College Football - Week 4 (Sept. 21)

[Andy]

Top 25 games

------------------------

Colorado State at (1) Alabama (7 pm, ESPN2)

(3) Clemson at NC State (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPN)

Florida A&M at (4) Ohio State (12 pm, BTN – Regional)

(23) Arizona State at (5) Stanford (7 pm, FOX)

Auburn at (6) LSU (7:45 pm, ESPN)

Florida International at (7) Louisville (12 pm, ESPN3)

Bethune-Cookman at (8) Florida State (6 pm, ESPN3)

North Texas at (9) Georgia (12:20 pm, SEC Network/ESPN3)

SMU at (10) Texas A&M (7 pm, ESPNU)

New Mexico State at (13) UCLA (10:30 pm, Pac-12 Network – Regional)

(15) Michigan at UConn (8 pm, ABC/ESPN3)

Savannah State at (16) Miami (7 pm, ESPN3)

Idaho State at (17) Washington (3 pm, Pac-12 Network)

Maine at (18) Northwestern (3:30 pm, BTN – Regional)

Tennessee at (19) Florida (3:30 pm, CBS)

UL Monroe at (20) Baylor (4 pm, Fox Sports 1)

Michigan State at (22) Notre Dame (3:30 pm, NBC)

Purdue at (24) Wisconsin (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2)

Texas State at (25) Texas Tech (7 pm, FSN)

 

Other nationally available games

---------------------------------------

Boise State at Fresno State (9 pm Friday, ESPN)

 

North Carolina at Georgia Tech (12 pm, ESPN)

San Jose State at Minnesota (12 pm, ESPN2)

Marshall at Virginia Tech (12 pm, ESPNU)

Vanderbilt at UMass (12 pm, ESPNEWS)

Louisiana Tech at Kansas (12 pm, Fox Sports 1)

Wake Forest at Army (12 pm, CBS Sports)

Western Michigan at Iowa (12 pm, BTN – Regional)

Toledo at Central Michigan (12 pm, ESPN3)

Pittsburgh at Duke (12:30 pm, ACC Network/ESPN3)

Tulane at Syracuse (12:30 pm, FSN South/ESPN3)

Ball State at Eastern Michigan (1 pm, ESPN3)

Austin Peay at Ohio (2 pm, ESPN3)

Jacksonville State at Georgia State (2 pm, ESPN3)

Rice at Houston (3 pm, FSN)

Arkansas at Rutgers (3:30 pm, ESPN)

West Virginia vs Maryland – in Baltimore (3:30 pm, ESPNU)

Utah State at USC (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2)

South Dakota State at Nebraska (3:30 pm, BTN – Regional)

Kent State at Penn State (3:30 pm, BTN – Regional)

VMI at Virginia (3:30 pm, ESPN3)

Murray State at Bowling Green (3:30 pm, ESPN3)

Arkansas State at Memphis (4:30 pm, ESPN3)

UL Lafayette at Akron (6 pm, ESPN3)

Cincinnati at Miami (OH) (7 pm, ESPN3)

Eastern Illinois at Northern Illinois (7 pm, ESPN3)

Morgan State at Western Kentucky (7 pm, ESPN3)

Oregon State at San Diego State (7:30 pm, CBS Sports)

Troy at Mississippi State (7:30 pm, FSN South/ESPN3)

Kansas State at Texas (8 pm, ABC/ESPN3)

Missouri at Indiana (8 pm, BTN)

Utah at BYU (10:15 pm, ESPN2)

Wyoming at Air Force (10:15 pm, ESPNU)

Idaho at Washington State (10:30 pm, Pac-12 Network – Regional)

Edited September 19, 2013 by Andy

[imb]

what a [expletive] week

[Guest]

[expletive] Pac-12 Network/DirecTV.

[Butterscup1679666578]

losing to indiana should be fun

[Tracer Bullet]

All these terms that play 0 or 1 decent OOC game are just killing Sept football. There's maybe 5 really good games the first 3 weeks total.

[Sosa21MVP]

losing to indiana should be fun

 

I've always been waiting for that moment that I can say IU beat a SEC team...well, since we stopped playing Kentucky.

[Guest]

All these terms that play 0 or 1 decent OOC game are just killing Sept football. There's maybe 5 really good games the first 3 weeks total.

 

So, all the teams? I've never understood this argument.

[Andy]

All these terms that play 0 or 1 decent OOC game are just killing Sept football. There's maybe 5 really good games the first 3 weeks total.

 

So, all the teams? I've never understood this argument.

What's not to understand?

[Guest]

That OOC schedules that contain multiple non-BCS games(or an FCS game) are 1) new 2) bad or 3) unique to whatever team/conference/etc that someone wants to vilify.

[Old Style]

Ugh. What a [expletive] pile of games.

[Cubswin11]

Poo Poo Platter Week

[Tracer Bullet]

That OOC schedules that contain multiple non-BCS games(or an FCS game) are 1) new 2) bad or 3) unique to whatever team/conference/etc that someone wants to vilify.

 

They are all bad, they are becoming more frequent and some conferences are worse than others and using the excuse of more conference games (against watered down conference teams like Missouri and Maryland) to justify it.

 

Why are more games featuring good teams playing bad ones a good thing (I ask that you remove your SEC hat before answering).

[Guest]

That OOC schedules that contain multiple non-BCS games(or an FCS game) are 1) new 2) bad or 3) unique to whatever team/conference/etc that someone wants to vilify.

 

They are all bad, they are becoming more frequent and some conferences are worse than others and using the excuse of more conference games (against watered down conference teams like Missouri and Maryland) to justify it.

 

Why are more games featuring good teams playing bad ones a good thing (I ask that you remove your SEC hat before answering).

 

Again, I can't agree with the premise that there's this wave of additional crap games that weren't there before, so I don't really have a question to answer. With a 12 game schedule, the overwhelming majority of teams play 1-2 gimme games(FCS or low-level conference schools), 1-2 games against mid-level conferences(MAC, whatever C-USA or WAC call themselves now, etc), and a game against a BCS conference team. I don't find this a bad or undesirable outcome, partially because this has always been the case. There are variances from year to year and some teams may break that pattern in either direction consistently, but there's no systemic degradation of non-con scheduling that I can see. If a team adds a 9th conference game, that doesn't make the schedule worse, by definition. The outrage seems like veiled pride in Notre Dame's scheduling practices or irritation that others don't do the same as they do.

[Derwood]

Texas

@ USC

Rutgers

Temple

Syracuse

@ Boston College

@ Alabama

@ West Virginia

Maryland

@ Notre Dame

Pittsburgh

Florida State

 

 

That was Penn State's schedule in 1990. I miss those days

[rawaction]

So, how good/bad is Mizzou? If IU doesn't win this, probably no chance at a bowl game. 2-1, need to also win home games vs. Minnesota, Illinois, and Purdue. Then it's either this game, Penn St. or at Michigan St. This looks like the most winnable of the latter 3.

[Andy]

The outrage seems like veiled pride in Notre Dame's scheduling practices or irritation that others don't do the same as they do.

It seems to me like someone who wants to see more interesting football games. If Notre Dame fans are the only ones annoyed by pathetic slates of CFB like this one in September, so be it. Derwood's post just above this one is an example of what MR means. 1990 is ancient history in sports, but good (or at least relevant) teams playing each other didn't used to be so uncommon.

[Butterscup1679666578]

So, how good/bad is Mizzou? If IU doesn't win this, probably no chance at a bowl game. 2-1, need to also win home games vs. Minnesota, Illinois, and Purdue. Then it's either this game, Penn St. or at Michigan St. This looks like the most winnable of the latter 3.

 

the offense looks pretty solid. Franklin is healthy and seems to have a chip on his shoulder, which I love in a QB. pretty deep at RB, and seem to have some WRs who can make plays. but, i think the defense is pretty atrocious and can be taken advantage of.

[rawaction]

So, how good/bad is Mizzou? If IU doesn't win this, probably no chance at a bowl game. 2-1, need to also win home games vs. Minnesota, Illinois, and Purdue. Then it's either this game, Penn St. or at Michigan St. This looks like the most winnable of the latter 3.

 

the offense looks pretty solid. Franklin is healthy and seems to have a chip on his shoulder, which I love in a QB. pretty deep at RB, and seem to have some WRs who can make plays. but, i think the defense is pretty atrocious and can be taken advantage of.

 

Mirror image of IU if u switch WRs to deep and RBs who can make plays. Our defense has looked OK vs. the pass so far. Run defense is pathetic.

[Guest]

So, how good/bad is Mizzou? If IU doesn't win this, probably no chance at a bowl game. 2-1, need to also win home games vs. Minnesota, Illinois, and Purdue. Then it's either this game, Penn St. or at Michigan St. This looks like the most winnable of the latter 3.

 

Mizzou has only played Murray State and Toledo, but so far they're doing an okay job of showing that last year was bit of a fluke due to injuries and schedule. Based on what little info we have on either team thus far, I think the opening line is a pretty good indicator. Both teams have pretty dynamic offenses, Mizzou's defense(while hardly dominant) is a good bit better than IU's, and with IU having HFA we can expect a pretty close game with Mizzou having a slight edge.

[Tracer Bullet]

That OOC schedules that contain multiple non-BCS games(or an FCS game) are 1) new 2) bad or 3) unique to whatever team/conference/etc that someone wants to vilify.

 

They are all bad, they are becoming more frequent and some conferences are worse than others and using the excuse of more conference games (against watered down conference teams like Missouri and Maryland) to justify it.

 

Why are more games featuring good teams playing bad ones a good thing (I ask that you remove your SEC hat before answering).

 

Again, I can't agree with the premise that there's this wave of additional crap games that weren't there before, so I don't really have a question to answer. With a 12 game schedule, the overwhelming majority of teams play 1-2 gimme games(FCS or low-level conference schools), 1-2 games against mid-level conferences(MAC, whatever C-USA or WAC call themselves now, etc), and a game against a BCS conference team. I don't find this a bad or undesirable outcome, partially because this has always been the case. There are variances from year to year and some teams may break that pattern in either direction consistently, but there's no systemic degradation of non-con scheduling that I can see. If a team adds a 9th conference game, that doesn't make the schedule worse, by definition. The outrage seems like veiled pride in Notre Dame's scheduling practices or irritation that others don't do the same as they do.

 

Yes. Everything I do think or breathe is ND football. When I'm eating Cheerios at 9am and turn on ESPN I'm bemoaning the inferiority of Big 10 U playing little sisters of the poor. It's not that I just like college football and wish there were more interesting games as there were when I was a teenager. Has to be some weird ND bias that you want to cast upon me.

 

Sorry but that's a [expletive] stupid excuse.

[SpongeWorthy]

Anecdotally it seems like the schedule so far this year has been bereft of good matchups compared to recent seasons. Could be wrong.

[Guest]

I'm trying to find some reason that makes any sense. Things have been this way for a long while, so bemoaning the scheduling now or as if it's a casualty of realignment is confusing to say the least. Here's some of the teams on the schedule of teams in the Top 5 in 2000:

 

UTEP

Arkansas State

Rice

Kansas

McNeese State

Louisiana Tech

Idaho

Eastern Washington

New Mexico

San Diego State

 

And that was with an 11 game schedule! Here's what it looks like from the first year of the 12 game schedule:

 

Southern Miss

UCF

Western Carolina

Northern Illinois

Bowling Green

LA Lafayette

Tulane

Fresno State

Buffalo

Bowling Green (again)

Western Illinois

San Diego State

 

And now last year:

 

Western Kentucky

Florida Atlantic

Western Carolina

Buffalo

Florida Atlantic (again)

Georgia Southern

Miami (OH)

UCF

UAB

Arkansas State

Fresno State

Tennessee Tech

Navy

 

Or maybe a year where Notre Dame isn't in there like 2011?

 

Kent State

North Texas

Georgia Southern

Northwestern State

Western Kentucky

LA Lafayette

Tulsa

Nevada

Missouri State

New Mexico

Troy

Missouri State (again)

 

 

Where's the sea change exactly?

[Tracer Bullet]

You're young, my friend, very young.

[Guest]

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/09/15/jadeveon-clowney-to-undergo-surgery-after-the-season/related/

 

Jadeveon Clowney has been playing with bone spurs, will get offseason surgery.

[OleMissCub]

So um, surely Bo Pelini is about to be unemployed, right?