Previewing The Citadel

It's officially the first week of football season, and the excitement is beginning to set in. Or so I assume. I guess the N.C. State - South Carolina game tomorrow will be interesting, and Maryland-California should be a good one. The thirty-eight games against D1-AA teams this week? Yeah, they're going to suck. And UNC vs. The Citadel isn't going to be any better.

The last time The Citadel took the field, it was in a 70-19 loss to Florida in November. No, I don't know why the eventual national champions were playing a D1-AA team in late November, but there you go. Earlier in the year, they were Clemson's paid Saturday date, and reame 45 to 7. In coach Kevin Higgins' four-year tenure, they've played six 1-A teams, and have given up 45 points or more in five of them. Don't think it's just the big teams who score at will, though - Appalachian State has put up 45, 42, 45 and 47; ten of twelve opponents last year managed at least three touchdowns. This is a bad football team. 

They do have a receiver in Andre Roberts, who already has the single-season and career reception and receiving yardage; there is, according to The State's crack headline editors, "Little that [he] can do when he gets [the] ball." So I guess that's much of a concern then. They also have a quarterback with two years of staring experience under his belt. With their lack of depth and lesser talent, they won't try to grind it out on offense; the cornerbacks and safeties might get a bit of a test, but don't expect much else.

There's very little upside to this game, besides the opportunity to throw a lot of untested receivers on the field to see who can perform in a game situation. Any performance will seem underwhelming against a team like The Citadel. The game's an excuse to tailgate all day before a six p.m. kickoff; if by the end of the first quarter the game is still in doubt, or you're still lucid enough to realize what's going on, someone has screwed up somewhere.

Enjoy the game if you can get it; otherwise, wait until next week when the season actually begins.