College football Saturday open thread

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The matchups:


Let's start off with an early game that has some local intrigue as the 3-0 San Diego St. Aztecs go to the Big House at Ann Arbor to take on the 3-0 and No. 22 Michigan Wolverines and the Aztecs, old head ball coach, Brady Hoke.

The Aztecs have gone to the Midwest on multiple occasions over the past several years and have come oh-so-tantalizingly close against the likes of Notre Dame, Michigan and Ohio State only to come up short. Two weeks ago, they found a way to beat Army in a game they would've found a way to lose in years previous and last week they were down 10 to Washington St. at half before ripping off 28 straight points to win going away, 42-24.

As 8 point dogs we're saying, screw it!, this is the year the Aztecs get it done. Mark down a close one for the Aztecs today.




Your SEC game of the week: No. 14 Arkansas at No. 3 Alabama




Your Big 12 game of the week: No. 7 OK St. at No. 8 Texas A&M

If A&M follows through on its threat to bolt the Big 12 for the SEC, this will likely mean this will be the last time you will see this matchup. And if A&M does indeed leave, expect the dominos to start falling and the Big 12 to be no more.

Your ACC game of the week: No. 21 Clemson Tigers host the No. 11 Florida State Seminoles. Let's see how FSU responds after getting handled in their we're baaa-ack game against No. 1 Oklahoma last week.




ABC's primetime matchup: No. 2 LSU at No. 16 West Virginia

Yes, we know what you're thinking: a primetime game involving LSU... playing away from Tiger Stadium

ESPN makes a PAC-12 night call to the desert southwest

No. 10 Oregon at Arizona on ESPN 2

No. 23 USC makes their first roadie at Arizon State on ESPN

P.S. The PAC-12 says they are staying put at 12 teams. Sure they are. If Texas A&M bolts for the SEC, expect the PAC-10 to immediately offer an invitation to Texas who will bring Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma St. along with them for your first 16 team super conference. Mark it down.



* SDSU running back and second-leading rusher in the nation, Ronnie Hillman.

College football Saturday open thread

No doubt the biggie: #4 Auburn and QB Cam Newton (pictured) host the #6 Bayou Bengals of LSU. Gaming advice at bottom of post.


#13 Wisconsin after their take down of then-#1 Ohio State last week are on the road at #15 Iowa.


Big 12 showdown Pt. I: #1 Oklahoma at #11 Missouri.


Big 12 showdown Pt. II: #16 Nebraska at #14 Oklahoma State.


We want to believe, we want to believe: Chronic underachieving and yet still undefeated #7 Michigan State goes to Northwestern. Classic stumbling block game. Let's see what Sparty does here.


BCS busters: #3 Boise St. has a bye and #5 TCU hosts Air Force.


B-Daddy advises us that its better to be lucky than good. The inexplicably charmed life that is led by LSU head coach, Les Miles, rolls on and with that said, we cannot believe that LSU is getting 6-1/2 pts. at Auburn. Yes, Auburn rung up 65 points last week but that Arkansas defense is a sieve so take LSU and the points and prepare yourself for some maddeningly horrendous clock management that still works out in a peachy fashion in the end.

80,000 liquored-up LSU fans on a Saturday night...

... and the vuvuzela?

Fresh on the heels of averting conference re-alignment Armageddon, college football faces its next existential challenge as the swarm-of-bees annoyance that we have become accustomed to at the World Cup may make appearances at SEC stadiums this fall.

This instrument, no matter how irritating to some, will not be banned from SEC games this upcoming season, according to the SEC. The instrument of choice in South Africa, which may or may not catch on here in the states, can be brought into stadiums across the league.

There will be restrictions as to when the vuvuzela can be "played" but we don't think there is too much to worry about. After all, what do you think the survival rate for these two below would be at The Swamp or Rocky Top?

College Football Saturday open thread

This is the one we’ve been waiting for: The Mad Hatter vs. Dr. Evil. LSU (#4) vs. Florida (#1) under the lights at Death Valley. Will recently-concussed Florida QB Tim Tebow play? Of course, he’s going to play. Will LSU, despite all odds (8 point dogs), find a way to manufacture a victory? This is what keeps us up at night.


Gaming advice of the day: Take Wisconsin getting 16 points on the road at Ohio St.

When this posts, we will be at the Whole Foods in LaJolla participating in the buy-cott so we may check back in later with pics of the event. Otherwise, please enjoy the rest of your college football Saturday.

Because in Drudge-world there are no such things as accidents.

Seen today, one above the other in a totally coincidental occurrence at the subject website, the headlines:



Bill Clinton celebrates his 63rd in Vegas

‘Progress’ in herpes treatment

(and apparently, a lot more going down at LSU than football, tailgating and Cajun food)

Not Happening...

Chris Dufresne, the college football writer for the L.A. Times gives his important dates on the college football calendar here.

He reminds us of why there is a very strong possibility we will, again, be in a foul mood in just a little over 4 months:

· Dec. 7: Final BCS standings release.

Aftermath: National sports columnist from hometown team left out of title game discovers the sport is controversial.

Aftermath II: President of school that finished No. 3 in standings calls news conference to unveil his eight-team playoff plan.

… but misreads the biggest non-conference match-up of the season when USC takes on Ohio State at the Coliseum:

· Sept. 13: Ohio State at USC.

As big as it gets, but the loser is not out of the title chase. Ohio State lost at home last year to Illinois in November and still got back to the title game. USC could have overcome the Stanford stinker and played for the title had the Trojans not lost to Oregon.

The “you’re not done just because you lost one game” is now the conventional wisdom in our brave new BCS-world, especially since LSU won it last year with two losses but... Ohio St. is a different case. Yes, a one-loss USC team can play for the BCS championship but a one-loss Ohio State will not play for the same and you can take that to the bank. Voters will not be willing to give the benefit of the doubt to a one-loss Ohio State team precisely because of the fact they’ve been rolled in the last two championships games. Unless they arrive in December undefeated, they ain’t gettin' a 3rd chance.

Everyone has seen enough. Just say “no” to plodding Midwest teams against speed teams from the South and the West. Rich Rodriguez could not have come soon enough to Michigan and to the Big 10.

Another Profile in Coaching Excellence

Earlier in the week, we had made the prediction that neither USC nor LSU would win the BCS championship. The logic behind USC coming up short was laid out but there was neither the time nor the space to get into why LSU would not win the whole shootin' match. And in the meantime, no small degree of doubt started to set in.

What's not to like about their chances? They return 8 starters (including 2 All-Americans on the D-line) to one of the top 2 or 3 defenses in the nation and 6 on offense... and that doesn't include the projected starting QB, Senior Matt Flynn, who won Peach Bowl MVP honors back in '05 before giving way to JaMarcus Russell. Any holes they have to fill will, no doubt, be done ably via the outstanding recruiting classes LSU has had the past few years.

And the schedule? By SEC standards, one could not be blessed with a more manageable one. Second game of the season, they get at home a Va. Tech team that will be coming off a hugely emotional home opener themselves and a team which will almost be guaranteed to be a bit flat (keep a close eye on that game's line). Aside from a trip to Alabama, all their toughest in-conference games will be at Death Valley: South Carolina, a re-building Florida, Auburn, and a defensively-depleted Arkansas squad. Even with one loss, if they take care of business otherwise, get to the SEC championship game, win that.... they're a virtual lock for the BCS title game.

But are we back-pedalling? Not a chance, my friends. You see, we've placed our faith in our main man, Les Miles. Yes, indeed. We've no doubt that ol' Les, the head coach, will find a way to screw-up this thing for the Bayou Bengals. Not sure quite what it is, but he just seems to have that "it" factor.... that ability to be able to completely choke away games from the sidelines. Saw it at Oklahoma State where if he wasn't beating Oklahoma outright he was giving them fits, but then could never capitalize on that by beating anyone else of note.

Never mind his moon-bat crazy rants about USC and the Pac-10, I first swooned for Clue-Les a couple of years ago during a game in Baton Rouge against Tennessee, in which the Vols made a stirring comeback to win. The game was in HD which allowed for some lip-reading and as the tide was turning against the Tigers in a frantic 4th quarter, there were two times where it appeared that Les, puzzled, turned to one of his assistants and said, "What just happened?" His assistants calmly explained that ".. well, yes, it is a Monday, coach and we usually don't play games on Monday and we're playing this other team in orange from Tennessee, and yes, coach, it is quite loud in here and yes, people are wondering very loudly why it is we are letting this game slip away...." At least, that's what it looked like. It was great television.

So Les, here's to you, brother. Don't let us down.