This Week in College Football 9/7 - 9/9

[Bored 0]

Network/Basic Cable Schedule

 

THURSDAY

Oregon State at Boise State, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPN

 

FRIDAY

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2

 

SATURDAY

#16 Virginia Tech at North Carolina, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN

Illinois at Rutgers, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN2

Mississippi at Missouri, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, FSN

 

#19 Penn State at #4t Notre Dame, 3:30/12:30 PM, NBC

#18 Clemson at Boston College, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC*

#14 Iowa at Syracuse, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC*

Washington at #15 Oklahoma, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC*

 

Arizona at #8 LSU, 6:30/3:30 PM, ESPN2

Minnesota at #22 California, 7:00/4:00 PM, TBS

#12 Georgia at South Carolina, 7:45/4:45 PM, ESPN

#1 Ohio State at #2 Texas, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC

 

#20 Oregon at Fresno State, 10:00/7:00 PM, ESPN2

 

Other Cable/GamePlan Schedule

 

SATURDAY

Akron at N.C. State, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPNU

Duke at Wake Forest, Noon/9:00 AM, LFP/GP

Central Michigan at #10 Michigan, Noon/9:00 AM, GP

#13 Louisville at Temple, Noon/9:00 AM, GP

Kent State at Army, 1:00 PM/10:00 AM, ESPN Classic

Western Illinois at Wisconsin, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPNU

Eastern Michigan at Michigan State, 3:30/12:30 PM, GP

Vanderbilt at Alabama, 3:30/12:30 PM, GP

Idaho at Washington State, 3:45/12:45 PM, FSN Regional

Troy at #9 Florida State, 6:00/3:00 PM, GP

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

Oklahoma State at Arkansas State, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPNU

Air Force at #11 Tennessee, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP

#24 Texas Tech at UTEP, 9:00/6:00 PM, CSTV

Nevada at #25 Arizona State, 10:00/7:00 PM, FSN Regional

 

All Other D-IA Games

 

SATURDAY

Eastern Washington at #6 West Virginia

Miami of Ohio at Purdue, ESPN360

Nicholls State at #21 Nebraska

Massachusetts at Navy

New Hampshire at Northwestern

Buffalo at Bowling Green

Ohio at Northern Illinois

Samford at Georgia Tech

Wyoming at Virginia

Tulsa at BYU

Hofstra at Marshall

Colorado vs. Colorado State

Stanford at San Jose State

Texas State at Kentucky

Middle Tennessee at Maryland

Indiana at Ball State

East Carolina at UAB

Utah State at Arkansas

Florida International at South Florida, ESPN360

UNLV at Iowa State

Northwestern State at Baylor

UL Lafayette at Texas A&M

Tulane at Houston

SMU at North Texas

UL Monroe at Kansas

Florida A&M at #17 Miami, ESPN360

Toledo at Western Michigan

Florida Atlantic at Kansas State

New Mexico at New Mexico State

Chattanooga at Memphis

Northern Arizona at Utah

Rice at UCLA

[Damaramu 0]

If the game was on FSN or TBS OU would be ranked #10. ABC or ESPN #15.

I hate the dual poll system.

 

Anyway things may be bad for OU this week unless the defense figures out what's up. Washington's QB is a hell of a lot more mobile than UAB's QB.

OU still has the best player in the country though at RB so he will keep them in the game.

[snuffbox 0]

OS-Texas is my best birthday present of the year.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Some marquee I-AA games to keep an eye on...

 

#9 Massachusetts vs. Navy

#1 Appalachian State vs. #12 James Madison (mainly for QB Justin Rascati on JMU)

#22 Texas State vs. Kentucky

New Hampshire vs. Northwestern (mainly for QB Ricky Santos and WR David Ball on UNH)

[yankovic fan 0]

Some marquee I-AA games to keep an eye on...

 

#9 Massachusetts vs. Navy

#1 Appalachian State vs. #12 James Madison (mainly for QB Justin Rascati on JMU)

#22 Texas State vs. Kentucky

New Hampshire vs. Northwestern (mainly for QB Ricky Santos and WR David Ball on UNH)

 

My alma mater, Nicholls State, takes on Nebraska. My only concern is that no one gets hurt.

[Damaramu 0]

I'm kind of glad OU was moved down to 15.

I mean after watching them Saturday I thought to myself "could they beat any other team in the top 10?" and my answer was an emphatic "no" and my best friend who is a big OU homer agreed with me. His exact words were "they'd get their asses stomped by every other top 10 team. It wouldn't be close."

[Guest Princess Leena]

If you thought it to yourself, then how did your buddy agree with you.

 

At the moment, I'd have a tough time naming ten teams better than OU. I mean, Michigan is Top 10 in the AP poll. They blow.

[Damaramu 0]

In the original poll.

You're right about the ten though. I think that:

 

Ohio State, Texas, USC, Auburn, LSU, West Virginia would all beat OU handidly.

 

I think they would have trouble with Iowa, Notre Dame, Louisville, FSU, Miami, Michigan, Florida, and Georgia.

 

We'll find out about Miami next year. Hopefully OU isn't breaking in a redshirt freshman at QB. Maybe they can pick up a good JUCO transfer. Putting a freshman against Miami? yikes.

 

 

And of course I mentioned it out loud after I thought it.

 

And Leena defending OU? What's up with that? When I'm down on OU everyone is defending them(even 909 defended there performance last week) but when I'm high on them everyone is down on them hardcore.

[Guest Princess Leena]

I'm not that high on OU... and they did deserve a slight dip in the polls after barely beating UAB. But, it's the 1st game of the year. Nearly every team looks awful and makes mistakes.

 

The defense was worrying, and definitely needs to improve quickly. Many missed tackles, and giving up way too many easy 1st downs.

 

I love that OU offense, though. Obviously, with Peterson. But, I think losing Bomar was a blessing in disguise. I was quite impressed with Thompson. He made very few bad decisions. If you guys had a decent WR, you would have blown UAB like you should have. Hopefully, a Clayton type can emerge out of there.

[lomasmoney 0]

If you thought it to yourself, then how did your buddy agree with you.

 

At the moment, I'd have a tough time naming ten teams better than OU. I mean, Michigan is Top 10 in the AP poll. They blow.

 

HUH..... What exactly leads you to believe that Michigan is any worse than teams like say Notre Dame or Auburn. Notre Dame got Dwayne Wade type officiating from the refs to beat Georgia Tech, while Michigan dominated Vanderbilt much more than the score indicated. Sure they were shaky in the passing game which would explain their lack of scoring, but they were one play away from shutting out Vandy. They have more talent than Notre Dame, and this season's team finally has the agression to match their talent. If Notre Dame comes out and plays like they did against Michigan they will get beat by two touchdowns at least, that is provided they get by Penn State on Saturday. I personally think that Michigan when it is all said and done will be a one loss team and ranked in the top 5.

[Damaramu 0]

I'm not that high on OU... and they did deserve a slight dip in the polls after barely beating UAB. But, it's the 1st game of the year. Nearly every team looks awful and makes mistakes.

 

The defense was worrying, and definitely needs to improve quickly. Many missed tackles, and giving up way too many easy 1st downs.

 

I love that OU offense, though. Obviously, with Peterson. But, I think losing Bomar was a blessing in disguise. I was quite impressed with Thompson. He made very few bad decisions. If you guys had a decent WR, you would have blown UAB like you should have. Hopefully, a Clayton type can emerge out of there.

 

We do have a decent receiver. His name is Malcom Kelly and Herbstreit even picked him on the list of "Names which will be household names by the end of the season."

And Manuel Johnson was our other awesome receiver but he was hurt.

Finley's a good pass catching tight end. Obviously he caught one of the TDs and he was Bomar's first 2 TDs last season.

How about the block Finley laid on the Peterson swing pass? The big knock on him last year was that he couldn't block. He was basically a 6'7" slow WR playing tight end.

Of course nothing will match the Peterson run against Texas Tech two years ago where Mark Clayton up ended a DB and landed the guy on his head.

 

That's one thing OU is missing. That nasty physical hurt and embarass you mentality. Peterson has it but the rest don't. Teams like Ohio State, Texas, and USC seem to not only want to win but humiliate their opponents in the process.

[Guest]

A part of me thinks that OU is going to be one of the one loss teams that have a chance to get to the title game. I think that every team is going to lose once. OU's underrated.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Good day for games. I'm looking forward to seeing how VT, UNC, Clemson, and BC actually look this year. And of course, there's the main event.

 

Anyone have a link to the ABC regional coverage map? One always pops up and I always forget to bookmark it.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Ohio St/Texas wont be that good of a game..

 

and Maryland vs Middle Tennessee St..zzzz

[Damaramu 0]

A part of me thinks that OU is going to be one of the one loss teams that have a chance to get to the title game. I think that every team is going to lose once. OU's underrated.

 

They do have the best player in the country(Peterson) and one of the best defensive players in the country(Rufus Alexander) but those two players do not a team make. However it's pretty apparent that if Peterson went down OU would be fucked hard. I mean they might've won some of those games they lost last season(TCU and maybe UCLA) if Peterson had been healthy.

[Guest]

Every team has huge flaws though.

[Damaramu 0]

So what are USC's huge flaws? You as a USC fan should know them. Because after saturday according to the national media they have no flaws!

[Guest]

Inexperience. That's one of the biggest flaws a team can have. IMO, Auburn is the most near-to-perfect team, and every team after has problems that could be exposed. Any of the top 10 could beat one of the others on any given night.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Let's not get into the "the media adores USC it's not fair!" thing quite yet. Frankly, you beat a decent team like Arkansas as soundly as they did after losing a lot of superstars, and you really aren't showing a lot of flaws.

 

I see USC's main flaw being the influx of so many new players, who all look great on paper and pretty solid in their first efforts, but obviously have yet to prove that they have what it takes to keep that level of production up all season. John David Booty looks good, I'll say that much--confidence is key in college QBs and it looks like he's got it. Of course, when your "shit, I'm panicking" options are "throw it sorta towards Dwayne Jarrett" and "throw it somewhere in the vicinity of Steve Smith," you're gonna have a great chance to be confident.

 

The second would be the defense, which sat back too often last year and let itself get ripped up before rebounding (Arizona State, Fresno State, Texas). The assessment is that it's improved, but they only kept 3 points more off the board against Arkansas this time around, so the jury's still out. If they can do that to Pac 10 offenses more consistently, they'll play for the title again.

 

I'm dreaming that, somehow, USC and Notre Dame will be #1 and #2 going into their game. If we can get three #1 vs. #2 teams in one year...heaven. (I chose them because I'm not sure there are any other viable combinations for #1 and #2 games throughout the season, based on the game schedule and the current ranking positions of top teams that meet.)

[Damaramu 0]

Speaking of USC. A Nebraska fan called into the radio with the most redneck accent ever and it was just one of the funniest calls I'd hear. He said something like

"What are you guys takes on the Nebraska vs. USC game?"

"Well it won't be close."

"So you think it won't be within single digits?"

"No it'll be a double digit blowout. Like in the 21 point range."

"So you think Nebraska will beat them by that much!?"

"No! USC will win by 21 points or so!"

"I dont' think so honestly. I think it'll be more like a 3 point game."

"I'll be shocked if USC wins by only 3 points."

"No Nebraska will win by 3 points! You guys need to realize that they beat a really really good Louisiana Tech team! That was one of the best teams they'll see all year!"

"You're delusional. bye."

 

That guy was pretty delusional and the redneck accent and sloooooow drawl made it even better.

[CanadianChris 0]

Maybe the guy thought it was South Carolina they were playing. Or maybe he still thinks it's the 90s. Gotta love delusional fans.

[cabbageboy 0]

I don't get how Michigan and Georgia leapfrogged U of L in the polls. Was that epic win over Vandy REALLY that impressive for Michigan? Did squashing WKU do much for Georgia? I know Michael Bush got hurt and all, but they can't wait until U of L actually loses to move teams up?

 

Note: I'm not arguing Tennessee jumping over U of L, since at least they had a notable win over Cal.

[Guest Princess Leena]

I don't either. Michigan looked like crap vs. Vandy. But, 27-7 looks good to people who don't watch the games, and losing your starting RB doesn't.

[therealworldschampion 0]

PSU-ND has the potential to be a decent game, simply because I think PSU's receivers have the ability to give the ND secondary a ton of problems due to their speed, PSU has the edge in the kicking game, and PSU's linebackers in the 3-4 should do a decent job against Darius Walker. I think ND will win because of the home-field advantage and because this is Morelli's first road game (though ND will face a better QB in this game than last week, seriously he showed me more in one game and mop-up duty last year than Reggie Ball has in 4 years), but don't be suprised if it's a close one.

 

I'm just glad they're playing again. I've heard rumblings that Michigan may try to get out of their series with ND, if they do PSU should try and start playing ND every year again like they did in the 80s and early 90s.

[Guest Princess Leena]

I'm excited for Texas Tech-UTEP. With how UTEP played against SDS, and how Texas Tech is, I'd take the over even at 100 points. While everyone else watches OSU-Tejas. Boo.

 

Illinois-Rutgers, also. Just because of last year's wacky game. And I'm sure Rutgers will get revenge. I hate Ron Zook.

 

And maybe see Syracuse get destroyed. But, ABC will show UW/OU probably. Boo.

[CanadianChris 0]

I really don't see a single winnable game on the schedule for Syracuse. I'm expecting them to go 0-12. Patterson is not a good QB, the receivers are horrible, the defence is wretched. When they score an offensive TD, it's an event. The program is at its lowest point probably ever, certainly since before the days of Jim Brown.

 

I'm pretty sure I get spared seeing them lose to Iowa this week, since my ABC affiliates are Boston (probably showing Clemson/BC) and Seattle (undoubtedly showing UW/OU).

[Broward83 0]

A part of me thinks that OU is going to be one of the one loss teams that have a chance to get to the title game. I think that every team is going to lose once. OU's underrated.

 

 

If OU's only loss on the season is to Texas, and Texas either goes undefeated or is a one-loss team to Ohio State, OU won't get the nod over Texas, IMO.

 

 

If OU were in the Big 12 North (like has been thought of by a few people) then they'd have a shot, but with the two of them stuck in the same conference, the loser of the Red River Shootout will more than likely get the nod for a bigger bowl / title game.

[Broward83 0]

A part of me thinks that OU is going to be one of the one loss teams that have a chance to get to the title game. I think that every team is going to lose once. OU's underrated.

 

 

If OU's only loss on the season is to Texas, and Texas either goes undefeated or is a one-loss team to Ohio State, OU won't get the nod over Texas, IMO.

 

 

If OU were in the Big 12 North (like has been thought of by a few people) then they'd have a shot, but with the two of them stuck in the same conference, the loser of the Red River Shootout will more than likely get the nod for a bigger bowl / title game.

[Broward83 0]

A part of me thinks that OU is going to be one of the one loss teams that have a chance to get to the title game. I think that every team is going to lose once. OU's underrated.

 

 

If OU's only loss on the season is to Texas, and Texas either goes undefeated or is a one-loss team to Ohio State, OU won't get the nod over Texas, IMO.

 

 

If OU were in the Big 12 North (like has been thought of by a few people) then they'd have a shot, but with the two of them stuck in the same conference, the loser of the Red River Shootout will more than likely get the nod for a bigger bowl / title game.

[Broward83 0]

A part of me thinks that OU is going to be one of the one loss teams that have a chance to get to the title game. I think that every team is going to lose once. OU's underrated.

 

 

If OU's only loss on the season is to Texas, and Texas either goes undefeated or is a one-loss team to Ohio State, OU won't get the nod over Texas, IMO.

 

 

If OU were in the Big 12 North (like has been thought of by a few people) then they'd have a shot, but with the two of them stuck in the same conference, the loser of the Red River Shootout will more than likely get the nod for a bigger bowl / title game.