If Ohio State goes wire to wire this season, I'll cut my own nuts off. That said, they have as good a shot as any. 2010 College Football TV Schedule
I dunno if this belongs in the offseason thread or not but the Big 10 just released their new divisions and schedules. Nebraska is essentially getting jumped into a gang here. Holy shit our 2011 schedule is fucking hard. 10/1 @ Wisconsin 10/7 Ohio St 10/22 @ Minnesota 10/29 Mich St 11/5 NW 11/12 @ Penn St 11/19 @ Michigan 11/26 Iowa BAH-RU-TAL. But I love it. Me and my buddy already planned trips to Madison. Then for the Penn St. , Michigan weekends we're just gonna fly out to Happy Valley and take off the week of work between games and make our way back. Bring it on.
I'm sure everyone is aware that the new Big Ten Divisions are out, if not, check out an article about it here: http://espn.go.com/blog/BigTen/post/_/id/15193/my-take-on-big-ten-divisions-schedules As an Iowa fan, I'm ok with the division they're in. Unless RichRod gets Michigan back on track soon, it should be an annual battle between Nebraska and Iowa for division supremacy, and I like that. It should add to the rivalry that should emerge between Iowa and Nebraska, and that will be a good thing for both schools and the Big Ten. I am disappointed about losing the annual game with Wisconsin. Those were always competitive games, and the fan bases have a lot in common. I don't really like the designated rivalry game with Purdue, its just to meh of a game. I'd rather have Wisconsin or Penn State since those games have been competitive and entertaining. I understand the Big Ten's logic in choosing Wisconsin-Minnesota and Penn State-Nebraska, but I hope that in 2015 when they move to 9 conference games Iowa picks up one of those two teams as a yearly game. I'd definitely be interested in hearing how other fan bases are reacting to the divisions.
As a Nebraska fan I'm fine with them. If I were in charge though, I would have swapped Minnesota and Purdue. That way Wisconsin and Minnesota would be in the same division keeping their rivalry going, which would allow Iowa and Wisconsin to be the cross-divisional game for each school. Then you could have Purdue and Indiana as cross divisional rivals and Northwestern and Illinois and Mich St and Minnesota. Don't know how much that screws up the rivalry games and whatnot but I think its more balanced as far as cross division games goes. Right now both Wisconsin (minnesota) and Iowa (purdue) have it pretty easy when compared to Neb v. Penn St and Michigan v. tOSU. They should obviously be playing each-other.
Don't have much of anything interesting to say other than I'm going to the Michigan vs. Connecticut game on Saturday in the student section. Pretty pumped about that. From all accounts Michigan's defense is pretty poor again, so hopefully whoever gets the start at QB can do some damage.
I'll be there as well. I'm a U of M alum but I was born in CT, all my grandparents and both my parents went to UConn, so I am a way bigger UConn fan. I'll be one of the idiots in the student section wearing all Uconn stuff, and have a huge Connecticut state flag draped over my back. Since no one really cares about Uconn football, and I'll be with some of my old roommates, I don't think I'll get too much shit. I would be amazed if Denard doesn't start - all reports from spring practice indicate that he's improved his passing, and Tate has been somewhat of a lazyass. I expect all 3 QB's to see the field at some point though. I see both teams putting up 30+ points, as Uconn has always had trouble with running QB's. However, UM literally has NO ONE in the secondary this year. Their best cornerback is now out for the year, and they are starting: 2 true freshman (1 4*, 1 3* recruit), a redshirt freshman, and a redshirt sophomore. Uconn is returning 16 starters including their entire Oline, QB, and 1000 yard rusher who is a Big East POY candidate. The Vegas line is UM -3, I'll say Connecticut 34- Umich 31
We all know the best game of the opening weekend, and fittingly, it is saved for last. Monday night the Hokies of Virginia Tech take on the Broncos of Boise St at Fed-Ex field in Landover, MD. This game is huge for a lot of reasons, but primarily because both the Hokies and Broncos are predicted to be in the title hunt by the end of the season, and whoever loses this game will likely be removed from that discussion. As a Virginia Tech alum (graduated last may), every cell in my body is devoted to Hokie football. Needless to say, I think VT has what it takes to beat the Broncos. Without going into the details too much, I will go ahead and say that the reason tech will win lies with #34, the truth, Ryan Williams. For those of you who don't know him, he shattered Tech and ACC rushing records last season with 21 TD's and and 1720 yards....as a freshman. Having watched every game last season, I can say for sure that this kid is the real deal. His running style reminds me of Adrian Peterson because he has the elements of speed and explosiveness, but he's a bruising runner who can deliver hits and wear down defenses. Be sure to look for him to not only lead the Hokies to victory on the ground this season, but to also head to the NFL next season, likely being picked in the first round.
We all know how Adrian Peterson did when Oklahoma played Boise State. I cannot wait for this game either as I really want Boise State to wind up in the Championship game or at least playing an SEC team so they can shut up that overrated conference. Hawaii plays USC tonight. I really hope the Rainbows put in a good showing against the Trojans. It should be a fun game just for watching the announcers trying to pronounce all the samoan names on both teams. Finally some college football.
Pitt's offensive gameplan was utter dogshit. Run, run, pass on 3rd down, punt. No play action, fakes, option, end arounds, anything. They deserved to lose.
In all fairness to Pitt, they really were going to be going into almost a no win situation. Utah plays at 6000 feet and unless you get there a week or two early you are going to be gassed after 15 minutes. Having to travel through a couple of time zones and airplanes and hotels and all that shit does not help. WAC and Mountain West Teams have to do that shit all the time. It really makes a home field all that tough. I do not know how Utah was unranked. They simply have a good program going right now and can play with anyone as proven by their 12-4 record against BCS teams. Too bad all you East Coasters missed a very entertaining Hawaii, USC game. It is a shame that by the time Hawaii realized they could play with the Trojans they were down 20-3. Still they scored 36 points and 500 yards of offense against USC, not too shabby. The Trojans are going to be tough, Hawaii looks to be much improved. I better get off my ass and get some Hawaii, Fresno State tix this afternoon. Damn it feels good to be starting college football again.
I actually think USC didn't look all that impressive. I'm having a hard time figuring out why, and it's hard to justify when they put up 49 points. The defense looked sloppy, and they just had Hawaii outmatched athletically (size and speed) on offense. I'd wait until there game with Minnesota before deciding how good they are. Of course they're still USC, so you have assume they're good until proven otherwise.
I think our offense will be back to its high scoring ways that have been absent the past year or two. The problem is going to be our defense. Our front 7 is good, but our secondary is raw as hell. Only Wright has experience starting I believe and he missed all of last year due to academic ineligibility. Both the safeties are sophomores and the other CB is a freshman. Any team that passes a lot is going to be a shootout I bet. That said, that freshman receiver, Robert Woods looked damn good last night and RoJo looks like he's going to be a big part of the offense this year.
My Ducks should have it pretty easy today taking on New Mexico. Next week versus Tennessee is going to be a real challenge though.
That was quite the whipping that Oregon laid on New Mexico. I would think that Tennesse might be the ones who should be worried. Oregon State could have 2 losses before the start of the Pac 10 schedule. I am sure when they made their schedule a few years ago they had no idea they would be opening up against a number 6 and number 3 team in the nation. Hmm, I wonder if an SEC team would ever think about scheduling teams like that outside of their conference. Looks like Fresno State is going to take care of business tonight. An opening win against Cincinnati should help the strength of schedule for the entire WAC.
Yes it was pretty bad we had 52 going into the half. Do I think its wrong we ran up the score? No. Simple fact was we had our 3rd string in so they should have been able to do something. I really wish I could have seen them break the record today, but I am happy about them tying it. Now the Tennessee game is not going to be easy I am damn sure they studied their ass off in preparation for this game. On the plus side we have LaMichael James next week and I am eager to see him in action again.
This Boise State/VT game is amazing. You could have heard a mouse fart after that last Boise touchdown.
What a great way to start the college football season. I fully admit to a WAC and Mountain West bias, but Virginia Tech showed a lot more than I thought they had. I knew that Boise would not let Virginia run on them, but I did not know that the passing game of Virginia Tech would be that effective. It is not going to be a cakewalk for Boise State like everyone seems to think. Oregon State is going to be a very tough game, but they have to play in Boise. Fresno State is also going to be very good this year as they have already proven that they can beat BCS teams with their whipping of Cincinnati. Utah State came very close to beating Oklahoma State on the road and Hawaii has some scoring ability especially through the air. Do not let the Eastern Media downplay Boise's schedule, they have to play some good teams this year. You may not have heard of them, but they are tough.
The beating Florida gave us and this weekends fuck up has basically zapped every bodies' confidence in Cincinnati. After Brian Kelly bounced every said "he wasn't on the field making the plays the players were!" then Florida spanked us everyone said "well the whole organization was in turmoil and no one showed up ready to the sugar bowl." So far all Ive been hearing after Frenso State is that, "My god I hope it wasn't all Brian Kelly that gave us the wins." I really hope that is was first game jitters but their were big holes last year that still need to be fixed as well as many new ones. They have to fill in a lot so that they over come what all the forecasters for them predicted.