Week 5 Recap sponsored by Verne and Gary….making big-time college football seem like MXC since 2006

Somehow those two get to call the big games.  I guess it helps getting what basically amounts to the SEC Game of the Week every week.  That ends next year thanks to our friends at ESPN and the SEC Network.

Anyway, recappin’ time!

I really love my PVR

Let’s start with the games I watched this week, since I was able to pick up some (mostly) good games to watch Saturday and Sunday morning  (hey a guy has to have a life outside of watching college football…yes, I understand that sounds crazy but bear with me)…

Techmo Bowl – Other than watching the Logan Thomas Variety Hour(s) (which sounds like a horrible 1950’s variety show), nothing else seemed particularly exciting about this game.  It seemed like the Ramblin’ Wreck was never in this one…at all.  Maybe Dancing Frank has his Hokies on the way back to the ACC Championship.

Mountain West Newbies – Watching Utah State and San Jose State was awesome and appalling all at once.  Chuckie Keeton looked awesome.  The Aggies are probably one upset away against Boise State from going to the inaugural Mountain West championship game.  David Fales looked awful though.  Actually the entire Spartan team and the fanbase did as well.  This is a pretty big game and they can’t draw flies in San Jose.  Even after a great season last year, nothing seems to help.  They may be clawing and scratching for bowl-eligibility the way this is going.

No, it’s not Alabama…no it’s not Auburn…keep guesssing – I was pleasantly surprised at how the South Alabama Jaguars of Mobile played the Vols this weekend.  This is the type of team that will, soon enough, reign supreme in their conference (in this case the Sun Belt) and then other conferences will start looking at poaching them to make their conference stronger.

Just possibly the game of the year (so far) – LSU and Georgia.  What an absolutely fantastic game!  Back and forth.  It’s what a college football classic should be…except for the fact Verne and Gary were calling it.  It just doesn’t seem as big-time with those two at the mic.

Just one big Slip n’ Slide – That was borderline painful watching Zona-Washington in the monsoon Saturday evening.  And even though the Fighting RichRods made it close for a bit, it didn’t seem like Keith Price et al would let them get close enough.  And they didn’t.

I was hoping for some wild Mike Leach action – Wow that sounds disgusting.  Anyway, I assumed it would be a shootout and that the Cougs would show a national audience what they’re truly made of.  And they did.  They suck.  Well, to be more accurate, everyone not named Connor Halliday sucks.  I feel bad for that guy.  Sucks being a pretty good QB on an awful team.

The rest

I am glad I resisted temptation and didn’t PVR Oklahoma-ND, tOSU-Wisky and/or ASU/USC.  All three games weren’t very close and were overhyped.  What would have been better was to see the Trojans’ AD firing Lane Kiffin at LAX.  Now, that would have been fun to watch.  Oh, and by the way, thanks a lot Kiffin.  My prediction of USC squeaking out the Pac-12 South just looks silly now thanks to you and your terrible coaching.  Maybe Al Davis wasn’t wrong about you.

If anyone is shocked with the news of Paul Pasqualoni’s firing, please stop watching college football forever.  You don’t deserve to.  UConn is awful.  They have only played three good QUARTERS this year.  Don’t let the smokescreen of keeping up with Michigan fool you.  UConn sucks this season.

I think later this week I should amend my bowl projections.  You know, bring out my inner Jerry Palm.  Since some of the teams I thought would dominate or be really good are anything but.  Thanks a lot Fresno State.  Even if they run the table, something tells me they shouldn’t be within sniffing distance of a BCS bowl.  Same goes for Texas (although they are almost finished anyway).

So coming up we have updated way-too-early bowl projections and TV schedules for next weekend.  I am moving this coming weekend so we will see how these posts play out.

Hey they finally woke up!

Looks like Bell and Rogers finally woke up and said “Hey, college football is on in a little over 36 hours.  Let’s give everyone a schedule.”  So finally, we have specialty pack schedules.  FINALLY:

		Bell Fibe		Bell Sat		Rogers SSP
		SD	HD	SD	HD	SD	HD
Northern Illinois at Purdue	12:00 PM	391	1462	391	1535	433	473
South Alabama at Tennessee	12:00 PM	393		393
Miami at USF	12:00 PM	392	1463	392	1536	434	474
Wake Forest at Clemson	3:30 PM	392	1463	392	1536	434	474
Iowa at Minnesota	3:30 PM	391	1462	391	1535	433	473
Ole Miss at Alabama	6:30 PM	390	1464	390	1537	432	472
Florida at Kentucky	7:00 PM	392	1463	392	1536	434	474
Texas A&M at Arkansas	7:00 PM	391	1462	391	1535	433	473
Stanford at Washington State	10:00 PM	390	1464	390	1537	432	472
Southern Miss at Boise State	10:15 PM	392	1463	392	1536	434	474
USC at Arizona State	10:30 PM	391	1462	391	1535	433	473

Some pretty good choice although not as deep a lineup as the cable lineup this weekend.  I am a bit perplexed at the USA-Tennessee game on the specialty pack for Bell.  I was sure I saw it as the SEC Network game of the week on TBS (yeah I know it’s called Peachtree now, but I will always refer to it as TBS…or the Superstation!  Now when is that Death Wish marathon coming on….).  All of a sudden, the guide and all the websites I look at say the teams will be announced.  This would be so Sportsnet-esque to do that (i.e. show a game that is already on a channel that many people get) although it’s the specialty pack so I give them a bit of a reprieve.  Really liking the SEC block in the early evening and the Pac-12 block in the late night slot.  Some really good games this weekend.  My PVR is getting a workout baby!  Oh, and I have to say, thank you networks for putting all the SD games on HD as well.  Should have been doing it all along.

Let us not speak of Week 4….

Now that the silliness that was Week 4 is over, we can concentrate on the new and improved Week 5!  Now this is the type of schedule that college football fans crave.  Lots of high-level matchups to whet the appetite.  Problem will be what to put on the PVR…alright on to the cable schedule!

South   Alabama at Tennessee	12:00 PM	Peachtree
Oklahoma State at West   Virginia	12:00 PM	TSN2
South Carolina at UCF	12:00 PM	ABC
Miami-OH at Illinois	12:00 PM	BTN
East Carolina at North   Carolina	12:30 PM	WSBK
LSU at Georgia	3:30 PM	CBS
Iowa at Minnesota	3:30 PM	ABC
Oklahoma at Notre Dame	3:30 PM	NBC
UTEP at Colorado State	3:30 PM	CBSSN
Arizona at Washington	7:00 PM	FOX/SN1
Air Force at Nevada	7:30 PM	CBSSN
Wisconsin at Ohio State	8:00 PM	ABC

Some good ones this weekend for sure.  Nothing set for ABC at 3:30 but I will go out on a limb and say it will be Iowa-Minnesota, especially since these two teams are surprisingly good so far this season and a win this weekend almost assures bowl-eligibility.  Picking a game to watch at 3:30 could be difficult.  I’m leaning towards LSU-Georgia since I am still hoping my pick to win the SEC (Georgia) can pull it out and keep marching towards the SEC Championship.  However, I do see Oklahoma-ND being a good game as well.  The Irish have looked only comme ci comme ca lately and they are due for a breakout game.  Having that game against the Sooners won’t be easy but after what they did last year on the road, I won’t doubt the Irish in this one.

Now, the specialty package schedule….oh wait, not really.  As of right now there is very little information on sports pack schedules for this weekend.  Hopefully I can post the schedule this evening or tomorrow morning at the latest.  Disappointing to say the least from Rogers and Bell since they usually have the MLB and NFL schedules over a week in advance.

Update: Tonight will feature two games on the Sportspacks.  The Battle of the Techs (Virginia and Georgia that is), and some hot MEAC action with Howard facing North Carolina A&T.  Check your local listings to what channel it’s on.  Guaranteed Bell will show only one (if any) of the games in HD.  Tomorrow night, two games again.  Middle Tennessee travels to Mormon country to face BYU.  Then Utah State faces San Jose State which could be the best game before Saturday this week.  Chuckie Keeton and David Fales will be flinging the footballs all over the field.  Expect close to 100 pass attempts between the two.  Saturday Sportspack info to come tonight (I hope…).

Week 4 Recap (of sorts). Sorry, Louisville just scored three touchdowns in the time it took for you to read that first sentence.

Or Ohio State.  Or Baylor.  Or Miami.  You could have replaced Louisville with a few teams this past weekend.  And speaking of that…

A Trip in the Way-Back Machine

All the way back to a post I made earlier this year (like two weeks or so ago).  About scheduling with FCS schools.  I thought it would still be a good idea but that they should be restricted to September (or late-August).  None of this late-season FCS breather for a top 10 team.  But now, it is evident that there is becoming a wide gap between the good teams and not-so-good teams in college football.  Creating a new division out of the FBS cream-of-the-crop may not be as insane or far off as people may think.  After Savannah State and Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M laid eggs this past weekend, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear more conferences join the Big Ten in not scheduling those teams ever again.  We aren’t talking about North Dakota State or Montana or James Madison or the other FCS powers.  The bottom of the FCS rung shouldn’t be scheduled against ranked FBS teams.  It becomes a sad state of affairs.  And something I won’t put on my PVR.  Speaking of my PVR…

Do you feel lucky, punk?

Why yes, yes I do.  I had the luck of putting three games that ended up being quite good ones on the PVR on Saturday.  It started with the insanity that was Pitt-Duke.  Hilariously incompetent defense from both teams led to a wildly entertaining game for me (not the defensive coordinators though).  Then I had Michigan State-Notre Dame.  Sometimes bad refereeing makes things exciting.  You never know what will be called next.  Pass interference on a kickoff?  It wouldn’t have surprised me.  And finally, the Holy War was a great game despite the fact I was just waiting for Taysom Hill to go all Longhorn and run for 300 yards and it never happened.  Oh well.  Bad schedule, but excitement in the games.  I was happy…enough.

I can admit when I was wrong

OK last week, a few of the teams who I thought would be wildly successful who, instead, decided “Fuck that noise, I’m gonna suck this year.”  This week, the exact opposite.  These teams bug me because they shouldn’t be that good (and why?  Because I said so that’s why).

Iowa – After they lost the opener to NIU, I grinned and said to myself “Good on calling the Hawkeyes to finish 1-11 this season.”  Wow, am I ever looking stupid for making that prediction.  A 3-1 start and they actually look quite potent.  Yes it was only Western Michigan but they beat the ever-loving shit out of them.  This was so far from close it wasn’t even funny.  Saying that, they still could lose their last eight and finish 3-9.  It would relieve me a bit to see my prediction be closer to reality.  Part of me thinks they may go to a bowl this year though.

Illinois – Sweet baby Jesus, what is in the Big Ten water this year?  How does this team start 2-1?  Tim Beckman is doing a phenomenal job in Champaign and should be up for coach of the year even if they just go bowling.  They should be nowhere near the .500 mark but they may end up surprising and doing just that.

Auburn – Even though they looked like who we thought they were (hello Dennis Green!), they are still 3-1 to start the year and Nick Marshall looks like quite the QB.  Now they have to somehow pull out at least two more SEC victories to go bowling.  Not an easy feat in that conference.

Utah – Kyle Whittingham has the Utes going the right way.  3-1 to start the year with a win over arch-rival BYU.  Life is good…and will stay good if they can somehow eek out some Pac-12 wins.  However, they will have to win one (and probably only one) of the following games: vs. UCLA, vs. Stanford, at Arizona, at USC, vs. Arizona State, at Oregon.  My prediction feels safe on this one.

Coming Up

Everything that college football didn’t have this past weekend (read: important matchups) is what college football has in spades this week.  No less than four HUGE matchups for the college football fan this coming weekend.  My PVR is sure to get a workout and I will have to make some tough choices on game selection this coming Saturday.  Later on in the week, TV schedules.  For now, I will just feel good that my tenuous Ohio State-Georgia BCS Championship prediction can still happen.

Week 4 College football TV schedule…crappy slate, lots of choice…kind of like Quiznos

Alright, let’s see what the college football pickins’ look like this week.  First off, cable!  As I said in my previous post, Sportsnet 360 is not showing a Thursday night game again.  So Clemson-NC State is on the sports pack as well as Texas Southern-Jackson State.  Tomorrow night is a massive matchup with BCS implications.  Boise State takes on Fresno State.  The Bulldogs look to be heading to the BCS but have to get by the Broncos to keep the dream alive.  As for Saturday, this is what it looks like at this point (for people in southern Ontario):

Wake   Forest at Army	12:00 PM	CBSSN
North Texas at Georgia	12:00 PM	Peachtree
Kent State at Penn State	12:00 PM	BTN
Toledo at Central Michigan	12:00 PM	ABC/WNYO
Pittsburgh at Duke	12:30 PM	WSBK
Tennessee at Florida	3:30 PM	CBS
San Jose State at Minnesota	3:30 PM	BTN
Purdue at Wisconsin	3:30 PM	ABC/TSN2
Michigan State at Notre Dame	3:30 PM	NBC
Arizona State at Stanford	7:00 PM	FOX/SN1
Oregon State at San Diego   State	7:30 PM	CBSSN
Michigan at Connecticut	8:00 PM	ABC

Wow.  Now I can see why ESPN chose to broadcast Gameday from Fargo.  Quite underwhelming to say the least with this schedule.  People in the west get Kansas State-Texas and as of right now we are stuck with Michigan-UConn.  Terrible.  The only game on this list that would garner true national attention would be ASU-Stanford.  Other than that, some decent games but nothing stands out.

And now for the sports pack schedule (at this point).  God, this has to be better than the cable offerings…

			Bell Fibe		Bell Sat		Rogers SSP
			SD	HD	SD	HD	SD	HD
Saturday	Western Michigan at Iowa	12:00 PM					440	480
Saturday	Florida International at Louisville	12:00 PM			393
Saturday	North Texas at Georgia	12:00 PM	395		395
Saturday	North Carolina at Georgia Tech	12:00 PM		1464	390	1537	432	472
Saturday	Toledo at Central Michigan	12:00 PM			394
Saturday	Marshall at Virginia Tech	12:00 PM	392		392		434	474
Saturday	San Jose State at Minnesota	12:00 PM			391	1536	433	473
Saturday	Arkansas at Rutgers	3:30 PM		1464	390	1537	432	472
Saturday	Utah State at USC	3:30 PM					433	473
Saturday	West Virginia at Maryland	3:30 PM	392		392		434	474
Saturday	Maine at Northwestern	3:30 PM					440	480
Saturday	South Dakota State at Nebraska	3:30 PM					441
Saturday	Colorado State at Alabama	7:00 PM	391	1463	391	1536	433	473
Saturday	SMU at Texas A&M	7:00 PM	392		392		434	474
Saturday	Auburn at LSU	7:30 PM	390	1464	390	1537	432	472
Saturday	Wyoming at Air Force	10:30 PM	392		392		434	474
Saturday	Utah at BYU	10:30 PM			391	1536	433	473

OK, let me take that back.  It doesn’t HAVE to be better.  However, there is a TON of choice this weekend.  Nice to see for sure from both Bell and Rogers.  Bell Fibe’s list is incomplete at this point since the online guide I was checking on this sucks.  At the very least, the SD programming should match very closely (if not totally the same) to Bell Satellite.  A couple of good games here.  Resurgent Auburn against LSU.  Holy War late at night.  I think a dandy mid-afternoon game between Utah State and USC.  So even though the slate itself leaves much to be desired, at least Bell and Rogers have had the foresight to put plenty of options on tap for the college football fan this weekend.  I will monitor this as we get closer to Saturday for any changes.

Ouch, that seat is hot…

Time to look at an early update of coaches who, at the start of the season, were firmly planted on the hot seat and whether they are still there or not.

Bobby Hauck (UNLV) – OK for most programs, a win over Central Michigan isn’t something to hoot and holler about.  In the desert it’s different.  It is starting to look like Hauck has the Rebs going in the right direction.  Which is good because if he doesn’t win at least two more games this year, he’ll be cashing out his chips as head coach (a horrible, horrible Las Vegas-y pun…I am ashamed of myself).

Tim Beckman (Illinois) – Holy crap.  Illinois is 2-1.  The Fighting Illini are 2-1.  Oskee Wee Wee indeed.  Beckman was gold when he was in the MAC but struggled early on at Champaign.  If the Illini can be bowl-eligible this year (and that’s the real test), then Beckman has saved his job for a while.

Ron English (Eastern Michigan) – Two seasons ago, many thought English had done the impossible…turning around the Eastern Michigan football program.  But now it feels like a bit of a mirage as they are back in the depths of the MAC basement (well, officially not yet but probably soon to be).  He may end up being one of the very few in-season coaching changes.  Poor guy.  I had him pegged to get at least a Conference USA job by next season.  Not happening now.

Lane Kiffin (USC) – One of the most polarizing coaches in all of football, Monte’s son is in big-time trouble.  Yes they just beat Boston College but there is almost no excuse for the loss to Wazzu two weeks ago (even with head coach and dating master Mike Leach at the helm).  Kiffin will have to damn near run the table to save his job.  My guess is no matter what happens, the Trojan brass have tired of Lane-o and he will be gone by January.

Gary Pinkel (Missouri) – Ok Missouri is 2-0.  However, they have the meat of the SEC schedule coming up.  Don’t count on them suddenly becoming a contender in the SEC East.  However, they now have a better chance at bowl-eligibility that would surely save Pinkel’s job.  His tenure here also helps him…a lot.

Mack Brown (Texas) – Talk about shitting the bed.  This team has become a rudderless ship.  Firing Manny Diaz was probably a good idea, but he almost seems like a bit of a scapegoat at this point.  The defense is horrible, but it’s not like the offense is on fire.  If Texas doesn’t at least have a winning record in Big XII play this season, I can see the entire coaching staff being fired, not just Brown.

Paul Pasqualoni (Connecticut) – Not on anybody’s radar at the start of the season, Signore Pasqualoni (sounds like a good Italian restaurant name or a Chef Boyardee knockoff) has a tough job ahead of him.  UConn has been horri-awful this season (I love that Shaq quote).  I can’t see them being even competitive in the AAC at this rate.  Just like in Texas, cleaning house and a fresh start might be the only way to go.

Randy Edsall (Maryland) – All of a sudden, the Terps look like a force to be reckoned with.  An excellent start to the year has all but assured Edsall at least another season in College Park.  This week starts the first of a few tests: a home game against West Virginia.  Win this and they are 4-0 and close to guaranteed to be bowl-eligible.

Bo Pelini (Nebraska) – I thought his job was rock solid at the start of the season.  I (along with many others) were wrong.  The Huskers have looked not so good to start the year and may have thrown themselves down the ladder into the overcrowded middle class of the Big Ten.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see only 7 or 8 wins out of this team, despite having Taylor Martinez as your QB.

Rich Ellerson (Army) – It’s not like Army was supposed to have a special season this year.  There were supposed to be struggles just to make a bowl game this year.  Ellerson has given them a bit of hope after giving Stanford a run for three quarters this past weekend.  Their schedule isn’t overly difficult and there is a distinct possibility they could be playing for bowl eligibility when they face Navy to finish the season.

Now, some quick scheduling info.  Again, Sportsnet chooses not to show the ESPN Thursday nighter so they can show a Jays game.  I don’t understand it either since the Jays are brutal.  Anyway, you can see the Clemson-NC State game on the sports pack along with Texas Southern-Jackson State (some SWAC action) as well.  Friday night has a massive game with huge BCS consequences as Boise State takes on Fresno State (which can be seen on the sports pack as well).  Basically, the winner almost eliminates themselves from a chance at a BCS bowl unless we get the insanity we had last year with Northern Illinois.  More extensive (and nicer looking) schedule to come out tomorrow.

Week 3 Recap, brought to you by the refs from the Wisconsin-Arizona State ga…what do you mean the recap is over already?

I hate complaining about refereeing.  However…

I will complain if it alters the outcome of a game.  The TCU-Texas Tech game had two blatantly bad calls.  Did it cause TCU not to win the game or have at least a chance to win it?  I don’t know.  They lost by 10 so that can be debated either way.  However, the ending of the Wisconsin-Arizona State game (which was a damn good game for about 59 minutes and 40 seconds) sent me back to the Fail Mary Seahawks-Packers game last year.  I am still confused as to what the hell happened there.  Joel Stave just basically puts the ball down on the ground.  I know the rule says if a player “gives himself up” that the play is dead.  Many said it looked like Stave was about to kneel but bumped into an O-lineman.  Either way, part of me thought he took that way too easy and that it was truly a fumble recovered by the Sun Devils.  But why, oh why, was it not reviewed RIGHT AWAY?  Instead the refs ran off the field like it was last call at the bar.  Just a complete shitshow that shouldn’t happen in this day and age.  Don’t even get me started on the Haha Clinton-Dix targeting penalty that wasn’t a targeting penalty (but give them 15 yards anyway).

Speaking of Tide-Aggies…

Ok I will admit.  It was a great game.  Problem was, as soon as the Tide went up 2 touchdowns, I knew it was over.  That team is coldly efficient and never gets rattled.  Like, NEVER.  As much as I get sick of Alabama winning, you can’t help but respect how this team plays…on offense.  The defense is a different story.  Yes it was Johnny F’n Awesome and the Aggie Juggernaut Experience but it’s not like there aren’t other SEC teams who can put up the points.  Saban has to be worried about the defense’s sieve-like playing.  Don’t be surprised if they give up at least another 30-spot (if not 40) to some team in SEC play.  And yes, A&M’s chances at winning the division are officially gone.

Disappointments

Let me rattle off a few teams that I thought would be pretty good to very good and are pretty bad to awful so far this season:

• Louisiana Tech – I thought this team would surprise many and even challenge Tulsa for supremacy in the C-USA West.  Man, how I was wrong.  They looked terrible against Tulane and look like they will struggle to even get to a bowl.  So yeah, losing Colby Cameron (and to a lesser extent, Sonny Dykes) was a massive deal.
• Texas – I picked this team to go to the Fiesta Bowl.  THE FIESTA BOWL!  And the worst part is?  They could still do it.  Running the Big 12 table might be the only thing that keeps Mack Brown his job.  Otherwise he will be living on Manny Diaz’s living room couch come January.
• UConn – Not that I thought this team would be amazing.  I did assume they would be bowl-eligible though.  Wow, I may have been dead wrong about this.  Something tells me that now Paul Pasqualoni has become the front-runner to be the first one fired this season.

Look ahead

I appalud ESPN for having the guts to do College Gameday in Fargo.  It would not surprise me one bit if five years from now we were hearing about North Dakota State being accepted into the Mountain West.  And it’s not that there aren’t good games on the air this week, it’s just that none of them really stick out as something special.  The following week?  That’s a different story.  Four huge games coming up that will shape the national championship picture.  So ESPN goes from picking something out of almost nothing, to having a hard decision on who to leave out.

Again, expect an update later in the week on the TV schedules although a few of the cable offerings are set in stone already.

Week 3 college football TV schedule! And it’s a pretty good one…

Hey did you hear that Alabama and Texas A&M are playing this weekend?  No?  Then you must be blind and deaf.

However, for all you college football fans out there in Canada, there is actually a ton of action on the tube this weekend.  Upwards of 30 games could be available for Canadians to watch this weekend which is a big jump from the first two weeks.

First, the cable schedule:

Thursday	Chadron State at West Texas   A&M	8:00 PM	CBSSN
Saturday	Stanford at Army	12:00 PM	CBSSN
Saturday	Southern Miss at Arkansas	12:00 PM	Peachtree
Saturday	UCLA at Nebraska	12:00 PM	ABC
Saturday	Akron at Michigan	12:00 PM	BTN
Saturday	Louisville at Kentucky	12:00 PM	TSN2
Saturday	New Mexico at Pittsburgh	12:30 PM	WSBK
Saturday	Youngstown State at Michigan State	2:00 PM	BTN
Saturday	Delaware at Navy	3:30 PM	CBSSN
Saturday	Alabama at Texas A&M	3:30 PM	CBS
Saturday	Tennessee at Oregon	3:30 PM	ABC/TSN2
Saturday	UCF at Penn State	6:00 PM	BTN
Saturday	Ohio State at California	7:00 PM	FOX/SN1
Saturday	Kansas at Rice	7:30 PM	CBSSN
Saturday	Notre Dame at Purdue	8:00 PM	ABC
Saturday	Western Michigan at Northwestern	9:00 PM	BTN

Yes.  Like every other fan of the game, I have already set up the PVR to tape the Tide-Aggies game.  But beyond that, there is a lot to choose from.  However, I am quite perplexed as to what TSN and Sportsnet are doing here.  Why in the holy hell do you choose to broadcast a game that’s already on one of the major networks at the same time?  Seems ridiculous to me (and many others).  This just proves how little regard TSN and Sportsnet has for college football coverage.  I mean if you don’t really care for it, then don’t show it.  There are enough channels out there that do show it.  Don’t feed us a line about your so-called extensive coverage and then show a big batch of sweet fuck-all.

And now to the Sports Pack coverage:

			Bell Fibe		Bell Sat		Rogers SSP
			SD	HD	SD	HD	SD	HD
Thursday	TCU at Texas Tech	7:30 PM	390	1462	390	1535	432	472
Thursday	Troy at Arkansas State	7:30 PM	391	1464	391	1537	433	473
Friday	Air Force at Boise State	8:00 PM	390	1464	390	1537	432	472
Saturday	Bowling Green at Indiana	12:00 PM	392		392		434	474
Saturday	Southern Miss at Arkansas	12:00 PM	393		393
Saturday	Western Illinois at Minnesota	12:00 PM					435	475
Saturday	Tulsa at Oklahoma	12:00 PM	391		391		433	473
Saturday	Youngstown State at Michigan State	2:00 PM					432	472
Saturday	Georgia Tech at Duke	3:30 PM	392		392		434	474
Saturday	Nevada at Florida State	3:30 PM	390	1464	390	1537	433	473
Saturday	Washington vs. Illinois (from Chicago)	6:00 PM					448
Saturday	Vanderbilt at South Carolina	7:00 PM	390	1464	390	1537	432	472
Saturday	Mississippi State at Auburn	7:00 PM	391		391		433	773
Saturday	Kent State at LSU	7:00 PM	392		392		434	474
Saturday	Western Michigan at Northwestern	9:00 PM					449
Saturday	Wisconsin at Arizona State	10:30 PM		1464	390	1537	432	472

So what is it about Bell and Rogers and their choices on HD coverage of these games?  Then again, I am finding out that Bell especially doesn’t like to give too much away before the day the games will actually be played.  The fact that I can’t even find an SD channel listing for the Wisky-ASU game on Fibe late Saturday night is perplexing.  So, yeah this is pretty much set in stone but don’t be super surprised to see minor changes made to the schedule before Saturday comes along.  Either way, there’s a good amount of choice here so we have to be at least a bit thankful for that (considering they gouge us for this anyway).

Week 2 Recap…sponsored by Rogers Sportsnet and their, ahem, “extensive” NCAA coverage

Wow, they are sure blowing everyone away with the amount of games they are showing.  Question: why get the contract to show FOX broadcasts of college football games and then not show any of them?  Just to make sure TSN doesn’t get it?  Newsflash: they don’t want it anyway.

Anyway, time for the week 2 college football recap of fun and frolic.

Three yards and a cloud of…oh, you want another 500 yards tacked on?  Sure, why not.

So yes, I was a little bit miffed to see the Texas-BYU game delayed by weather.  Don’t want to point out the obvious but two BYU games in a row delayed by lightning?  Don’t see that happening anywhere else…you can come to your own conclusions…I know I have.

Anyway, so at first I was pissed.  However, I am glad I didn’t get the whole game.  Where did the Longhorn defenders learn to tackle?  That was a disgusting (or dominating, depending on the view point) display put on Saturday night up in Provo.  And to think, I picked the Horns to win the Big 12 and go to the Fiesta Bowl.  Thanks to the wackiness of FBS football, that can still happen…easily.

As for the most important two games of the weekend…

they turned out to be two of the best games of the weekend.  Georgia (my SEC championship pick) looked solid against South Carolina and Michigan played quite well against the Irish.  I still don’t see the Wolverines winning more than nine games but you never know.  If they look this good, they may pull an upset or two and we will be talking about Devin Gardner and his brand spanking new #98 as a Heisman contender.  Then again, we may end up saying the same thing about one of the most underrated QBs in the land, Aaron Murray.  OK, calm down, there’s still a lot of football left to play.

So who replaces Kiffin?  Who replaces Mack Brown?

Should we just throw a dart at a dartboard to see which job Bobby Petrino gets?  He is almost certain to land one of these gigs, it’s just a matter of which one.  Kiffin is as good as gone and Mack’s hot seat just got a lot hotter.  And for all the people who say “just replace Kiffin with Ed Orgeron”, just please shut the fuck up, for your sake.  Orgeron: good coordinator, bad head coach.

PVR rant o’ the week

I love my PVR.  I really do.  I just dislike how you have to program them based on the Rogers or Bell channel guides.  I am now getting close to hating it since I have found out that in some parts of Europe they have created PVRs where a game, in its entirety, will always be recorded.  No matter if it ends 45 minutes early or goes to a seventh overtime.  This comes from the way the signals are sent when it comes to sporting events.  I’m as technical as a person who thought Colecovision was the shit so I don’t know the details.  But that has to get to North America.  Like, yesterday.

This coming week on the viewing schedule

Finally.  FINALLY!  I took just a cursory glance at what us Canadians (and most specifically southern Ontarians..Ontariites?  Ontarioers?) will see with the tv schedule this week.  Looks like close to 30 games broadcast from Thursday through Saturday night.  Nice to finally have some choice.  Then again, none of this choice seems to come from Sportsnet.  No Thursday night game on 360 because we really need to see the absolutely god-awful Toronto Blue Jays play meaningless September ball for the 20th consecutive season.  And then on Saturday night they have the audacity to show Ohio State-Cal…which is already on FOX anyway.  I mean, when you are second rate in college football coverage to TSN you know there’s a problem.

I will have a good update probably tomorrow as to scheduling lists.  Right now, Thursday night looks like TCU-Texas Tech and Troy-Arkansas State on the sports packs and a D-II showdown between Chadron State and West Texas A&M on CBS Sports Network.  Get your PVRs ready as you’re going to have make some choices on Saturday!

Finally, some thanks to Josh over at A Rouge Point (http://canadiansportsfan.wordpress.com/) for the Twitter shoutout.  You want Canadian sports media news?  That’s the place to go.  Plus he seems to like soccer if you’re into that.

Week 2 college football TV schedule, southern Ontario style (and no, I don’t mean douchebag, we think we are the centre of the universe style…you’re thinking of Toronto)

Time for some TV schedules for week 2 of the college football season.  My PVR survived week one (despite the fact I missed the endings of three different games) so I should be good until bowl season.

First off, let’s look at the cable schedule:

Day	Game	Time	Channel
Thursday	Winston-Salem State at UNC-Pembroke	8:00 PM	CBSSN
Friday	UCF at FIU	8:00 PM	CBSSN
Saturday	Eastern Michigan at Penn State	12:00 PM	BTN
Saturday	Norfolk State at Rutgers	12:00 PM	CBSSN
Saturday	Western Kentucky at Tennessee	12:00 PM	Peachtree
Saturday	Bowling Green at Kent State	12:00 PM	WNYO
Saturday	Utah State at Air Force	3:30 PM	CBSSN
Saturday	San Diego State at Ohio State	3:30 PM	ABC
Saturday	Syracuse at Northwestern	6:00 PM	BTN
Saturday	West Virginia at Oklahoma	7:00 PM	FOX
Saturday	Colorado State at Tulsa	7:00 PM	CBSSN
Saturday	Notre Dame at Michigan	8:00 PM	TSN2
Saturday	Arizona at UNLV	10:30 PM	CBSSN

Hey did you hear Notre Dame & Michigan were playing?  If not, you must be deaf.  A big game?  Sure it is.  The last Irish-Wolverines game for a while.  And it’s the biggest game on cable this week.  However, let’s look at the Super Sports Pack/U.S. College Sports Package schedule and tell me if there isn’t possibly a bigger game on sked:

			Bell Fibe		Bell Sat		Rogers SSP
			SD	HD	SD	HD	SD	HD
Friday	Wake Forest at Boston College	8:00 PM	390	1464	390	1537	432	472
Saturday	USF at Michigan State	12:00 PM	392		392		433	473
Saturday	Florida at Miami	12:00 PM			390		434	474
Saturday	Cincinnati at Illinois	12:00 PM		1464	391		432	472
Saturday	Oregon at Virginia	3:30 PM		1464	391		432	472
Saturday	Toledo at Missouri	3:30 PM	392		392		433	473
Saturday	South Carolina at Georgia	4:30 PM			390		434	474
Saturday	UAB at LSU	7:00 PM	392		392		433	473
Saturday	Texas at BYU	7:00 PM	391	1464	391		432	472

Do you see it?  Ah, now you see it.  South Carolina-Georgia figures to be the de facto SEC East title game.  Whoever wins is almost assured a spot in the SEC Title game (barring anything crazy happening).

Now, the Bell U.S. College Sports packages aren’t complete with their scheduling yet.  Satellite is missing all of Saturday’s HD games, whereas Fibe is missing a good chunk of the schedule.  Rest assured all these games are in the package.  I just don’t know where yet.  I am surprised by the fact the San Jose State-Stanford game isn’t being shown as of right now.  Stanford is a dark horse national title contender and San Jose State has made huge strides in the past two years.  Would easily be better than at least a few of the Saturday games being shown.

Anyway, I will be updating the Bell schedules when I get the information.  That should happen no later than tomorrow afternoon but I’m hoping to find something out this evening some time.

Update (already!):  I forgot to add the Middle Tennessee – North Carolina game on WSBK.  That starts at 12:30.  Can’t believe I forgot that.  I have to talk to the editing department about this.  Heads are gonna roll!

Another Update:  It looks like Fibe won’t have much HD coverage this weekend.  I checked it out this morning and nothing is up on the guide or online to say otherwise.  Disappointing that they can’t seem to fill the whole three channels they have set aside for HD college football on the U.S. College Sports package.  Also, I have seen that in some areas the Oregon-Virginia and SDSU-tOSU games have been switched on the schedules (one has gone from ABC to the sports pack and vice versa).  As far as I know, most residents from Ontario east will get SDSU-tOSU on ABC, moving Oregon-Virginia to the sports pack.

Week One recap…sponsored by those dicks sitting behind me at the hockey game yesterday

Yeah, you.  Fucking idiots, way to ruin a fairly nice outing.  Thankfully it was preseason and the tickets were cheap (read: free).

Alright kids, enough of that, it’s time for a bit of recappin!

What a crazy first week of the college football season.  To be honest, I thought it would be somewhat boring but many teams and players made it exciting thanks to their grit, determination, and ineptitude.

Holy FCS, Batman!

We always expect one or two FCS teams to beat an FBS team.  We laugh and joke about it and then forget about it because the latest story about Johnny Football and the deuce he just dropped has hit the wires.  Then comes this past weekend.  Holy-Mary-Mother of God.  Let’s list the, um, transgressions:

• Towson 33, Connecticut 18
• Southern Utah 22, South Alabama 21
• Samford 31, Georgia State 21
• North Dakota State 24, Kansas State 21
• McNeese State 53, USF 21 (53-21?  What in the hell?)
• Eastern Illinois 40, San Diego State 19 (OK this is getting out of hand)
• Northern Iowa 28, Iowa State 20
• And then, the kicker…Eastern Washington 49, #25 Oregon State 46

It was like Bizarro World out there.  And to top it off, the Beavers lose and give up almost a 50-spot to Eastern Washington?  Wow, this has officially gotten crazy!

This makes me believe that Division 4 may not be so far off and may not be as much of a kick to the nuts as many may think.  Let me explain…the gap between the worst 30 FBS schools and the best 30 FCS schools is quickly narrowing to the point you can’t tell them apart anymore.  And when FCS schools are beating the likes of UConn, Oregon State, USF, and San Diego State then unless a boatload of FCS schools move up to the FBS, we need another solution.  Either that or we split the two divisions into three and be done with it (although that’s basically the same as this Division 4 proposal).

Surprises and Disappointments

A few of the week one surprises and disappointments:

• Surprise: FCS schools.  See above.  Plus a few teams kept things close in their games.
• Disappointment: Boise State.  I would put Washington as a surprise but I think this makes more sense.  Boise played badly.  Washington is a dark-horse contender for the Pac-12 North title.  Boise is favoured by many to win the Mountain West.  Things may be tougher than they seem in Idaho for Chris Petersen et al.
• Surprise: Cal.  Sonny Dykes has almost immediately made Cal competitive, taking Northwestern to the limit this past Saturday night.  Speaking of that…
• Disappointment: Pat Fitzgerald*.  I put an asterisk there becuase no one can be sure of this.  However, when that many defensive players get “injured” in the second half of a close game, something seems fishy.  It wasn’t humid, it wasn’t in overtime.  I’d be very disappointed if it were true that Fitzgerald was trying to buy some time for his defense.
• Surprise: Louisville…kind of.  Ohio was supposed to be pretty good and could still be good in the MAC.  But the Cards absolutely dominated this one.  It started to look a bit like the Oregon-Nicholls State game.
• Disappointment: Ohio State, LSU, and USC.  Three teams that are supposed to be very good this year and didn’t look nearly as dominating in week one.  I will give Les Miles a pass since TCU played well and are also fairly good.  But tOSU and USC should have destroyed their opponents and looked absolutely pedestrian this past weekend.

Other Crap

• For your information, the Bell NCAA Sports package is quite nice thank you very much.  As much as I enjoy hearing Musberger and Herbstreit drone on about whatever, it’s refreshing to hear other play-by-play and colour commentator voices.  I just wish they did that in the NCAA Football video game series.  Too late for that now.
• I just wish Kevin Sumlin had slapped Johnny Manziel in the face.  That would have been great television.  I don’t think Manziel did anything wrong with the autograph thing but please don’t act like a complete cock about it on the field.  Besides, most of the Rice players are smarter than you so shut up already and just do what you do best…play football.
• I don’t totally agree with the idea of not scheduling FCS schools.  Considering what happened this past week, as a fan, who would you like to see a mid-level FBS team play: Akron or North Dakota State?  I think there should be some tweaking to this.  First, if you want to play an FCS school, go ahead, but only one.  Second, these have to be scheduled before the end of September.  Nothing irks me more than the Alabama All-Stars playing Georgia Southern in late November.  Finally, there has to be a way to include these in strength of schedule for rankings.  There is a difference between playing Eastern Washington and playing Savannah State.
• Hey did you know that Notre Dame is playing Michigan next week?  It was only mentioned five thousand times.  Considering South Carolina plays Georgia earlier in the day, which one is really the bigger game?

Next up is scheduling for this coming week.  Hopefully it’s at least a tiny bit easier to gather the information in a timely manner than last week’s fun times.