Sunday Morning Thoughts

I need a name for this, but I’ll try and do it a few times before I get ahead of myself. I already know next weekend there won’t be any Sunday morning thoughts since I won’t be returning home from Penn State until later in the day.

Big 10 Network Overflows were added to Verizon this year. Early in the year, the Big 10 Network shows 5 games at noon. You need to overflows to see all 5, otherwise you are at the mercy of your cable company. Last year I missed 2 Penn State games because these weren’t in the lineup. Yesterday, having the overflows meant that I had 4 more channels of games to watch. Usually the overflow games are against 1AA teams, so not all that interesting. But there is usually that one game that winds up being close. Yesterday that was Northern Iowa/Iowa.

Speaking of channels, what is the point of CBS College Sports? I turned it on during the day and they were showing last year’s SEC Championship. I think later in the night Buffalo/UTEP was on. You are a college sports channel and you show 1 live football game on the first Saturday of the season? You couldn’t find some DII game to throw on there?

Versus also carries college football, sometimes. I’ve watched some pretty good games on there. But they need to show something every week, otherwise I won’t get in the habit of flipping to it.

Navy/Ohio State and Northern Iowa/Iowa
I always get way too excited for these close upsets. They stick in your head and expect the favorites to lose a bunch of games during the year. Slowly I’m learning not to over evaluate these early games. But come on, Navy just needed a 2pt conversion to tie it, and Northern Iowa had 2 FG chances to take out Iowa. Surely a Big 10 school like Northwestern is better than these schools.

Similarly, Illinois getting pounded by Missouri, who lost what I thought was their entire offense, is not a good sign for them. That’s a game they should have been up for. You can get caught off guard by a non-BCS school, but not a Big 12 one.

Does the Big 10 suck more than it did last year? Are all these lousy teams going to go play competitively in conference then go winless in the bowls? Probably could be something close to that.

Both average games I had my eye on were close: Minnesota/Syracuse and Baylor/Wake Forest. Next week I’m going to start pointing out my Awesome Average Games of the Week (name needs work). So you can be sure I’m going to hit a string of blowouts and look dumb.

Penn State lost the 2nd half against Akron, 7-0. That concerns me a bit. I realize they took their foot off the gas, but even the 2nd team should have been able to put up a few points. The kicking game could be a big concern. We always struggle the 1st year with a new kicker, then in a few years he breaks records. He better get things together quickly. Syracuse and Temple are next up before opening the conference schedule against Iowa. Of course now I’m not scared of them after yesterday’s performance. So that one will certainly be a nail biter.

If Bradford is ok, Oklahoma wins the Big 12.
Before having to play Texas on 10/17, OU has Idaho St, Tulsa, Miami, and Baylor. All winnable games without Bradford, although I’m not sure you want his first game back to be against Texas. Winning out would create an interesting question for the BCS Championship. Would an undefeated BYU rank ahead of OU? Doubtful, based on past experience. It’s never too early to root for BCS chaos.

Boise St. vs BYU National Championship?
Boise St.’s toughest game left? At Tulsa? They should really blow through the rest of their schedule. The weak schedule would keep them out of the championship and if BYU wins out, probably out of a BCS game altogether. That’s because BYU actually has ranked opponents on their schedule: Florida St., TCU, and Utah. I think I’m going to be watching quite a bit of BYU football this year.

Cal’s home jerseys are the fastest looking in the country.