being an idiot. He sold his OWN game worn jersey to someone for approimately $1000. Apparently there is a rule against AJ's actions. The rule is asinine given the fact that the NCAA, UGA and/or Nike has likely made in excess of $1,000,000 selling AJ's jerseys. However, rules are rules and again, I could have lived with a one (1) game suspension. Two (2) games, I would think unfair. I could understand a four (4) game suspension if they would have found a decapitated puppy inside the scandolous jersey. I digress...

Onto the season predictions...and I'll begin with the greatest NFL team of all time. The city of Pittsburgh has been in Code Blue since Monday afternoon when Dennis Dixon was officially named our starting QB. I am honestly, honestly, HONESTLY not concerned who the QB is in these next four (4) games. Pittsburgh has won games in the past six (6) years with Charlie Batch, Tommy Maddox and Byron Leftwich under center. Guess what??? All three (3) of those dudes stink. Like stink really bad. Like stink bad enough that they wouldn't have started for MOST college teams. Dennis Dixon cannot be worse. He just can't. Please GOD tell me he can't be worse. He cant, right???

If the D stays healthy (specifically Aaron Smith, Troy and Ike Taylor) this team could hand Ben the reigns with a 3-1 record. I honestly can't see any worse than 2-2. There is too much pride and veteran leadership to let the ship sail with the loss of one (1) (albeit important) player. I BELIEVE the Steelers will begin the season 3-1 (losing to Tennessee) and finishing the season 12-4 while winning the AFC North yet again. I have a great feeling about this team, this defense, and, of course, the GREAT Hines Ward.

AFC North Champion: Pittsburgh
AFC South Champion: Tennessee
AFC East Champion: New York Jets
AFC West Champion: San Diego
Wildcard: Baltimore
Wildcard: New England

AFC Championship: Pittsburgh vs. New England

NFC North Champion: Minnesota
NFC South Champion: New Orleans
NFC East Champion: Dallas
NFC West Champion: San Francisco
Wildcard: Philadelphia
Wildcard: Atlanta

NFC Championship: Dallas vs. San Franscisco

Superbowl: Pittsburgh 31 - Dallas 24 (yes, I really believe this will happen and I realize that this would be a home game for Dallas which would be sorta, kinda cool)

Onto my beloved Bulldogs. There were two VERY important questions that were PARTIALLY answered last week when the Bulldogs annhilated Louisiana-Lafayette 55-7.

Question #1: Is Aaron Murray capable of being an effective/AWESOME QB in the SEC? Answer: Yes/Maybe. Okay, I'll admit, when I was watching the game, and thinking from a relatively "results oriented" standpoint, I had convinced myself that Murray was the second-coming of Greene-Shockley-Stafford all rolled into one. He made some great throws. He made some surprisingly amazing (possibly stupid) runs. He looked poised. He looked like a winner. HOWEVER, after rewinding the game in my head I was reminded that there were 2-3 balls that certainly should have been picked. There were several runs that went for 5-20 yards that, quite honestly, would have resulted in sacks had the Dawgs been playing a SEC defense. I'm still excited about Murray. I'm still optimistic (cautiously). This week will make for a much finer barometer.

Question #2: Will the defense be able to quickly adjust to Todd Gratham's 3-4 style? Answer: YES, YES, YES. Last year, in the final year of the Willie Martinez regime, the defense consistently looked tenative, soft and scared. Willie Martinez always preached "bend, don't break" which ultimately led to "bend, bend, break, break in half, rip your freaking heart out." What I saw Saturday was a different animal. I saw fire, passion, heart and I saw eleven (11) dudes on defense that wanted to hit someone. I saw SWAG. I saw what I've seen from the Florida Gators for the past 5+ years. I saw what I saw from Alabama last year. I am thoroughly excited about this defense that has multiple NFL caliber playmakers (Rambo, Smith, Boykin, Robinson).

I still believe that we will see some growing pains from Murray this season. He's a freshman. He's gonna F up at some point and throw a pivotal pick six (6). That shit happens. But, I honestly believe this team is REALLY talented. The weapons on offense are immense (Green, Ealey, C. King, T. King, Durham, Smith, Brown, Wooten, Orson, White, etc, etc, etc). As summed up above, the D could be very special. And the special teams are arguably the best in college football.

I BELIEVE: 11-2, SEC EAST Champions (losses to Arkansas and SEC West Champs Alabama), Sugar Bowl Champions

There it is my friends. Take it for what it's worth, or don't take it at all. But mark my words, I am almost always usually sometimes right!!!!