So if you don’t know, Vox is trying to encourage us all to move to a new editor for articles. It’s substantially more annoying to use HTML in this thing, but I’m going to give it a try. If something is out of place, comment about it and I’ll attempt to fix it.

Generally speaking, this is where I give a synopsis of all the cool articles you may have missed this week. Frankly, I’m drained of all I have to say. After losing a game we should have won against South Carolina, I’m just done for the week. We largely all agree that we’re going to be looking for a new coach come the end of the season. There’s very little to be optimistic about where we have a coach that pulls the quarterback for no reason after two drives.

After you’re done there, feel free to vote in our poll: Should Derek Mason be Fired by Seasons End? Or just vote anyway, as a bunch of people are apparently doing anyway.

I laughed at ESPN and the talking heads for billing it as the “best opening week ever” going into the weekend. Gotta give ESPN some credit here - it was a fun weekend of football.

• #9 THEM 20 - Appalachian State 13. You knew this was coming. It was a marvelous source of passing joy as we suffered through the VU-USC game. THEY fell behind early and at the half was down 13-3. Even when the depth started to show, Appalachian State kept strong and managed to hold off for overtime. Still, they shouldn’t have even needed to do that. The AppSt kicker missed an XP and a 42 yard field goal attempt. Tennessee also tried their best to let AppSt get it with bad special teams. In the end, Tennessee had “fumble” the football on a third down to win, fumbling on the ¹⁄₂ yard line, and advancing it into the end zone. Of course the illegal advance of a fumble wasn’t called.
• Wisconsin 16 - #5 LSU 14. I would say I called it, but that’s not really fair because I was uneasy the last time LSU started the season to play Wisconsin. Like Vanderbilt, LSU has no QB (though I’d be perfectly happy with Harris throwing for Vandy), and looks almost no different than it did last year. Fournette will still run wild and get LSU plenty of wins, but without enough of a passing threat, LSU fans expecting a top-10 team may be disappointed.
• #2 Clemson 19 - Auburn 13. Clemson was a preseason favorite of mine to get to the national championship game. That’s not much of a limb to go out on, considering you know, they were there last year. Clemson’s defense is strong. Very strong. Their offense was slow to start but has a tremendous amount of talent so should be ok. Auburn is a lot better than I expected them to be. They may even be the better team.
• Texas A&M 31 - #16 UCLA 24. Aggie surprised a lot of people, deciding to show up with a quarterback. Trevor Knight threw for ~240 yards hitting about 52% of his targets. Not stellar, but a considerably better passing game then expected. To UCLA’s credit, down 24-9, they stormed back 15 points in the remaining ~4 minutes of the game. Unfortunately for the Bruins, they failed to hold off the Aggies and make the comeback complete.
• #4 Florida State 45 - #11 Mississippi 34. Florida State once again showed itself to be a second half only team in a fantastic game. Florida State was straight up outclassed in the first half of the game. Terrible at offense and the secondary was getting ripped to shreds. I have no idea what Jimbo Fisher said to the team at the half but it must’ve been something else. The Noles scores on all drives of the second half (before they kneeled it out in their last drive).

I’m rarely one to complain about Alabama getting hurt, but in last week’s Bama - Fake USC matchup, Jabari Ruffin stomped on Alabama DB Minkah Fitzpatrick’s groin. It’s one of the more blatant stomps I’ve ever seen. Shades of Marcus Vick even. I’ve also never seen an official that excited to toss a player before. In true USC fashion, they are only suspending him for half a game for the blatant foul.

Meanwhile, LSU G Josh Boutte will be rightfully suspended a game by the University for a ridiculous late hit after a game ending pick by Wisconsin. Boutte’s play was dirty, and he deserves the discipline. It’s ironic though that the man who did the LEAST dirty hit has the biggest suspension.

Texas S DeShon Elliott, who led with the helmet tackling Notre Dame WR Torii Hunter Jr. in the endzone. The play was not penalized and neither has the player. Textbook targeting. Oh well.

There’s plenty of people telling you what games to watch this week. Oh wait, no there’s not, because all the garbage games usually in week one got shoved into week two. Gotta play those cupcakes early ya’know! Seriously, just go out and enjoy a hobby on Saturday. If you happen near a TV, here’s the games to keep in mind.

• PSU @ Pitt - Noon ET (11:00 CT) - This actually has a chance to be a reasonable football game. The bonus factor in watching this is the schadenfreude if the worst human being to ever coach Vanderbilt football is once again embarrassed publicly.
• UK @ UF - 15:30 ET (14:30 CT) - This game has “hilarious” written all over it. Has every opportunity to be another “let’s laugh at the Gators” game. Or, the Gators could stomp the Cayuts and not be worth watching at all.
• UT @ VaTech - 20:00 ET (19:00 CT) - Don’t tell me you weren’t flipping back and forth to check on UT losing to Appalachian State last week. We all enjoy watching them lose and VaTech, once considered a solid “win” is no longer certain. Let’s hope THEY get knocked over.
• Washington State @ Boise State - 22:15 ET (21:15 CT) - I hate you NCAA. One of the few games actually worth watching this week will be this week’s PAC-10 GAME OF THE CENTURY (OF THE WEEK).

Once again, we face the cheating cheaters of MTSU. Yeah, that same MTSU which robbed a Cutler era team of a sixth win by fielding thirteen men to block a FG. The MTSU players and fans treat this game as their Super Bowl. Which I could accept if they weren’t just fans of THEM in disguise. Never forget.

The Anchor of Gold writing crew has put forward their predictions. Feel free to submit your own. Or, just sit back and mock ours when we’re wrong. Whichever works for you. Don’t get terribly comfortable though, Freebeck is listed as “situational” starter for the game for some reason.

Seriously, if you’re going to watch this game, please be drunk. I feel like this game has a 12 drink minimum so get drinkin’

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GAMETIME: 16:00 ET (15:00 CT) LOCATION: DUDLEY FIELD, NASHVILLE, TN TV: SEC NETWORK+ RADIO: 1510 AM, 95.9 FM, 98.3 FM GAMETRACKER: Click this link AUDIO FEED (FREE): Click this link (VUCommodores, All-Access) VIDEO FEED: ESPN3 (Requires Cable Plan w/SECN)

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