Gravley's Pig Pickin' Week 1

It seems to take forever for the 1st complete week of the college football season to get here. You gotta love game week!!! Especially the 1st week. Instead of making a bunch of picks (which are usually wrong) here are a few things to keep an eye on for the weekend.

APPALACHIAN STATE @ NC STATE
This isn't just a money making Division 1 vs. Division 1-AA match up. App State has the full attention of NC State. Wolfpack players talked about the Mountaineers 24-0 loss at LSU last year. Plus App. State knows how to win...they've been in big games before. I'm eager to see the Wolfpack's stable of backs on the field at the same time. Currently Andre Brown, Toney Baker and Darrell Blackmon are 1st team on the depth chart. Brown and Baker in the backfield and Blackmon at receiver. That's a lot of talent. State's offense needs to carry the defense until the young unit of defenders can get some cohesiveness.

RUTGERS @ UNC
The Heels are going with Joe Dailey over Cam Sexton at quarterback. Not much of a surprise here in that Sexton would have had to be head and shoulders above Dailey to overcome the game experience of the Nebraska transfer. Whoever the Carolina QB is, if he can stay out of trouble the Heels could be pretty good. Carolina has a running game that can control a game and defensively, this could be Carolina's best since the Julius Peppers, Ryan Sims crew.

RICHMOND @ DUKE
Sophomore Marcus Jones inherits the Duke QB job after the suspension of last year's end of the year starter Zack Asack. Jones has completed 2 of 7 collegiate passes with 1 interception. Defensively Duke will be better with 7 starters back as well as talented Vince Oghobaase who ripped up his knee last year. Will Duke feel the excitement of having a great chance to win or will they actually feel pressure that this is one of the few games they are favored to win?

ECU @ NAVY
Last year, EC repaired some of the damage done by getting only 3 wins in 2 seasons. The Pirates went 5-6 under 1st year coach Skip Holtz and they bring back an offense that can put up numbers with the best of them. It's never an easy task to face Navy's triple-option offensive attack, especially the 1st game out of the gate. A win for ECU on Saturday would be huge for the program but a loss at Navy isn't as devastating as it would be in the past. The Middies have been to 3 consecutive bowls.

Enjoy the 1st week!!
Jeff Gravley