This Week in College Football 8/31 - 9/4

[Bored 0]

Edit: Yes I know it's Cal at Tennessee...I'll have it fixed.

 

We're less than a week away from the season kicking off and one week from the first Saturday so might as well get this started now...and since a Notre Dame/Georgia Tech discussion has alread started up in my pick 'em thread.

 

I think the game of the week is the Cal/Tennessee game and I'm hoping that Cal gets humiliated. Jeff Tedford is probably the best thing that has ever happened to their painfully mediocre program but under him they still haven't had a truly high profile non-conference win. Maybe the Insight Bowl against Virginia Tech in 2002 would count but low profile bowl games don't really bring much attention to a program. This is the type of game that can vault a program to the next level. Even with Tennessee coming off an incredibly dissapointing year they are still viewed as a strong program and I think they might be a little underrated coming into the season. But fuck doing it for the conference, any other Pac-10 team I'd be rooting for them. I want Cal to crash and burn and be written off early in the season. Go Vols. Fuck those Bears up. Besides I'll need something to be happy about after Stanford gets crushed in Eugene.

 

Newtwork/Basic Cable Schedule

 

THURSDAY

Boston College at Central Michigan, 6:00/3:00 PM, ESPN2

South Carolina at Mississippi State, 8:005/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

FRIDAY

Nevada at Fresno State, 10:00/7:00 PM, ESPN2

 

SATURDAY

Vanderbilt at #14 Michigan, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN

North Texas at #3 Texas, Noon/9:00 AM, FSN

 

Northern Illinois at #1 Ohio State, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC*

Stanford at #21 Oregon, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC*

Rutgers at North Carolina, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC*

Akron at #19 Penn State, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPN2

Louisiana Tech at #20 Nebraska, 3:30/12:30 PM, FSN

 

#9 California at #23 Tennessee, 5:30/2:30 PM, ESPN

UAB at #10 Oklahoma, 7:00/4:00 PM, TBS

Utah at UCLA, 7:00/4:00 PM, FSN

 

Washington State at #4 Auburn, 7:45/4:45 PM, ESPN2

#2 Notre Dame at Georgia Tech, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC

#6 USC at Arkansas, 8:45/5:45 PM, ESPN

 

BYU at Arizona, 10:15/7:15 PM, TBS

 

SUNDAY

Memphis at Mississippi, 4:30/1:30 PM, ESPN

#22 TCU at Baylor, 5:30/2:30 PM, FSN

 

Kentucky at #13 Louisville, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

MONDAY

#11 Florida State at #12 Miami, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

Other Cable/GamePlan Schedule

 

THURSDAY

Northwestern at Miami of Ohio, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPNU

UTEP at San Diego State, 10:30/7:30 PM, CSTV

 

SATURDAY

Montana at #16 Iowa, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPNU

Idaho at Michigan State, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN+/GP

Western Kentucky at #15 Georgia, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, LFP/GP

Florida Atlantic at #18 Clemson, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPNU

Marshall at #5 West Virginia, 3:30/12:30 PM, GP

East Carolina at Navy, 5:30/2:30 PM, CSTV

Southern Miss at #7 Florida, 6:00/3:00 PM, GP

Virginia at Pittsburgh, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPNU

McNeese State at South Florida, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP

Wisconsin at Bowling Green, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP

Hawaii at Alabama, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP

Louisiana-Lafayette at #8 LSU, 8:00/5:00 PM, GP

Houston at Rice, 9:00/6:00 PM, CSTV

 

All Other D-IA Games

 

Note: I'm not sure if ESPN360 games are also shown on GamePlan so I'll just list them down here.

 

THURSDAY

Stephen F Austin at Tulsa

Temple at Buffalo

Florida International at Middle Tennessee

Eastern Michigan at Ball State

Rhode Island at Connecticut

Minnesota at Kent State, ESPN360

Toledo at Iowa State

Sacramento State at Boise State

SE Louisiana at New Mexico State

Northern Arizona at #24 Arizona State

Eastern Washington at Oregon State

 

SATURDAY

Alcorn State at Louisiana-Monroe

Indiana State at Purdue

Northeastern at #17 Virginia Tech

Montana State at Colorado

San Jose State at Washington

Utah State at Washington

Weber State at Colorado State

Western Michigan at Indiana

William & Mary at Maryland

Richmond at Duke

Appalachian State at N.C. State

Villanova at Central Florida

Syracuse at Wake Forest, ESPN360

Murray State at Missouri

Tennessee-Martin at Ohio

Missouri State at Oklahoma State

Citadel at Texas A&M

Eastern Illinois at Illinois

Northwestern State at Kansas

SMU at #25 Texas Tech

Alabama State at Troy

Army at Arkansas State

Illinois State at Kansas State

Eastern Kentucky at Cincinnati

Portland State at New Mexico

Idaho State at UNLV

[Art Sandusky 0]

 

Aight, here we go! My absolute favorite time of the year.

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

I will almost certainly be at Autzen Stadium to hopefully see the Ducks roll over Stanford and start what I hope will be a successful season. I'll provide a live report after the game if there's anything noteworthy to comment on.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Are 360 games you can watch for free online. I've never understood what it actually is.

[Bored 0]

I've never been quite sure what it is either but from best I can tell it is free but I've never tried to watch a game live to see if it was. I guess I'll try to give it a shot on Thursday to see if the Minnesota/Kent State game comes through for free.

[Damaramu 0]

Woot! I'm pumped up to watch Paul Thompson throw two INTs and fumble in the first quarter causing Stoops to freak and run AD a record 32 times in the 2nd quarter alone causing horrible injury and the end of the season.

[Secret Agent 0]

Good God, shut the fuck up already, Dama!

[Angel_Grace_Blue 0]

Go Auburn and stuff. Don't have the same thing happen when you were ranked kinda high and started the season off against a Pac-10 team (Though I doubt WSU = USC). Uh, yeah. McStuff!

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

Woot! I'm pumped up to watch Paul Thompson throw two INTs and fumble in the first quarter causing Stoops to freak and run AD a record 32 times in the 2nd quarter alone causing horrible injury and the end of the season.

 

I hope this happens before the Sooners come to Eugene.

[Guest]

SC is going to fuck Arkansas the fuck up.

 

I might not be able to watch it.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Good God, shut the fuck up already, Dama!

[Damaramu 0]

Good God, shut the fuck up already, Dama!

 

Why because I'm being realistic? OU is going to have trouble this year(maybe not as much as last year) but they are really fucked without Bomar now(even though he wasn't that great) and the O-Line is fucked worse than last year.

 

And Leena you should be happy I'm not blindly being an OU homer and declaring that AD is going to run wild on the country for 4,000 yards. Or do you want me to do that so it gives you more ammunition?

[Damaramu 0]

Woot! I'm pumped up to watch Paul Thompson throw two INTs and fumble in the first quarter causing Stoops to freak and run AD a record 32 times in the 2nd quarter alone causing horrible injury and the end of the season.

 

I hope this happens before the Sooners come to Eugene.

 

Oregon did a decent job of holding Peterson in check during the bowl game(he only had 80 yards and no TDs) and I doubt Thompson will be composed in front of that hostile of a crowd. He'll only have 3 total college starts going into that game(counting the TCU game last year) which means he probably won't be completely comfortable and will probably be rattled easily. Then all Oregon has to do is load the box.

[Guest Princess Leena]

And Leena you should be happy I'm not blindly being an OU homer and declaring that AD is going to run wild on the country for 4,000 yards. Or do you want me to do that so it gives you more ammunition?

 

I don't do things like that, sir.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Dama, not to pile on, but there's realistic and there's cynical.

[iggymcfly 0]

Yeah seriously, you've got the second third fourth best team in the Big 12. Quit complaining.

[Damaramu 0]

Yeah what I said was a cynical exaggeration but they're seriously going to lose confidence in Thompson the first time he screws up and run AD until he gets hurt.

AD got hurt last year because there were 8-9 guys in the box constantly and all they did was run him(to the same side of the field each time too) and now they're saying they're going to run him more.

No man can withstand 30 carries a game while running into an 8 guy front constantly.

 

However OU's defense should be back to Stoops like awesome levels so they won't have to worry about having to score too much because nobody's going to conistently score very much on them.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

So, the ACC. Here's what I think is important this year in my favorite conference.

 

-Clemson is not as good as everyone is hyping them to be. They're last year's Georgia Tech, 2004's Virginia: a good, heavily hyped team that will do fine but isn't going anywhere special. 8-4, with FSU whooping their asses hard this time.

 

-The closest thing the ACC has to a sleeper pick this year is Boston College.

 

-We'll get an FSU/Miami championship game this year after all. Neither will go undefeated but they'll both be something like 11-1 or 10-2. No one else in the conference is good enough to go 7-1 or 6-2 with a tiebreaker win over one of them. Having the two of them play in the first week of the season is still stupid.

 

-Same story as always: with the exception of Duke, anyone can beat anyone any week in the ACC, moreso than any other conference, I think.

 

-Maryland will get back to a bowl this year, and NC State will get to another. Shitty bowls, but bowls nonetheless. I'm not particularly fond of the 12-game schedule, because it's going to vastly increase the number of mediocre 7-5 teams nationwide.

 

-Virginia Tech will drop off this year, but probably not a ton. I'd like to see them collapse entirely, miss a bowl, and have their entire offensive line jailed, but the fact is they return an excellent defense and a good if not deep o-line, have an incredibly light schedule (they miss FSU again, have 8 home games, and play Southern Miss, Northeastern, Kent State, and Cincinnati out of conference), and will probably go 9-3 or so.

 

-Georgia Tech will get 7 wins and no more for the 5th year in a row. I hope Chan Gailey coaches them forever.

 

-Virginia will go 11-1 with a loss at FSU. They'll then avenge themselves in the ACC championship game and beat Ohio State on a last second field goal in the Rose Bowl to finish the season ranked #3. (In other words, we're gonna go 7-5 and play in the Tire Bowl or something like that. It's a rebuilding year for my boys, and it could go terribly, but I'm hoping we'll beat Pitt or GT for a strong road win and steal a game from one of the Big Three.)

[iggymcfly 0]

Here are my ACC thoughts:

 

Florida State's extremely overrated. They were mediocre last year, where they pulled out one miracle against Va. Tech that saved their season. Now, they're returning something like 11 starters and everyone thinks they're going to be better? I don't buy it.

 

I think just by virtue of Florida State being down, Clemson does take the Atlantic at something like 6-2 in conference, but loses to South Carolina and then gets pounded in the ACC Championship.

 

Georgia Tech will be a lot better this year, and with some senior leadership, they'll be less likely to overlook the smaller games that have gotten them killed year in, year out. I'm not going to predict anything ridiculous, but with their schedule, I think they could easily go 10-2 (6-2) and finish the season ranked in the Top 15.

 

I think Miami's the team that gets the job done this year, going 7-1 in conference after an early loss to Louisville and winning the conference title. Coker's boys got demoralized late in the year and finished with three losses, but they were the most talented team through the balance of the conference slate and they will be again this year. I say Miami finishes with a final record of 12-2 after beating West Virginia in the Orange Bowl.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Iggy's ACC thoughts are more like GAYCC thoughts. I'll see you in Bored's pick 'em, sucka. I do agree that, overall, Miami is probably the team to beat.

 

Georgia Tech won't get anywhere near double digit wins as long as Reggie "45% completion rate" Ball is behind center. If he somehow turns it around and becomes a Jason Campbell-esque senior year hero, I'll be stunned.

[Urban Warfare 0]

I'm really looking forward to the first week with Georgia Tech vs Notre Dame being a must see. I will be missing the Tennessee-Cal game, however, as I do not get ESPN.

 

I've also heard that the first Gator game could be delayed due to Hurricane Ernesto which fucking sucks.

 

 

Edit:

 

Texas' new $8 million HD jumbotron

[Art Sandusky 0]

Good lord.

[Broward83 0]

"The guys are talking about trying to hook up an Xbox to play games," Crowder said.

 

...that would be the greatest game of Madden or Halo ever played...

 

 

Oh, in other news. Sam Houston State has picked up free agent Rhett Bomar.

[Art Sandusky 0]

It's funny that they were inspired by the Arkansas renovation, which was the first thing that popped into my head upon seeing this "Godzillatron."

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Games I'm looking forward to catching...

 

Boston College vs. Central Michigan: How do L.V. Whitworth and Andre Callendar do sharing carries? I'm also interesting to see how QB Matt Ryan does to replace Quinton Porter.

 

Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech: Brady Quinn as the "Heisman" showcase and Calvin Johnson looking to make more of a name on the national stage.

 

Kentucky vs. Louisville: How do Michael Bush and Brian Brohm look?

[nogoodnick 0]

I was looking around on some college football blogs and noticed that former Michigan QB Matt Gutierrez transfered to Idaho State. Thought that might be news to someone because I certainly didn't know.

[Guest]

There's going to be one good upset, like Marshall over West Virginia.

 

No, I did not say that was going to happen, it's just an example.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Interesting things to look for, for those who follow I-AA football at all...

 

RB Clifton Dawson (Harvard): Only 1,008 yards shy of breaking Ed Marinaro's Ivy League record of 4,715 yards rushing in a career.

 

WR David Ball (New Hampshire): Needs 6 TD to break Jerry Rice's I-AA TD mark. He also needs 1,153 yards to break Rice's career record of 4,693 yards.

 

Senior players to keep an eye on

WR Tyrone Timmons (Mississippi Valley State): 6'3" and 210 lbs has the definite size. Is regarded as one of the top NFL prospects in the I-AA WR class.

 

WR David Ball (New Hampshire): 6'3" and 185 lbs also has great size. Is the active I-AA WR leader in catches, yards, and TD.

 

RB Arkee Whitlock (Southern Illinois): 5'9" and 200 lbs. Considered the most complete RB in I-AA.

 

RB Alonzo Coleman (Hampton): 5'11" and 205 lbs. Has 3,606 yards and 50 TD in his career entering his Sr. season. Been a large reason why Hampton has gone 21-3 the past 2 seasons.

 

QB Justin Rascati (James Madison): 6'2" and 220 lbs. Has 3,867 yards with 31 TD vs. 10 INT and has completed nearly 70% of his passes in 2 seasons.

 

QB Colin Drafts (Charleston Southern): 6'3" and 200 lbs. Has 5,126 yards with 41 TD vs. 17 INT the last 2 seasons. Another solid year could make him a name to watch for on draft day.

[Bored 0]

Season starts in less than 24 hours. I do wish there was a big game tommorrow night to kick off the season like USC/Virginia Tech two years ago. UTEP/San Diego State is the match-up that interets me the most but sadly I still don't get CSTV.

[iggymcfly 0]

As Spongebob Squarepants would say "I'm ready! I'm ready!" It's kind of a bummer that Iowa State/Toledo's not on TV anywhere tonight, but I'll definitely watch the UTEP/SDSU game and part of the SC/Miss St. game too.