You just don't get many football weekends that work out like the one just experienced. All wins. All relatively impressive wins.
It started for me on Friday night.
MOUNTAIN LIONS
Could it be that Altoona is a bit better than we thought? First on Chambersburg.
This was our second straight visit to Peachtown. I have a history with Chambersburg. I was at a radio station in Charles Town, WV the first time I did a game in Chambersburg. The football team has been involved with the Trojans through about 14 of the 27 years I've been doing Mountain Lion sports. We used to eat at the Copper Kettle along Route 30. We went to Ryan's buffet a couple of times. But after games, it's impossible to find a place to catch a bite before heading back over the Route 30 s's. Dilly's advertises in the program, yet when we pulled in there, we found that they have no food after 10. There is a Sheetz, but seriously, don't you people go out after a game?
This game turned in 30 seconds of the late second quarter. After Chambersburg cut the Altoona lead to 14-10, Altoona's Mike Treese ran around a jam in the middle of the line for 84 yards and a touchdown. They scored again on an interception return by Jordan Novosel less than 30 seconds later. Now, it's 28-10 and Chambersburg is essentially done.
Altoona got the second half kick and scored on the drive to make it 35-10. Give Chambersburg credit for staying on plan and putting some points on the board, but Altoona scored 49 to keep adding distance to the comeback for the Trojans.
Altoona's offense has turned out to be pretty effective. Derek Gallardy had 188 yards but no touchdowns. He is hard to bring down and has enough speed to be dangerous. Defensively, Altoona has done an adequate job. Chambersburg moved the ball, but the defense came up with big plays to slow them down.
If you were looking for further reason for excitement, North Allegheny dismantled Mount Lebanon on Friday. Mount Lebanon is 0-2, so we don't know much, but we do know that Altoona is overacheiving. Friday, they host Cumberland Valley. If there is a team they must have a feeling of revenge for, this would be it. Repeated questionable spots and a late roughing the quarterback call helped an otherwise ineffective Cumberland Valley team come from behind and beat Altoona last year.
A win over this team would lift Altoona into the upper echelon of the Mid Penn-Commonwealth. It surely won't be easy, but I'm starting to think most anything is possible.
Pitt and Penn State
Two more wins. Penn State is proving to be more efficient offensively than usual. I'm used to seeing a team that needs a stout defense to pull off wins. It's surely early, but there is reason for excitement in the land of the "Nittaly Lions." Hey, that's what Barak Obama called them. They're at Syracuse this week, and that's no problem.
I went to the Pitt game on Saturday. I am concerned with Dave Wanstadt. The defense just doesn't do anything special to try to stop the opposition. They set up in their positions and play people according to the plan. No blitzing, no stunting, no stopping. Buffalo moved the ball up and down the field. Pitt led by one point for most of the night and it felt like they were down by two touchdowns. That they moved a receiver to linebacker in the off season is one more indication that this defensive genius is struggling.
I'm surely no football genius either. The things that appear obvious to me might be stupid by coaching standards. I just think that when something isn't working and Dave's defense isn't, a change would be valuable.
All-in-all, I think the win over West Virginia at the end of last season is becoming more and more miracle-like as time progresses. And I just wonder if Dave is capable of delivering a big time team as he has been able to deliver big time athletes.
Steelers
It couldn't have gone much better for the Steelers in their opening win over Houston. After Gary Kubiak went for it on fourth down and didn't make it near mid-field, the game was essentially over. Ben Roethlisberger had the best quarterback rating in the league going into tonight's games. That's overshadowed by the running of Willie Parker, but Ben was superb.
More dominating than Ben or Willie was the offensive line. So many question marks on that unit and they came through with stars on their foreheads. It's early to declare they are back, but there is at least hope that they'll be good enough to allow this offense to take advantage of its weapons. And, those are many. Keeping all the weapons happy may be the biggest problem.
Defensively, they were outstanding. They pressured the quarterback, covered the receivers and stopped the run. And they came up with turnovers.
Even more encouraging than their handling of their business on opening day was the rest of the NFL on day one.
Cleveland is next week's opponent. The Browns added defensive personnel and hoped to build on a pretty good 2007. They had some injury issues in the pre-season and lost all of those games. Dallas made them look like a lower echelon team yesterday. While the Cowboys are being touted as the best in the NFC, the Browns surely should have been able to play with the 'boys. They were not. The Steelers visit them next week and a win would put the Browns quite far behind. You couldn't ask for a better start if that's what happens.
New England lost Tom Brady for the day, perhaps longer. I'm not dancing on their chests, but the Patriots are due to face some adversity. And I don't wish injury on anyone. Brady's great. I'd be satisfied if he didn't play another game this season.
Indianapolis lost to the Bears. Not sure I could have seen that coming, but Peyton Manning was out for the pre-season. Apparently, those games are needed for freshening.
San Diego gave up a last second touchdown to Carolina and they lost at home. You just never know with John Fox's team. If they could win the games you expect them to, they could take that division with ease. If they follow this up with a bad loss, you'll know they are back to normal.
So, all in all, the weekend was beyond expectations. A weekend like that makes the week tough to go through. I can't wait until Friday.
Send your comments to: charlie@wfbg.com
