Saturday Early Games Open Thread

Submitted by ChopBlock on

Noon Big Ten Games:

Nebraska: Arkansas State (ESPN/2/U)

Ohio: vs Cal (ABC)

Illinois: vs Charleston Southern (BTN) Please Illinois, do NOT lose this game

Purdue: vs EMU (BTN)

Minnesota: vs WMU (BTN)

 

Just saw a tremendous sign on ESPN Gameday:

 

Will Muschamp listens to Nickelback

DonAZ

September 15th, 2012 at 10:44 AM ^

I might drop in on OSU v Cal ... but my interest level is somewhat low.

For me, UM-UMass is *the* game, followed by MSU-ND, then Florida-Tennessee.  A few weeks ago I had my sights set on Alabama-Arkansas, but some of the shine is off that game.

Re: UM-UMass ... I want me some Bellomy in 2nd half.

Wolverine Incognito

September 15th, 2012 at 11:09 AM ^

I would set the over/under at 2.5.  

I don't see any sure losses, but:

Sparty has a challenging game.

Penn State is reeling. 

Northwestern may have trouble with BC.

Minnesota and Indiana face low tier foes... but they are still Minnesota and Indiana.

In conclusion, aside from Sparty, the B1G SHOULD win every other game...

LSAClassOf2000

September 15th, 2012 at 11:33 AM ^

The Big Ten went 10-2 the first week, and 6-6 the second week. Fairly significant drop, to be sure.

That being noted, I would take a tentative over on the 2.5 mentioned. The only games where I think there is a significant chance that the Big Ten might lose are MSU / ND, which will be a tough game for both teams, and Northwestern / Boston College, because it always seems like Northwestern is one of those rare teams that could win or lose on a given day simply because they are what they are. I am not sure  what to make of Penn State - I have a feeling that even Navy might give them problems despite being a very budget version of Air Force. 

I would guess that the conference goes 9-3 or 10-2 this week. 

 

M-Wolverine

September 15th, 2012 at 12:13 PM ^

When VT-Pitt is your best game, you're reeling.

(Is Wake halfway decent anymore? Can they at least hang with FSU awhile? Remember when their coach had his name thrown out there for the Michigan job?)

LSAClassOf2000

September 15th, 2012 at 11:57 AM ^

Dozens of people just watched the Purdue band do their pre-game show, but many of the fans appear to be in the line to get painted jet black, so perhaps they'll be in their seats soon. 

yoopergoblue

September 15th, 2012 at 12:01 PM ^

Wow, I feel like a moron.  Woke up and was getting myself psyched for a 11:00 CST start and  then I come to find out the game doesn't start until 2:30!  Why are we playing such a shitty opponent in that time slot??

jjemrick

September 15th, 2012 at 12:11 PM ^

Going to settle for watching Cal and Ohio for now.



I like neither, but c'mon, Cal is obviously less evil. However, the fan base annoys me with their delusions of grandeur.



Missing Michigan's game to go drink fine beer on a battleship that's floating on the SF Bay.

JT4104

September 15th, 2012 at 12:19 PM ^

Wow....Cal is bad. This might be the end of Tedford. With Kiffin recruiting like a machine and Stanford picking up guys as well Cal is left out to dry.

dth

September 15th, 2012 at 3:06 PM ^

To consider Stanford a part of a "state." For Stanford's purposes, "in-state recruiting" is basically "academic kids." Sometimes they're in California (which, great!) and sometimes they're around. So Stanford sometimes fights USC, Cal, UCLA, but they're really fishing in different pools. 

Stanford vs. Notre Dame is probably the most common recruiting battle. 

turtleboy

September 15th, 2012 at 1:01 PM ^

Picked Wake Forest to upset FSU today. It's a bit of a long shot, but I like WFs better coaching over FSUs better recruiting. It's weird to see a few thousand empty seats at FSU. Don't their fans know they're ranked #5?

EDIT: well it looks like today isn't going to be that day when FSU lays its annual giant turd. I thought at home versus WF would be the perfect time for them to go all supercat on everybody.

Cat-jumps-off-ledge_medium

dinsdale613

September 15th, 2012 at 12:34 PM ^

Im really hoping Cal can give them a game.  Just watched Miller go 55 yards for a score.  That guy really needs to work on ball security.  he carries the ball like it's a handbag.

 

BTW did anyone hear Jerry Dinardo say Braxton Miller is a better passer than Denard Ronbinson?  I mean, neither is going to be confused for Peyton manning, but this is just further evidence that Dinardo is a raging moron

JT4104

September 15th, 2012 at 12:37 PM ^

every network has idiots that make stupid useless comments....Dinardo, Palmer, Holtz, Rob Smith. 

It's the fact that all these guys were waiting for years to take pot shots at everything michigan and when the winning keeps going they will shut up.

 

jrt336

September 15th, 2012 at 12:41 PM ^

What's up with FSU's fans? A TON of empty seats. Is that normal?

 

EDIT:Seems like that's not unusual. How are they getting recruits? What shitty fans.

lhglrkwg

September 15th, 2012 at 1:29 PM ^

I always wondered that about FSU as well as Miami, USC, and UCLA. It's not at all uncommon to see their stadiums below capacity during regular season games. Spoiled fans? Bandwagon fans? Bad fans?...probably just bad bandwagon fans

EDIT: Holy crap just saw the stadium pan-out view. There's probably 5,000-10,000 empty seats for a home game for their #5 seminoles. Come on

LSAClassOf2000

September 15th, 2012 at 12:40 PM ^

The Ohio defense helped Cal quite a bit and sort of made this look easy by tackling everyone except the guy with the ball on one play and watching short passes zip  by their heads to open Cal receivers. 7-6 Golden Bears.