The Week Just Past. Yeah, That One.

We have now played three weeks of volleyball and we know more than we knew three weeks ago, unless we’re not very bright, haven’t been paying attention, or have suffered a blow to the head we’ve forgotten about, as frequently happens with blows to the head. We forget about them, that is.

So what do we know that we didn’t know back in early August?

I don’t know. I haven’t been paying attention. I may have even suffered a blow to the head. But I’ll still venture a guess or two.

*Penn State is the Real Deal. They are not a Faux Deal. They are not a Vague Deal. They are the Real Deal. But we knew that, so who cares?

*Nebraska is some sort of Deal. We’re still not sure what kind. They play at Kansas State and entertain Texas this week, so this could be clarified soon.

*Stanford is still a What’s the Bleeping Deal??

*There are a couple of Stealth Deals out there. Minnesota, Hawaii, Pepperdine and Colorado State for four.

*The Pac Ten is looking like a Lehman Brothers Deal, but we all know not to jump to conclusions with that conference. We’d like to, but we know better.

In other news...

*Upset of the Week? That would be the 0-8 (at that time) Utah State Aggies over the 7-0 (at that time) Purdue Boilermakers. What’s even odder is that this match sandwiched Purdue’s wins over the much stronger squads from St. Louis and Utah. Just the sort of thing to cause Dave to pull out his hair. Or, seeing as how that’s pretty much a waste of time, just the sort of thing to cause Dave to pull out John’s hair.

*The AVCA poll is out and still no sign of the Pac Ten cockroach problem being addressed. Our weekly Arizona watch shows them with 9 votes. It’s only a matter of time.

*Somebody voted Nebraska #1. Personally, I don’t think they should even be #2.

*Match of the upcoming week? Let’s go with Texas at Nebraska. That one should also help resolve the previous point and should allow the Pac Ten to slip a team into the top three. I know I can’t wait.

*Otherwise it’s not a real exciting week for top-notch matchups, although the Mountain West also kicks off their season with Colorado State hosting Utah and BYU.

*And we should see the debut of the first Pablo of the year. Soon to be followed by an intense discussion about the merits of Pablo and hurt feelings all around.

I know I can't wait for that either.