First of all, I’m a firm beleiver that the first weekend of a college football season provides some of the greatest overreaction in sports. Alumni and sports media members throughout the country will analyze games from this past weekend beyond what any box score can show. In many minds, a season will have been determined by labor day. A student athlete’s career may or may not be a success based on their opening performance. While simple logic and history will prove that week one doesn’t really prove anything concrete, there are a few things we can learn from the first weekend of meaningful football

1. New Coach ≠ Instant Success

(AP Photo/Reinhold Matay)

The biggest coaching move this off season saw the Michigan Wolverines bring in Wext Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez to lead the maze & blue back to the glory they once knew. Unfortunately, “The Big House” witnessed it’s second opening weekend upset in two years.

Here in the Lone Star State, both SMU’s June Jones and A&M’s Mike Sherman lost their debuts as well. SMU wasn’t expected to beat a Rice team lead by senior quarterback Chase Clement. A&M, on the other hand, was expected to send Arkansas State away from Kyle Field with an season opening loss. Instead, the Red Wolves, who played the Texas Longhorns tough in the 2007 opener, finished the deal this time around.

2. The SEC is good

Even with the upset loss Tennessee experienced at the hands of UCLA last night, the SEC posted a 10-2 record during the opening weekend. With the defending Heisman trophy winner and defending national champions in the league, the marquee “W” came from the Crimson Tide. In five of their victories, the league’s representatives held their opponent to 10 points or less.

3. Oh, so is the Big 12

The big boys of the Big 12 all earned the expected “W” over the weekend including Missouri’s prime time victory over Big 10 representative Illinois. The Big 12 also posted a weekend record of 10-2 and in their 10 victories, the teams averaged 46.3 points. That could be expected from a conference returning such star power under center.

4. New uniforms are here again

(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

One of the exciting things about the college football opening weekend is seeing all the new jerseys throughout the country. Sure, the staple programs will make only minor changes (if any), but the lesser known schools and the schools looking to increase budgets with new apparel contracts provide this sports fan with a bonus to the already exciting weekend.

The Cal Golden Bears debuted new Nike digs against Michigan State

BCS crashers Hawaii also unveiled new uniforms on Saturday against Florida.

Also notable…I was VERY disapointed to find that Washington State (winner of my logo ranking) decided to use the “Cougars” script on their helmets rather than their trademark logo.

5. “Bits are Fun”

I don’t know if you’ll find a bigger fan of ESPN’s College Gameday than me but even I can’t argue that the program can go too far beyond the game sometimes. I can remember the experiment of having Nick Lachey teaching us all various fight songs (it may’ve only lasted one episode actually). Adding to the bit of Lee Corso dawning the headgear of his pick to win their game of the week, they’ve recruited the services of the US Army to help escort the oversized accessory. Dropping in from high above the broaccast site, the Golden Knights deliver the mask to Corso under tighter security than “the football” saw in season 4 of 24.

While I’m pretty comfortable in making these points, the truth is…we still don’t know anything and no one’s season is over. It’s hard to imagine Clemson making a run at a national title but it’s still possible. It doesn’t look like A&M will be coming out of the Big 12 south, but their conference record looks just like UT’s. Four months from now, the national scope will look completely different, but what’s the fun of college football if you can’t overreact a little?