Football Friday: Maybe this week the Big Ten won’t embarrass themselves…

So I think I cursed the Big Ten.  I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.  I won’t expect anything out of this conference again all season.  So yeah, the Big Ten has already made a mess of everything and it is only week 2!

This week is a bit lackluster, some conferences are starting their conference games but some, like the Big Ten, aren’t.  One of the early games I’m interested in is Cal vs OSU.  I would love to see Cal come into Columbus and beat OSU, but I doubt that will happen.  From what I’ve seen of Cal football, they are usually disappointing.  At one point Arkansas vs Alabama was suppose to be a good game then Arkansas lost to ULM, I think you can thank John L Smith for that!  Florida vs Tennessee is where gameday is heading, this is a terrible choice of location.  Two average teams that are over ranked just because they are in the SEC, no thanks. 

The do have good colors

Then there is the Michigan game vs the Minutemen of UMass.  This should be easier than Air Force was last week, but if it isn’t, I will be extremely worried about the rest of the season.  I’m interested to see how long they keep Denard in the game and who comes in as his back-up when he is pulled.

There are two night games that I am interested in.  USC vs Stanford should be a good PAC-12 game. I really hope Stanford can put up a good fight (or just win!) and show everyone that USC isn’t that good (and I kinda like Standford, just don't tell all my Cal friends that!).  The other night game is Notre Dame vs MSU.  I have no clue who to root for in this game, but I would like to watch it to see how both teams look against a similar opponent.  I will be surprised if one side takes off with the game, I think it will be a close one and I think ND might just come out on top (and who cares if I jinx them, as long as one team losses, I’m fine with that!).

Football Friday – Let’s move onto week two! (with a quick look at the fun of week one)

The first weekend could’ve gone a bit better for Michigan.  Not only did we get blown out, but one of our top cornerbacks is out for the season with an ACL tear (What have we done to re-anger the Michigan Secondary Hating God?).  But before the disappointment of the game I had a great time!  We went to college gameday (it was my first time, and it was a blast!), pics below:

Early morning at Gameday!

So excited for football and good friends!

Yes, please!

Of course we had to stay till the end!

We then tailgated and ate for the next 7 hours and finally made our way into the stadium.  Our seats were in the second row form the top and in the corner of the end zone, pretty much the worst seats ever.  Luckily, the stadium was designed very well and we still had a great view of the field and could hear our band!

The field isn't that far away...

yeah band!

And that’s where the fun stopped, so let’s move onto next week!

Let’s start with a couple conference games I’m interested in.  Both of the new teams to the SEC play their first SEC games and I think both have a chance to cause an upset or at least make it a good game.  Texas A&M plays Florida and I think A&M stands a good chance at winning that game.  Missouri takes on Georgia, who I think is over ranked, and I think Missouri will give them a good game, not sure if they can get enough for the win but I would like to see that!

The rest of the games I’m interested in are in the Big Ten.  I would like this to be a week where the big ten goes 12-0.  First, Michigan has to win.  Air Force is always a scary opponent coming in with the triple option offense and a very disciplined team, but I think Michigan can win this and hopefully it will show that Alabama was really that good (and not that we were that bad).  The other teams that might struggle the most to meet this goal are Purdue and Illinois playing Notre Dame and ASU respectively.  Both of those games are winnable but I wouldn’t be surprised if one doesn’t happen.  Penn State plays Virginia which I think is a toss-up and Northwestern plays Vandy (also a toss-up).  So I guess there is a less chance of this happening then I originally thought, but I hope for the best, so Go Blue and Go Big Ten!

Kinda how I feel right now...

Football Friday: Cowboy Classic, here we come!

College football season has begun!  It really is one of the best times of the year and I think it's one of the reasons fall makes me so very happy.  I am heading to Dallas tonight (!) to see Michigan play Alabama in the Cowboy Kickoff Classic.  I know it is going to be a great experience, and I wouldn't be shocked if Michigan surprises some of those doubters out there and plays a really great game!

The season started off right last night with S.Car vs Vandy.  I was really pulling for Vandy to win since I really don't think S.Car is worthy of a #9 ranking.  And they did prove that last night needing some help from the officials to win the game.  UCLA beat Rice, which is good, I guess.  I tried so hard to become a UCLA football fan when RoB was in grad school there, but they could never get anything going on offense so to see them put up 49 points on anyone could be a good indication for the future.  I was a bit surprised by how much BYU beat WSU, I hope WSU can pull it together under Mike Leach, but it didn't quite come together last night.  And good old Big Ten team Minnesota beat UNLV in 3OT(!) giving Big Ten teams a 1-0 start to the season, thanks golden gophers!

As for games today, I'm very excited to see Boise State go up against MSU.  Michigan State has some talent, but Boise is always a contender, and I'd take Boise's coach over Dantonio any day.  I think Peterson out coaches Dantonio for the Broncos to win!  I've also recently made some friends who are NC State alums and has made me more interested in their games.  NC State plays Tennessee and I think it should be a good game, Tennessee lost their best receiver and I really know nothing about the ACC so this is kinda a shot in the dark but I'll give the edge to NC State here.

How cool is this?

Then we come to Saturday, oh Fall Saturdays how I've missed you.  Well as you can image most of my attention is focused on the big Michigan game in the evening, but there is a whole day of college football before that!  I'd like to see most of the big ten teams win but some losses I would be ok with (Miami(OH) over OSU, yes please!), however I'm not sure if all can win.  One that I'm worried about is Penn State, they are playing Ohio University and with all the turmoil could be facing an upset from a decent MAC team.  Clemson vs Auburn should be a good game and I'm not sold on Clemson so I could see Auburn winning this one.  An upset I would love to see is Hawaii over USC, yes USC is good, but I don't think they are best in the nation and it would be nice if someone could expose that, and the sooner the better!  Then we have the big one Michigan vs Alabama.  I think Michigan will surprise Alabama with what they show up with.  If Michigan can stop Alabama's run (not an easy task, I know) and force McCarron to throw we have a chance.  Get Denard on the field as much as possible and use our offensive powers and style, something Alabama hasn't recently seen.

Gotta love that Ohio bobcat mascot!

I cannot wait for this game and I know the atmosphere surrounding it will be amazing!  Let's Go Blue, beat Bama!!

Number 16 on the field, number 1 in my heart!



Football Friday: Bye Week

Well last weekend was a bust.  From the ugly uniforms, to the poor playing (on Michigan's part), and the dirty playing (on msu's part) it all just sucked.  And now it's behind us, onto the future!  We (Michigan) can still make it to the big ten championship game if we win out (be positive!) and MSU loses to Wisconsin (which will happen, have you seen how good Wisconsin is?) and any other big ten team (also very likely because sparty will be sparty).  Although the big ten championship game might be a lopsided one since Wisconsin seriously looks good (they really should be getting more love in the polls).



There was a collective WTF when these uniforms showed up on the field


This week, we have a bye, which seems kinda like a let down, I get sad when i can't watch my team play :(  But its probably a good week for a bye, let some players get healthy and let the staff figure out all the things that went wrong against msu (starting with the uniforms, please, Dave Brandon, never again).  We will be ready to take on Purdue next weekend, I have a good feeling about it!  No worries though, there should be plenty of games to keep me interested this Saturday.

The most exciting games will be on in the evening.  That's when (the previously mentioned) Wisconsin vs MSU game is on, and I'm really hoping for Wisconsin to put MSU back in their place.  An interesting west coast match up is Stanford vs Washington.  Stanford hasn't play anyone worth anything, and they do look good, but this will be the first time they play a team that is worth anything.  Even though Washington isn't great (they lost pretty bad to Nebraska) they should give us a chance to see if Stanford is worthy of  being in the discussion for first place.  A good game of unranked teams is the notre dame vs usc game.  I have a hard time with this one because I hate both teams.  A notre dame win would help us, but if they win the rest of their games (since they have a cupcake schedule, except Stanford) they would be BCS eligible which is ridiculous, the aren't good enough for the BCS and really don't deserve it (again, always overrated).  The Auburn, LSU match up earlier in the day should be good, but I don't really see LSU stumbling in this game so it will just be LSU winning, again.  That's it for the week, enjoy all the football!