Category Archives: On TV This Week

This Week in College Football: Week 11

A special edition, looking at the weekday games for this week.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Tuesday
(Just pretend this was posted on time for these games.)
8:00:

  • Northern Illinois @ Bowling Green (ESPN2): The weather may be getting colder, but rest assured the MACtion is just heating up. Both of the teams involved last week’s torrid 63-60 affair return tonight, but this time with different partners. However, Bowling Green has not displayed the same proficiency in the offensive arts as NIU has, which is likely bad news for the home team here.
  • Western Michigan @ Toledo (ESPNU): Now, if you’re looking for a repeat of last week’s game then this is the place to be, most likely. That said, the Rockets looked pretty unstoppable in the MAC until they ran into NIU, so I’ll go with them.

Wednesday
8:00: Miami @ Temple (ESPN): The MACtion isn’t just confined to Tuesday nights, though. Oh no. Miami is dead last in the country in rushing, but rest assured they can throw it around, though against the only solid MAC team they’ve played (Toledo) they lost 49-28. Temple is the opposite – yes, they’ve lost to Toledo as well, but they are 8th in the country in rushing but 115th in passing. Ohio exploded for an unheard of 35 points against the Owls last weekend, so we may be in for more scoring than Temple’s stingy 12.8 points allowed per game may make you think. I still like the Owls though.

Thursday
7:30: Ohio @ Central Michigan (ESPNU): Remember, Central Michigan is the bad directional Michigan this year. Bobcats should roll.

8:00:

  • Virginia Tech @ Georgia Tech (ESPN): [N.B.: “Tech” refers to Georgia Tech here. -ed] Every year there’s been a Coastal Division of the ACC, there’s been this game. And the winner of this game has been the Coastal Division champ. Twice has the good Tech won this one. The 2006 game I remember because my old cell phone still has a text message from my brother on September 30, 2006 on it: “Omg 21-0 gt” – I got said text because I was out of town that Saturday and wasn’t able to watch but the last 10 minutes or so of the game.
    The marbles are once again on the line with those one – though it should be noted due to GT’s loss to Virginia that Tech cannot clinch without another Virginia loss. Both teams are coming off bye weeks, which may well not be what Tech needed because the worst thing that happened in that Clemson game was halftime. (Well, other than the offsides non-call.)
    In way, these teams could not be farther apart going into the game, in terms of the game they played going into this. Georgia Tech played their best game since 2009 against Clemson, dominating in all phases in the game. VPI meanwhile struggled to put points on the board against Duke. The Blue Devils missed three FGs as well, any two of which could’ve allowed them to pull off the upset.
    Not that it matters, of course. Going into a Thursday night game in Atlanta is, objectively, much more exciting than going into Wallace Wade Stadium at any time. Add in the ticket to a rematch against Clemson being on the line and that puts together a recipe for a huge game. Who will win? I don’t know. I like our chances if we play like we did against Clemson, but the odds us playing as good as we did against the Tigers and VPI playing as bad as they did against the Blue Devils is low, as I just said.
    It will come down to the usual things: defense and special teams. Special teams have been a tremendous concern for Georgia Tech this year, while it looks like Beamerball has been back in full force in Blacksburg. Even if Tech managers to avoid punting or kicking field goals (the ideal scenario), kickoff coverage has still been horrendous outside the Clemson game. The Georgia Tech defense, meanwhile, played its best game since John Tenuta was let go after 2007. They were able to confuse Tajh Boyd with a variety of zone and corner blitzes, which worked mainly because the secondary (and Jamea Thomas especially) played the games of their lives out on the Isles of Man Coverage. It feels funny to type this when you consider that Clemson still ran up nearly 400 yards of offense, but outside of one Sammy Watkins TD catch their offense was kept in check. (17 points was, and probably will remain, Clemson’s lowest point total of the season.) The other key: they weren’t on the field that much. The GT offense held on the to the ball for nearly two-thirds of the game, including the soul-sucking nine minute drive in the fourth quarter that saw Clemson get the ball back down two scores with two minutes to go.
    Suffice it to say, I think the Jackets will need similar heroics to prevail over the Hokies.
  • Houston @ Tulane (CBSS): Houston should be able to name its own score against the hapless Green Wave.

Friday
8:00: South Florida @ Syracuse (ESPN2): USF has had a very symmetric season, but not in a good way: they started off with four straight (including an increasingly more inexplicably upset of Notre Dame) and now have dropped four straight. Inexplicable is a pretty excellent word to describe the Big East as a whole, though. The Orange have dropped two straight after their dominating upset over West Virginia and sits at the precipice of bowl eligibility. They’ll probably get it, but the problem is when? I say here, most likely, because I’ve really given up on trying to predict anything about the Big East – the ‘Cuse could lose this one and go knock off Cincinnati next week, which, let’s face it, is probably the most likely scenario.

Enjoy the rest of your week, and see if you can’t catch the tail end of the Toledo-WMU game. That looks like a good one. Otherwise, I’ll be back with Saturday’s games sometime Friday or Saturday.

This Weekend in College Football: Week 1

So this is my quick look at each weekend’s games. Note that this does not usually include Thursday and Friday games, as there are only a few games. (Since this is week one, I am listing all applicable games from Thursday to Monday, however.) My source for schedules is mostly Matt Sarz’s website which is one of the most comprehensives sites of its kind around.

Regardless of what is one TV, I will only list contests involving Division I-A teams on national networks, with exceptions for ACC and SEC teams (since I care about them). Also, Georgia Tech is always listed, even if the game is not on TV. When a game is listed as being on two or more networks, the network showing the game in most of the country will be listed first, followed by the other networks in order. For instance, a common listing is “ABC/ESPN2”, which means the game will primarily be shown on ABC stations nationwide, but if it is not on ABC in a particular area, it will be on ESPN2. Many ACC and SEC games are shown on regional syndication under the banners of the “ACC Network” and “SEC Network”. I will list these games as “ACC” and “SEC” respectively, and these games are almost always available on espn3.com. For Big Ten Network games, these are listed as “BTN” and only the game being shown on most systems nationwide will be listed. Games listed as “FSN” will be shown on most or all Fox Sports Net affiliates nationally, including states owned by Comcast that are known as “Comcast Sports Net”. “CBSS” refers to the cable channel formerly known as “CBS College Sports”.

As for colleges, I use no nicknames or shortenings other than “Tech”, even for those certain other Techs that are actually full-fledged universities. This season I am referring to the “University of Miami” and “Miami University” as “Miami”. Yes, this seems contradictory when I type out “Agricultural and Mechanical” instead of “A&M”.

I also make some statements and attempt to predict the outcome of each game. Which is why I always lead off with:

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Thursday
6:00: Murray State @ Louisville (ESPNU): This is in 20 minutes, but I feel pretty confident that the outcome of this isn’t really in doubt. That said, watch it anyway because it’s REAL ACTUAL LIVE FOOTBALL.

7:30: Western Carolina @ Georgia Tech (ESPN3): My other unwritten/written rule is that I don’t predict the outcome of GT games. For this one, I just hope we have the backups in for the second half.

8:00:

  • Nevada-Las Vegas @ Wisconsin (ESPN): This is the first “real” game on the list, as in it features two DI-A teams. That said, this is still an exhibition for Wisconsin to break in Russell Wilson and get the denizens of Madison used to this “forward pass” thing they’ve heard so much about.
  • Mississippi State @ Memphis (FSN): The only thing in doubt about this game is when Dan Mullen will call off his dogs.

9:15: Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky (@Nashville, TN; ESPNU): I think I said this twice during the schedule preview, but why on Earth are two teams from Kentucky playing a game in Tennessee? Well, I guess if I really cared that much I would just look it up. Anyway, Wildcats should roll, but it may be worth tuning in to see if Western Kentucky’s mascot/nightmare fuel is present.

Friday
7:30: Youngstown State @ Michigan State (BTN): Sparty rolls.


8:00: Texas Christian @ Baylor (ESPN): It’ll be up to Robert Griffin to keep the Bears competitive in this contest. Nonetheless, Baylor’s lack of a defense should doom them in the end, though this could be an entertaining shootout.

Saturday
Noon:

  • Akron @ Ohio State (ESPN): This is not one of the games the Buckeyes are worried about.
  • Utah State @ Auburn (ESPN2): Auburn may be completely rebuilding this year, but the Aggies shouldn’t give them any issues.
  • Miami @ Missouri (FSN): For as many times as I mentioned Miami University in my schedule preview, maybe I should see which mid-major teams have the most brutal OOC schedules somedays. Have to pay the bills somehow, I suppose.
  • Northwestern @ Boston College (ESPNU): By all rights, BC should win this game. But Northwestern actually attempts to play offensive football, which I think will give them an edge on this day.
  • Kent State @ Alabama (SEC): Somewhat appropriately, the Tide rolls in this game.
  • Indiana State @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): I was hoping the one game featuring two DI-A teams (MTSU @ Purdue) would be featured, but alas. A walk-over for Penn State.

12:30: Appalachian State @ Virginia Tech (ACC): I wish I were kidding when I said this may be Virginia Tech’s toughest OOC game. Hokes get to 1-0 with ease.

3:30:

  • South Florida @ Notre Dame (NBC): With easily the most hype they’ve had coming into a season in years, we’ll get an early taste if it’s deserved or not. Touchdown Jesus should be pleased, though.
  • Minnesota @ Southern California (ABC/ESPN2): AGH SO LITTLE TIME RUNNING OUT OF FUNNY (WELL KIND OF FUNNY, THROW ME A BONE HERE) THINGS TO SAY. Oh, yeah, Trojans roll.
  • Western Michigan @ Michigan (ESPN2/ABC): Hail to the victors, etc., etc.
  • California-Los Angeles @ Houston (FSN): If I recall correctly, UCLA’s defense was pretty abysmal last year. I don’t remember how many yards Case Keenum needs for the record, but, well, he might have a shot here. Unless it’s like 2000, in which case probably not. (Um, no pun intended there.)
  • Louisiana-Monroe @ Florida State (ESPNU): FSU rolls.
  • Delaware @ Navy (CBSS): Navy rolls, and since they run the ball, this is somewhat more literal.
  • Tennessee-Chattanooga @ Nebraska (BTN): UTC is known as the “Mocs”. I’ve been there a few times. That’s really all I got.
  • James Madison @ North Carolina (ACC): UNC ought to win this.

4:45: Brigham Young @ Mississippi (ESPN): The Right Reverend Houston Nutt takes on the Stormin’ Mormons in what should be a decent game. Ole Miss is probably the weakest team in the SEC West this year, and I think BYU could well win this.

7:00:

  • Florida Atlantic @ Florida (ESPNU): Howard Schnellenberger’s suspenders probably won’t be enough for the Owls to overtake the Gators in this one.
  • East Carolina vs. South Carolina (@Charlotte, NC; SEC): Remember, East Carolina is not, in fact, a state, and refers to Eastern North Carolina. Marcus Lattimore rolls.

7:30: Elon @ Vanderbilt (SEC): I think even Vandy can feel good about this one.

8:00:

  • Oregon vs. Louisiana State (@Arlington, TX; ABC): This is the game of the day. Two teams who could still be in the top 10 at the end of the year matching up at a neutral site in a huge game. Will Oregon’s fast pace offensive juggernaut prevail, or will the Les Miles Effect be fully in… effect for this game? It’s hard to say. But even though they do play defense, LSU’s inability to move the ball (even before their starting QB got suspended) doesn’t bode well for their chances.
  • Boise State vs. Georgia (@Atlanta, GA; ESPN): Kellen Moore and co. enter into what will probably be a very biased neutral site. For the sake of all that is good and right with the world, the Broncos must prevail.
  • Tulsa @ Oklahoma (FX): Yes, you probably get FX. Flip over when the other games are in a commercial break. But hey, at least Tulsa gets to play both OU and OSU this year.

10:00: Louisiana Tech @ Southern Mississippi (FSN): I think it kind of sucks that Central Time zone schools have to play these late starts so networks can fill these awkward late night timeslots. Doesn’t affect me though, but still. Also USM should win.

10:15: Colorado @ Hawaii (ESPN2): Now this is real late night football. Every kickoff at 10 PM Eastern or later should feature a Pac-12 or WAC team, I think. Colorado should win this, but there is a rather distinct possibility they won’t.

Sunday
3:30: Marshall @ West Virginia (ESPN): This is technically a rivalry game. It’s a rather lopsided rivalry, but still one nonetheless.


7:30: Southern Methodist @ Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (FSN): I wish I could come up with a logical reason for TAMU to leave the Big 12. I really can’t, though. Which makes the whole thing harder to understand. SMU is hoping to take their spot I would guess, but they will probably get stomped here.

Monday
8:00: Miami @ Maryland (ESPN): Even with their depleted roster, Miami’s backups are still probably better than Maryland’s current starters. Year 1 of the Randy Edsall era probably won’t get off to a very pretty start.

And there’s week one! Hopefully next week I’ll finally get a chance to talk about college football’s rule changes. Until then…

This Week in College Football: Week 14

The final actual week of the regular season is here!

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Thursday
8:00: Arizona State @ Arizona (ESPN): Even with a win, ASU won’t be granted an exception to count both of their wins against DI-AA teams, meaning they would finish with a 5-6 record for bowl purposes. So all that’s left to play for is pride. That’s a pretty good motivator, but the Bearcats should still take the Territorial Cup.

Friday
7:00: Northern Illinois vs. Miami (MAC Championship @ Detroit, MI; ESPN2): FRIDAY NIGHT MEGA-MACTION. Yes, that’s right kids, it’s some heavy duty MACtion up in the land of Michigan. Honestly, on paper this isn’t really even close. NIU rampaged through MAC competition, scoring 382 points while only allowing 127 on their way to an 8-0 MAC record. The only MAC team that even came within one score of beating the Huskies was Western Michigan, the second most prolific offense in the conference. Miami University, meanwhile, needed an inexplicable Ohio loss for them to even get into the title game, though their only conference loss was to that same Ohio team. Suffice it to say, though, I’ll take NIU here.

10:15: Illinois @ Fresno State (ESPN2): You’re 5-3 and 3-2 overall in the Big Ten after destroying the two Indiana teams, and you’re feeling pretty good. Okay, you just lost to Michigan in a barn burner triple overtime game. Fine, but life is still good. And then you go and lose to Minnesota, at home. Whoops. But then you recover by beating your rival in a baseball stadium and you don’t really know what to make of yourself. So you take a break to eat some turkey and prepare for a roadtrip to the nothingness of the Central Valley and Fresno, CA, home of the team that beat you in Champaign last year. All that said, this year hasn’t really gone that great for Fresno, with a major conference scalp (a first-week win over Cincy) but a lackluster WAC showing, with a loss to all the teams above you in the standings and barely speaking by teams like Louisiana Tech and Idaho. I guess what I’m getting at here is that this game could probably still go either way, mostly depending on which Illinois team shows up. If it’s the one that showed up at Wrigley Field, they’ll probably win. If it’s the one that lost to the Golden Gophers, they probably won’t. But that said, tradition says I have to make a pick here, so I’ll take the safe way out and take the Illini.

Stay tuned for bowl predictions and this weekend’s forecast…

This Week in College Football: Week 13

Lots of football this week, especially with a jam packed Black Friday slate. So why get up before dawn to sit in the cold only to discover that you weren’t one of the first three people in line for that 55″ TV? Your existing 42″ one is probably good enough to watch the following games anyway.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Tuesday
7:00: Temple @ Miami (ESPN): Okay, this game already kicked off, so I’m a bit late to the party here. So I won’t predict anything.

Thursday
8:00: Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Texas (ESPN): What a terrible year for Texas, eh? They join the miser zone for two other BCS teams last year (Florida and Georgia Tech) whose 2010 seasons are not quite living up to the hype. With that said, I don’t think they really stand a chance again TAMU.

Friday
11:00:

  • Louisville @ Rutgers (ESPN2): Who wants to win the Big East? Okay, it probably won’t be one of these two teams, but you never know. Especially about the Big East. I think Rutgers can win this one.
  • Ohio @ Kent State (ESPNU): Ohio should wrap up the MAC East in this early Friday MACtion.

12:00: West Virginia @ Pittsburgh (ABC): It’s the Backyard Brawl, with a special helping of “Who Wants to Win the Big East?” Pitt is in pretty good shape, but if they lose, then Connecticut controls their own destiny in the Big east. Yup. That said, Pitt should win, for whatever that means in the context of the Big East.

2:00: Southern Methodist @ East Carolina (CBSCS): SMU clinches a C-USA West title here with a win, a win that would also help Southern Miss in the East. ECU just got torched by a very moribund Rice squad as they posses one of the worst defenses in the country, so I actually like SMU here.

2:30: Auburn @ Alabama (CBS): Well, here it is. Alabama is a slight favorite right now, and as I’ve discovered now that I’m starting to check the news for the bowl projections, that a lot of people think Auburn will lose. Okay, yeah, this is not a lights out Auburn defense. But this isn’t last year’s Alabama defense either. They got passed all over by Arkansas, and then they lost to South Carolina and LSU. While I generally don’t adhere to the transitive property when it comes to college football, I can’t help but note that Auburn has beaten both of those teams, and, in fact, has no losses. (I think it is fair, though, to point out this is only Auburn’s fourth home game all year.) That said, I will take Auburn straight up. Well, unless something happens between now and Friday re: Cam Newton, which I doubt.

3:30:

  • Colorado @ Nebraska (ABC): Yeah, cool, Colorado won last weekend against K-State and Nebraska probably got jobbed in College Station. Huskers should still win this one and wrap up the Big 12 North.
  • California-Los Angeles @ Arizona State (FSN): Since I haven’t posted this week’s bowl predictions this week, did you know that the Pac-10 could only have four bowl eligible teams. Which sucks that’s considered “a thing” because I favor a round-robin conference schedule. ASU is already ineligible because with two DI-AA teams and six losses they can’t qualify. UCLA can if they run the table starting here, but I don’t think they will.

6:30: Southern Mississippi @ Tulsa (CBSCS): That said, USM’s remote C-USA East hopes lie on an extremely unlikely UCF loss to Memphis. That said, USM played well last weekend despite everything, and I think that trend continues.

7:00: Arizona @ Oregon (ESPN): While Cal defended Oregon about as well as you can, they’ve had a week to think about it. While Arizona is a good team, the Ducks should take care of business back home in Eugene.

10:15: Boise State @ Nevada (ESPN): I will like this game a whole bunch if Nevada can figure out a way to not get blown out. While Nevada is solid, I’m not sure how they can defend Boise. The best case scenario for Nevada is to hope the game turns into something a track meet, but Boise has crushed all their other WAC opposition, and I don’t think that there’s anything about Nevada’s defense that won’t prevent that happening to them.

This Week in College Football: Week 12

For the last month of the season, in addition to the usual weekly column we’ll also examine the Tuesday through Friday action as well.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Tuesday

8:00: Ohio @ Temple (ESPN2): There’s a 3-way tie for the MAC East right now, so once again your Tuesday MACtion has championship implications. Ohio has already beaten the other team in the tie (Miami) so a win here would be huge for them with only beatable Kent State to go. Meanwhile, a Temple win here and a Miami win against Akron on Wednesday sets up a season ending showdown a week from Friday. As for this game? Honestly, I like the Owls here. They’ve just been dominant against almost all of their MAC foes and it’s at home.

Wednesday

6:00: Miami @ Akron (ESPNU): As I said above, Miami is the other team in the tie. Akron… is not. Akron is probably the worst team in major college football this season due to be 0-10 on the year. I think the predicted winner here is obvious.

8:00: Bowling Green @ Toledo (ESPN2): Going with the decent team (Toledo) over the 2-8 team (Bowling Green).

Thursday

7:30: Georgia State @ Alabama (ESPNU): Ordinarily, I don’t list DI-AA vs. DI-A competition on here. This game won’t be any less lopsided than the ones I usually list. In fact, it will probably be even more lopsided because it’s first-year Georgia State going into Tuscaloosa. (It may still be less painful for former Alabama (and Georgia Tech) coach Bill Curry than the time an Alabama fan threw a brick threw his window.) At any rate, this is the conclusion of ESPN’s documentary of Georgia State football, a series I’ve been fascinated with as it talks about the trials and travails of a team that’s just getting its feet. But unlike a lot of other teams of this sort, at least they’re staying within their means and not trying to jump into I-A in two years. So watch the beginning out of respect, and then look away out of respect, because no one likes rubberneckers.

8:00: California-Los Angeles @ Washington (ESPN): Yeah… they schedule these Thursday night games at the beginning of the year. Sometimes they’re right about which ones will be good. Sometimes, they’re, um, not and you end up with two Pac-10 teams with losing records. U-Dub just finished the murder’s row portion of their schedule (Arizona, Stanford, Oregon) and now settles back into games they have a chance to win, needing to win their next two over UCLA and Cal to go into the Apple Cup with a shot at a bowl. All that said, I think UCLA will win.

10:00: Air Force @ Nevada-Las Vegas (CBSCS): No one in the Mountain West that isn’t TCU, Utah, BYU, SDSU, or Air Force has more than 3 wins. I’ll take Air Force here.

Friday

9:30: Fresno State @ Boise State (ESPN2): This Fresno team is pretty okay. But I’ve seen nothing this year (including watching Fresno last week against Nevada) that thinks they’ll get anything other than blown out by Boise. I was going to write that it’ll be an upset if Fresno covers but I just looked up the line and it’s Boise by 30.5. Okay, so they might actually cover, but that’s the sort of respect Boise is getting from Vegas, at least.