The College Football Thread 8/28 - 9/1

[Bored 0]

Finally college football is back...in four days. Once again this year with the holiday weekend we will get five straight days of games starting on Thursday. The biggest game of the opening week is Illinois/Missouri which was really fun game last year that didn't get much attention as no one knew how good those two teams would end up being. Also have Alabama/Clemson and it will just be interesting to see how much the winning team's fanbase overreacts.

 

It's just good to know that for the next 15 Saturdays, you have no reason to leave the couch.

 

Network/Basic Cable Schedule

 

THURSDAY

N.C. State at South Carolina, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

#23 Wake Forest at Baylor, 8:00/5:00 PM, FSN

Oregon State at Stanford, 9:00/6:00 PM, ESPN2

 

FRIDAY

SMU at Rice, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

SATURDAY

#17 Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN

Syracuse at Northwestern, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN2

 

#3 USC at Virginia, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN2*

Utah at Michigan, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN2*

Oklahoma State vs. Washington State, 3:30/12:30 PM, FSN

Delaware at Maryland, 3:45/12:45 PM, ESPN/ESPNU

TCU at New Mexico, 6:00/3:00 PM, Versus

 

Mississippi State at Louisiana Tech, 6:45/3:45 pm, ESPN2

#24 Alabama vs. #9 Clemson, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC*

Michigan State at California, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC*

#20 Illinois vs. #6 Missouri, 8:30/5:30 PM, ESPN

 

Washington at #21 Oregon, 10:00/7:00 PM, FSN

 

SUNDAY

Hampton vs. Jackson State, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, ESPN2

Kentucky at Louisville, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPN

Colorado State vs. Colorado, 7:30/4:30 PM, FSN

 

MONDAY

Fresno State at Rutgers, 4:00/1:00 PM, ESPN

#18 Tennessee at UCLA, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

Digital Cable/Satellite/GamePlan Schedule

 

THURSDAY

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

South Dakota State at Iowa State, 8:00/5:00 PM, FCS Central

 

FRIDAY

Temple at Army, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN Classic

 

SATURDAY

Appalachian State at #7 LSU, 11:00/8:00 AM, ESPN Classic

Bowling Green at #25 Pittsburgh, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPNU

Akron at #13 Wisconsin, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN*

Youngstown State at #2 Ohio State, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN*

Coastal Carolina at #22 Penn State, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN*

Maine at Iowa, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN*

Western Kentucky at Indiana, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN*

Hawaii at #5 Florida, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, Raycom/GP

Georgia Southern at #1 Georgia, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, GP

Ohio at Wyoming, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, Mtn.

Townson at Navy, 3:30/12:30 PM, CBSCS

Villanova at #8 West Virgina, 3:30/12:30 PM, GP

Northern Iowa at #16 BYU, 6:00/3:00 PM, Mtn.

Northern Illinois at Minnesota, 7:00/4:00 PM, BTN

UL Monroe at #10 Auburn, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP

Boston College vs. Kent State, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPNU

Tennessee-Martin at #19 South Florida, 7:30/4:30 PM, GP

Idaho State at Boise State, 8:00/5:00 PM, GP

Northern Arizona at #15 Arizona State, 10:00/7:00 PM, FCS Central

 

All Other Division I-A Games

 

THURSDAY

UTEP at Buffalo

Northeastern at Ball State

Eastern Illinois at Central Michigan

Indiana State at Eastern Michigan

Hofstra at Connecticut

Troy at Middle Tennessee

Jacksonville State at Georgia Tech, ESPN360

Charleston Southern at Miami, ESPN360

 

SATURDAY

Southern Utah at Air Force

Tulsa at UAB

Illinois State at Marshall

McNeese State at North Carolina

South Carolina State at UCF

Chattanooga at #4 Oklahoma

Florida Atlantic at #11 Texas

Eastern Washington at #12 Texas Tech

FIU at #14 Kansas

Western Illinois at Arkansas

Memphis at Mississippi

James Madison at Duke

Western Michigan at Nebraska

Arkansas State at Texas A&M

Southern at Houston

UL Lafayette at Southern Miss

North Texas at Kansas State

UC Davis at San Jose State

Grambling State at Nevada

Cal Poly at San Diego State

Idaho at Arizona

Utah State at UNLV

[Canadian Brandon 0]

Thank God it's football season. I can't wait until Monday night so Tennessee can get some revenge on the Pac-10 by humiliating UCLA.

[Guest]

If that's revenge on the Pac-10, I hope they get it too!

[HarleyQuinn 0]

All I want is App. State to score more than 17 points... and Armanti Edwards to run for one if possible.

[Damaramu 0]

I can't get too pumped about the start of college football because I'll be moving on Saturday! Oh boy. I'll have to sneak a peek whenever I can. I'll be done moving in time to see my Sooners play, but it's nothing to get excited about because it appears to be a glorified scrimmage.

[cabbageboy 0]

Well, it'll be the epic Louisville vs. Kentucky battle for the Governor's Cup here. I have no idea what to expect but the local paper has U of L going 7-5 on the season, UK going 6-6. Frankly I'm astounded that UK could even go .500 this year. All they had was Andre Woodson last year. I'm not expecting greatness from U of L this year by any means, but Cantwell should be a decent replacement for Brohm at QB. Now if the defense can improve.....

[Art Sandusky 0]

Fuck yeah, Monday Night Football that I'll want to see and hear. I'm excited for Alabama/Clemson, and expect Appalachian State to get destroyed. I hope I'm wrong, but you've gotta know that LSU is on full alert for that game, and more fearsome a challenge than Michigan was last year.

[Red Baron 0]

This is just me, as I've been only following college football for three years now, but I think after last years Michigan/App State, a Division I should not be in a bowl game if they lose to a division II team.

[Bored 0]

Considering how many bowl games there are now eventually they'll have to start dipping into I-AA at this rate. With 34 bowl games there's an outside chance this year that there won't be enough bowl eligible teams so we could end up seeing a 5-7 bowl team. So no, teams shouldn't automatically be disqualified from bowl consideration if they lose to a I-AA/FCS/Whatever the fuck you want to call it school especially one the caliber of Appalachian State.

 

It's actually pretty amazing how Michigan bounced back as the following week they were obliterated by Oregon and looked like a team that might struggle win three games, let alone win nine games including beating a very good Florida team in a bowl game.

[Guest Vitamin X]

App. State is I-AA, not Division II. Get that shit straight, fuckers.

 

I kinda like the whole champion vs. champion thing there, and am pulling for App. State to beat LSU, however unlikely that would be. You can't NOT have them be in I-A after beating both LSU and Michigan in back to back years after that.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

BYU is ranked 16th? Who do they have that's notable?

 

I don't have any kind of attachment to the school, I'm just curious as to why they're ranked so highly.

[Matt Young 0]

We's gon' get raped.

[Maztinho 0]

BYU is ranked 16th? Who do they have that's notable?

 

I don't have any kind of attachment to the school, I'm just curious as to why they're ranked so highly.

 

They returned basically the entire offense that won the MWC last year, their QB as always is pretty good, and while they have to rebuild the Linebacking core they've gone 11-2 the last two years and Bronco Mendenhall is a defensive mind.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Good to know! Given what's typically shown on tv around here, I typically know very little of college teams located between Oklahoma and Los Angeles.

[AboveAverage484 0]

As an Alabama fan, I'm technically not supposed to like LSU but I hope they destroy Appalachian State just to prove once again that the SEC is superior to the Big Ten. Well, I guess it really doesn't prove anything in the long run, but it's something I can point to when comparing my favorite conference to my most hated.

[Bored 0]

After CBS locked up first choice rights for SEC games for the next 15 years, ESPN signed a deal today that will give them every other SEC home game for the next 15 years (also includes additional basketball games on the ESPN networks, including ABC). This will end the Raycom/LincolnFinancial/JeffersonPilot hilariously bad coverage of those lower tier SEC games after this season.

[Damaramu 0]

As an Alabama fan, I'm technically not supposed to like LSU but I hope they destroy Appalachian State just to prove once again that the SEC is superior to the Big Ten. Well, I guess it really doesn't prove anything in the long run, but it's something I can point to when comparing my favorite conference to my most hated.

 

The last two national title games didn't do enough to prove that?

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

After CBS locked up first choice rights for SEC games for the next 15 years, ESPN signed a deal today that will give them every other SEC home game for the next 15 years (also includes additional basketball games on the ESPN networks, including ABC). This will end the Raycom/LincolnFinancial/JeffersonPilot hilariously bad coverage of those lower tier SEC games after this season.

That's right, baby. Raycom, all its guys named Mike, and Doc "drunken metaphor" Walker are now exclusive properties of the ACC! Sigh.

 

I'm not too thrilled about this, as much as I like watching the SEC on CBS games every week. The Pac-10 and Big XII are already barely visible on either the CBS or ABC/ESPN families, and I doubt this will help that much. Apparently one of the provisions of the $2 billion ESPN deal is that ESPN-U gets added to Comcast's cable package in a pile of places with SEC fanbases. This is good because I'm all for more college football (and UVA is on ESPN-U fairly regularly), but bad in that I half-expect two-thirds of ESPN/2/ABC games to be SEC while the Big Ten, East, and ACC get shunted to U. According to the AJC report on this, all SEC conference games will be aired. Last year, 9 weren't, and at least 13 had to have been the weekly Raycom games. That's 22 fewer slots for everybody else on the big boys, though the expected expansion of ESPN-U will be picking up a decent chunk of those.

[yankovic fan 0]

All I want is App. State to score more than 17 points... and Armanti Edwards to run for one if possible.

 

And on that note I hope Red Stick University scores LESS than 17 points and AE runs for two if possible.

 

 

No, I'm not against LSU at all or anything

 

 

My guys have a week 1 bye. Kinda bummed since I'm off work and willing to travel. Oh well. I'm stocking up on snacks to watch the tv.

 

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

I'll be at Autzen on Saturday to see if whoever the Ducks stick under center (presumably Justin Roper at this point) can tear the Huskies a new one. I'm cautiously optimistic about this season because even though QB is the last place you want to have your big question mark, all the other positions are looking pretty solid. I think a top 15 finish for the Ducks isn't impossible, but I don't think there are going to be any Championship Game dreams like there were until Dixon's knee went adios.

[Mike wanna be 0]

How the fuck did Syracuse get a televised game on opening weekend?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I'll be at Autzen on Saturday to see if whoever the Ducks stick under center (presumably Justin Roper at this point) can tear the Huskies a new one. I'm cautiously optimistic about this season because even though QB is the last place you want to have your big question mark, all the other positions are looking pretty solid. I think a top 15 finish for the Ducks isn't impossible, but I don't think there are going to be any Championship Game dreams like there were until Dixon's knee went adios.

 

 

Hey, I'll be there too.

 

Didn't realize we had another Oregonian in our ranks.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Hey, he could just be making a road trip.

 

Meanwhile, I'll be at PGE Park on Saturday to watch the Viks get raped by whoever they're playing.

[Guest]

I'm going to my couch.

 

Seriously though, there's gonna be a bunch of people eating all my friend's fucking food gathering at someone's house for the whole day.

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

Hey, he could just be making a road trip.

 

Nah I'm a Duck going on 5 years. And what's great about this season is they changed the student ticket distribution system, so now it's all online, on Sunday, and each class grouping gets 20% of the tickets. Not only is this extra good percentage wise for my group (grad students) but it also means we don't have to waste a Monday waiting in line with a million freshmen who don't have to teach class and don't care about missing theirs.

[Bored 0]

Much to my surprise as of today I now have the Big Ten Network. Didn't even think for a second we'd get it in the Bay Area since hardly anyone cares about college sports out here. Sure getting to see the 4th or 5th choice Big Ten game isn't that exciting but more college football is always a good thing. On top of that I decided to get GamePlan this year for the first time so by my count I'll have 22 games to watch on Saturday. I may be bleeding from both eyeballs by the end of the day.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I thought about getting Gameplan this year, but I'll probably be at games for 5-6 weekends. Not sure it's worth it, considering that.

[Bored 0]

I'm not even sure if it's worth it going to no games but I based my decision pretty much alone on that fact that I was going to stuck with a Cal game rather than Alabama/Clemson, and well that I must have eleven hundred games going on at once for me to channel flip through. Next year when Comcast adds ESPNU as part of the SEC deal I'll officially reach college football t.v. nirvana.

 

So are you going to be live in person for the massacre on Saturday?

[Art Sandusky 0]

I demand more Pac-10 games in that afternoon slot, ABC. I know I'm going to get saddled with weeks of Clemson/Virginia Tech/Boston College/Florida State instead. Either that or a Big XII game. Woof, don't get me started on those.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I'm not even sure if it's worth it going to no games but I based my decision pretty much alone on that fact that I was going to stuck with a Cal game rather than Alabama/Clemson, and well that I must have eleven hundred games going on at once for me to channel flip through. Next year when Comcast adds ESPNU as part of the SEC deal I'll officially reach college football t.v. nirvana.

 

So are you going to be live in person for the massacre on Saturday?

Absolutely. I expect to come back sunburned, slightly demoralized, and hung over. At least getting your asses ventilated by USC in the season opener is a lot better than getting similarly hole-punched by Wyoming. My seats are pretty close to the USC bench, so I should have some solid song girl observation angles as well.

 

I demand more Pac-10 games in that afternoon slot, ABC. I know I'm going to get saddled with weeks of Clemson/Virginia Tech/Boston College/Florida State instead. Either that or a Big XII game. Woof, don't get me started on those.

I'm wondering if the "reverse mirror" thing that's supposed to get a bit more play this year will help out on that. Probably not, though. I bet it just means we east-coasters will sometimes get the ACC *and* Big Ten 3:30 games.