2009 College Football Week 4 Discussion

[BishopMVP]

Games I'm looking forward to: (ps - should we start a thread in Cartman's abscence for the top 25 voting?)

Mississippi @ South Carolina 7:30 PM Thursday ESPN - I don't know what to make of South Carolina between their NCAA-opening 7-3 win over NC St. and then last week's shootout with Georgia (or Georgia for that matter). Ole Miss struggled in their season-opening win over a weak Memphis team, and really haven't done anything to be ranked as high as #4 in the polls. So it's nice to see them matched up against a real team. I picked SCar to upset Ole Miss in the preseason thread, so I'm sticking with that.

North Carolina @ Georgia Tech 12:00 Saturday ESPN360 - If I'm around, it's the best of the 12:00 games. UNC hasn't played excitingly or well, but they are one of 2 undefeated ACC teams. Georgia Tech certainly hasn't been boring their first few games.

Arkansas @ Alabama 3:30 PM CBS - Bama rolled VT and I have them #1, now we'll get to see them against a different type of offense. I think Bama's D will get too much pressure on Mallett and roll again.

Cal @ Oregon 3:30 ABC (Regional) - Another team that's in the top 5 without proving anything - smoking Maryland doesn't count after their OT win vs. an FCS and loss to MTSU. Oregon's not a great team, but at Autzen Cal's going to need a big play or 4 from Jahvid Best - and I think they get one more than Oregon in an exciting shootout.

Miami @ Virginia Tech 3:30 ABC (Regional) - The actual ABC game I'll almost assuredly be getting. Even when Miami was dominant they had trouble in Blackburg, winning 26-24 when they were #1 in 2001 and losing 31-7 when they were #2 in '03. My heart wants Miami to keep winning, and I'll pick them, but I won't be wagering any money on it.

TCU @ Clemson 3:30 ESPN360 - The under the radar midday game. If TCU wins they should be top 10 and will be in the BCS-crashing drivers seat ahead of Boise, but we just saw an athletic ACC team crush a hyped MWC team. I'm going Clemson and that DL.

Iowa @ Penn St. 8:00 ABC - The third in the triumvirate of potentially #4 ranked teams playing its first real opponent. I probably won't actually see any of this game, and I think Penn St. will win by 14-17 points.

Notre Dame @ Purdue 8:00 ESPN - Morbid curiousity and eternal hope will have me watching the Floyd-less Irish (presumably fairly inebriated by then) at least until ...

Texas Tech @ Houston 9:15 ESPN2 - comes on. JiMGa (and probably others) didn't like me criticizing Houston's ranking in the polls. Unfortunately for Houston, unless Miss St upsets LSU and GT at home the next 2 weeks, this is their last chance to impress the voters. Texas Tech didn't get the win last week but put in a very credible performance on the road in Austin. At the least, this game should be good for 100+ passes, 1000+ yards and 100+ points. I'm going Houston 56-45 (watch it be 3-3 or 7-0 after the 1st quarter now.)

[SnDvls]

cartman's FOFC College Football Top 25 poll, Week 3 open for voting - Front Office Football Central (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=74637)

[Big Fo]

Notre Dame @ Purdue 8:00 ESPN - Morbid curiousity and eternal hope will have me watching the Floyd-less Irish (presumably fairly inebriated by then) at least until ...


No Floyd hurts, he's so good.

I see ND is still favored by 7 on the road so I'm assuming Perdue aren't that great. What do they do well/not so well?

[Lathum]

I hope Washington doesn't have a let down against Stanford

[Chief Rum]

I hope Washington doesn't have a let down against Stanford

I honestly think you could not have a let down and still lose to Stanford. They're a solid team and home field advantage in the Pac 10 really seems to mean something.

[DeToxRox]

No Floyd hurts, he's so good.

I see ND is still favored by 7 on the road so I'm assuming Perdue aren't that great. What do they do well/not so well?

Purdue got beat at home by Northern Illinois. They are just not very good. They're more of a run team now but they can't stop anyone. Claussen will still throw for 300 and they'll win easily.

[cthomer5000]

Road trip to Maryland for the Rutgers game for me. We suck hard so far this year, but I think we can win this. I hope I'm not driving down there for nothin'

[Karlifornia]

I hope Washington doesn't have a let down against Stanford

Yeah, this should be a close game. Sarkisian has his team believing, as does Harbaugh. I think these two teams will both be much better at the end of the season than they are now.

[dawgfan]

Hey Karl, can you shed some light on the rather tepid attendance at Stanford games? I would've figured the improvement under Harbaugh and the fancy rebuilt stadium would generate crowds closer to 50,000 than the 35,000 they seem to be drawing...

I would've come down for the game if I didn't have a family obligation this weekend...

[Butter]

If Miami wins this week, I think they should AT LEAST be #2. I don't think they will, but it should be a really good game and I'm looking forward to it.

TCU/Clemson should be good as well. Clemson should really be 3-0 if they had played any semblance of a first half at Georgia Tech a couple of weeks back. This should be a 10-7 or 13-10 type game.

[Dr. Sak]

Iowa @ Penn St. 8:00 ABC - The third in the triumvirate of potentially #4 ranked teams playing its first real opponent. I probably won't actually see any of this game, and I think Penn St. will win by 14-17 points.



I wish I could share your optimism. Penn State has only beaten Iowa once this decade, and could be without Sean Lee and maybe Nararro Bowman.

[Butter]

Penn State wins by at least 2 touchdowns.

[Logan]

Road trip to Maryland for the Rutgers game for me. We suck hard so far this year, but I think we can win this. I hope I'm not driving down there for nothin'

Enjoy the game, was planning on going myself but have my niece's 1st birthday that day. Should still be fun with my brother, sister, and brother-in-law all Maryland alums, too bad the fucking game won't be on TV.

Maryland looks to be in terrible shape after being taken to OT by James Madison and losing to Middle Tennessee State at home in back to back weeks. Savage is reportedly coming off a slight concussion so hopefully he's okay to go.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Anyone know if Nevada tends to get a lot of hometown bets in Vegas for big games? Line against Mizzou has gone down, but there's no real injury news or changes that would seem to push it down.

[Dr. Sak]

Nevada couldn't score on Notre Dame's defense...enough said ;)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Nevada couldn't score on Notre Dame's defense...enough said ;)

I just can't imagine betting on Nevada with only a 7 point spread. I'm floored that the line is staying in that area. Seems like easy money to me to the point where I'm considering depositing online.

[RomaGoth]

Penn State will beat Iowa, Notre Dame will beat Purdue, and I believe that Houston will beat Texas Tech in a shootout.

[Kodos]

Time for another beatdown in Ann Arbor. Guys on Scout are deluding themselves into believing Indiana has a chance, but I'll have to see it to believe it.

[MizzouRah]

I just can't imagine betting on Nevada with only a 7 point spread. I'm floored that the line is staying in that area. Seems like easy money to me to the point where I'm considering depositing online.

I've seen it +7.5 at some sites, but I'd take that bet in a minute. I gave someone Furman and 24 last week, can't wait to throw some numbers at him this week.

He also gave me the Rams and 7 - lets just say I'm 3-0 against him this year and have been able to eat some really nice lunches lately. :)

[Honolulu_Blue]

Time for another beatdown in Ann Arbor.

Let's hope so!

[RomaGoth]

Time for another beatdown in Ann Arbor. Guys on Scout are deluding themselves into believing Indiana has a chance, but I'll have to see it to believe it.

I would be surprised if this game is competitive, especially if Michigan jumps out to a big lead early.

[Kodos]

Apparently, one convincing win against Akron, and you go from projected 3-9 doormats to challenging for the Big Ten crown.

[Dr. Sak]

Some will think it's lame (rightfully so) but I think it is cool. This week's game in Happy Valley is a stadium white out and game day will be there. There is a movement to get everyone to show up at game day with just plain white signs...nothing written on them and hold them up.

I'm not sure how this will look or work out. I know I am bias but I think the Stadium white out is one of the coolest things out there. Hopefully at this year's game I wont be so drunk I'll actually remember some of it.

[RomaGoth]

Apparently, one convincing win against Akron, and you go from projected 3-9 doormats to challenging for the Big Ten crown.

Those Zips are a tough opponent. ;)

[RomaGoth]

Vegas Vic would know for certain, but it's my understanding there is some sort of law in place that Vegas isn't allowed to take bets on Nevada colleges.

That would make sense. What about Atlantic City though? What are the odds there?

[Lathum]

That would make sense. What about Atlantic City though? What are the odds there?

lol, I deleted my original post because I couldn't find anything on google.

There is no sports betting in AC. That I know for certain.

[RomaGoth]

lol, I deleted my original post because I couldn't find anything on google.

There is no sports betting in AC. That I know for certain.

Aah....never been there and didn't know that. Well, there is Delaware. :D

[Karlifornia]

Hey Karl, can you shed some light on the rather tepid attendance at Stanford games? I would've figured the improvement under Harbaugh and the fancy rebuilt stadium would generate crowds closer to 50,000 than the 35,000 they seem to be drawing...

I would've come down for the game if I didn't have a family obligation this weekend...

It's kind of an enigma, but if I had to guess, I'd say:

1) Years of bad press resulting from the Buddy Teevens and Walt Harris disasters. At the end of the Willingham tenure, the old Stanford stadium (which held something over 70,000) was getting nearly full for every game. Of course, the team had a banner year (for Stanford), getting as high as 6th in the BCS rankings. Then, Willingham had a highly publicized departure to Notre Dame, and a new coach plus an uninspiring year usually leaves people tepid. Then Walt Harris came in and it was a complete disaster. I had been going to every game every year for a decade, and even now I was finding other ways to spend a Saturday. It takes some years to repair that kind of damage. Just ask your average college football fan (even around the Bay Area) about Stanford, and the response you'll get it "Ooh, Stanford stinks. They did beat USC a few years ago, though. How embarrassing for the Trojans that was." If Stanford wins 8 games this season, the attendance will recover next year.

2)The alumni base is smaller than 95% of D-1A teams. The alumni are also usually spread all over the world.

3) The number of undergrads is also smaller, and there's probably a higher ratio of kids who really don't care to attend a football game. I know that football games double as a social event for co-eds, but think about who gets into Stanford: People who are focused on academics. I will give the students credit that they came out in better numbers two seasons ago, and were louder than they had ever been. I can't attest to last season, as work prevented me from going to any games.


You could say that the Bay Area is a "Pro Sports" place, but Cal routinely fills up Memorial Stadium. During the Holmoe years, they didn't. Now they do. What's the difference? Winning. This isn't a situation like the SF Giants, where they moved from a shitty, cold, out of the way football stadium into a baseball palace right in downtown San Francisco. This is a situation where there's a lot of people who just don't care enough to use a day out of their weekend to go watch what they believe to be bad football. I suppose we just aren't as die-hard for our college teams as you guys are up there. We have more fairweather fans, and we are more fairweather people.

[Swaggs]

Some will think it's lame (rightfully so) but I think it is cool. This week's game in Happy Valley is a stadium white out and game day will be there. There is a movement to get everyone to show up at game day with just plain white signs...nothing written on them and hold them up.

I'm not sure how this will look or work out. I know I am bias but I think the Stadium white out is one of the coolest things out there. Hopefully at this year's game I wont be so drunk I'll actually remember some of it.

Love the white outs (especially at Penn State) -- but the blank signs idea is lame.

[Poli]

It's kind of an enigma, but if I had to guess, I'd say:

1) Years of bad press resulting from the Buddy Teevens and Walt Harris disasters. At the end of the Willingham tenure, the old Stanford stadium (which held something over 70,000) was getting nearly full for every game. Of course, the team had a banner year (for Stanford), getting as high as 6th in the BCS rankings. Then, Willingham had a highly publicized departure to Notre Dame, and a new coach plus an uninspiring year usually leaves people tepid. Then Walt Harris came in and it was a complete disaster. I had been going to every game every year for a decade, and even now I was finding other ways to spend a Saturday. It takes some years to repair that kind of damage. Just ask your average college football fan (even around the Bay Area) about Stanford, and the response you'll get it "Ooh, Stanford stinks. They did beat USC a few years ago, though. How embarrassing for the Trojans that was." If Stanford wins 8 games this season, the attendance will recover next year.

2)The alumni base is smaller than 95% of D-1A teams. The alumni are also usually spread all over the world.

3) The number of undergrads is also smaller, and there's probably a higher ratio of kids who really don't care to attend a football game. I know that football games double as a social event for co-eds, but think about who gets into Stanford: People who are focused on academics. I will give the students credit that they came out in better numbers two seasons ago, and were louder than they had ever been. I can't attest to last season, as work prevented me from going to any games.


You could say that the Bay Area is a "Pro Sports" place, but Cal routinely fills up Memorial Stadium. During the Holmoe years, they didn't. Now they do. What's the difference? Winning. This isn't a situation like the SF Giants, where they moved from a shitty, cold, out of the way football stadium into a baseball palace right in downtown San Francisco. This is a situation where there's a lot of people who just don't care enough to use a day out of their weekend to go watch what they believe to be bad football. I suppose we just aren't as die-hard for our college teams as you guys are up there. We have more fairweather fans, and we are more fairweather people.
I'll likely make a game out there with the Bourbons while Brandon is out there.

[Karlifornia]

I'll likely make a game out there with the Bourbons while Brandon is out there.

If you can, tailgate. Hanging out among the eucalyptus trees on a nice balmy Saturday afternoon is a pretty one of a kind setting.

[dawgfan]

Thanks Karl. Jon Wilner addressed this to a certain extend recently as well, describing what he considered pathetic marketing by the school. I also hadn't grasped the fact that Stanford alumni tend to be more scattered around the country than a State school like the UW.

Stanford has such a beautiful campus, I would figure that game day would be a lot of fun. I'll make it down there for a game one of these years - I have relatives in Los Altos Hills, so I've got lodging already covered.

[dawgfan]

I suppose we just aren't as die-hard for our college teams as you guys are up there. We have more fairweather fans, and we are more fairweather people.
Dola - I wouldn't say Seattle area fans are any less "fair weather" - I think the UW's tradition and history of success gave the program more buffer to weather the Willingham error. Even so, we're still hovering at 40,000 season tickets sold (out of 72,000 seats) with individual and walk up sales bringing things to ~60,000 per game, though sales are spiking after beating USC.

[Eaglesfan27]

USC has been experimenting with Mitch Mustain as their punter. He's had some 60 yard punts, although consistency is still an issue. However, with O'Malley sucking badly, there is a chance that Mustain could actually punt within the next few weeks. Would be interesting to see and would certainly open up the fake punt pass.

[BishopMVP]

cartman's FOFC College Football Top 25 poll, Week 3 open for voting - Front Office Football Central (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=74637)You mean you want me to click onto page 2 or actually use the search function? ;)
No Floyd hurts, he's so good.

I see ND is still favored by 7 on the road so I'm assuming Perdue aren't that great. What do they do well/not so well?Detox pretty much covered it. Things Purdue does well - run the football ; Things Purdue does not do well - pass the football, avoid interceptions, play defense, beat MAC teams at home.

[miami_fan]

USC has been experimenting with Mitch Mustain as their punter. He's had some 60 yard punts, although consistency is still an issue. However, with O'Malley sucking badly, there is a chance that Mustain could actually punt within the next few weeks. Would be interesting to see and would certainly open up the fake punt pass.

So Mustain has gone from consensus national high school player of the year and the future of his home state school to third string QB and backup punter? Wow

[tarcone]

Iowa in another upset, knocks PSU from title contention again.

GO HAWKS!

[RomaGoth]

Iowa in another upset, knocks PSU from title contention again.

GO HAWKS!

You mean the same team that escaped with a win against Northern Iowa? Sorry, don't see it happening, although anything is possible....;)

[Swaggs]

Nothing at all on Ole Miss @ South Carolina?

Such a joke that Ole Miss is ranked in the top 5.

[MJ4H]

It takes special effort to make a preseason Heisman candidate look like Casey Dick.

[RomaGoth]

Nothing at all on Ole Miss @ South Carolina?

Such a joke that Ole Miss is ranked in the top 5.

Hehehe...been watching other stuff, but checked the score for this game.

Ole Miss is who we thought they were. Only difference is, we aren't letting them off the hook.

It is a joke that they were ranked 4th. Stupid fucking polls are ridiculous anyway. Should we have another thread on why a playoff in college football makes more sense than this BCS bullshit?

[Swaggs]

I'm just wondering how much more mileage Ole Miss can get out of the Florida loss. I'll be disappointed if they don't drop out of the top 20 if they lose by more than 10 tonight.

[RomaGoth]

Nice. Ole Miss = 43 plays, 118 yards, 3 points. Definitely worth a top 5 ranking.

[Big Fo]

Ole Miss finally gets into the endzone.

Hopefully the Gamecocks don't throw this one away.

[RomaGoth]

Guess I shouldn't have said anything. :mad:

[Swaggs]

I don't even care if they come back to win -- I have my doubts that they are in the top 4 SEC teams, regardless of tonight's outcome.

[tarcone]

You mean the same team that escaped with a win against Northern Iowa? Sorry, don't see it happening, although anything is possible....;)

Iowa has a very inexperienced O Line. And a during the UNI game they had the wrong RB starting.
Iowa owns PSU. and the Hawkeye defense is lights out.
If the offensive line has a good day, Iowa can win.

[RomaGoth]

Iowa has a very inexperienced O Line. And a during the UNI game they had the wrong RB starting.
Iowa owns PSU. and the Hawkeye defense is lights out.
If the offensive line has a good day, Iowa can win.

Remember the game is in Happy Valley this year though.

[tarcone]

Remember the game is in Happy Valley this year though.

True, But Iowa has won 6 out of the last 7. Happy Valley doesnt scare me like it used to.

[mauchow]

Good. Ole Miss loses.

[RomaGoth]

The NCAA and their ridiculous penalties. Let the players enjoy themselves a little, damn.

[Swaggs]

Geez... South Carolina is now a top 15 team according to Craig James and Jesse Palmer. :)

[RomaGoth]

Geez... South Carolina is now a top 15 team according to Craig James and Jesse Palmer. :)

:confused: :eek: :lol:

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

All fired up to see the Tigers in a primetime game tonight. Great chance for Gabbert, Alexander and Witherspoon to shine in front of a national audience.

M-I-Z!!!!!!!!!!

[Matthean]

Arkansas @ Alabama 3:30 PM CBS - Bama rolled VT and I have them #1, now we'll get to see them against a different type of offense. I think Bama's D will get too much pressure on Mallett and roll again.

Only game I care about, but Arkansas's D makes the Lions look credible. I don't doubt they can put up some points, but 'Bama would have to really brain fart this one to not post 400+ yards.

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[ISiddiqui]

I'm just wondering how much more mileage Ole Miss can get out of the Florida loss. I'll be disappointed if they don't drop out of the top 20 if they lose by more than 10 tonight.

Well it wasn'tjust the Florida loss. Remember they rolled over Texas Tech in the Bowl Game last season as well.

[MJ4H]

Only game I care about, but Arkansas's D makes the Lions look credible. I don't doubt they can put up some points, but 'Bama would have to really brain fart this one to not post 400+ yards.

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There were a lot of things contributing to that defensive performance, some of which will hopefully be improved upon. Loss of basically our signal-calling MLB leader of the defense to a weird ejection is one of the major ones. If you watch that game, you'll see the defense wasn't too bad, certainly serviceable, before that ejection. While I agree the defense looked horrid for the rest of the game, there is reason to think there will be substantial improvement this week.

Additionally, another key player will be returning from injury this week.

Hey, I have to have some reason for optimism, right?

[Kodos]

I hope Penn State kicks the crap out of Iowa.

By the way. LOOOOOOVE having the Big Ten network and getting to see all the Big Ten games.

[Eaglesfan27]

Geez... South Carolina is now a top 15 team according to Craig James and Jesse Palmer. :)

Of course they are, it serves ESPN's purposes to keep pimping the SEC.

[gstelmack]

I heard a point the other day that now that ESPN has the BCS Bowls, will they still continue to push for a playoff and bash the BCS?

[BishopMVP]

It takes special effort to make a preseason Heisman candidate look like Casey Dick.Who ever decided he was a legitimate Heisman contender? I'm always incredibly skeptical when a player's stock shoots up during the offseason. There's a reason he lost to Colt McCoy at Texas. Even if he is the better pro prospect a la Joe Flacco, Joe Flacco wasn't Heisman worthy in college.Ole Miss is who we thought they were. Only difference is, we aren't letting them off the hook.

It is a joke that they were ranked 4th. Stupid fucking polls are ridiculous anyway. Should we have another thread on why a playoff in college football makes more sense than this BCS bullshit?We have a weekly poll on this site. If you want to criticize voters, go vote in it and put your thoughts up beforehand. I've been driving the Ole Miss is overrated bandwagon since the preseason thread and I still had them at 14.

(Sorry if that comes off harshly, but I love arguing about the polls, and to do that people actually have to put an opinion out there beforehand. If not, why not post that clearly USC was overrated at #3 and Oklahoma at #2. They lost to teams no better than South Carolina.)

[RomaGoth]

Who ever decided he was a legitimate Heisman contender? I'm always incredibly skeptical when a player's stock shoots up during the offseason. There's a reason he lost to Colt McCoy at Texas. Even if he is the better pro prospect a la Joe Flacco, Joe Flacco wasn't Heisman worthy in college.We have a weekly poll on this site. If you want to criticize voters, go vote in it and put your thoughts up beforehand. I've been driving the Ole Miss is overrated bandwagon since the preseason thread and I still had them at 14.

(Sorry if that comes off harshly, but I love arguing about the polls, and to do that people actually have to put an opinion out there beforehand. If not, why not post that clearly USC was overrated at #3 and Oklahoma at #2. They lost to teams no better than South Carolina.)

No offense taken. I usually forget about the voting polls. As for USC and Oklahoma, the difference is that they have done something in the past, where Ole Miss has not done a damn thing, except a win over Florida and Texas Tech in the bowl game.

I was saying that Ole Miss is overrated for a while now, most definitely since before last night's game. ;)

[JonInMiddleGA]

???

Nobody has mentioned Missouri scuffling with Nevada in this thread yet? Not even when Nevada had a 13-12 lead in the 3rd qtr?

[Swaggs]

Just got home and am watching.

Not too impressed w/ either, so far, although watching "the Pistol" is semi-interesting.

[Blade6119]

So Mizzou pulled it out, but that running game was just dreadful. Gabbert continues to progress, making some mis-throws but also some real impressive shots. I think this team is prob. around #20 in the nation in talent, and a contender but not the favorite in the North. Not a great display, but 4-0 is 4-0. Now a week off then Nebraska!

[Cuckoo]

I try not to place too much emphasis on one game. But I didn't think Gabbert looked too impressive in that game actually. His throws were regularly off, and he got the benefit of a couple of lucky heaves, not nearly as nice as the impression I got after that Illinois game. With a soft defense and a mediocre running game, Mizzou is going to lose some games they probably "shouldn't" this year. They'll still be in the race in the Big XII north, but I'm thinking now that they're running 3rd to Nebraska and Kansas.

[Crapshoot]

Hey Karl, can you shed some light on the rather tepid attendance at Stanford games? I would've figured the improvement under Harbaugh and the fancy rebuilt stadium would generate crowds closer to 50,000 than the 35,000 they seem to be drawing...

I would've come down for the game if I didn't have a family obligation this weekend...

Its Stanford man; out here, no one gives a crap about college football, cuz they're plenty of other things to do. :D They rank well below the Giants and 49ers (and even the Sharks) in local sports team credibility, and people aren't coming down from San Francisco to see them; those people are Cal fans anyway. FWIW, I disagree about this distribution of fans; you go to Stanford, you choose to stay in the Bay Area, not leave. What Karl did hit upon (to some extent) is that its Stanford - its not SouthWestrn Missouri State, where football is the only thing that matters; the school itself has significantly bigger outlets of fame, as it were.

[the_meanstrosity]

The Nebraska game should be a good one and is a winnable game for MU if they can keep Helu from racking up yardage on the ground. Containing Helu is the key to stopping NU's offense. For Missouri, this will be Gabbert's first true test against a quality defense. I think Gabbert is going to be a heck of a QB, but I have a feeling that Suh and the Huskers are going to be a tough test for him.

So Mizzou pulled it out, but that running game was just dreadful. Gabbert continues to progress, making some mis-throws but also some real impressive shots. I think this team is prob. around #20 in the nation in talent, and a contender but not the favorite in the North. Not a great display, but 4-0 is 4-0. Now a week off then Nebraska!

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

The Nebraska game should be a good one and is a winnable game for MU if they can keep Helu from racking up yardage on the ground. Containing Helu is the key to stopping NU's offense. For Missouri, this will be Gabbert's first true test against a quality defense. I think Gabbert is going to be a heck of a QB, but I have a feeling that Suh and the Huskers are going to be a tough test for him.

"Winnable"?

It would be an embarrassing loss for the Mizzou program to lose at home to Nebraska. They've done nothing thus far outside of getting a moral win playing against a similarly overrated Virginia Tech team. Nebraska will have to play a perfect game to beat Mizzou in Columbia.

[the_meanstrosity]

The Tigers struggled against a winless Nevada squad and Bowling Green. I don't think a loss to a quality Nebraska team who played a top 15 caliber program in Virginia Tech would be embarassing. I don't know what your problem with Virginia Tech is, but year in and year out they put one of the best defenses in college football together. They are definitely a much better program than anything MU has faced this season.

Pellini has the Cornhuskers playing great on defense. The offense is still a work in progress, but if they can get the ball to Helu and Zac Lee can just manage the game then they'll be a tough game for anyone in the Big 12. I think you'll be surprised by how much NU has improved since Pelini took over. I'm not a big fan of Pelini, but the guy knows how to put together a tough defense.

"Winnable"?

It would be an embarrassing loss for the Mizzou program to lose at home to Nebraska. They've done nothing thus far outside of getting a moral win playing against a similarly overrated Virginia Tech team. Nebraska will have to play a perfect game to beat Mizzou in Columbia.

[MJ4H]

Who ever decided he was a legitimate Heisman contender? I'm always incredibly skeptical when a player's stock shoots up during the offseason. There's a reason he lost to Colt McCoy at Texas. Even if he is the better pro prospect a la Joe Flacco, Joe Flacco wasn't Heisman worthy in college.We have a weekly poll on this site. If you want to criticize voters, go vote in it and put your thoughts up beforehand. I've been driving the Ole Miss is overrated bandwagon since the preseason thread and I still had them at 14.

(Sorry if that comes off harshly, but I love arguing about the polls, and to do that people actually have to put an opinion out there beforehand. If not, why not post that clearly USC was overrated at #3 and Oklahoma at #2. They lost to teams no better than South Carolina.)

eh half the country?

And my opinion on what Nutt's coaching will eventually do to this team is more than on record (if not here, then in many other places, but very likely here, too). I don't post about it too much because everytime I've tried I've been harassed for being a pyschotic Nutt-hater. He has been such a media-darling for the last year, it is kind of funny to watch the exact (and I do mean exact) same things that caused his Arkansas teams to consistently fail in games just like this happen to his new team. I know your second comment wasn't directed at me, but I felt like I should respond anyway, since my opinion about how ludicrous Ole Miss's preseason ranking is is well known (and I can give plenty of links to other message boards of me saying so well in advance). I didn't say it here very often if at all because of the harassment I got for it.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

The Tigers struggled against a winless Nevada squad and Bowling Green. I don't think a loss to a quality Nebraska team who played a top 15 caliber program in Virginia Tech would be embarassing. I don't know what your problem with Virginia Tech is, but year in and year out they put one of the best defenses in college football together. They are definitely a much better program than anything MU has faced this season.

Pellini has the Cornhuskers playing great on defense. The offense is still a work in progress, but if they can get the ball to Helu and Zac Lee can just manage the game then they'll be a tough game for anyone in the Big 12. I think you'll be surprised by how much NU has improved since Pelini took over. I'm not a big fan of Pelini, but the guy knows how to put together a tough defense.

You have a right to your opinion. Nebraska is a very average team and I expect Mizzou to beat them in Columbia easily. If they don't, Pinkel and the staff is going to have a lot of explaining to do. Mizzou doesn't lose to average teams in Columbia.

[the_meanstrosity]

Nebraska is not a world beater by any means, but neither is MU. Both teams are closer to average than great, but they're not as far apart from each other as you seem to suggest by your prediction. I do think that if there is a blowout it'd be more likely to be MU winning big than NU simply because MU's offense is much more dangerous than NU's. I just believe that NU's defense has the ability to nullify that advantage when they are clicking.

You have a right to your opinion. Nebraska is a very average team and I expect Mizzou to beat them in Columbia easily. If they don't, Pinkel and the staff is going to have a lot of explaining to do. Mizzou doesn't lose to average teams in Columbia.

[RomaGoth]

The Michigan defense looks great against Indiana so far. *shrug*

[MJ4H]

LSU gets a pick 6 within the first few plays and then bobbles the snap on the PAT. MSU promptly replies with a long touchdown drive and Mississippi State leads 7-6.

[Radii]

Georgia Tech leads UNC 7-0 after a quarter. UNC has gone 3 and out all 3 times they've had the ball. Tech will start the second quarter in the red zone.

[Swaggs]

The Michigan defense looks great against Indiana so far. *shrug*

I'd get used to it -- Rich Rod & Co. generally put their best players on offense and Tony Gibson is a very good recruiter, but has no business being a position coach at this (or any college, really) level. I still don't know how Pacman ended up at corner over slot receiver, actually.

Anyway, I'd guess the Michigan name will get them in the door with some top notch defensive recruits with enough raw talent to overcome things on the defensive side of the ball moreso than at WVU.

[Swaggs]

Georgia Tech leads UNC 7-0 after a quarter. UNC has gone 3 and out all 3 times they've had the ball. Tech will start the second quarter in the red zone.

As much as I hate to say it, I think UNC is one of the more overrated teams in the rankings right now. I'm not a gambler, but I would have definitely taken GT, at home, over UNC.

[Swaggs]

Ouch... Forcier pulls out the boner, aka Favre, play. Under pressure tries flipping it forward to no one and gets picked by the DLineman.

[Swaggs]

South Florida causes a turnover and then goes deep for a 76-yard TD on the first play of the drive. They lead @Florida State, 14-0, without Matt Grothe.

[gstelmack]

Go Bulls! Daniels is looking reasonable replacing Grothe, and man is that defense playing well...

Unfortunately my son has finished playing with his toys and is ready for a snack and some Bug's Life, so it will be a bit before I can get back to it.

[Swaggs]

USF, w/ questionable play calling, goes for the 39 yard FG w/ :09 on 2nd down and misses off the upright. They had time to go for the endzone and check down for a short gain w/ the timeout left.

They go into the half w/ a 14-0 lead @ FSU -- pretty good play from the freshman QB.

[larrymcg421]

Love the line for Daniels so far - 4 of 9, 166 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT

That's a Tecmo Bowl line.

[Swaggs]

I wonder if the folks at Michigan State ever wish they had just hired Brian Kelly rather than Dantonio. That seems to have been a net gain for Cincy.

[MJ4H]

Due to Tim Tebow's illness all college football games have been canceled for the day. Please remember to fly flags at half-mast.

[larrymcg421]

Wow, FSU had 1st and goal from the 7, but Ponder gets sacked twice and then they miss the 44 yard FG. USF still up 14-0.

[larrymcg421]

Ponder fumbles and USF kicks a FG to go up 17-7 with 3:47 left.

Indiana RB goes for an 85 yard TD run to put them up 33-29 on Michigan with 8:39 left.

[Lathum]

Forcier is fun to watch.

[flounder]

Georgia Tech beats UNC 24-7. Much better performance by the Jackets over their first 3 games. On offense there were a lot fewer missed blocks, and, after a few early errant throws, Nesbitt had a much better game throwing the ball. He finished 7 of 11 for 89 yards and added 97 and 2 TDs on the ground. The defensive line got good pressure on Yates and held UNC's offense in check most of the day.

There still seemed to be some conditioning issues, and Scott Blair may have kicked himself out of a job with 2 missed FGs and 2 kickoffs out of bounds. Still, a lot of cause for optimism. If Va Tech can beat Miami, GT will still have a chance at going to the ACC championship game.

[larrymcg421]

Indiana coach is LIVID.

[cougarfreak]

I wonder if the folks at Michigan State ever wish they had just hired Brian Kelly rather than Dantonio. That seems to have been a net gain for Cincy.

No kidding, Brian Kelly has built UC into something no one thought they could ever be, a top 15 program. They might end up with a national title shot if they go undefeated in the Big East by default.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Very pleased with Josh Nesbitt today, specifically the last TD when he was hurting. Looked an awful lot like one of those moments where a kid takes a big step in the right direction toward maturity, gutted it out & pushed himself further than maybe he knew he could.

[cougarfreak]

Indiana coach is LIVID.


He should be. If it's not overturned, he might punch a ref. Wonder who got hit by the gum he threw? :)


Edit.......IU just got screwed. BIG time.

[larrymcg421]

What the fuck is up with Ponder? You can't take a sack on 4th and 3!

[Honolulu_Blue]

I thought Michigan would win today, but by nowhere near the 20 points the spread had them at. Their defense just simply isn't good enough to stop people consistently. They did a great job today limiting Indiana to field goals, but that was about it. They did get a lucky call there at the end.

More often than not, if Michigan is going to win, it will be a game like this one or the Notre Dame game: a very close, high-scoring game. Thanks to all that extra practice and conditioning, they have played well in the 4th quarter.

Great play by Tate Forcier in the 4th quarter when the game is on the line. He was pretty pedestrian up until then.

The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Forcier.

I think this is a perfect description of 2009 Michigan football team taken from a UofM blog:

"Right now, Michigan is an Easter egg dropped out of a window during an engineering competition. It's small. It's moving extremely fast. It's brightly colored and looks like it contains a good time. It is heading inexorably for something large and uncompromising, and all it has to protect it is a rickety structure slapped together last night out of Busch Light cans, foam, and an unidentifiable oozing substance someone found next to the refrigerator. It's probably not going to make it, but for the moment it's time to enjoy the wind."

[larrymcg421]

Mississippi State driving. They are at the LSU 20 with 1:50 left, down 30-24.

[Eaglesfan27]

Now, Mississppi State is inside the 5. :)

[larrymcg421]

Make that 1st and goal from the 2! 1:28 left.

[Eaglesfan27]

Idiotic call on 3rd and goal from the half yard line.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

Even worse call on 4th and goal. Run it straight ahead, don't bother with that fake pitch.

[larrymcg421]

Nah, the 3rd down call was great. The dude was wide open. It just got knocked down.

But yes the 4th down call was dumb.

[Izulde]

Ugh. I hate watching Breeding punt.

[larrymcg421]

Terrible start for the Canes.

[Bigsmooth]

Terrible start for the Canes.

They are now in a nearly impossible position in Blacksburg, with that driving rain. Damn.

[Swaggs]

Damn... Getting Ohio State game on ABC HD, but the VT-Miami game is listed on ESPNHD, but must be blacked out or something. They are just showing the studio show. Bummer.

[Izulde]

A fake punt that deep in our own territory? Talk about a ballsy move, but it worked.

[Bigsmooth]

Holy balls, Mallett has a rifle. Impressive.

[larrymcg421]

Hmm. Virginia Tech oddly went conservative after the holding penalty. Then they bumble the punt and Miami has it at the Va Tech 23.

[Izulde]

Fucking hell.

If we tackle even half worth a damn, we'd have them tackled for a loss not a fucking TD.

[larrymcg421]

What a motherfucking disaster.

[Kodos]

Time for another beatdown in Ann Arbor. Guys on Scout are deluding themselves into believing Indiana has a chance, but I'll have to see it to believe it.

Totally heartbreaking loss today. We should have won by multiple scores, but couldn't get it done in the red zone. And then the ref utterly fucked us on the last turnover.

Still, nice to see solid play from the Hoosiers. Maybe we can take down OSU next week.

[Izulde]

There goes that shitty secondary again.

14-0 'Bama.

[dwardzala]

Damn... Getting Ohio State game on ABC HD, but the VT-Miami game is listed on ESPNHD, but must be blacked out or something. They are just showing the studio show. Bummer.

Its on normal def - don't know why the blackout the HD.

[larrymcg421]

Annoyed that Miami played it so safe on 3rd and 19 there. Hello, you're down 21-0!

[cmp]

Totally heartbreaking loss today. We should have won by multiple scores, but couldn't get it done in the red zone. And then the ref utterly fucked us on the last turnover.

Still, nice to see solid play from the Hoosiers. Maybe we can take down OSU next week.

Michigan had no business winning that game. You guys went up and down the field on us all day.

[Kodos]

Unfortunately, moral victories don't mean shit. IU football is cursed.

[Kodos]

Looks like Miami might not be living up to their hype. Down 21-0.

[Eaglesfan27]

Oregon is smoking California, 25-3 at the half.

[larrymcg421]

Fuck that shit. You are down 21-0. You can't just give up possessions!

[SirFozzie]

Wow, BC pulls it out.

WF down 3 in OT, first and goal at the 3, fumble and BC recovers to steal the game.

[gstelmack]

Nice win by USF today. Daniels with big throws when they needed them plus a great day on the ground, and the defense comes up huge holding FSU to 7 points.

Of course, we've been in this position before, hitting #2 in the country after beating West Virginia, only to go on a 3 game losing streak, so I'm not holding my breath. But a great win playing your redshirt freshman backup QB.

[larrymcg421]

That's more like it, Miami.

Now let's see if the defense can step it the fuck up.

[larrymcg421]

Yikes. Randy Philips out for the game.

[Izulde]

Finally! Razorbacks TD!

14-7 assuming PAT's made.

[Izulde]

Ugh! I hate this fucking secondary!

21-7 'Bama answer right away :mad:

[larrymcg421]

Fuck. Canes had some momentum building and Jimmy Graham drops two passes in three plays.

[larrymcg421]

And there goes the momentum...

[Izulde]

Blocked punt. Tide score again. 28-7, 5:53 left in 3rd.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I just heard Matt Millen make the following statement in the Miami-VT game: "You'll never truly be able to be really successful until you have experience no success."

Well, Mr. Millen, it looks like you are well on your way to being really successful, fucktard.

[Blade6119]

You have a right to your opinion. Nebraska is a very average team and I expect Mizzou to beat them in Columbia easily. If they don't, Pinkel and the staff is going to have a lot of explaining to do. Mizzou doesn't lose to average teams in Columbia.

As a fellow Mizzou fan, I think your crazy if you really believe this. Nebraska should be favored, and beating them would be a great accomplishment in my eyes. Losing would hardly be a disaster, and they are better then just an average team.

Im not sure if you have Mizzou too high in your mind, or Nebraska too low, but as a fellow mizzou lover im telling you your shooting a little too high too fast with these lads.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Not being a fan of any of the teams playing at this moment, these games are quite dull. Blowouts all around.

[Izulde]

I can't watch this crap anymore. *shuts TV off and goes to work on MFA application sample*

[RomaGoth]

The Canes look terrible, and Michigan was indeed lucky to win that game today. I knew the defense wasn't very good, but I didn't realize it was a fucking sieve.

[RomaGoth]

I just heard Matt Millen make the following statement in the Miami-VT game: "You'll never truly be able to be a total douche until you completely fuck up an NFL franchise."

Well, Mr. Millen, it looks like you are well on your way to being a total douche, fucktard.

Fixed that for you.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Incidentally, Ohio leads Tennessee 14-7 midway through Q1 (a KOR TD and a 30 yd TD drive set up by a Crompton pick) and Georgia leads Arizona State 7-3 in a driving rain

[JetsIn06]

PSU BABY!!!!!!!! 79 yard TD on our first play!!!!!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tennessee gets a pick six & takes a 21-14 lead

Yeah, I know, if you're watching the Georgia game you just saw the highlight, I was fixing a hot dog while listening to the Vol Network so I'm posting slow, sue me)

[dervack]

Tebow down. Probably a concussion at least.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Why was Tebow still in the game? If it's anything serious from that situation, Gator fans would string Meyer up & run him out of town on a rail.

Happily Tebow did walk off under his own power however. I don't want the guy to light up any of "my" teams, but otherwise I've got no problem with him at all.

edit to add: For those who haven't seen the clip, he gets sacked front the front side & takes a helmet on the button, lower half of his face mask basically but as he's falling down the back of his head catches a knee going toward him for a nasty looking whiplash kind of thing.

[SirFozzie]

stupidity by Purdue gives ND new life on a drive.. after having tracked down Clausen on a third down play, forcing a long FG attempt, one of the chasing Purdue players bent over and gave Clausen a earful. Easy taunting call. Apparently one of the defensive captains too. Someone did that on a team I coached, they'd be running stadiums next practice.. (and they probably would be sitting for a while)

[Eaglesfan27]

Just saw the Tebow hit and that looks very nasty.

[dervack]

Crist replaces Claussen temporarily. I guess by design because of the turf toe.

[Passacaglia]

Iowa in another upset, knocks PSU from title contention again.

GO HAWKS!

Iowa is love. Penn State is not.

:)

[Lathum]

Not a good start for the Dawgs

[bhlloy]

If USC are the biggest chokers in the country (and I'm not arguing that point) then Cal is definitely USC lite. It's amazing how many highly ranked Cal teams just roll over and die, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them lose 4-5 games again now.

Oregon are just a bizarre team. They did this last year, pretty mediocre and then just destroy a pretty good OSU team. Obviously Masoli is very hit or miss but there has to be more to it than that. Losing Blount might be the best thing that happened to them, the new starter at TB looks really good and is a much better fit for their offense.

[Blade6119]

Georgia leads Arizona State 7-3 in a driving rain

ASU scores off a short field from a fumble recovery, and at 14-10 (Georgia up) this is a game again(in spite of how hard Danny Sullivan is trying to lose). I really believe this ASU defense is special, its just that this ASU offense is just as unspecial.

[Blade6119]

ASU gets a pick six, and its 17-14 all of a sudden deep in the 3rd quarter! This defense is really quite talented, in terms of ability and production. If Erickson can turn that offense around, this team could be really great in a few years.

[Blade6119]

End of the 3rd and Georgia is at 3rd and goal from the 3...whoever wins this showdown when the quarter resumes should have the momentum to win the game.

[Blade6119]

Incomplete pass, 4th and goal...so georgia should kick and tie it up. Not sure they will, but I think its the right move.

Yup, 17-17 in the 4th!

[JonInMiddleGA]

ASU turns 1st & 10 from their own 20 into 4th & 26 from their own 3.
So much for momentum I guess :(

[Blade6119]

ASU turns 1st & 10 from their own 20 into 4th & 26 from their own 3.
So much for momentum I guess :(

Like I said, the ASU offense is just as bad as the defense is good. People were calling for Sullivans head in favor of Osweiler before the season started, tonight certainly doesnt help. 9-27 for 111 yards? Thats pathetic...

[MrBug708]

Burfict is good. I can see why ASU sold its soul to get him qualified :)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tennessee trying to hold on, leading Ohio 31-20 with 13 minutes left. Almost got closer after a Crompton fumble that was returned for six but reversed on replay because the ball was OOB when it was recovered. Meanwhile bad news for the Vols as LB Nick Reviez looks to have suffered a knee injury & the radio network just mentioned that his parents (Fuad Reviez is his dad) are on the sidelines which usually ain't good news. They're currently missing five defensive starters with injuries.

And while I'm typing a 59 yd pass gets Ohio in business inside the UT 20 with 11:33 left.

[Blade6119]

4th and 1 for Georgia at the 28, do you push it or try for the long field goal? I dont know Georgias kicker, so I dont know his range, but this is tricky.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Not as tricky as having your FB get stuffed on 4th & 1 :D

[Blade6119]

Not as tricky as having your FB get stuffed on 4th & 1 :D

I would have kicked it, ASUs offense isnt doing anything...take the 3 and trust your D to hold instead of trying to beat a defense that has stopped you all day.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Ohio settles for a FG, cuts the lead to 31-23 with 10:35 left in Knoxville.

[Blade6119]

And ASU holds GA to another 3 and out...both defenses are doing their jobs, good defensive battle.

Great punt return as ASU starts at the UGA 48. This is a short field, this has to be points for ASU

[fantom1979]

Ouch

Tebow lay motionless for several minutes while Commonwealth Stadium fell silent. He sat up with some help then slowly made his way off the field to a loud ovation. He was eventually carted off the field with concussion-like symptoms, vomiting several times as he was taken to an ambulance to a local hospital for tests.
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20090927/capt.6d13964d7afa4446bd03a94b83a74cd8.aptopix_florida_kentucky_football_kyer117.jpg?x=213&y=250&xc=1&yc=1&wc=349&hc=410&q=85&sig=NsuFi79hE8_FIp90vBLxIQ--
No. 1 Florida wins but lose Tebow to injury - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090927/ap_on_sp_co_ga_su/fbc_t25_florida_kentucky_5)

[Blade6119]

Why throw the ball 3 straight times? Sullivan has been awful all night, so with a great opportunity, you put the ball in his hands and trust him? Thats just stupid in my eyes, no matter how much UGA is stacking the box.

Punt for touchback, 6 mins left and still 17-17

[Eaglesfan27]

Ugh. Fox Sports South is showing an Auburn blowout still instead of covering the beginning of the USC-WSU game.

[Blade6119]

INTERCEPTION!!! HELL YES!!! Returned to the UGA 22, now it really HAS to be points!

[Recoil]

UGA wants to give this game to ASU and they want nothing of it. Good God.

[Blade6119]

With our star kicker out injured, I dont know what Erickson will do with a true frosh kicking for us. I think you have to try and get 3 the way your offense is playing.

[JonInMiddleGA]

This is a couple of very average teams hooked up in Athens, and I think I'm being generous. Their glaring problems more than offset anything either of them do well.


Meanwhile, speaking of average teams (or worse), Tennessee has pushed the lead back to 11 with 4:30 to play in Knoxville.

[JonInMiddleGA]

FG blocked by AJ Green :(

[Blade6119]

The pure ineptitude of these two squads offenses is staggering...I knew ASUs offense was terrible coming in, but I though UGA could put some points up.

Sad side note, as two loyal QBs who sat until their seniors years are just not justifying their coaches faith.

[Eaglesfan27]

USC forces a 3 and out, gets a good punt return, and then scores after 3 plays as McKnight runs it in from the 5.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

As a fellow Mizzou fan, I think your crazy if you really believe this. Nebraska should be favored, and beating them would be a great accomplishment in my eyes. Losing would hardly be a disaster, and they are better then just an average team.

Im not sure if you have Mizzou too high in your mind, or Nebraska too low, but as a fellow mizzou lover im telling you your shooting a little too high too fast with these lads.

We'll see what the spread holds, but I'd be pretty surprised if NU was a favorite. But we get to savor a 4-0 start and a "disappointing" 400+ yard performance from Gabbert in the meanwhile.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Gerogia lining up for a FG with :02 left

[JonInMiddleGA]

And of course it's good, Georgia wins 20-17 & they celebrate a win over mediocrity like they've just won the conference title.

[Recoil]

And of course it's good, Georgia wins 20-17 & they celebrate a win over mediocrity like they've just won the conference title.

Broad Street will smell of puke and urine for days. Oh, wait..

[JonInMiddleGA]

Broad Street will smell of puke and urine for days. Oh, wait..

:D

On the bright side, the rain should cut back on the amount of trash left by the tailgaters. They seemed to hold off on starting to drink heavily until around 11 today, leaving them only about 8 hours to trash the campus & the town instead of the usual 10-12 for night games.

[General Mike]

Just wanted to say that Juice Williams is who I thought he was.

[Izulde]

damn it Penn State why yo punt ne4ed block for TD?! come on Joepa!

[Swaggs]

Wow... Iowa blocks a punt with the player blocking, picking up, and returning for a TD w/o breaking stride.

[Swaggs]

Just wanted to say that Juice Williams is who I thought he was.

Juice is pretty much the classic case of a guy who hasn't really gotten any better since his first year. His bars were all maxed out as a freshman. :)

[DeToxRox]

Juice is pretty much the classic case of a guy who hasn't really gotten any better since his first year. His bars were all maxed out as a freshman. :)

Money buys players, but not improvement ;)

[DeToxRox]

Time for my Michigan comments:

Indiana played amazing. Their bookends on the DL are the best pair of DE's in the Midwest, simply amazing. Their offense made big plays and they did get screwed on that INT but I am going to take it after last year. I wrote off Bill Lynch before the year but he is fitting in nicely, but we'll see.

Onto Michigan now.

Our D has no depth and is undersized. Greg Robinson makes great adjustments but we have like 17 guys who can play on D right now at a high level and it won't cut it. That won't be fixed this year but the talent is in the program, it just needs cultivating. Still, the big plays are a concern and I do think we'll lose to MSU next weekend unless we play a great first half of defense.

On offense, our two studs Minor and Brown are banged up, and we are using a new center which resulted in some awful snaps, but we hung on. The frosh QB's made mistakes but Tate made the plays when it mattered. I think we'll score on MSU next weekend but it's going to be a war, one where Minor HAS to be able to carry it 20 times to give us some punishing running to wear down the middle of their D and keep Greg Jones honest. That said, I love this offense so far, but it's even better to think of in the future.

Concerning the rest of this year, I think we beat Delaware State, Illinois and Purdue for sure, with only the night game @ Iowa as our only for sure loss. We will probably have a shot in all the rests but I do not expect to win them all obviously.

I think 8-4 is far at this point, with 9-3 being a huge breakthrough.

Needless to say I am excited for the future.

[Eaglesfan27]

YES! USC is finally opening up their offense. Barkley has missed on one or two throws, but he has hit a few too including a beautiful 30 yard strike to Butler in the endzone.

[DeToxRox]

Oh Swaggs, while you're here, Bieline had Michael Gilcrest, the consensus 2011 #1 hoops player, on campus. Coach B is flat out getting it done recruiting these days, though obviously I don't expect MG at all, it's just amazing he got a 3 day visit from a kid like that.

So I have to ask, what was the story with him at WVU? Did he just find diamonds in the rough and not bother with bigger names or what?

[Eaglesfan27]

Wow. After going up 13-0, USC executes an onside kick and recovers. Nice to see a killer instinct from this team finally.

[hoopsguy]

Just wanted to say that Juice Williams is who I thought he was.

Since he is now a 4th year starter, there has been plenty of time to form the correct opinion on the guy. Nothing that you saw today should have impacted this in the least.

Juice is pretty much the classic case of a guy who hasn't really gotten any better since his first year. His bars were all maxed out as a freshman. :)

Nah, that is not accurate. He was a horror show as a freshman, and improved steadily through his sophomore year. The OSU game (upset in Columbus that for all intents sent them to the Rose Bowl) was the apex of that development, although many Illini fans were drooling after the deep passing display trying to come back against Mizzou last year in the opener.

He is a miserable QB for a guy that is a four year starter. He just stares through his receivers, has multiple patterns that he just cannot throw, and gets rattled over the course of games. He gets worse from quarter to quarter and presses like crazy when his defense and WRs let him down.

Money buys players, but not improvement ;)

The idea of being chastised by a Michigan fan about buying players is pretty laughable.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Wow. Penn State is in BIG trouble. Down by 8 with 8 minutes left.

[Eaglesfan27]

Next play is a 57 yard TD pass to Damien Williams! (But, there is a flag down.)

[DeToxRox]

Since he is now a 4th year starter, there has been plenty of time to form the correct opinion on the guy. Nothing that you saw today should have impacted this in the least.



Nah, that is not accurate. He was a horror show as a freshman, and improved steadily through his sophomore year. The OSU game (upset in Columbus that for all intents sent them to the Rose Bowl) was the apex of that development, although many Illini fans were drooling after the deep passing display trying to come back against Mizzou last year in the opener.

He is a miserable QB for a guy that is a four year starter. He just stares through his receivers, has multiple patterns that he just cannot throw, and gets rattled over the course of games. He gets worse from quarter to quarter and presses like crazy when his defense and WRs let him down.



The idea of being chastised by a Michigan fan about buying players is pretty laughable.

Hey hoops isn't football. Maybe Zook is the most charismatic coach in America, and if so, more power to hm, but he is a terrible, terrible coach who does nothing with the talent he has brought in minus one dream Rose Bowl run.

[DeToxRox]

And, for your information, Michigan just practices a .. uh .. lost harder (NOT LONGER) then everyone else.

[DeToxRox]

Purdue is driving on the Irish. I am pretty impressed with ND's D to this point, but obviously Claussen isn't healthy and not having Floyd is just a killer.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Holy moly. Iowa recovers a fumble. They have the ball up by 8 over Penn State.

[DeToxRox]

And Royster fumbles inside the Iowa 20 to give the Hawkeyes a huge change of possession.

[DeToxRox]

And at Purdue, on 4th down Purdue underthrows a wide open WR with separation to give the Irish the INT.

[tarcone]

GO HAWKEYES!!!!!!!

[tarcone]

Yes!!!!!

[tarcone]

1st and 10 do it again

[Eaglesfan27]

Great weekend with a few top 10 teams going down. :)

[tarcone]

7 out of last 8

No national championship again PSU

[tarcone]

National Championship for Iowa?

[JetsIn06]

:(

[hoopsguy]

Hey hoops isn't football. Maybe Zook is the most charismatic coach in America, and if so, more power to hm, but he is a terrible, terrible coach who does nothing with the talent he has brought in minus one dream Rose Bowl run.

You will not find me defending Zook in the least in terms of the product on the field. He has to go now so the next coach still has some talent; I can not see how in the world Zook can recruit players with the product he has rolled out over the past 15 games. Get rid of Zook now and give the next guy a fighting chance, rather than a heap of garbage like Zook inherited from Turner 5 or so years ago.

I think you can take your pick - hoops or football - for smoke and/or fire around the program. But I'm honestly not trying to pick that fight here. The Illini football program is a steaming pile of dung right now and there has been nothing on the field this year that suggests reason for improvement between now and the end of the season.

[RomaGoth]

Wow, another handful of upsets this weekend. Just when we think Florida State and Miami are for real, they both get clobbered today. Michigan was lucky to escape with a win over Indiana, and Penn State managed to lose to Iowa yet again (gratz Hawkeyes, nice win). In addition, Cal was destroyed today and LSU needed a goal-line stand for their win.

Gotta love college football. :)

[Swaggs]

Oh Swaggs, while you're here, Bieline had Michael Gilcrest, the consensus 2011 #1 hoops player, on campus. Coach B is flat out getting it done recruiting these days, though obviously I don't expect MG at all, it's just amazing he got a 3 day visit from a kid like that.

So I have to ask, what was the story with him at WVU? Did he just find diamonds in the rough and not bother with bigger names or what?

Hard to judge his recruiting while he was here, because he was only around five years and had a huge first class and last class (both of which turned out pretty well, although the last one had a lot of attrition when Huggins arrived).

His first class was a hodge podge of guys he essentially recruited to Richmond, but brought to WVU when he got the job, + Pittsnogle (who was already committed, an in-state guy, and a 4-star recruit). Pittsnogle was really the only legit recruit in the group, which included his son, an unheard of German import, and a couple other multi-year contributors. He rode those guys to an E8 and S16 and generally only targeted ~3-star guys, which we got, but he seemed to have an unusual number of transfers, including some of the higher profile guys he brought in (Tyler Relph was a 4-star, NY state player of the year who only lasted a year) and seemingly all of the big men he recruited either failed to qualify or transferred out. He also used a number of openings to bring in transfers (I can think of 4 off the top of my head, w/ Mike Gansey being the best of the bunch) with mixed results.

Towards the end of his time here, he received a good bit of criticism for failing to make any effort at OJ Mayo, Pattrick Patterson, Billy Walker, and another perimeter guy I cannot remember who were oddly all from or lived in WV (which is odd, we maybe get 1 or 2 D1 in-state guys ever few years. Mayo would have been a longshot, but Walker and especially Patterson were considered within the realm of possibility, but Beilein didn't seem interested. Most people think that he felt that he would never be able get big-time, national talent to WVU and that is essentially the feeling that most WVU fans have of him: that he didn't feel like he could bring studs to WVU, so he didn't bother with him.

My overall take on him is that he will probably have 3-4 very good years at Michigan and then the other B10 coaches will catch on to his offense and the 1-3-1 and it will then depend on what type of legit talent you have as to whether or not things will continue to improve from there or not.

[Big Fo]

After a rough day with the injured foot and terrible pass blocking Claussen was money on that last drive.

[Swaggs]

Since he is now a 4th year starter, there has been plenty of time to form the correct opinion on the guy. Nothing that you saw today should have impacted this in the least.



Nah, that is not accurate. He was a horror show as a freshman, and improved steadily through his sophomore year. The OSU game (upset in Columbus that for all intents sent them to the Rose Bowl) was the apex of that development, although many Illini fans were drooling after the deep passing display trying to come back against Mizzou last year in the opener.

He is a miserable QB for a guy that is a four year starter. He just stares through his receivers, has multiple patterns that he just cannot throw, and gets rattled over the course of games. He gets worse from quarter to quarter and presses like crazy when his defense and WRs let him down.



The idea of being chastised by a Michigan fan about buying players is pretty laughable.

My bad -- I didn't know whether he was a senior this season or not and had forgotten about his first year.

Kind of a shame that the staff, having a pretty well known quantity at QB for the past couple of years, continues to have him run plays/patterns he cannot execute well.

[Warhammer]

Nice to see a killer instinct from this team finally.

Isn't this par for the course, after the obligatory unexplainable loss?

[bhlloy]

Apparently not as they have been completely shite in the second quarter. Barkley is the only difference between this week and last week and he's been hit and miss still.

[Eaglesfan27]

Apparently not as they have been completely shite in the second quarter. Barkley is the only difference between this week and last week and he's been hit and miss still.

I don't see how you can say he was "hit and miss." He was 8 of 12 for 146 yards and 2 TD's and 2 of those incompletions were due to drops by his receivers. Barkley was great that first half. The defense was shit in the 2nd quarter and let WSU keep the ball for 8 minutes. Penalties also killed a few drives for USC and were ridiculous in the first half.

[bhlloy]

Should have been more specific, he missed two easy throws in the second quarter. But yeah, overall "hit and miss" is harsh, he's been playing well.

[RedKingGold]

Oh Penn State.

[tarcone]

Iowas defense is lights out

[Galaxy]

Great game with Houston-Texas Tech. Is Houston for real?

[Galaxy]

Why are the fans rushing the field against an unranked 2-1 team (I know it's a BCS team, but still)?

[DeToxRox]

Why are the fans rushing the field against an unranked 2-1 team (I know it's a BCS team, but still)?

Eh, it's a mixture of beating Ok. State and then now at home beating Texas Tech now in what was their biggest home win in a long, long time. They're going to be a BCS darkhorse if they take care of C-USA business.

[Galaxy]

Eh, it's a mixture of beating Ok. State and then now at home beating Texas Tech now in what was their biggest home win in a long, long time. They're going to be a BCS darkhorse if they take care of C-USA business.

Good point. I believe they got Mississippi State left to play as well. With Boise State, TCU, and UH, it could get very interesting.

[Eaglesfan27]

Corp gets a chance to start redeeming himself in the 4th quarter and promptly fumbles the ball away. I'm disappointed in how USC has played from the 2nd quarter on.

[RainMaker]

With the loses today and looking ahead at the schedules, this is shaping up like a year that could potentially see a non-BCS team in line for a National Championship game.

Boise State should be at #5 in the next poll. They have one tough game left at Tulsa. Their win against Oregon is also looking to be a rather strong win. LSU, Alabama, and Florida will be ahead of them but will likely beat up on each other in the SEC. Lets say Florida runs the table, Boise State would only need Texas to falter at some point.

[Izulde]

*giggle*

[bhlloy]

A win is a win, but aside from Barkley, Williams and maybe Brice Butler we were shit again on offense.

[Big Fo]

What is the likelihood of a one-loss Florida/Bama/Texas being ahead of an undefeated Boise St. in the BCS?

[bhlloy]

I don't know but either way it will be absolutely hilarious to watch. If they do make it in against either a one loss Texas or SEC team, the outrage will go on for weeks. And if they don't, it might be even worse from the neutrals. Don't screw this up Boise...

[Big Fo]

I don't know but either way it will be absolutely hilarious to watch. If they do make it in against either a one loss Texas or SEC team, the outrage will go on for weeks. And if they don't, it might be even worse from the neutrals. Don't screw this up Boise...

That's true. No team I root for will be going to the national championship game so I might as well hope for some outrage, maybe if enough people are upset about what happens there will be a playoff someday. IIRC the current system is locked in for a few more years though.

[Lathum]

USC isn't as good as we thought they were. Looks like the PAC 10 is wide open.

[Eaglesfan27]

What is the likelihood of a one-loss Florida/Bama/Texas being ahead of an undefeated Boise St. in the BCS?

I think once the computers and SOS gets factored in that at least 6 teams with 1 loss would get into the National Championship Game ahead of Boise St. BCS is going to be a clusterfuck this year if 2 power house teams don't go undefeated.

[RainMaker]

I think once the computers and SOS gets factored in that at least 6 teams with 1 loss would get into the National Championship Game ahead of Boise St. BCS is going to be a clusterfuck this year if 2 power house teams don't go undefeated.
It'll be interesting. We could have a situation where Boise State ranks #2 in both polls but falls farther down in the BCS. This is the highest I can remember a non-BCS school ever being ranked this early, so it'll be interesting to see if voters will continue to move them up as other schools lose in front of them.

One twist is that it seems like voters in the AP poll have gotten sick and tired of the BCS system. Last year Utah received 16 first place votes. If it looks close, I wonder if we'll see a handful of writers putting Boise on top just so they can get in and mess up the system. A lot may also depend on how well Oregon finishes up. They've looked real strong lately and with USC looking bad, lets say they are able to win out in the Pac-10. That gives Boise State a huge quality win for the computers to digest.

[MizzouRah]

As a fellow Mizzou fan, I think your crazy if you really believe this. Nebraska should be favored, and beating them would be a great accomplishment in my eyes. Losing would hardly be a disaster, and they are better then just an average team.

Im not sure if you have Mizzou too high in your mind, or Nebraska too low, but as a fellow mizzou lover im telling you your shooting a little too high too fast with these lads.

I agree.. Nebraska lost by 1 point to VT.. IN VIRGINIA! We are just damn lucky the Nevada running back fumbled the ball because they were just about to tie the game up.

I would be ecstatic if we beat Nebraska and were are lucky they are coming to Columbia - that to me, makes the game just about even.

Gabbert has a long way to go...

[Karlifornia]

Stanford stomped UW at home. I'm surprised by the final score, but I shouldn't be. UW is not a very good team. They're what Stanford was two years ago: A team recovering from an absolute disaster and looking good sometimes, but getting flat out abused sometimes.

Stanford/UCLA will be big next week. The winner has a Holiday Bowl invitation within it's sights. It's too early to say either team has a shot at anything more. Should be a good one that nobody besides Bug, Chief, and myself care about.

[mauchow]

Badgers looked tough on offense for once.

Minus the last five minutes of the game, the Badgers dominated that game through and through. Woot!

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Gabbert has a long way to go...

It's an interesting issue when a sophomore QB in his first road start who throws for 400+ yards has a 'long way to go'. The majority of BCS teams would love to have that 'problem'. He's the best QB in Division I (QB rating) in the second half. He's been a slow starter at times this season, but he's been as good as they come in the clutch.

I fully expect Mizzou to beat Nebraska by at least 10 points.

[MizzouRah]

It's an interesting issue when a sophomore QB in his first road start who throws for 400+ yards has a 'long way to go'. The majority of BCS teams would love to have that 'problem'. He's the best QB in Division I (QB rating) in the second half. He's been a slow starter at times this season, but he's been as good as they come in the clutch.

I fully expect Mizzou to beat Nebraska by at least 10 points.

I love the kid, he's going to be really good but... who has he played against yet? He missed a few long passes to open receivers again Friday against Nevada. I'm being picky.. but this game against Nebraska should tell me a lot about Gabby.

[Tigercat]

LSU ranked #4 in the coaches poll, and may end up #4 in the AP. Which will make this LSU team the most out of sync top 4 team I have ever seen in October+ college football.

LSU was outgained by both Washington and Mississippi state by ~150 yards, and in every game LSU has played we have looked worse in the trenches than the other team. (Including against a ULL team that Nebraska spanked 55-0.)

Just stunning that such a team is #4 in the nation. Although I suppose if we win, even if we do it ugly, on the road against UGA, we would have earned that ranking a bit more.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I love the kid, he's going to be really good but... who has he played against yet? He missed a few long passes to open receivers again Friday against Nevada. I'm being picky.. but this game against Nebraska should tell me a lot about Gabby.

I don't disagree, but I was the one saying that it was far too early to pass judgment on players like Gabbert, Mallett, and Jacoby. I don't think there any question that this past week's results proved that to be accurate.

[MJ4H]

Thoughts on yesterday's Bama-Arkansas game. Watched it at a friend's house. I have to stop doing that, I act like a buffoon during televised games. I prefer to watch them either in person or locked in a room by myself :D.

Defensively, still gave up a ton of yards, but looked less disorganized this week and more like they had an idea of what was going on. Less overmatched. Still the defense is going to have to improve a ton before we are competitive with good teams. I'm on the fire Willy bandwagon at this point. He isn't getting it done. Our first choice, Ellis Johnson, who left after like a month on the job before last season, would've been light years better than Willy.

Offensively, I don't think I've seen a Razorback team shoot themselves in the foot more in my entire life. Penalties and dropped balls over and over lead to drives stalling and ending over and over. I actually give the credit for this to Bama's defense. I'm pretty sure Saban's whole plan was just to do everything to confuse the young, inexperienced offense and disrupt the precision required in a lot of the patterns and the timing the offense requires, basically at every opportunity. I think this rattled them and led to the drops and mental mistakes on penalties. Excellent gameplan, expertly executed. Props to Bama.

Mallett looked out of synch on more passes this week than last week, but most of his problems stemmed from 1) receivers dropping a TON of passes and 2) being put into bad position (3rd and long REPEATEDLY) by penalties. Pass rush got to him and hurried him quite a bit, too, but I think 1 and 2 were by far the difference for him.

Extremely disappointed with the drops from the receivers. There was an absurd number of them. Hopefully that kind of performance doesn't repeat and we can handle the disruptions better. The defense will likely improve little by little this season, and if the offense doesn't lay an egg like that every week, it should be good enough to just outscore most of the average to weak teams on the schedule. The strong teams are going to eat us alive, though.

Based on what I hear from others as well as what is patently obvious on the field, Willy's time as DC is about to end.

[Izulde]

Good. We need to fire his ass like yesterday.

[Chief Rum]

Stanford stomped UW at home. I'm surprised by the final score, but I shouldn't be. UW is not a very good team. They're what Stanford was two years ago: A team recovering from an absolute disaster and looking good sometimes, but getting flat out abused sometimes.

Stanford/UCLA will be big next week. The winner has a Holiday Bowl invitation within it's sights. It's too early to say either team has a shot at anything more. Should be a good one that nobody besides Bug, Chief, and myself care about.

Next week is going to be a very interesting game.

Some UCLA fans on the boards I go to are calling it a likely win for us, but I think that's a bunch of stupidity mixed in with bruin-colored optimism. It's going to be a tough, tough game, and if I had to make my straight up pick, it would Stanford easy.

One thing Stanford will have to do--throw the ball better (and that won't be easy either). Facing UCLA's D isn't quite like facing Washington's D, and as big a load as Gerhart is, he's going to be facing a nasty defense that might be the best in the Pac 10, and they'll be stacking the box and challenging Luck to prove he can throw the ball.

On offense, it could be brutal for UCLA. I'm not sure if Stanford's D is much good (I have heard they are a bit of a mixed bag), but they don't have to be great to beat an offense that is struggling to generate consistency and yards, and which is featuring Kevin Craft right now under center. Craft made some decent plays against K-State, but it was K-State, and Craft also looked exactly like the guy last year at times who was just so inept and lost.

Craft did lead the Bruins to victory against you guys last year, but that was at home. This will be in Palo Alto, and road games are tough in this conference.

I think Stanford's going to win a slugfest that ends up something like 17-14 or such and such.

[MrBug708]

Pete Carroll was sold a bill of goods in Jeremy Bates. But then again, it never was Norm Chow's offense but the "USC offense"

[Eaglesfan27]

Norm Chow has done wonders with the offense at UCLA.

[MrBug708]

Norm Chow has done wonders with the offense at UCLA.

Things are bad at USC when SC fans are blasting Norm Chow! I did love the boos raining down on the team in the 4th...

But he's trying to fix the "Jeremy Bates style" offense that was in place for 5 years

[Chief Rum]

Taking out the rival sniping, both comments are somewhat true.

Carroll should have paid more attention to what Dorrell was like when picking an O-coordinator, because Dorrell came from the same "school of thought" as Bates. And Carroll needs to start learning from the Chow experience and bring someone in on that side of the ball who IS a threat to him. Bringing in yes men so Carroll doesn't have to be concerned about the OC getting all the credit is, in the end, really hurting his program.

As a UCLA fan, I am massively disappointed in the lack of progress seen in the UCLA offense. The product looks better, and the line is clearly better, but an offense derives most of its quality and success from the QB position, and at that spot--the spot where Chow is supposed to be a guru--UCLA has been extraordinarily awful. A good reason for this is that Craft is just, flat, not a good QB, and doesn't seem on his way to becoming one. They have to know this, and yet, UCLA still starts him with Prince out. That's a concern, because it tells me they have either developmental problems and recruit scouting problems, and neither is good for a program.

[Chief Rum]

"Both comments" being the two above Bug's last--he did not have that in there when I started my post.

[Eaglesfan27]

Things are bad at USC when SC fans are blasting Norm Chow! I did love the boos raining down on the team in the 4th...

But he's trying to fix the "Jeremy Bates style" offense that was in place for 5 years

Just pointing out that Norm Chow has hardly shown himself to be an offensive genius at UCLA. His offenses there have been among the worst in the nation. 108th in total offense so far this year.

Meanwhile, despite the turnovers, USC's offense is 1st in the conference in total yards. USC just needs to eliminate the turnovers and penalties.

[MrBug708]

Just pointing out that Norm Chow has hardly shown himself to be an offensive genius at UCLA. His offenses there have been among the worst in the nation. 108th in total offense so far this year.

Meanwhile, despite the turnovers, USC's offense is 1st in the conference in total yards. USC just needs to eliminate the turnovers and penalties.

He wasn't handed the top QB out of HS either in his tenure at UCLA. He was handed Kevin Craft :)

[molson]

Boise State cracks the top 5 in both polls.

The WAC is down and the Broncos schedule is even worse than normal (though the Oregon win is looking better), but if they run the table, which they should, and 3 (or all) of the 4 in front of them drop a game - they could easily end up in the BCS title game.

Not saying they deserve it, but that's just kind of how the human polls work. Nobody in the top 4 is going to stay in front of Boise St. if they lose a game. And its pretty rare to be passed in the human polls by someone if you don't lose a game.

It might shape up to be one of those nightmare scenarios the playoff-proponents want to see.

[dawgfan]

Stanford brings the UW back to reality. Clearly both lines need a lot of work, and until new recruits arrive the staff is going to have to figure out ways to minimize their weakness in the trenches.

That said, the UW was in this game going into the 4th quarter, but an off game by Locker and an uninspired offense in general let them down.

Give major credit to Harbaugh - he's transformed Stanford into arguably the toughest team in the Pac-10, and with the way he's been recruiting down there, the rest of the conference should be on alert - the Cardinal could be a real force in the next few years, and I'll be shocked if this year's team isn't bowling.

Back to the drawing board for the UW. They clearly need to play with intensity and smarts to win games; when they make careless mistakes and play sloppy on defense, they don't have nearly enough talent to win. I still think every game left on their schedule is a game they can win, and every team they play is capable of beating them.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Looks like a couple of the games in the Big 12 just got a little easier. Baylor lost their star QB to a season ending injury over the weekend. That really hurts them.

Also, Nebraska lost one of their starting senior safeties (Themarse) to what is likely a season-ending knee injury (may be back for bowl game). They also have another senior safety (Asante) who suffered an ankle injury and will not be 100% for the Mizzou game. That leaves one senior and two redshirt freshmen to play safety for the Huskers.

[Blade6119]

He wasn't handed the top QB out of HS either in his tenure at UCLA. He was handed Kevin Craft :)

Ill trade you a Danny Sullivan for your Kevin Craft :p

[Cuckoo]

Looks like a couple of the games in the Big 12 just got a little easier. Baylor lost their star QB to a season ending injury over the weekend. That really hurts them.

Really, really too bad for Baylor. They were making huge strides and were on their way to having a very nice year. But Griffin was key to almost all of that.

[MrBug708]

Ill trade you a Danny Sullivan for your Kevin Craft :p

Done!

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Really, really too bad for Baylor. They were making huge strides and were on their way to having a very nice year. But Griffin was key to almost all of that.

Griffin reminds me a lot of what Mizzou was when we had Brad Smith. If he would have had a season-ending injury at any point, MU would have been all but dead in the water for that season. Unfortunately, an athletic QB like that is going to take more hits and be more likely to get injured. That's the risk you take.

[Dr. Sak]

Find the obscene sign in this screen shot

http://cache.deadspin.com/assets/images/11/2009/09/500x_erinsign.jpg

[gstelmack]

That's easy. It's obscene that ESPN felt the need to put that huge Kingsford charcoal logo up blocking a huge chunk of the screen.

Oh, wait, you mean THAT obscene sign...

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Ah, to be stupid and in college.