Today's College Football Thread

There are only two matchups between Top 25 teams this week, and one of them was last night, when South Florida beat #5 West Virginia. Today’s big game is California at Oregon at 3:30 eastern time. I’m not sure why they’re playing that game in the afternoon on a regional broadcast and playing another likely USC blowout during prime time.

Texas, who has struggled against some less-than-impressive competition, plays Kansas State. Wisconsin, who has had some close calls of their own, hosts undefeated Michigan State. Unfortunately, both of these games are on the same time and station as the Cal Oregon game. Makes me glad I have the PPV package :).

Before the season, Auburn and Florida looked to be a good game, but Auburn’s season has not gone as planned. Alabama seems to have developed a habit of tense finishes, so perhaps Alabama vs. Florida State will be a good one to watch.

As for my team, the Oklahoma Sooners play the CU Buffs in Boulder. It could be a tougher game than usual for Oklahoma, what with next week’s OU-Texas game looming, CU’s team improving, and Boulder sometimes being a difficult place to play.

So what game will you be watching?
:toast:

But I'm going to be at work. I don't think the Buffs have much of a shot of actually winning, unless they're playing their best and OU is playing their worst. It might be a good game, but I'm trying to be realistic and not get too disappointed if the Buffs get blown out.

I don't think the Buffs have much of a shot of actually winning, unless they're playing their best and OU is playing their worst.

I would be more surprised by a CU win than by an OU blowout, but I do think it's going to be closer than people think. The spread is around 23 points, and while I don't really expect a down-to-the-wire finish, I'm not quite that confident :)

What do you think of the Buffs long-term prospects under Hawkins?

A 27-24 upset victory by the Buffs over Oklahoma with a game-winning field goal in the final seconds sealing the victory for CU... I'm stunned.

From what I've seen so far of the Buffs under Hawkins this year... It looks like, right now, the sky's the limit for Colorado.

struggling a bit their first couple of games. I don't imagine the Minnesota game will be a terribly tense one for tOSU fans :)

Our defense is playing like a man posessed so I don't think Minnesota will give us problems.

apparently their game plan is to blind Buckeyes ...

:)

;)

those uniforms are :scared:

When I was at her house watching the game she complained about hoe uglt they're uniforms are. I told her that gold jerseys were they're original jerseys in the 1930's when they won national championships. She still said they're ugly.

The way South Florida has been playing, a major college football power will come calling in December.

Auburn is a rivalry game with Florida, so if I were in Vegas, I'd have to bet against my Gators covering the spread. Alabama needs to win, they lost last weekend and my Crimson Tide fan wife isn't going to give me any loving tonight if she's depressed again, so...Roll Tide!

I'll probably watch some of the Wisconsin game and flip over to see if ND is losing again (I love watching the Irish lose).

You'll have a relaxing day since CU won't be able to hang with OU for more than a quarter. By halftime, you'll be watching the second string play.

I wonder if he might stick around all the same. He has, after all, built that program from scratch (literally), and now has them in the top 20--probably the top 15 after this week's win--with a very real chance at the Big East BCS bid, provided they get by Rutgers. And they have a really young team, too--only two starters on offense are seniors. I think they have more seniors on defense, but I'm sure they'll be in the Big East mix for the foreseeable future. And, easy though it may have been, in the past, to chuckle at the Big East, they're looking better than the ACC this year, and with Miami rebuilding and FSU lilting, there could be space for a new power in Florida.

... and flip over to see if ND is losing again (I love watching the Irish lose).
A good year for you, then--and today no exception :)

With Miami and FSU declining and the state of Florida having an overabundance of recruits to go after, he could have South Florida permenantly in the top 25.

However, South Florida doesn't have the cash to pay him the $2-3 million that the top coaches get. I think they are paying him around $1 million, so if someone comes offering an extra million a year, it will be hard to turn down.

that definitely makes a difference ...

Than the Cougars did last week.

But it's likely the Trojans will stay at the top.

I am not predicting any major upsets this week - they're hard to predict anyway.

:D

In both looks and personality, it's Walter Sobchak. :D

A good friend of mine back in Seattle took to calling me Walter several years ago.

(I will bowl on Shabbos, however)

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I love football season!!!!

yee ha

I don't get to watch that game here, but the scoreboard update says it's 3-0 Cyclones--whassup with that?

was at the Wake Forest game - and could tell then that it would be a long season.

Cannot hang on to the ball this week. The defense sucked last week.

Anyway - football season is here - and that means great Saturday afternoons.

expectations were high, but they've got big problems on the defensive line, especially. But, as you say, football season means great Saturday afternoons. I lived through some of the worst years of Sooner football, and it was true even then :)

sure would like to see an LSU-OU or USC-OU matchup in the BCS.

Huskers are on the march . . . hopefully will take a lead on this drive . . . if we have no more turnovers

first the Michigan upset

WVa getting beat last night by South Florida

Notre Dame on the brink of 0-5

Illinois over Penn State

UMass within 3 of Boston College

Been a great year for the fans so far this year.

(Huskers just took the lead - for good, I hope)

and it's bound to get better as the conference races heat up :toast:

:D

that is a hard one to believe . . . Colo over Ok . . . .

KState playing Texas tough . . .

and it looks like McCoy is hurt ...

I swear that thing is indispensable.

It's pretty jarring to see game tapes from the 70s or 80s, when there was no yellow line, no score or clock on the screen, the picture quality was not great, etc. But the yellow line is indispensable.

24-20 in the third quarter. That would be a pretty huge win for an Illinois team that has thoroughly sucked as long as I've been in town ...

I'd like to think he has improved as a coach, but I doubt it. Penn State will win.

I moved here just before his first season, and couldn't believe how excited everyone was about having him here. They were all convinced that he'd turn the program around, but I never bought it. But they're 3-1 this year, and if they could actually pull this out I might have to lose some of my skepticism. It'd be nice to have a good team in town to get excited about, though they'll always be second-fiddle to the Sooners in my house :)

So what's the deal with Zook? He can recruit well, clearly, but where did he learn to call a game? He just makes some WEIRD decisions.

I've been following along on ESPN's scoreboard and every time Penn State seems to threaten, it looks like Illinois finds a way to stop them. They just intercepted a pass in the red zone, is that right?

maybe I'll have to stand on the back porch to listen to the end of it ...

tried to stream the game online, but 1400 apparently doesn't offer that either :(

Illinois ball!

This will be a nice win for him.

:scared:

What a great win :toast:

Thanks for the updates while I was trying to find the radio reception too. :hi:

:toast:

Best game I've ever been to in person, period. I'm glad I got season tickets now!

Hail to the Orange,
Hail to the Blue
Hail, Alma Mater
Ever so true
We love no other
So let our motto be
Victory
Illinois
Varsity!

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Now can they shock Wisconsin next week?

It was fantastic. Wisconsin will be tough but for the first time this year I think they can pull it off if they bring their best game for all four quarters. This is my last semester at U of I - figures the football team would start getting decent as I'm getting ready to leave.

the same thing happened to me when I was an undergrad at Oklahoma--the worst years in the program's history were my last three years before my first degree. Fortunately I was still in town (and actually in school again) when they returned to prominence :D.

But I think they've got a chance against Wisconsin if they bring their A game too. I can't believe I'm saying it, as much as I have not been a believer in Ron Zook, but I've watched Wisconsin play and they have looked very shaky at times. With the confidence boost of this win and with their steady running attack, I think the Illini have a shot. :toast:

I'm glad the game is on ESPN instead of the Big 10 network (:eyes:) so that I'll at least get to watch it next week :woohoo:

I had season tickets for basketball that year - talk about amazing. It definitely mitigated the suckiness of the football team - I think that was the year Turner won ONE game all season. Against Illinois State. That was depressing.

Zook isn't a great coach, but the talent he's been recruiting are finally able to overcome many of his shortcomings, it appears. I'm not sure about the quarterback situation, though - Juice is not consistent at all and his accuracy is questionable at best. I actually hope Zook gives McGee a chance against Wisconsin.

Yeah the Big Ten network is a royal ripoff, but at least most of the campus bars carry it - of course, they also charge cover on games days, so x(

:toast:

Did Juice and McGee split time at QB today? What was the percentage like? (I only got to listen to the last couple of minutes, but it sounded like McGee was in ...

He was doing well in the first half but he started losing all consistency in the second half - he threw one WTF interception RIGHT to an open Penn State player with no Illini in sight and was just making bad passes above, behind, below receivers. I think McGee played for three drives, and he broke through the line for a 50 yd run. Also, his passes were generally on target and most importantly, he didn't fuck up and throw an interception.

Now on to the Badgers! :toast:

That is the kind of win that can give a team confidence for the rest of the year.

:woohoo:

on edit: holding :( D'oh!

might review though

my main radio just gets too much interference where it's at.

Boy, this has been an exciting finish, though. Couple of first downs and they should be good :toast:

They had a flyer up saying that any game you want, they can get.

About six minutes to go?

TIIIIIDE ROLLL.

AlaBAMA should beat Florida State, Bobby Bowden told ESPN that when he first started coaching he would hum the BAMA fight song to calm his self down. He also refers to BAMA as "we", plus our team is a little bit better than FSU's. It's a process, BAMA will be great again.

Fear the Process.

Bama's defense should have an easy time allowing Bama's offense to wear down the FSU defense. I hoping for a Florida win and a FSU loss.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20070929/NEWS/70928010/1011

oh yeah, ROLL TIDE ROLL!!

They haven't played great offensively, but have capitalized on a couple of D.J. Wolfe interceptions to build a 17-point lead ...

No stress and you get to see next year's starters playing soon.

Colorado just pulled to within a touchdown. :(

Colorado has absolutely no depth. What's going on? Turnovers? Sloppy Play by OU?

they've thrown our offense out of rhythm a little bit. I also think OU's offensive playcalling has been a bit conservative for most of the game--I think that might have something to do with the Texas game next week. Defensively we played well in the first half, but looked a little tired on the last CU drive.

Now CU has the ball in Oklahoma territory. Ugh.

I didn't see that one coming.

they might be getting ready to actually compete in a game

I don't see them going 0 for the entire season.

Is Charlie still blaming Tyrone Willingham?

And as they say, second place is just first loser.

No, actually the way it works for us in the Pac-10 is that ABC gets first pick for its 12:30 PT slot. Then Fox Sports gets to pick for its 3:30 PT slot. Then ABC has a late slot (5 PT) that only sometimes features the Pac-10.

ABC at 12:30 PT (3:30 ET) has always been considered the premier slot.

Of course the Pac-10 also has the worst commish in the NCAA. We have the worst bowl tie-ins and TV deals:

http://www.firetomhansen.com

Oregon just missed getting a TD.

WTF is going on?

The o/u on this game was 72 for crying out loud.

only rarely is the afternoon game national. It's not quite as bad when there are only a couple of regional games, but almost nobody west of the Rockies will get to see this game.

I guess the Pac 10 doesn't really have the opportunity of the early game, since that would be a 9 a.m. kickoff there, but that changes the math with the Big 12 coverage. I'd forgotten how early that night game is on the west coast. In the Big 12, we're always wishing we could get that prime time slot. ABC has tried to feature Big 12 games during prime time, but the game they'd like to move to that slot--the OU-Texas game--won't work because neither school wants to put their fans in that part of Dallas at 10:30 at night.

As for the second place remark, though--USC has to play both those teams on the road, right? Those should both be good games, I think ...

Especially with NBC covering Notre Dame and ESPN shilling for the Big Ten.

We've complained about it for years, but the network bigwigs don't really care.

because I'm in a sort of dead zone for Fox Sports, and the FSN channel here usually plays their entire slate of football games (unless theirs a Cardinals game or--god forbid--a big high school football game).

The occasional intersectional game might be if it involves an eastern or midwest team. The Pac-10 should really try to lock up the 5 PT (8 ET) slot for nationwide broadcasts. That's not too late for a viewer on the east coast.

It's a tough time zone to promote but it's fantastic live here if you enjoy watching sports. We get to watch all the games at reasonable times. CFB begins at 9 AM and runs straight through until 10 PM when the late games usually finish. The NFL early game is at 10 AM and the late game is at 1 PM. The Sunday and Monday night games are usually over by 8 or so and don't interfere with other primetime programming.

Oh yeah, USC has to play @ Cal and @ Oregon but I really think they're going to run the table this year. Of course, it's CFB played by kids so anything can happen. But USC is really loaded. They have nine scholarship RBs and rotate about three or four throughout a game. PC says there's no reason to name a starter and he'll just continue to rotate them. They don't have to do anything fancy on offense, just straightforward plays. Pete Carroll has the easiest coaching job in CFB.

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Even though I'm a Willamette Bearcat, I live vicariously through the Duck Football team. :)

I mean, how many people are afraid of ducks?

:)

:)

That game was a nail-biter.

but ducks, not so much.



They have an alternate mascot they call Roboduck:

http://www.tazama.com:16080/duck/Images/0.jpg

However, if it starts any BS today it's gonna be converted into Bear scat!

I'm a long-time Duck fan, but that was definitely a bad move by the mascot.

I assumed it was staged (had it been planned fakery, it would have been pretty funny). Given that it was real, the Duck was way out of line - especially if the kick when the Cougar was in the pushup posture had force behind it.

I remember one game back when I was at Cal when Oski got into a shoving match with another mascot (don't remember who) - I guess emotions run pretty high under those big bobbleheads.


By the way: TOUCHDOWN CAL!!! Roooollll oooonnn yoouuu Bears!

GO BEARS!!!!!!!!! :bounce:

Mz Pip
:dem:

I assumed this was be a tougher test for OU, but not this tough.

First team they've played this year that seems to have done work on defense to meet OU's offensive threats.

Bradford has not played great, the offense has looked out of sync, and the defense is starting to look pretty warn out. Throw in a truly bizarre muffed fair catch by Reggie Smith, and suddenly it's medication time ...

Need to score on this drive.

CU beats the Sooners :(

Sorry to hear that, but this is college football and anything can happen.

Enjoy the rest of the day of football.

they played a much better game today--especially in the second half--than Oklahoma did.

Enjoy your games everyone.

:toast:

Texas is down by 10 to Kansas State at the half.
California is down 7 to Oregon in the third.
Wisconsin is up by 6 against Michigan State at halftime.
Rutgers is up by 3 against Maryland at halftime.

West Virginia and Oklahoma already lost. This could be quite the week for big upsets.

Kansas State is up 20 in the fourth on the road against Texas.
Clemson is down by ten to Georgia Tech in the fourth.
Maryland is up on Rutgers again.
Michigan State pulled within three of Wisconsin and is driving.

in a sea of orange! It looked like Clemson was really tired by the end. I was hoping they'd take it easy on Tech, but they had very little growl in them yesterday.

Oh my Aggies whipped Baylor today. Yay. :)

Congrats to the Aggies :toast:

Amazing. :bounce: :bounce:

Mz Pip
:dem:

Upsetting number 10 Rutgers at Rutgers!!:toast:
I have to admit, after the disaster at Wake Forest, I am as surprised an anybody....

What a great win :toast:

remembering what happened last week but they managed to pull it off...

:hi:

so they can bounce back from a similar nauseating loss (between the Terps and Skins last weekend I had heartburn) and beat up on the Lions next week.....

Maybe Jason should watch the way his Tigers beat Florida for inspiration, as well.

Maryland 34 -- Rutgers 24.

Add in Clemson's loss and Oregon's loss to California, and you have 6 out of the top 15 going down today ...

Let ye learn thy lesson.

Maryland is the only reasonably good team in their non-conference slate, and we saw what happened there ... :rofl:

Ah well, it was a nice theory. :D

On edit: it's an upset per the rankings, but I think FSU might have actually been favored in the game ...

Wah Egul!

Meyer's time-out ploy was interesting, if unsuccessful (Calling timeout just before the snap).

I carries a risk of backfiring however, if Byrum had missed the 1st attempt and made the 2nd. He made both.

my teams were not playing any "interesting" games -- so -- I watched two of the big upsets!! Because I always root for the dogs when I am not a fan of either team --- it was a great day to be a college football fan, in general.

It pains me a bit to say it, seeing as my team was one of those toppled, but this was just an outstanding week all the way around.

it was a great day to be a college football fan, in general.
Hear, hear! :toast:

So who are your teams, javadu?

And my Alabama wife isn't too happy either, but we had a great time with a bunch of friends eating BBQ, watching the games, yelling at the TV, and drinking a little too much. I love the college football season.