YEAH THAT’S RIGHT – You waited all Spring and Summer, and finally, the only reason for getting out of bed early in the week is back: Justin McIsaac’s Top 10!

10. I WAS LATE TO THE PARTY ON LAST CHANCE U BUT I’M ALL IN NOW

I’m watching Season 3 right now as we speak, and Coach Brown is having a full on meltdown at practice. He’s out of his mind, and he’s still 10x better than Buddy Stephens. Or maybe he’s not, I don’t know, it’s only ep 2 of the season. Am I angling for Netflix to do a documentary on the Seacoast tourney next year? Let’s just say I wouldn’t turn them down.

9. RED HAWKS WITH A SHOCK

Coming down from D2, a lot of people had Laconia pegged as a D3 favorite this year. But Colby Quiet was anything but for Hillsborough-Deering/Hopkinton, running for 2 TD’s and tackling everything in sight on D. Laconia looks to bounce back this week v Kearsarge

8. OK FINE LET’S TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO UNH

It wasn’t good! Maine came out and looked like the more inspired team, and it didn’t help that Trevor Knight was injured in the 2nd quarter. The first game of the year can be difficult, with no preseason, and only intra-squad scrimmages to go on. But UNH will need to get it turned around in a hurry with a pretty good Colgate team coming to town on Saturday.

7. IT’S NOT A SHUTTLE PASS. IT’S NOT A SHUFFLE PASS. IT’S A SHOVEL PASS. PLEASE MAKE A NOTE

I don’t know why this bugs me so much, but I’ve heard a shovel pass called 19 different things this weekend, in the midst of watching 91 straight hours of college football. JUST CALL IT A SHOVEL PASS THAT’S WHAT IT’S CALLED. Good Grief.

6. BOW WOULD RATHER NOT SEE PLYMOUTH FOR A WHILE IF THAT’S COOL

For the last two years, Plymouth has been D2 Champ, at the expense of Bow. The schedule maker was unkind to the Falcons to start the year as they trekked up I-93 to the land of Linehan Sanborn. Plymouth picked up the W, the 5th straight over Bow overall.

5. BOISE STATE HAS A DAMN TURNOVER THRONE

Look at that thing! Not a chain. Not a belt. A DAMNED THRONE. Those of you new to the site might not realize that Boise State is my FCS Football team of choice. But whether you love the Smurf Turf or never heard of Boise, how the hell can you not respect a Throne for the KING OF CHAOS?!?!? Boise, BTW, smacked around what is supposed to be a pretty good Troy team on the road by a count of 56-20, I’m already getting ready to write the Playoff Committee nasty emails if they leave us out.

4. SALEM OPENS UP WITH A STATEMENT

Eyebrows were raised when Der Kommiser of  NHSportspage picked Exeter to miss the playoffs, and Salem as one of the favorites. Now, Exeter could very well bounce back from the Blue Devils 28-7 win, but Salem looked every bit as good as advertised in the win. Riley Mulvey lead a punishing running attack, and Blue Devils were better than Blue Hawks, at least for one night.

3. LISTEN TO THIS MALARKEY

Ok, here’s where I get to complain about my upcoming travel hell weekend. Because you’re not REALLY in the media unless you complain about traveling.

So Mrs. McIsaac has a cousin that is getting married. On Sunday, 9/9. That’s right, someone picked not only a Sunday, but WEEK 1 OF NFL SUNDAY. So I’m already annoyed by this. But it gets better.

The McIsaacs, minus me, are headed out on Saturday morning. I have UNH v Colgate at 6pm on Saturday. Ironically, the wedding is in Hamilton, NY, where Colgate is located. I tried to hitch a ride back to Hamilton with the Colgate football team, but couldn’t get a call back. Evidently they don’t dig the top 10 at Colgate.

So I have to fly out at 6 am to Philly, then catch a flight back to Syracuse, THEN get a ride from my brother in law, all to attend a wedding I don’t care about, and get yelled at for staring at the Pats game on my phone during the ceremony. The things we do for family….  

2. THE ANNUAL STAFF PICKS PSA

Listen. We do staff picks every week. So every week, 10 teams are picked FOR, and 10 teams are picked AGAINST. Half the time, Dave puts Spaulding on there against a heavy favorite, because he knows I’d take my beloved Red Raiders against anyone, even the 2007 Pats. WE DON’T REALLY TAKE IT ALL THAT SERIOUSLY. Half the time, when we get the email, I make my picks from the toilet (Sorry Jen).

So yes, by all means, engage in some fun trash talk with us. When we get picks wrong, make fun of us a bit. But please, I’m begging you, don’t act like we’ve declared a holy war against your school just because you played Pinkerton, and one of us took the Astros (or whatever). It’s not that serious.

1. Y’ALL, CAMPBELL IS GOOD

Defending D3 Champ Campbell certainly doesn’t look like a typical D3 team warming up. They’ve got big dudes everywhere, and they beat up Somersworth on opening night by just being more physical. Keegan Mills, Cam Barrett, and the rest of the Cougars served notice that they want to get back to Durham, and it ain’t gonna be easy to move them from the Mountaintop.

ALSO RECEIVING VOTES:  Gilford/Belmont with the W (have to mention this or I get fired), Concord hangs on to beat South, The Rochester Fair is BACK, You people screaming about Pumpkin Lattes when it’s 108 degrees outside

Justin McIsaac writes the Top 10 every week (usually). He has 1,000 jobs, including radio color commentary for UNH Football, HS play by play for MOSN, The McIsaac On Sports Network, college play by play for Dartmouth, St Anselm’s, UNE, Harvard, and whoever else will cut the check. Follow him on Twitter: @justin_mcisaac