College Football 2015-16

Lol... so, the PL1 got what they deserved.

 

College football isn't always fun.

 

Meanwhile, in what many of my brethren refer to as the "JV leagues," Louisville screwed the pooch against the Coogs at PJCS (note to Tom Jurich...might wanna hold off on the stadium expansion until we can beat teams we're supposed to beat at home), and the Kitty Kats won AN SEC ROAD GAME AT COLUMBIA! Hmm. That rivalry game at the end of the season in Lexington may be more interesting than many of us thought.

 

Listened to the wrong instinct on my upset pick. Should have gone with Houston.

Good day for my Ags in front of 104,213. New stadium looks & sounds brilliant.

Tough day for the SEC which will lead to plenty of criticism from the haters. I still think its the toughest conference top to bottom, but it's way too early to make definitive claims. At least the polls are a little more fairly balanced...not that they mean much at this point.

Tough break for Notre Dame as well, but I hate the Domers...so tough spit.

Dynamo, tough game, but that beating goes a long way to covering NCCU's budget for the year. Silver linings...

 

Rant of the Week: I've been a BYU hater ever since they won the National Title with a comeback victory over a 6-5 Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl. Their roster is full of 22-23 year olds due to going on missions which is a huge advantage, but they never get heat for being team that has a history of dirty play and cheap shots (hmm..I wonder why?). They had a player punch a Boise State player in the groin, and since they are an independent they basically govern themselves and aren't going to suspend the player this week. The coach Bronco Mendenhall should be utterly ashamed of himself. Maybe if they were playing Weber State he would, but UCLA comes to town. The President of the university needs to recitfy the situation, period.

I always find the best conference argument kind of silly. The SEC is the deepest, but the best teams from any conference can beat the best from any other on any Saturday. Just because OU made a crazy comeback in Knoxville I don't think the Big 9 is better than the SEC.

Bret Bielema should have worried about getting his Razorbacks ready for Toledo and less about Ohio State's schedule.

Matt, your U of Nevada friend was right about his team. They aren't the same program that was under their old longtime coach that retired. Aggies going to stomp them this week.

The problem with dual threat QBs is the chance for injuries. Domers lost the dynamic Malik Zaire, Utah's Travis Wilson escaped a season ending injury.

 

My Northwestern Wildcats have clawed their way into the Top 25. We also somehow have just about the easiest schedule we could possibly ask for. We are avoiding both Ohio State and Michigan State, so there's a clear path to the Big Ten title game, although having to go to Camp Randall is never easy. The real question is, how do we handle playing with expectations?

 

Tim, dude, you have a team of smart players. Put the expectations on the board, draw a diagram and let them go to work....and play some football.

 

They might be too busy trying to form a union.

Joe, agree about the conferences. While the SEC had that run of 7 straight, I think the top teams in (most of) the other conferences have caught up. And Big 9? Get with the program. They're the Big XII-2, the Little 10 or the BDF (Big Dumpster Fire).

Was unaware of that incident with BYU which may speak to how they get away with stuff...bit off the radar.

I understand Bielema had successful surgery removing his foot from his mouth. He'd do well to go back to shoving cheeseburgers in there instead.

Poor Nevada, they're coming to Kyle Field & have drawn the time slot that all west coast teams dread...11 am.

 

http://www.sbnation.com/2015/9/12/9...layer-right-in-the-balls-college-football-CFB

You're right Matt, they are a bit off the radar nationally (west of the Rockies they're reputation is well known), but I was hinting at something else. The hypocrisy of a school and their 'code' that suspended a basketball player from the NCAA tourney because he admitted to premarital sex, but won't suspend the starting right tackle of the football team because they are playing UCLA (any other reasoning is a lie) this week is a joke.

 

A ranked Northwestern AND Illinois roll into the Triangle this weekend... and I'll be in Miami for our game. This week is a more winnable game for us, so maybe we can nab a bit of an upset. Also, I'd love to fly back to RDU with my home state taking down my new state haha.

 

Hypocrisy & Religion? You don't say. Ditto for hypocrisy & college football.

Baylor did something similar. Their OC Kendall Briles (Art's kid) and another coach got caught contacting recruits during a dead period back in the spring. Art didn't suspend them for game 1 @ SMU. Nope, waited til week 2 @ home v FCS Lamar.

 

Games of the Week

#23 Northwestern at Duke: David Cutcliffe has done an amazing job turning Duke's football program around. Pat Fitzgerald looks like he has Northwestern's best defense in years. Very tight game, that could go overtime. Will be pulling for Tim's boys.

#14 Georgia Tech at #8 Notre Dame. The Domers will try and deal with Georgia Tech's triple option offense. Tech's achilles heel is if they get behind they don't have the passing attack necessary to pull out wins. My guess is the grass will appear like a cornfield in South Bend. I'll take the Yellowjackets, but the luck of the Irish will probably make me regret it.

#18 Auburn at #13 LSU. When was the last time a team dropped in the polls 12 places in spite of a win? Auburn will be out to prove they were looking ahead to this week. LSU with a huge opportunity to get out to a 2-0 conference record already. Going with the Tigers that call Death Valley home.

#15 Ole Miss at #2 Alabama. Trendy pick is Ole Miss, but until they actually beat them I'm rolling with the Tide.

#19 BYU at #10 UCLA. Rarely do I root for the Teddy Bears, but am this week. BYU needed 2 miracles to go to 2-0, but karma time for their scumbag coach at the Rose Bowl.

Stanford at #6 USC. Big rivalry game, but taking the Trojans to put a whoopin on the Cardinal.

Upset Alert:

#9 Florida State at Boston College. Chestnut Hill will be rocking on Friday night. The Noles will need to avoid turnovers, but Golston has been known to throw it to the wrong colored jerseys.

 

quick and easy:

N'Western. Not sure Cutcliffe can break that D. Also, having a big 1st game has this team ready

Agree with Tech over the domers.

Taking Auburn here. I still believe they're better than they've shown. And I don't think LSU is too good.

ROLL TIDE

UCLA - big

Trojans

Upset. Do Auburn and Tech count?

 

Dtown, Tech is actually a road favorite, but to show a certain Aggie that I can be flexible, I'll agree Auburn on the road at -6.5 would be an upset. Your Golden Eagles heading to Lincoln next week, you going?

One game I didn't hit on but find intriguing is Cal at Texas, just because of all the outside noise. UT fires their AD which never bodes well for the coaches he hires, but Patterson got canned for a myriad of other reasons. However, Charlie Strong will feel heat if the Longhorns don't win 7 or 8 games. Cal fans haven't gotten over 2004 when they got hosed from their first Rose Bowl bid in 45 years by Mack Brown campaigning and 3 writers inexplicably dropping Cal in the AP poll. Sonny Dykes has got the Bears pointed in the right direction, but they've gone 1-11 and 5-7 in his 2 seasons which means they are only beginning to learn how to win. Jared Gott of Cal is the best QB know one knows about.

 

Indeed, I'm heading to Lincoln next weekend.

 

Northwestern @ Duke - I'm going with Duke in this one. No really good reason other than they're at home.

Georgia Tech @ Notre Dame - I think too much is being made of the ND qb injury. Kelly coached Cincy to an undefeated regular season using 3 or 4 different qb's, so I imagine the Irish will be fine there. They have struggled with option teams though and lost to Paul Johnson's Navy in his last season before heading to GT. But I think the Irish have a good enough defense to pull out the win this time. Especially if they can strike first.

Auburn @ LSU - Auburn has gotten smoked the last 3 times they've rolled into Death Valley. LSU is too one dimensional on offense for my liking. However, Auburn has been way to cavalier with the ball and the defense hasn't looked anything close to what people expected with Muschamp taking over. They've really struggled against the run...which is what LSU does well. I'll take LSU.

Ole Miss @ Bama - Bama has a terrible record ATS when they're favored by a td or less at home in the SEC. But they have a great record in revenge games and they've only lost 3 times at home in the last 7 years. The Rebel D has a very good secondary and their d line can get to the qb from the edge, but the Tide will make them play in a phone booth with te's and fb's jamming up the line. I think Alabama wins a close one.

BYU @ UCLA - You need to be close to win a game with a Hail Mary (or Hail Joseph Smith, in this case). BYU won't be close late. Bruins by a couple of td's.

Stanford @ USC - Speaking of big wins, I just don't see it with Stanford and their overrated qb. Kessler has looked fantastic and the Trojans will roll.

Upset - Dangit Joe, you took my favorite again. BC is tough at home in these weeknight games...just ask USC. So instead, I'll take:

Virginia Tech (-7) @ Purdue - The Boilermakers are a home dog against a VT team starting a backup qb. Unlike Kelly above, VT has struggled finding one decent qb in recent years, much less 2. Purdue has a blemish from losing to Marshall but they lost that game on 2 pick 6's. Otherwise their offense rolled to the tune of over 400 yds. I don't see the Hokies matching them on the scoreboard, especially at home.

 

Louisville fans are already talking about basketball season. The inexperienced o-line is why. Petrino has 3 very good quarterbacks with divergent skill sets...and equally divergent weaknesses. But the big boys up front are too green to pass protect them. Might as well start running the wishbone or the wing "T." The d is good but not great. They'll continue to struggle.
Different story in Lexington. After a rare and unexpected conference road win last week in Columbia, they'll try to end a 28 year losing streak to the Gators tonight at Commonwealth. They've oiled the hinges on the collapsible goal posts, so I think you're gonna see them on the Sports Center highlights later.

 

Last night was absolutely brutal. Thank God this is our bye week.
Positives: NORTHWESTERN
Negatives: Illinois.

 

And the Commonwealth Stadium goalposts are safe for another season....

 

Who is feeling worse? USC's coach Sark who's defense laid an egg against Stanford or the kid Kicker from Texas who shanked the game tying PAT against Cal? Matt and I rarely disagree, but Stanford's QB is one of the better ones in college when they get out of their ultra-conservative shell (strange that they have co-play callers). SC fans were ready to forget about Sark's drunken display at the alumni dinner..if he won. However, they got to go play the Scummies in Tempe this week, lose that and the rumbling will begin in earnest.

Northwestern looks legit.

Bad day at the office for the Alabama schools.

Can Ole Miss deal with success?

Ohio State looked like a team without an edge and were lucky to escape Northern Illinois.

Ucla lucky to survive BYU. The kid QB Rosen looked his age.