College Football - Week 8 (Oct. 21)

[Andy]

Top 25 games
(2) Michigan at Michigan State (7:30 pm, NBC)

(7) Penn State at (3) Ohio State (12 pm, FOX)

(16) Duke at (4) Florida State (7:30 pm, ABC)

Arizona State at (5) Washington (10:30 pm, FS1)

UCF at (6) Oklahoma (12 pm, ABC)

(8) Texas at Houston (4 pm, FOX)

Washington State at (9) Oregon (3:30 pm, ABC)

Virginia at (10) North Carolina (6:30 pm, CW)

(17) Tennessee at (11) Alabama (3:30 pm, CBS)

(13) Ole Miss at Auburn (7 pm, ESPN)

(14) Utah at (18) USC (8 pm, FOX)

Army at (19) LSU (7:30 pm, SEC Network)

South Carolina at (20) Missouri (3:30 pm, SEC Network)

(22) Air Force at Navy (12 pm, CBS)

North Texas at (23) Tulane (3:30 pm, ESPN2)

Minnesota at (24) Iowa (3:30 pm, NBC)

(25) UCLA at Stanford (10:30 pm, ESPN)

 

Other nationally available games
Tuesday

Middle Tennessee at Liberty (7 pm, CBSSN)

Southern Miss at South Alabama (7:30 pm, ESPN2)

Western Kentucky at Jacksonville State (7:30 pm, ESPNU)

 

Wednesday

FIU at Sam Houston (7 pm, CBSSN)

New Mexico State at UTEP (9 pm, ESPN2)

 

Thursday

James Madison at Marshall (7 pm, ESPN)

Rice at Tulsa (7 pm, ESPN2)

Friday

SMU at Temple (7 pm, ESPN2)

Saturday TV

Mississippi State at Arkansas (12 pm, ESPN)

Memphis at UAB (12 pm, ESPN2)

Rutgers at Indiana (12 pm, BTN)

Boston College at Georgia Tech (12 pm, ACC Network)

Western Michigan at Ohio (12 pm, CBSSN)

Oklahoma State at West Virginia (3:30 pm, ESPN)

Wisconsin at Illinois (3:30 pm, FS1)

Northwestern at Nebraska (3:30 pm, BTN)

Pittsburgh at Wake Forest (3:30 pm, ACC Network)

South Florida at UConn (3:30 pm, CBSSN)

Toledo at Miami (OH) (4 pm, ESPNU)

TCU at Kansas State (7 pm, ESPN2)

Texas Tech at BYU (7 pm, FS1)

Appalachian State at Old Dominion (7 pm, NFL Network)

Utah State at San Jose State (7 pm, CBSSN)

Georgia State at UL Lafayette (8 pm, ESPNU)

Clemson at Miami (8 pm, ACC Network)

Nevada at San Diego State (8 pm, FS2)

 

Saturday Streaming (all ESPN+ unless noted)

Baylor at Cincinnati (12 pm)

Akron at Bowling Green (2 pm)

Charlotte at East Carolina (2 pm)

UL Monroe at Georgia Southern (2 pm)

Buffalo at Kent State (3:30 pm)

Central Michigan at Ball State (3:30 pm)

Eastern Michigan at Northern Illinois (3:30 pm)

UTSA at Florida Atlantic (6 pm)

Coastal Carolina at Arkansas State (7 pm)

Colorado State at UNLV (7 pm, Mtn. West Network)

[UMFan83]

Will be an interesting PSU/OSU game.  I think if OSU wins they will have the pole position for number 1 when the first CFP rankings come out since Georgia and Michigan haven't really played anyone.  I don't even think OSU is *that* good (relative to most years) but they will have earned it.  If PSU wins, then things really get interesting with Michigan having to visit Happy Valley later on.

[soccer10k]

I know we all know the Coaches Poll is utterly useless but it’s still a disaster that I can’t help but look at. USC got demolished by Notre Dame, the only good team it’s played so far. Notre Dame has lost twice, but has played four teams currently ranked. So of course the coaches poll has USC above Notre Dame.

Edited October 15, 2023 by soccer10k

[Derwood]

PSU @ OSU as a noon game is an odd programming choice. 

[Ding Dong Johnson]

2 hours ago, Derwood said:

PSU @ OSU as a noon game is an odd programming choice. 

BIG NOON SATURDAY

[CubinNY]

55 minutes ago, Ding Dong Johnson said:

BIG NOON SATURDAY

B1G NOON

[UMFan83]

3 hours ago, Derwood said:

PSU @ OSU as a noon game is an odd programming choice. 

This is like the 4th year in a row that Big Noon Saturday has been a thing. I’m used to it at this point. Fox is the primary B1G rights holder and they’ve decided their biggest time slot is noon. 
 

I love a great night game between 2 great teams but while I’m not a traditionalist with most of my views, I enjoy when big games are on in the early window like they were when I was growing up. Now it seems like most games, even bad ones, are on in the late afternoon or night. 

[Derwood]

Does this mean Gus Johnson is calling the game? He has lost three steps this year. Nobody knows why he suddenly can’t call games anymore. 

[Ding Dong Johnson]

11 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Does this mean Gus Johnson is calling the game? He has lost three steps this year. Nobody knows why he suddenly can’t call games anymore. 

Gus has been really bad when I've watched this year, but he was slipping quite a bit the past season+ as well.  At least he hasn't reached Jason Benetti's level of incompetence yet.  There are so many bad ones out there.

[UMFan83]

19 minutes ago, Ding Dong Johnson said:

Gus has been really bad when I've watched this year, but he was slipping quite a bit the past season+ as well.  At least he hasn't reached Jason Benetti's level of incompetence yet.  There are so many bad ones out there.

Gus seems to be great for memorable one liners at least.  There's about 7-8 from the last 2 years of Michigan football that I can hear in my head.  Can't say I remember a single thing any other PBP person has said lol, I haven't really noticed a slippage in his calls but haven't really thought about it too much.  I really like Joel Klatt...fairly vanilla personality but is knowledgable both about the teams he is covering and the X's and O's of football.  He seems like he lives and breathes college football and that passion shows in his analysis during games and on his various podcasts/TV appearances.

 

Also with Benetti, I don't think he's a terrible PBP guy but I havent understood why people seem to universally adore his work.  He seems like just another PBP guy.

Edited October 16, 2023 by UMFan83

[Derwood]

Johnson simply seems confused for a lot of the game. One person said it’s like he’s calling the game off of a monitor from a remote location. He constantly says the wrong names, describes the action incorrectly, misses things like fumbles and interceptions, etc. 

[Ding Dong Johnson]

2 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Johnson simply seems confused for a lot of the game. One person said it’s like he’s calling the game off of a monitor from a remote location. He constantly says the wrong names, describes the action incorrectly, misses things like fumbles and interceptions, etc. 

Those are the things I've noticed about Benetti as well.  I've been less than impressed with him for a while, but I'm also fresh off him calling the Iowa/Wisconsin "game".  There were several times where he was calling something that didn't exist or adamant the officials called something the opposite of the way they did. 

[CubinNY]

47 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Johnson simply seems confused for a lot of the game. One person said it’s like he’s calling the game off of a monitor from a remote location. He constantly says the wrong names, describes the action incorrectly, misses things like fumbles and interceptions, etc. 

That's a Tuesday night for Boog doing PBP of Cubs game. 

[Bobson Dugnutt]

Benetti is so bad regardless of what sport he’s calling. I really don’t get how he wound up with such a strong reputation.

[UMFan83]

Of course Michigan is accused of illegally stealing opponents signs.  I'm not allowed to have nice things in sports.

[Andy]

Someone on Twitter dug this up and it makes more sense now

 

[Andy]

2 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Of course Michigan is accused of illegally stealing opponents signs.  I'm not allowed to have nice things in sports.

Easy joke fodder, for sure, but I imagine it won't actually change anything that happens this season.

The most hilarious part of all this so far is that one Athletic report said MSU briefly considered not playing this weekend for health and safety reasons in response to the heads up about this, which would've been so transparently absurd and petty that I really wish they'd have done it.

[CubinNY]

12 minutes ago, Andy said:

Easy joke fodder, for sure, but I imagine it won't actually change anything that happens this season.

The most hilarious part of all this so far is that one Athletic report said MSU briefly considered not playing this weekend for health and safety reasons in response to the heads up about this, which would've been so transparently absurd and petty that I really wish they'd have done it.

Ok, someone explain to me how even if Michigan did this it's somehow against the rules? I mean that's why they have multiple people on the sidelines signalling plays. If a team can figure it out, that's on the guys on the other side of the ball. Use runners if you don't want your signs stolen. This is fundamentally different than having a guy with binoculars calling pitches or even tapping into game conversations from the other team. They've had spotters in press boxes in football for forever.  

[Ding Dong Johnson]

6 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

Ok, someone explain to me how even if Michigan did this it's somehow against the rules? I mean that's why they have multiple people on the sidelines signalling plays. If a team can figure it out, that's on the guys on the other side of the ball. Use runners if you don't want your signs stolen. This is fundamentally different than having a guy with binoculars calling pitches or even tapping into game conversations from the other team. They've had spotters in press boxes in football for forever.  

They're being accused of sending people to future opponents' games to learn the signs, which is a direct violation of NCAA rules.

[UMFan83]

9 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

Ok, someone explain to me how even if Michigan did this it's somehow against the rules? I mean that's why they have multiple people on the sidelines signalling plays. If a team can figure it out, that's on the guys on the other side of the ball. Use runners if you don't want your signs stolen. This is fundamentally different than having a guy with binoculars calling pitches or even tapping into game conversations from the other team. They've had spotters in press boxes in football for forever.  

Stealing signs is not listed as prohibited anywhere in NCAAs rules.  What Michigan is being accused of is traveling to opponent games in an attempt to steal their signs, which was legal until 1994.  When it was prohibited apparently it was done so as a cost saving measure, which many Michigan fans are pointing out as why this is ridiculous.  But I read cost saving as more of a "prevent big programs from getting a competitive edge over small programs who can't afford to send their staff to opponent games".  Who knows, part of me thinks it seems pretty petty, the non-biased part of me sees a pattern of Harbaugh lightly sticking his toe over the line on multiple issues during his time at Michigan and waiting to see if he gets caught so this is probably another example.

 

The one funny thing I've seen pointed out is that they almost certainly wouldn't have sent someone to attend a TCU game since most people thought it was unlikely that UM would be paired with TCU, and in that game they gave up 51 points (37 allowed by the defense).  But that would ignore other games like the Big Ten championship games against Iowa and Purdue, neither of whom they played that season and neither of whom had locked up a spot until after Michigan locked up theirs.  Sure its Big Ten West fodder for them but they destroyed both of them pretty badly.

Edited October 19, 2023 by UMFan83

[Rex Buckingham]

2 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Stealing signs is not listed as prohibited anywhere in NCAAs rules.  What Michigan is being accused of is traveling to opponent games in an attempt to steal their signs, which was legal until 1994.  When it was prohibited apparently it was done so as a cost saving measure, which many Michigan fans are pointing out as why this is ridiculous.  But I read cost saving as more of a "prevent big programs from getting a competitive edge over small programs who can't afford to send their staff to opponent games".  Who knows, part of me thinks it seems pretty petty, the non-biased part of me sees a pattern of Harbaugh lightly sticking his toe over the line on multiple issues during his time at Michigan and waiting to see if he gets caught so this is probably another example.

so... Harbaugh to the Bears after the season?

[UMFan83]

Just now, Rex Buckingham said:

so... Harbaugh to the Bears after the season?

I always see people suggest this but a wild card personality that wants control over roster decisions is exactly the type of person the McCaskey's would flee from lol. 

[sneakypower]

what i'm hung up on is why they even bothered to do any of this for the cupcake schedule they've faced so far

[UMFan83]

58 minutes ago, sneakypower said:

what i'm hung up on is why they even bothered to do any of this for the cupcake schedule they've faced so far

Ironing out the kinks for when they really need it?

[I owned a Suzuki]

17 hours ago, sneakypower said:

what i'm hung up on is why they even bothered to do any of this for the cupcake schedule they've faced so far

exactly.  Why would they do anything to show their hand against what they have played?  Also, not to sound stupid, how would the other team know?  From what I have read about the MLB/Astro cheating scandal their was actual video evidence of the cheat.  Does some team have actual video evidence? Or is it just, How did they know we were doing a naked bootleg pass?