Week 3 brought us what was SUPPOSED to be the biggest matchup of the year between #1 Southern Cal and #5 Ohio State. Instead, an overmatched and outmanned Buckeye team got slaughtered at the hands of a Trojan team that early on appears to not only be the best team in the nation, but the best in Pete Caroll’s tenure. Meanwhile, the arch-rivals of those two heavyweights were also locking horns. Notre Dame and Michigan, the sports two winningest programs, renewed acquaintences in Notre Dame, IN, in what amounted to a rather lackluster matchup of two rebuilding programs. Notre Dame showed significant improvement, but it was every bit as much Michigan’s ineptitude which led to a Notre Dame blowout. In the least heralded matchup of major programs, South Florida beat Kansas in a thriller, potentially salvaging what has thus far been a disastrous season for the Big East. Speaking of bad conferences, UNC of the moribund ACC laid an absolute beat-down on Rutgers in New Jersey. The Butch Davis reclamation process may be ahead of schedule. Get the whole story
Snakes In My Pants
Cause, you know, we need more people talking ’bout sports.
Category Archives: NCAA Football
Week Two College Football Roundup
Week Two was about as bad as it gets for big-time college football. The majority of the matchuos were lopsided, with Vegas assigning 20+ point spreads to the majority of the games. Still, there was an exciting OT game between USF and UCF, a controversial ending to BYU’s 1-point victory at Washington, Notre Dame’s lackluster opening victory against San Diego State, and ECU’s upset of West Virginia. Get the whole story
Ummm . . . yeah
So that was pretty much pathetic.
If the Irish don’t play better going forward, you can go ahead and pencil in losses to Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Washington, UNC, BC, USC, and Pitt.
Charlie and his players better bring their A-game against Meat-chicken next week, or his days in the Bend may be numbered.
Week One College Football Roundup
The first 2 weeks of the college season are usually a snoozefest, and rest assured, that is intentional. Big time programs like Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Florida intentionally schedule creampuff opponents from lesser conferences or divisions to act as revenue-creating home games that are little more than organized scrimmages. There are/were, of course, exceptions such as the matchup between Clemson and Alabama, as well as Missouri and Illinois, but the real fun starts in week 3.
Anyway, here is what we did learn after 1 week of college football: Get the whole story
2008 Notre Dame Preview
Last season was objectively the worst in the history of America’s most popular college football team. The Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish set records for losses in a season, sacks allowed, and rushing yards per game (low). While the special teams and defense were bad, the offense was even worse, ranking at or near last in Division I-A football in most objective offensive categories.
Phil Steele’s 2008 Predictions
As I told you last year, Phil Steele’s College Football Preview is the best preseason football magazine in America. It also ranks as the most accurate magazine over the past 9 years. Last year, it was not the most accurate partly because he ignored 17 5th-year seniors and a weak schedule and picked BC to finish last in their ACC division before they actually won the division and lost the ACC Conference Championship. Just for shits and giggles, during a slow sports time, here are his predictions for 2008’s top 10 as well as his thoughts for all of the SIMP schools: Get the whole story
2008 College Football Preview
I know, it’s VERY early. But I’m moving to Charlottesville in about 3 weeks, so I’m making my college football predictions now. The first college football games are in a mere 60 days.
Real quick, a look at how I did in 2007. First, 8 of my top 12 finished in the final top 12. Second, I correctly predicted 6 of the 12 BCS teams. Third, while I NAILED Wisconsin, Georgia, and South Florida . . . I completely whiffed on Michigan, UCLA, Penn State, Kansas, Nebraska, and BC.
On to this year . . . Get the whole story
We Suck, And We Can Prove It - We Rest Our Case!
I’m laughing on the outside, but crying on the inside at this. Duke Football has officially proven - in a court of law - that it sucks:
A Franklin, Ky., Circuit Court judge sided with a devilishly clever argument and ruled in favor of Duke University yesterday in a breach of contract lawsuit brought by the University of Louisville.
Judge Phillip J. Shepherd agreed with Duke’s lawyers — that its football team is so bad that any Division I replacement would do. U of L sued Duke for $450,000 — or a series with another Atlantic Coast Conference opponent — after the Blue Devils backed out of a four-game football contract with three dates remaining.
The contract called for a penalty of $150,000 per game if a date with a “team of similar stature” could not be arranged. Duke’s lawyers argued that the Blue Devils, who are 6-45 the past five seasons, are so bad that any team would be a suitable replacement.
LOL! And this is why, my fellow SIMPians, that Duke Football has a new (dare I say, legitimate) head coach, a new Atheletic Director, and a strategic plan to (god forbid) do everything it can to get better in this sport!
Who needs a conference?!?
NBC is extending Notre Dame’s exclusive television contract for five more years.
The contract, which was set to expire in 2010, is extended to 2015 and calls for 7 home games and 1 neutral site game per season aired on NBC.
Notre Dame football is the only team in American sports with an exclusive, national television contract (unless you count Duke basketball on ESPN).
Unfortunately, there is no mention of when or if Tom Hammond and Pat Haden will be replaced as announcers.
This news may come as a shock to the thousands of irate and screaming college football fans, and one notable SIMPian, who claim that Notre Dame’s ratings have declined and that NBC was chomping at the bit to end the contract.
It’s all about TV…
Much has been written here on SIMP about overall ambivalence among New England fans toward college sports in general and my alma mater specifically, and there’s no question that when you talk about sports in Boston there is a lot to overshadow any college team. (Although the Red Sox are trying to change that with their deal to market Boston College sports, and with the release of the logo for the ACC 2009 championship at Fenway this morning.) Nonetheless, Boston College is the holder of one of ESPN’s recent all-time ratings records - the top-rated Thursday night college game ever — this past season’s win over the Hokies. Remarkably, that game earned top ratings even though it was broadcast opposite a Red Sox World Series game. (Before I am subjected to a re-run of the tiresome lecture about how BC’s glory stems from ruining the seasons of other teams, I’ll just point out that this was the second year in a row that BC beat Virginia Tech.)
Anyway, on to my real point. Say what you will about which league is best using whatever arguments you want. The expanded ACC wins when it comes to strength as a fan and viewer magnet. ACC contests currently hold ESPN’s top spots for the most-viewed college basketball game (last season’s second meeting between North Carolina and Duke), the most-viewed college football game (Miami-Florida State in 2006), the most-viewed Thursday night college game (Boston College’s 14-10 win at Virginia Tech last Oct. 25 ) and the highest-rated college football game of 2007 (Labor Day night game between Clemson and Florida State).