Monthly Archives: November 2009

THWG Thought of the Day: 11/26

Happy Turkey Day, everyone!

Now, onto the hate.

“We may not make a university student out of him, but if we can teach him to read and write, maybe he can work at the post office rather than as a garbage man when he gets through with his athletic career.” — UGA defense attorney Hale Almand

Yes, remember folks, being functionally illiterate is A-OK as long as you can play football for the University of Georgia (where, last I checked, remedial classes count towards credit).

It takes absolutely no courage or conviction to be a [UGA] fan. All it takes is $10 and a trip to Wal-Mart. — “GTDad”, on StingTalk

This is from a message board post from last year, but I think it still applies.

Also, finally, remember UGA fans hate America:
Original caption: Children cheer after singing “Happy Birthday” to Cuba’s leader Fidel Castro while standing around a birthday cake at the Pioneer’s Palace in Havana, August 13, 2007.

This Week in College Football: Week 13

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Tuesday
7:00: Ball State @ Western Michigan (ESPN2): This game has already started, so I’ll just say I was going to pick Western Michigan anyway.

Thursday
8:00: Texas @ Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (ESPN): Even with their improved play as of late, it’s not really working out terribly well for TAMU (though they will, improbably, make a bowl). Texas should win by at least a few scores.

Friday
11:00:

  • Rutgers @ Louisville (ESPN2): So Rutgers inexplicably lost to Syracuse last week. That may faze some people but not me! Rutgers should still win.
  • Temple @ Ohio (ESPNU): This is for all the MAC East marbles! Fear the Owl, I say.

12:00: Illinois @ Cincinnati (ABC): I think Cincy can safely handle the Illini, despite them going 2-1 the last three weeks.

2:30: Alabama @ Auburn (CBS): Can you imagine the chaos if Auburn can pull this off? Because I can’t – it’s hard to imagine Bama or Florida even losing a game at this point would make any difference at all, so big are their leads in the BCS. Do I want Auburn to win though? Of course. Will they? Probably not.

3:30:

  • Nebraska @ Colorado (ABC): How fired is Dan Hawkins? So fired. They should also probably lose to Nebraska, but it’s the Big 12 North, so you never know.
  • Memphis @ Tulsa (CBSCS): Man, what happened to Tulsa? After a 4-1 start it looked like an average year in the C-USA East for them, but since they’ve lost six straight. They haven’t exactly gotten beatdown, either, including close losses to Boise State, UTEP, and that wacky 1-point loss to Houston. Well, okay, they got blown out by ECU, but still. It’s hard to say which team is more moribund, but I’ll take the one that hasn’t fired their coach (hint: Tulsa).

7:00: Pittsburgh @ West Virginia (ESPN2): It’s the backyards brawl! Considering the coaches involved, except rare moments of brilliance with bad clock management and nonsensical trick plays in attempt to break out of their conservative norms. I’ll take the Wannastache.

10:15: Nevada @ Boise State (ESPN2): STAY UP FOR THIS GAME, unless it quickly becomes a blowout in favor of one of the teams. Nevada features not one, not two, but three 1000-yard rushers on the year and Boise has yet to face a significant obstacle in their tear through the WAC. Will a competent opponent faze them? Perhaps, but I’m still taking the Broncos.

Bowl Predictions: Week 6

Predictions are up.

Some notes:

  • With most seasons wrapped up, hopefully we’ll start seeing some confirmations, especially for bowls that will probably not have their primary tenants.
  • What to do with Boise? I still feel its entirely possible they are left-out by the powers-that-be. For the past two weeks, I used this to put them in the Poinsettia, but with the Pac-10 only getting 1 team into the BCS and having some surprise qualifiers (like, say, Stanford) they will actually fulfill their obligations this year. Result: if Boise doesn’t get picked by the BCS, they’re probably going to the Humanitarian.
  • My BCS picks remained the same, reflecting the stability at the top after last weekend. You can switch Florida and Alabama around however you like.
  • The Sun may be too optimistic for USC at this point.
  • On second thought, Virginia Tech going to the Peach over Clemson may not be all that great – VPI has already been to Atlanta twice this year.
  • With their loss to Ole Miss, LSU slides all the way down to… the Cotton. I don’t think anyone over there is panicking about this part.
  • Other that than, there are a bevy of MAC teams that qualified with winning records (i.e., 7-5). It got to the point where it was difficult to produce matchups that didn’t involve MAC vs. MAC games. We’ll see how all that shapes up after this weekend.