Week nine and over half way through a season that in some ways seems like it just started a few weeks ago. Some teams look like they still haven't gotten started.
Some things never change. Southern Cal can’t play defense, Iowa can’t play offense, CSU can’t finish a game that they lead in, and Nebraska fans can’t pass up the large fries and a Twinkie and Fort Lewis and Northern Colorado have trouble looking like they are playing football.
Again we have football all week and again we have a week with some really bad teams playing each other.
Tuesday night starts with New Mexico State (5-3) at Louisiana Tech (3-5.) The Aggies are likely going to a bowl this year despite playing a historically pathetic schedule. They have managed to lose to UMass (UMess) and Hawaii, two of the worst teams in the country while piling up “wins” against such powers as New Mexico, Sam Houston State, FCS Western Illinois, and UTEP.
The other option that night is Liberty (7-0) at Western Kentucky (4-3.) Liberty has played a schedule almost as bad as New Mexico State but has won them all so far. With their schedule they could go undefeated and not deserve any votes in the rankings. Scott Frost would still declare them national champions.
Wednesday has a decent game with Jacksonville State (6-2) at Florida International (4-4) and a strong contender for the garbage game of the week seeing UTEP (2-5) at Sam Horrible (Houston) State (0-7.)
Thursday viewers can choose between a good G5 game, Georgia State (6-1) at Georgia Southern (5-2) and an ACC game between mediocre programs hoping to get closer to bowl eligibility in Syracuse (4-3) at Virginia Tech (3-4.) A win would put the Orangemen (sorry to be politically correct “The Orange”) in good shape and a loss would make the Hokies chances slim.
Friday only has a who cares game between Florida Atlantic (3-4) and Charlotte (2-5,) teams that aren’t going anywhere.
Saturday’s best early game is likely to be (6) Oklahoma (6-0) at Kansas (5-2.) The Sooners have a habit of tripping up late in the season and KU would love to beat them and push their way into the rankings.
In the same early time slot (4) Florida State (7-0) is likely to run over Wake Forest (4-3) looking to solidify a spot in the playoff.
(10) Penn State coming off their first loss of the season is favored by 32.5 over Indiana (2-5.) Based on past history the results of this game may be painful for the Hoosiers.
The other contender for the garbage game of the week puts UMass (UMess) (1-7) at Army (2-5). Army is bad but still heavily favored over The Minutemen who are well named because they might last about a minute against any good team they face.
Mid day brings us to Jacksonville for the World’s Largest Cocktail Party. (1) Georgia is 7-0 but has had a couple of wins that were less impressive than expected. Florida (5-2) has lost to (13) Utah and to currently unranked Kentucky who was undefeated coming in.
In the same time slot are the days two games matching ranked teams.
Giant PAC12 battle with (8) Oregon (6-1) two weeks removed from a narrow loss to (5) Washington at (13) Utah (6-1) who despite losing their QB for the year just beat (24) USC.
In the ACC (20) Duke (5-2) goes to (18) Louisville (6-1)
If you like lots of points BYU (5-2) is at (7) Texas (6-1.) Texas should win easily but we have heard that before only to see them pull out a loss.
Early evening games aren’t as good as we have seen in some weeks but the best of the bunch are likely to include (21) Tennessee (5-2) coming off a big loss to Bama at Kentucky (5-2) which has been ranked for part of the season and would like to get back in.
At the same time (3) Ohio State (7-0) is at Wisconsin (5-2.) Wisconsin has been solid this year but lost to the two quality teams they have played and don’t look to have enough offense to keep up with the Buckeyes, or the Buckeyes reserves for that matter.
Last game of the night, keeping with the theme of lousy teams playing lousy teams puts Sad Jose State (3-5) on the Islands against Hawaii (2-6.) They aren’t getting close to a bowl but at least they get a trip to Hawaii out of the season.
From the teams we love to hate department.
Compared to Baylor (3-4) with their history of rape, murder, robbery, drug dealing, (at a school that prohibits dancing) Iowa State (4-3) has to be wondering why anybody even noticed them gambling on and potentially fixing games.
Nebraska (4-3,) the land of inflatable mascots and what look like inflated fans has won 4 of their last 5 and those fans are convinced that they are back. This week Purdue (2-5) comes in off a bye week. If they are going to get those long suffering fans out of that miserable state for a trip to the Rachael Ray Hand Job Bowl they will need to beat Purdue and then Michigan State next week since their final three are against opponents that have a pulse ruling out wins for the corn.
Speaking of Michigan State (2-5) and sinking faster than the Melsturbador’s career, they travel to Minnesota (4-3) and also looking for a couple more wins and bowl eligibility.
Other PAC schools playing this weekend include (25) USC (6-2,) losers of their last two trying to get back on a winning track at Cal (3-4) who have lost 3 of their last 4.
Don’t see any record comebacks this week for Stanford (2-5) as they host (5) Washington (7-0,)
(11) Oregon State (6-1) should be able to handle Arizona (4-3) in the desert but the Wildcats just beat up a solid Washington State team so the potential for the upset is there.
Locally (19) Air Force (7-0) is in Fort Colons to play Colorado State (4-3.) The spelling is not an accident but rather we know what is found in a colon and in the mind of a Sheep fan who thinks they are a big time program.
Two weeks ago Wyoming (5-2) gave Air Force a battle before losing by one score. This week after a bye they are at Boise (3-4) who have not been close to their normal domination of the Mountain West this season. They have lost 2 of the last 3 including a week 7 loss to CSU after leading 30-10 with about 6 minutes left in the 4th quarter.
Oregon and Maryland regularly compete for the most ridiculous looking uniforms in college football but many believe that hands down the ugliest are the cow manure brown and horse pee yellow of the Wyoming Cowboys. Try to get the image of those uniforms on the purple Smurf turf of Boise out of your mind.
Just about as ugly as that image is the season that Northern Colorado (0-7) is having. Odds are they will never lead at Montana (6-1.) The Bears only hope for a win this season, and a slim hope at that, is in a couple of weeks at Northern Arizona although they have been keeping games close (or opponents have been having mercy on them.)
For local small colleges this week is the game of the season.
(1) Colorado School of Mines (8-0,6-0) host (9) Colorado Western (8-0,6-0) in the game which is almost certain to decide the RMAC champion for this year and determine who gets the #1 seed in the region for the playoffs. If you can’t be there in person this one is worth streaming on the RMAC website.
There are other games as well. Colorado Mesa (4-4,3-3) is at CSU Pueblo (5-3,4-2.)
Fort Lewis (0-8,0-6) will again be the generous host giving an easy win to visiting Black Hills State (4-4,3-3) as they roll towards another season of not soiling their record with a win.
Some things never change. Southern Cal can’t play defense, Iowa can’t play offense, CSU can’t finish a game that they lead in, and Nebraska fans can’t pass up the large fries and a Twinkie and Fort Lewis and Northern Colorado have trouble looking like they are playing football.
Again we have football all week and again we have a week with some really bad teams playing each other.
Tuesday night starts with New Mexico State (5-3) at Louisiana Tech (3-5.) The Aggies are likely going to a bowl this year despite playing a historically pathetic schedule. They have managed to lose to UMass (UMess) and Hawaii, two of the worst teams in the country while piling up “wins” against such powers as New Mexico, Sam Houston State, FCS Western Illinois, and UTEP.
The other option that night is Liberty (7-0) at Western Kentucky (4-3.) Liberty has played a schedule almost as bad as New Mexico State but has won them all so far. With their schedule they could go undefeated and not deserve any votes in the rankings. Scott Frost would still declare them national champions.
Wednesday has a decent game with Jacksonville State (6-2) at Florida International (4-4) and a strong contender for the garbage game of the week seeing UTEP (2-5) at Sam Horrible (Houston) State (0-7.)
Thursday viewers can choose between a good G5 game, Georgia State (6-1) at Georgia Southern (5-2) and an ACC game between mediocre programs hoping to get closer to bowl eligibility in Syracuse (4-3) at Virginia Tech (3-4.) A win would put the Orangemen (sorry to be politically correct “The Orange”) in good shape and a loss would make the Hokies chances slim.
Friday only has a who cares game between Florida Atlantic (3-4) and Charlotte (2-5,) teams that aren’t going anywhere.
Saturday’s best early game is likely to be (6) Oklahoma (6-0) at Kansas (5-2.) The Sooners have a habit of tripping up late in the season and KU would love to beat them and push their way into the rankings.
In the same early time slot (4) Florida State (7-0) is likely to run over Wake Forest (4-3) looking to solidify a spot in the playoff.
(10) Penn State coming off their first loss of the season is favored by 32.5 over Indiana (2-5.) Based on past history the results of this game may be painful for the Hoosiers.
The other contender for the garbage game of the week puts UMass (UMess) (1-7) at Army (2-5). Army is bad but still heavily favored over The Minutemen who are well named because they might last about a minute against any good team they face.
Mid day brings us to Jacksonville for the World’s Largest Cocktail Party. (1) Georgia is 7-0 but has had a couple of wins that were less impressive than expected. Florida (5-2) has lost to (13) Utah and to currently unranked Kentucky who was undefeated coming in.
In the same time slot are the days two games matching ranked teams.
Giant PAC12 battle with (8) Oregon (6-1) two weeks removed from a narrow loss to (5) Washington at (13) Utah (6-1) who despite losing their QB for the year just beat (24) USC.
In the ACC (20) Duke (5-2) goes to (18) Louisville (6-1)
If you like lots of points BYU (5-2) is at (7) Texas (6-1.) Texas should win easily but we have heard that before only to see them pull out a loss.
Early evening games aren’t as good as we have seen in some weeks but the best of the bunch are likely to include (21) Tennessee (5-2) coming off a big loss to Bama at Kentucky (5-2) which has been ranked for part of the season and would like to get back in.
At the same time (3) Ohio State (7-0) is at Wisconsin (5-2.) Wisconsin has been solid this year but lost to the two quality teams they have played and don’t look to have enough offense to keep up with the Buckeyes, or the Buckeyes reserves for that matter.
Last game of the night, keeping with the theme of lousy teams playing lousy teams puts Sad Jose State (3-5) on the Islands against Hawaii (2-6.) They aren’t getting close to a bowl but at least they get a trip to Hawaii out of the season.
From the teams we love to hate department.
Compared to Baylor (3-4) with their history of rape, murder, robbery, drug dealing, (at a school that prohibits dancing) Iowa State (4-3) has to be wondering why anybody even noticed them gambling on and potentially fixing games.
Nebraska (4-3,) the land of inflatable mascots and what look like inflated fans has won 4 of their last 5 and those fans are convinced that they are back. This week Purdue (2-5) comes in off a bye week. If they are going to get those long suffering fans out of that miserable state for a trip to the Rachael Ray Hand Job Bowl they will need to beat Purdue and then Michigan State next week since their final three are against opponents that have a pulse ruling out wins for the corn.
Speaking of Michigan State (2-5) and sinking faster than the Melsturbador’s career, they travel to Minnesota (4-3) and also looking for a couple more wins and bowl eligibility.
Other PAC schools playing this weekend include (25) USC (6-2,) losers of their last two trying to get back on a winning track at Cal (3-4) who have lost 3 of their last 4.
Don’t see any record comebacks this week for Stanford (2-5) as they host (5) Washington (7-0,)
(11) Oregon State (6-1) should be able to handle Arizona (4-3) in the desert but the Wildcats just beat up a solid Washington State team so the potential for the upset is there.
Locally (19) Air Force (7-0) is in Fort Colons to play Colorado State (4-3.) The spelling is not an accident but rather we know what is found in a colon and in the mind of a Sheep fan who thinks they are a big time program.
Two weeks ago Wyoming (5-2) gave Air Force a battle before losing by one score. This week after a bye they are at Boise (3-4) who have not been close to their normal domination of the Mountain West this season. They have lost 2 of the last 3 including a week 7 loss to CSU after leading 30-10 with about 6 minutes left in the 4th quarter.
Oregon and Maryland regularly compete for the most ridiculous looking uniforms in college football but many believe that hands down the ugliest are the cow manure brown and horse pee yellow of the Wyoming Cowboys. Try to get the image of those uniforms on the purple Smurf turf of Boise out of your mind.
Just about as ugly as that image is the season that Northern Colorado (0-7) is having. Odds are they will never lead at Montana (6-1.) The Bears only hope for a win this season, and a slim hope at that, is in a couple of weeks at Northern Arizona although they have been keeping games close (or opponents have been having mercy on them.)
For local small colleges this week is the game of the season.
(1) Colorado School of Mines (8-0,6-0) host (9) Colorado Western (8-0,6-0) in the game which is almost certain to decide the RMAC champion for this year and determine who gets the #1 seed in the region for the playoffs. If you can’t be there in person this one is worth streaming on the RMAC website.
There are other games as well. Colorado Mesa (4-4,3-3) is at CSU Pueblo (5-3,4-2.)
Fort Lewis (0-8,0-6) will again be the generous host giving an easy win to visiting Black Hills State (4-4,3-3) as they roll towards another season of not soiling their record with a win.
