The Bottom 10 inspirational thought of the week:
It's a beautiful mornin', ahhh.
I think I'll go outside for a while,
And just smiiiiile.
Just take in some clean fresh air, boy.
Ain't no sense in staying inside,
If the weather's fine and you got the time.
It's your chance to wake up and plan another brand new day.
Shouldn't hide...still inside...
Shouldn't hide...still inside...
Ahhhh oh!
-- "A Beautiful Morning", The Rascals
It's a new season. A new year. A new day. A clean slate. A chance to erase the meeting room marker board of the past and get on with drawing up the future.
That's what I like to think SMU and Georgia State repeated to themselves throughout the winter, spring and summer. I like to think the two teams that battled neck-and-neck -- leather and red -- to the final heartbreaking drive of 2014 spent their entire offseasons with last fall's final Bottom 10 rankings printed and pinned to their respective bulletin boards.
I like to think the Mustangs and Panthers performed separate but similar séances: SMU's held beneath a statue of Gerald Ford (No, not the POTUS Ford, the billionaire banker Ford they named the stadium after), and GSU's at the feet of Bill Curry. Both asking their respective legends to exorcise their locker rooms of the Bottom 10 funk, all while playing that forever-positive anthem of The Rascals. I like to think maybe they even sang that sweet '60s round in the always epic acoustics of the team showers, like the Globetrotters when they recorded "Rainy Day Bells."
Then opening weekend came. Then opening weekend went.
SMU took Baylor to the mat. And since this isn't 1983, that was a big deal.
But Georgia State was housed by Charlotte. Yes, Charlotte. Not the Charlotte Hornets or the Charlotte Knights or even the Charlotte Roller Girls. The Charlotte 49ers, a team that was playing its first-ever FBS game. Somewhere, a fan in a "Georgia Southern Not State" T-shirt cackles. Somewhere, Bill Curry weeps. And everywhere -- from the Sunburned Belt to the MACtion Machine to the American Athletic Conference of American Athletics -- a battle cry is let loose, echoing off the empty Friday afternoon seats of the Georgia Dome.
It's on!
With apologies to Eddie Brigati and Steve Harvey, here's this week's Bottom 10.
1. Georgia State (0-1)
Much like Ohio State, you have to reward a team when it's the defending national champion, returning the core group of players that earned the title one year ago, and it responds by starting the new season just like it ended last year's. And that, ladies and gentlemen, will be the final time anyone compares Georgia State to Ohio State this season. Or ever.
2. New Mexico State (0-1)
The Other Aggies did the impossible. They made a Florida Gators offense look like a machine. This weekend they do the impossible again, hosting Georgia State Not Southern in what -- according to the Bottom 10 media guide -- is the earliest-ever meeting between the first- and second-ranked teams for a Pillow Fight of the Week (P-FOW!). At least, I think that's what it says. It's not so much a media guide as it is some numbers written down on a Whataburger napkin.
3. Kent State (0-1)
Not to be outshone by the Sun Belt in Week 1, the Golden Flashes were crushed by an Illinois team that has no head coach and had to wait 24 hours in a lightning storm for the privilege. This weekend the State of Kent hosts Delaware State, which went 2-10 last year in the MEAC and was smited in its season opener by Liberty.
4. Kansas (0-1)
If you haven't seen how Kansas iced its loss to (gulp) South Dakota State, the video has run rampant over the Internet, much like the football ran rampant over KU's cleats as the Jayhawks tried to spike the ball to stop the clock. If you're a Kansas fan, it's hard to swallow. Like a Jayhawk trying to eat a starship.
5. Texas (0-1)
The first coveted No. 5 spot of 2015 is painted burnt orange. But hey, chin up, Bevo! At least you're not the highest of the lowest ranked Big 12 teams!
6. Texas State (0-1)
Actually, Bevo, on second thought you can put that chin back down now.
7. Colorado (0-1)
The good news? You got to go to Hawaii. The bad news? The game didn't kick off until 1 a.m. ET. The good news? That meant almost no one saw you lose to a team that's won only seven times in the previous three years. The bad news? You lost a chance to win the game in the closing seconds when the refs tried to toss a ball into play, but bounced it off a Hawaii player's helmet. The good news? Did we mention you got to go to Hawaii?
8. Eastern Michigan (0-1)
The Boys From Oopsilanti hosted Old Dominion and lost. Western Michigan hosted Michigan State and lost. Central Michigan hosted Oklahoma State and lost. Meanwhile, North Central Michigan College hosted its annual Lookout For The Cookout, where everyone was a winner.
9. Washington State (0-1)
I like to think the members of the Pac-12 North spent 2014 jealous of all the free publicity the MAC East, American Athletic West and Mountain West Squared received via the Bottom 10, and felt they needed to get in on the action. Nicely done, sirs. This weekend's Pillow Fight undercard will be Wazzu at Rutgers, assuming that Mike Leach has broken free of that thousand-yard stare he held for most of the Portland State loss ... or that the Rutgers athletic department hasn't imploded.
10. Vanderbilt (0-1)
The SEC announced its presence with authority during the opening weekend, posting a 13-1 record and then turning in unison to point 13 Fingers of Shame toward Nashville.
Waiting list: SMU (0-1), FA(not I)U (0-1), UC(not S)F (0-1), Army Black Nots (0-1), Stunford Cardinal (0-1), Pain State Littany Nions (0-1)