Posted on 08/28/2006 5:53:39 PM PDT by MikefromOhio
It's finally here!!! College football at it's best!!
The scheduled games (and my picks) are below:
Week One College Football
Yes the season is finally here. Its about freakin time too. Anyway, I am in several pickem type leagues and here is how I am going to be filling my card out. Debate, criticize or whatever, but lets remember that its just a game ok?
All rankings are from the ESPN.com Scoreboard page. I will also list any games of interest and any other games listed in my Public Yahoo league.
GAME(s) of the WEEK
Saturday, September 2nd, 2006
(9) California at (23) Tennessee (-1.5)
Cal faces a pretty stiff challenge going into Knoxville against a Tennessee team that everyone is expecting to rebound after a sub-par year. This is going to be a hard game to win right out of the chute and I dont think they can do it.
Tennessee 24 Cal 17
Monday, September 4th, 2006
(11) Florida State at (12) Miami (-3)
Now there normally wont be two games that qualify as games of the week, but seeing that the preseason rankings arent exactly accurate by any stretch, Ill go with two here. First off, last years defensive struggle wont be repeated this year. FSU and Miami both lost key players on the defensive side of the ball. FSU lost more and they have more question marks on offense. Look for Miami to win a close and relatively offensive game.
Miami 32 Florida State 28
Thursday, August 31st, 2006 10:00 PM ET
Northern Arizona at (24) Arizona State (NL)
ASU has an offense to hang with the big boys, but can they develop a defense? Certainly their offense will click against Northern Arizona, but how will their defense look? This game might even be close for a half or so.
The Prediction:
ASU 47 Northern Arizona 17
Saturday September 2nd 2006 (in ranking order)
Northern Illinois at (1) Ohio State (-18.5)
Northern Illinois isnt a pushover by any stretch of the imagination. Although they arent on the caliber of Texas or Notre Dame, they can go into Columbus and sneak away with the win IF Ohio State is looking ahead. On paper this game doesnt look like much of a contest.
The Prediction:
Ohio State 45 Northern Illinois 10
(2) Notre Dame (-7.5) at Georgia Tech
Can Notre Dame find a defense to go along with the great offense? Calvin Johnson and GT will be a great first test. This game will go closer than many think.
ND 28 GT 24
North Texas at (3) Texas (-41)
This game is all about getting experience for Colt McCoy. Texas will blow North Texas off of the field.
Texas 60 North Texas 0
Washington State at (4) Auburn (-14.5)
Some people say Auburn is for real. Others dont seem to pay much attention to them. Auburn thrives off of that type of non-hype, or at least they have in the past. This year they arent starting out of the top 10, they start at #4. Wazzu is improving, but they arent quite there yet.
Auburn 45 Wazzu 13
Marshall at (5) West Virginia (-22)
All West Virginia has to do is win ONE game (at Louisville) and they are in the BCS title game. Marshall is a shadow of its former self and this is going to be another long year for the Thundering Herd.
WVU 42 Marshall 14
(6) USC (-8) at Arkansas
USC 52 Arkansas 20
Southern Miss at (7) Florida (-20)
Florida 44 Southern Miss 13
Louisiana Lafayette at (8) LSU (-30.5)
LSU 45 LALA 7
UAB at (10) Oklahoma (-21.5)
Oklahoma 33 UAB 13
Kentucky at (13) Louisville (-22.5)
L-ville 45 Kentucky 10
Vandy at (14) Michigan (-26)
Michigan 33 Vandy 9
Western Kentucky at (15) Georgia (NL)
UGA 35 WKU 14
Montana (16) Iowa (NL)
Iowa 52 Montana 10
Northeastern at (17) Virginia Tech (NL)
VT 32 Northeastern 0
Florida Atlantic (18) Clemson (NL)
Clemson 38 FAU 7
Akron (19) Penn State (-16.5)
Penn State 24 Akron 0
La Tech at (20) Nebraska (-20.5)
Nebraska 37 La Tech 3
Stanford at (21) Oregon (-11)
Oregon 34 Stanford 12
(22) TCU (-7.5) at Baylor
TCU 35 Baylor 10
SMU at (25) Texas Tech (-26)
Texas Tech 59 SMU 13
0-0 Straight UP 0-0 Against the Spread
You know the SportsCenter anchors always make jokes about having to do WNBA highlights before the show.
LOL
yes I do for a fact LOL
Damn they have Merrill Hodge breaking down college games now.....
nice.....
On one hand its nice to have a "big game" on a Monday night,but on the other, I wish that this game was played later in the season.
Yeah....
Especially since it's in conference.
If it were still the Big East vs. the ACC, it would be fine.
Agreed. The NCAA gets this whole weekend to themselves so they take full advantage of it.
So which Disney channel will you be watching the game on? I think I'm going with Disney 2 to hear Donald Duck's take on it. He has to be more coherent than Keith Jackson was last year.
probably more interesting too....
I was thinking I will watch it on Disney Teen....
That way we can take a poll on what your feelings are....or something....
As of late, Virginia seems to be the pipeline for PSU's most talented players. Michael Robinson was from Richmond. On this year's team Derrick Williams (WR), Deon Butler (WR), Levi Brown (T), Tony Hunt (RB), Terrell Golden (WR) and Chris Bell (WR) are all Virginians who will figure prominently.
Yeah I haven't really looked at the Penn State roster much yet :-P
That will come on the week of the 23rd as I figure out if Ohio STate can beat them or not...
Every now and then, Kentucky will field a decent football team, but they always seem to end up on probation in the aftermath. It's tough to sell the Wildcats as anything other than a basketball school in the SEC. Now that Spurrier is at South Carolina, it's going to be really tough to get a top flight recruit to want to play on the perennial fifth or sixth best team in the SEC East.
Louisville, OTOH, is in a weakened Big East and they only have one obstacle to a BCS bowl: West Virginia. If you're a hotshot high school football player in Kentucky, where would you want to go? And no Mike, Ohio St. is not an option in my theoretical question. ;^)
You should be able to beat them. Our passing offense will be much better than last year, but at the moment the running game appears to be nonexistent. The defense will be solid, but not the dominant team of last year. I think we might give ND a run for their money next week, but I don't think we match up as well against OSU.
Well that didn't take long. 7-0 Lousiville.
So they're like the Duke of the SEC.
LOL
you forgot Tennessee....
Nope that was some absolutely $hitty tackling too.
LOL
Damn when does Sunday Night baseball come on?
Kentucky is going to get destroyed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.