The Hlists: College football’s toughest force is lightning

If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, Michael Corleone said in 'The Godfather Part II,” it's that people love lists.

Who am I to deny the public of its desires? So here are the Hlists for Week 1 of the college football season:

GAMES DELAYED BY LIGHTNING OR HEAVY RAIN

1. Temple-Vanderbilt

2. Idaho-Florida

3. Montana-Wyoming

4. Morgan State-Eastern Michigan

5. Western Carolina-South Florida

6. Arkansas-Auburn

7. Indiana State-Indiana

THREE GAMES I WISH I'D ATTENDED LAST WEEK

1. Texas A&M-South Carolina. For one thing, the Aggies are big-time fun to watch. For another, being in South Carolina for the fever-pitch before the game with many people calling the Gamecocks outside contenders for a College Football Playoff berth, and then seeing that dream get crushed before the calendar flipped into September would have been ... interesting.

2. Penn State-Central Florida. I'd have said the same about any college football game played in Dublin, a wonderful place to visit. But then the game was very good, very dramatic.

3. Colorado State-Colorado. They aren't two playoff contenders, but if I'd been in Denver last Friday night I wouldn't have missed this. It seemed extremely spirited on television.

THREE GAMES I'M GLAD I MISSED

1. Temple-Vanderbilt. OMG. It started late because of bad weather, and ended at 1:14 a.m. local time in Nashville. On top of that, Vanderbilt was absolutely brutal in losing to the lightly regarded Owls, 37-7.

2. Presbyterian-Northern Illinois. The Huskies won, 55-3. Presbyterian kicked a field goal with six seconds left to wreck the shutout. NIU had 36 first downs, Presbyterian 6.

3. Idaho-Florida. There was no game. Just rain. And lightning. It may get rescheduled on Oct. 25, but that's to be determined. How would you like to have been Idaho and flown all the way to Florida for that? How would you like to be Florida and have a team you can beat to start this season after going 4-8 last year. Oh well, the Gators host Eastern Michigan this Saturday. Weather permitting, that is.

'CROWDS”

1. Indiana State at Indiana, 38,006

2. Western Michigan at Purdue, 37.031

3. Youngstown State at Illinois, 36,234

4. Washington at Hawaii, 32,197

5. Rutgers at Washington State, 30,927

6. Abilene Christian at Georgia State 6,109 (in 80,000-seat Georgia Dome, which is configured for 28,155 seats for Georgia State games)

WORST LOSS

1. Holy Cross led Albany, 13-7, and was running out the clock when running back Gabe Guild fumbled. Albany safety Neil Morrison picked up the loose ball and ran 79 yards for a touchdown with :44 left. Albany made the PAT and won, 14-13.

BIG TEN TEAMS THAT WERE OUTGAINED AND STILL WON

1. Iowa 401 yards, Northern Iowa 405

2. Illinois 363, Youngstown State 380

3. Purdue 407, Western Michigan 456

4. Rutgers 496, Washington State 538

MY FOUR PLAYOFF TEAMS BASED ON WEEK 1 ALONE

1. Texas A&M. Won at South Carolina

2. Georgia. Beat Clemson.

3. LSU. Beat Wisconsin.

4. Penn State. Beat a UCF team that went 12-1 last year.

FOUR TEAMS THAT WOULDN'T ENTER THE DISCUSSION BASED ON WEEK 1 COMPETITION

1. Oregon. Played South Dakota

2. Michigan State. Played Jacksonville State

3. Stanford. Played UC-Davis

4. Arizona State. Played Weber State

GAMES TO ANTICIPATE THIS WEEK

1. Michigan State at Oregon

2. Michigan at Notre Dame

3. USC at Stanford

4. BYU at Texas

GAMES FLYING UNDER THE RADAR THAT COULD BE GOOD

1. East Carolina at South Carolina

2. Arizona at UT-San Antonio

3. Western Kentucky at Illinois

4. Pittsburgh at Boston College

GAMES TO AVOID LIKE A LOU HOLTZ-MARK MAY DEBATE

1. The Citadel at Florida State

2. Northwestern State at Baylor

3. Howard at Rutgers

4. Southeast Missouri State at Kansas