Week 3

That’s it. I’m done. I hate football…..Three weeks into the season and my favorite team has yet to score an offensive TD. Their opening day starting QB was in the stands at the Northern Illinois game Saturday after he decided not to take the team bus to Ann Arbor. Maybe some of the other players should have gone with him… Can it get any worse? Actually, yes it can. ND’s next five opponents Michigan St., Purdue, UCLA, Boston College and USC have a combined record of 13-1 so far this season (UCLA was blown out at Utah this weekend). I hate to say this Charlie, but anyone who watched the first 2 ND games knew this was coming. Michigan has players…ND has nothing! It now is obvious that Weiss and his team wasted the month of August trying to install the spread offense with Jones at the helm. They then abandoned the spread a quarter and half into the first game and watched their former starting QB leave before they played their 3rd game of the season and now they won’t release him from his scholarship. Well doneeee Notre Dame. For Pete’s sake they are averaging 4.3 points a game!!! The good news for me (and for Kimberly) is that 3 weeks into the season I no longer have to emotionally invest anything into Notre Dame Football. If they win a few games, super, if they lose to Navy for the first time since 1963, at least they will have done it in a season that doesn’t matter.

For you ND haters you may find this entertaining. TP I mean you.
http://www.ndspn.com/

Moving on…I have to say it, Tim Tebow is the Real Deal. Yes, I know that is not exactly what every Tennessee (Whitey had another, not so flattering name for him after Saturday’s debacle), Georgia and Florida State fan wants to hear but it is time to face the truth. Tebow is the prototype QB for college football (can run and throw effectively) and more importantly the perfect fit for Urban Meyer. He will make some mistakes like the 95-yard interception to Eric Berry and he may lose to LSU, but he just makes plays. We already knew he was a physical freak, but his passing was excellent against UT (again, sorry Whitey). He threw touch passes, passes while falling down, jump passes, you name it. I can’t wait for the Florida vs. LSU game on October 6th. As for LSU, it must be nice to rest your key players for an entire game in the middle of the season…what is this baseball? Even without QB Matt Flynn and star receiver Early Doucet they managed to beat a Middle Tennessee team 44-0 that had given Louisville a battle the week before.

Speaking of Louisville, they were involved in the best game of the day against intrastate rival, Kentucky. Listen I know this was a huge game in the Commonwealth, but something just didn’t look right when you flipped on this game. First, the game was on ESPN Classic…what’s up with that? I think ESPN was running down the games of the day and somehow this match-up was left off the list until eventually someone piped up and said why not cancel Classic Boxing for 4 hours and put this game where no one will ever find it. ESPN Classic used to be one of my go to channels. Seriously, what ever happened to the great old games and the Sports Century shows? I could watch those all day long. I just clicked the guide and my former favorite channel was filled with the following: Classic Pool, Classic Rodeo, Classic Boxing, American Gladiators (seriously) 4 hours of poker, and finally 2 hours of Classic College football. The good news is you can still watch Stump the Schwab reruns and stand a good chance of catching my episode at least once a month. Other than Mike and Mike in the morning, they only have 2 hours of real programming and it’s on in the middle of the day. I need to be in charge of this channel, Stolz I’ll hire you too.

Ok, back to my reasons why the UK- UL game just didn’t look right. We get used to watching big games in the Coliseum, the Swamp, Neyland Stadium and the Big House but Kentucky? We think of Kentucky in the winter for basketball not the fall. The Cats had not beaten a top ten opponent in 30 years and that’s a lot of whoopin’s in the SEC. Then again maybe it’s just the UK Stadium...it looks like a Texas high school stadium…maybe. You flip to the Alabama game or the Nebraska game and they are playing in NFL-like stadiums with LED and giant scoreboards, even Tech’s stadium looks good on TV. Luckily the broadcast was no reflection on the quality of the game.

You knew one minute into the game that the Cats were going to have a real chance. They recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff that led to a field goal and then they picked off Brohms’ first pass of the game and bam it was 10-0. The two teams and the two QB’s went back and forth all game until finally Kentucky’s Andre Woodson barely out dueled Brian Brohm and Louisville in a fantastic display of offense. (And actually some defense) If you didn’t see the end of this game you need to watch the highlights somewhere. (Hello ESPN Classic) This game had everything that makes college football great, star players, huge plays, end of the game drama, strange coaching decisions on both sides and most importantly passion, passion that other teams (mentioned previously in this blog) seem to lack.

At one point on Saturday night (yes, I know I said I hate football, but I still have to watch to write this ever-so-entertaining blog) we were able to watch Woodson, Brohm, BC’s Matt Ryan and USC’s John David Booty all do their thing. For my money I might say Ryan is the best of the bunch, but all four should be NFL starting QB’s in the near future. You could also flip to the Alabama game to watch Darren McFadden, a future top 5 pick in fantasy football. (I hate fantasy football too I lost 2 games by a total of 4.4 points all thanks to Donavan McNabb. Oops sorry Donavan I didn’t mean to criticize you.)

I am going out on a limb here…Oregon is an excellent football team. They quietly beat the crap out of Fresno St. Saturday night. Yes, the same Fresno St. team that nearly beat Texas A&M last week. They play Cal at home in 2 weeks and if they can win that game it could set up a huge game against USC in the Coliseum October 27th. I think it’s very possible they will hand USC their only loss this season.

Maybe we gave Georgia too much credit for their win over Oklahoma State (kind of like the Tech win over ND). The Cowboys gave up 41 points and 562 yards to Troy on Friday. I watched most of this game and Troy did whatever they wanted to OK St. We will certainly know more about UGA after this week’s trip to Alabama.

I need to give a shout out to my buddy PINE for his horrible picks last week. Not only did he manage to go 0-10 in the LYA (only the 3rd time in history….he had the 2nd as well) but he also used the same picks and went 0-10 in LYA2. Good picking buddy I just hope my games don’t show up on your list this week. Maybe this week you should reverse your picks in one LYA.

For you gamblers out there last week was one of the worst weeks I have ever seen. Two others that will remain nameless also pulled an 0fer on Saturday before winning a few games on Sunday. Everyone was on Georgia Tech, Washington, UCLA, UNC (why) and UNLV against Hawaii. In the NFL it was the Saints and Bengals. I can understand Washington to an extent….mainly due to the media coverage, UCLA was a shocker and the Bengals seemed like a slam dunk in Cleveland. BC was clearly not given enough respect and you might as well flip a coin in the UVA – UNC game. The problem is the games this week don’t look much better.

Here are next week’s games I would watch if I was still a college football fan:

Thursday
Texas A&M at Miami –I’ll be honest I have no clue what is going to happen in this one. Miami is bad but what is Texas A&M? You always hate picking against the Canes in the Orange Bowl, but things aren’t like they used to be. Take the Canes if you must.

Penn State at Michigan – Michigan’s D shouldn’t struggle against the PSU as they won’t be able to spread them out like App St. or Oregon did. I am not convinced Anthony Morelli can win a big game on the road. I think Michigan we will win in a tight 20-17 type game. Take the home team and the points.

Georgia at Alabama – Did Bama leave it all on the field last weekend against Arkansas? The Tide were in control until the 4th quarter when McFadden and Jones went wild. I don’t see any playmakers like that on UGA, this game is going to come down to Matthew Stafford. We are still waiting for him to have a signature game and the Dawgs need it this week. I like the Dawgs in another tight game.

Kentucky at Arkansas – Apparently the SEC is the only conference playing football this weekend? This is a scary game if you are a Kentucky fan…..very scary. You are coming off a huge win and now you go on the road to face an offense that is much different from Louisville. If the Cats can win again this week people will really start taking notice. I just can’t see them being sky high 2 weeks in a row and stopping McFadden. Hogs by 10.

South Carolina at LSU – LSU is a 16.5 favorite and I am having a hard time convincing myself to take the Old Ball Coach. The Gamecock D is talented and if they can keep their team in the game early and maybe cause a few turnovers this one could be interesting. I’ll take the points but I don’t love it.

Iowa at Wisconsin – There may be more white players on the field than an Ivy League game. These teams always play close games, but it is hard to pick against Wisconsin at home, even though they have been less than impressive so far this season.

Washington at UCLA – Both of these teams were popular picks last week in the LYA…..who knows what will happen when they play in the Rose Bowl this week. What happened to UCLA last week? Utah destroyed the Bruins while Washington played closer than the final score would suggest with Ohio St. I like the Huskies to get back on the winning track.

Michigan St. at Notre Dame – MSU will attempt to be the first team ever to win 6 straight games in South Bend. Why not add another dismal record to the ever growing list that could be set this year (not that I care). The line is now 12.5 and that really makes me sick. If ND can’t find a way to win this week I think they may start 0-8. I like the points and think ND will get their first offensive TD of the year. (please god) It just won’t be enough. 27-17 MSU.

Lastly, since I have now given up all hope on ND football this year and college football in general I needed to find some new hobbies for the fall. What did I do? I joined a Cornhole League…..for those of you that don’t know what I am talking about shame on you. As you can see some people take this stuff pretty seriously. Check out my friends at www.Bagsofglory.com See you next week!