Al Groh channels his inner Orson Welles.

He gave himself the day off last Saturday, cracked open a beer, grabbed the remote, settled down on the couch, scratched himself in a couple of places and watched some football.

… Preparing for Saturday’s game against North Carolina, Groh watched the Tar Heels play Georgia Tech. He also watched Indiana-Michigan, Alabama-Arkansas, Texas-UTEP, Virginia Tech-Miami, Oregon State-Arizona, Purdue-Notre Dame and Houston-Texas Tech. He even caught an Ivy League game “for the fun of it.”

And after all these years of coaching (and presumably watching countless hours of game tape), he was suddenly blinded by this amazing insight:

“Certainly revealed that there’s probably far too many teams and players that are anointed way too early in the season and far too many teams and players that are condemned too early in the season to see the significant turnarounds that occur in so many games — that a season is to played out rather than to be seen in microcosm,” Groh said. “I realize that’s not the reality of the way things seem, but that’s the reality of the way things go.”

Too true.  Too, too, too, true.

Yes, a football season is meant to be savored.  It must be allowed to ripen in the fullness of time, so that another 5-7 year can be fully appreciated for itself.

Al Groh will judge no college football before its time.

Also, it probably needs to be allowed to breathe a little before consuming.