College Football : 2013-14

[Nicksfix]

First time we've won in Chapel Hill since 1975.
55-31 was the final,

25-0 'Bama rolls strong again.

My Houston Cougars took down the Roadrunners of the University of Texas-San Antonio 59-28 in San Antonio. We're now 4-0 on the season.

Congrats to all the above.

Huskies beat Arizona 31-13 yesterday. This puts us up to 4-0 so far...

The next two games are going to be tough; Stanford and Oregon. Hopefully it won't be as bad of a slaughter as it has been in the past few years.

Congrats and best of luck in these 2 upcoming games. One thing for sure, you'll find out what your team is made of in the following weeks to come.

Pretty sure that we will give Louisville a test in two weeks. I can't wait for that tilt. Rutgers seems to have an odd edge in Thursday Night games against AAC opponents. Also our last ever game vs. Louisville in the near future.

Good Luck Blitz. 👍

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Speaking of last meetings, OSU and Wisconsin did some battling this past weekend. This could be the last meeting for these two for a while. '14 will bring Conference re-alignment to the B1G next year. Coming in will be Rutgers (Blitz's guys) and Maryland. With the re-alignment, Wisconsin will go to the B1G West Division which will look like this :

Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Purdue
Wisconsin

The East will look like this :

Indiana
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
Rutgers

Might be interesting ....

The OSU Buckeyes were able to hold off a hard charge from the Badgers this past weekend. The final being 31-24. The Bucks took a 24-14 lead into the locker room with them at the half. Came out in the 3rd and put up another score, now 31-14. Starting to look like OSU was going to put it in high gear and pull away. Not so fast. OSU was held scoreless in the 4th and Wisconsin put up a 10 spot to draw close. The "D" held and OSU survived a threat from the Badgers. It was a close good game indeed. Congrats to the Bucks for hanging on and winning, but kudos goes out to the Badgers as well. Especially Joel Stave (QB) and Jarred Abbrederis (WR). This combo made some big plays ..... mainly against Bradley Roby.

Joel Stave and Jared Abbrederis kept the Badgers (3-2, 1-1) in it. Stave threw for 295 yards and two TDs. Abbrederis caught 10 passes for a career-best 207 yards and a score, winning most of his one-on-one matchups with star cornerback Bradley Roby.

Just in : the clean-up crew that works Ohio Stadium has reported that Bradley Roby was still on the field looking for his jock strap. Yeah, it was that bad for Roby. Abbrederis made mincemeat out of Bradley.

Up next, the Bucks travel to Evanston Illinois to take on the Wildcats of Northwestern. Yet another test for the Bucks.

Good luck Bucks and good luck to your team(s) this upcoming weekend.

Edit : newsflash - USC has fired head coach Lane Kiffin

 

[JohnBM01]

Yeah. The Northwestern Wildcats aren't exactly going to provide exceptional hospitality to the Buckeyes. They aren't going to roll over and play dead so Ohio State can remain unbeaten. Evanston, IL is going to be pretty jacked at the prospect of giving the Buckeyes their first loss of the season. This will NOT be an easy game, but it is certainly a game Ohio State can win.

As for Lane Kiffin getting 86ed as USCal coach, I think the USCal Trojans are kind of like in the same boat as Miami in terms of once beast teams going to mediocrity. Remember how uncommon it was for USCal to lose games? Going 0-2 in your conference at a proud school like the University of Southern California is about as unacceptable as North Carolina or Kentucky consistently losing basketball games. What would make a USCal Trojan fan even more upset? Right- when... the other Los Angeles school (I'm talking about UCLA. Loyola Marymount discontinued its football in decades) is doing better than USCal. Could the football monopoly in Los Angeles be over with UCLA's amazing season so far?

UConn fired their coach as the Huskies are 0-4 this season. Connecticut is MUCH better as a basketball school, but their football team is not bad. They aren't good right now, either. So here is another team trying to right the ship.

The two potential BCS Busters this season are Fresno State and Northern Illinois. Both teams will be on the road this Saturday. Fresno State will be at the Idaho Vandals while Northern Illinois will be on the road taking on the Golden Flashes of Kent State.


The most interesting match I see this coming week besides Ohio State at Northwestern is #15 Washington at #5 Stanford. This football game would even be a good match in basketball. #25 Maryland at #8 Florida State also looks like a good match this weekend.

 

[Nicksfix]

Could the football monopoly in Los Angeles be over with UCLA's amazing season so far?

Sad to see such a program that "typically" has a great following squandering away this year. This is a program that is rich in history and has reason to be a proud as well. Unfortunately, all programs at one time or another have to go through this "bad" stage.

Best of luck to the Trojans on their rebuilding process.

A rumour that Crash may not be to fond of. Hmmmmm, maybe ? We'll see.

Here are some of this weekends match-ups. Any upsets looming ?

Best of luck to your team(s) this weekend. 👍

 

[Crash]

A rumour that Crash may not be to fond of. Hmmmmm, maybe ? We'll see.

Not pleased. I'm not pleased about the rumors at all. I think Sarkisian's done a fantastic job so far at Washington, and I think there's still plenty that he can do to continue building the team. The fact that he hasn't categorically denied it yet means he's potentially interested, and right now, with how things are going, I would hate to lose him.



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Good luck to all with your games this week!

 

[nielsenman2]

If I was him I would reject it. No offense to any trojan fans but they have really just fallen of the map and there is only two ways they can go: up or down. So he could come in and for all we know have three 10 win seasons or two 5 win seasons. So if your doing good somewhere else stay there.

 

[Nicksfix]

Not pleased. I'm not pleased about the rumors at all. I think Sarkisian's done a fantastic job so far at Washington, and I think there's still plenty that he can do to continue building the team. The fact that he hasn't categorically denied it yet means he's potentially interested, and right now, with how things are going, I would hate to lose him.

It would indeed be a shame to lose him now. He's put your team back on the map. With the fall of Troy happening before our eyes, this gives the Huskies a shot at getting a legitimate chance in the PAC 12.

Best of luck to you out there. 👍

 

[JohnBM01]

I didn't see it all, but man... what a game! It was 31-30 in favor of Texas at Iowa State. The Longhorns survived late in the game as the Cyclones were marching down the field with about 30 seconds left in the game. Mack Brown's seat got another ice pack put on it with this win. GTPlanet's favorite Iowa State fan really has nothing to be ashamed of because from most of what I saw, Iowa State played a great game. Somebody's got to lose, though; and it was Iowa State unfortunately.

 

[JohnBM01]

Enjoy your college football today and tonight. Hope your team(s) win.

 

[CAM]

That game was so much more difficult than it should have been. A 24-17 win for the Pirates in the books, but we let MTSU hang around undeservedly for far too long.

 

[nielsenman2]

Uh-oh upset alert Northwestern is currently winning against Ohio State. Will we see a major upset or a nerve racking nailbiter. Oh and Alabama wins i believe it was 38-3. What a shocker. Lol

 

[Blitz24]

Uh-oh upset alert Northwestern is currently winning against Ohio State. Will we see a major upset or a nerve racking nailbiter. Oh and Alabama wins i believe it was 38-3. What a shocker. Lol

Alabama didn't cover the spread which is sad to be honest.

 

[JohnBM01]

Ohio State picked up a great win at Northwestern. I saw most of that game and was pretty impressed with the Buckeyes' effort last night. Only thing I think they could have improved upon was cashing in some touchdowns in the first half. They had to settle for field goals early on. The boys from Columbus still got it together and got the win.

Since Blitz24 is here, congratulations on your Scarlet Knights taking down SMU in Dallas, even if you needed Overtime to do so.


Congratulations to all other winners.

 

[nielsenman2]

SMU vs. Rutgers was all that you could see on the highlight reel today. Man that was an AMAZING catch on that two point conversion. Its weird how even teams that are 1 and 4 still give BCS contendes a run for their money.

 

[Nicksfix]

Ohio State picked up a great win at Northwestern.

This was B1G football at it's best. A knock-down drag out 12 rounder that really went the distance.

First and foremost - a tip of the cap and a salute goes out to Pat Fitzgerald's Northwestern Wildcats. They were on a mission and damn near completed it. The Wildcats were like that underated boxer who kept scoring points, but could not land that fatal blow to end it. They hung tough and gave the Buckeyes all they had, and then some. Congrats Nortwestern on a fine played game. You've nothing to hang your heads about. Per-chance, there could be a rematch later in the year involving both of these teams for the B1G Championship. Yes, Northwestern is that good ! Next weeks match-up for Northwestern will be the boys from Camp Randall - The Wisconsin Badgers. This should be a real good B1G shootout.

The Buckeyes had there hands full of Northwestern all night long. It indeed was a nailbiter. At no point in time was there any gap larger than 10 points. This was close, all the way to the end. For the first time this season, they Bucks actually trailed in a ball game and had to fight back. In one sense, it was good to see this. It was good for the simple reason, you wanted to know if this '13 Bucks team has / had any resiliancy. They do. Glad to see that. This may be something that the Bucks will have to rely on later on in the schedule.

Final - Buckeyes 40 - Wildcats 30, thus extending the nations longest FBS winning streak to 18. Keep it up Bucks. Up next for the Buckeyes - The Iowa Hawkeyes come to Columbus for a visit.


Article - Highlights

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Ramblings :

#1 'Bama manhandles Georgia State 45-3
#2 Oregon rolls over Colorado 57-16
#3 Clemson easily over the Orangemen of Syracuse 49-14
#5 Stanford escapes a scare from CRASHS' Washington Huskies 31-28
(I watched some of this game, the Cardinals of Stanford are good, real good. Not taking anything away from Crash's Huskies, because they too looked quite good, but they just fell short. Tough one there Crash. )
#8 Florida State demoralizes #25 Maryland 63-0
Unranked TCU gave #11 Oklahoma all they could handle but just fell short as well. 20-17 Oklahoma
Unranked Kentucky hung with #13 South Carolina, but also fell short 35-28
#10 LSU rolls rather easily over Mississippi State 59-26
#14 Miami remains undefeated after beating Georgia Tech 45-30

The OMG game of the week - The unranked Tennessee Volunteers literally "fumbled" away a win against #6 Georgia. The overtime final - Georgia 34 - Tennessee 31


Just a quickie - Johns Houston Cougars are sitting at 4-0 and are in 1st place in the Atlantic Athletic Conference. His Cougars will go up against Memphis this weekend. There is a good chance we will see them sitting at 5-0 by the time this one is over. Great season so far for those Cougars. Keep it up.

 

[Chqr]

More and more I watch of Bridgewater, the more and more I begin to drool. The guy has it all. I just want to see him against a big-time pass-rushing defense. Very impressed with the young man.

 

[Crash]

The Stanford vs. Washington was a good game. Stanford played well, and as close as we were, we just weren't as good.

No hard feelings on this one. If anything, it's somewhat uplifting to know that we got so close to winning on the road, at the home of a team that's ranked 10 places ahead of us.

 

[JohnBM01]

Crash, the purple and gold boys get Oregon next. This is obviously going to be a HUGE game for the Washington Huskies to host the Ducks. What are your early thoughts on this upcoming match for your Huskies?

 

[CAM]

the purple and gold boys get Oregon next.

I entered the denial stage, got really worried, rechecked our schedule to be sure, and then breathed a huge sigh of relief.

 

[JohnBM01]

Yeah, CAM, I was referring to Washington. I know ECU rocks purple and gold as well. But yeah- I meant Washington.

Up next for THE Ohio State is the 4-2 Iowa Hawkeyes. The game will be at Ohio State. Ohio State should win this game. Iowa is usually a pretty good team, but it is tough to beat Ohio State. Even more so AT Ohio State.


How are our teams doing? Here are the current records for us GTPlaneteers' teams. Their next opponent is in parentheses:

* Ohio State: 5-0 (Iowa - Oct. 12)
* Houston: 4-0 (Memphis - Oct. 12)
* Rutgers: 4-1 (at Louisville - Oct. 10)
* South Carolina: 4-1 (at Arkansas - Oct. 12)
* East Carolina: 4-1 (at Tulane - Oct. 12)
* Duke: 3-2 (Navy - Oct. 12)
* Michigan: 5-0 (at Penn State - Oct. 12)
* Tennessee: 3-3 (South Carolina - Oct. 19)
* TCU 2-3 (Kansas - Oct. 12)
* Florida Atlantic: 2-4 (Marshall - Oct. 12)
* West Virginia: 3-3 (Texas Tech - Oct. 19)
* USCal: 3-2 (Arizona - Oct. 10)
* Washington: 4-1 (Oregon - Oct. 12)
* Kansas: 2-2 (at TCU - Oct. 12)
* Stanford: 5-0 (at Utah - Oct. 12)
* Alabama: 5-0 (at Kentucky - Oct. 12)

Still a lot of season left, and anything can happen. A team can be ballin' and end up trending in the wrong direction. A sorry team can somehow catch fire and have a run equal to what the Los Angeles Dodgers did in baseball this season. And some teams that are in the middle of the road may remain in mediocrity for the rest of the season. Teams got to soldier on and hang tough. Hope that's what your team(s) do moving forward.

 

[CAM]

I knew that we didn't have that caliber of game left, but it still sent my heart rate up for a minute .

I would say Tulane should be an easy game, but it never is. In 2008 we traveled down to the Superdome ranked #14 in the nation and almost lost the game. We lost our star linebacker in the close win, and postponed the end of our last run in the top 25 until our loss at State the next weekend. Actually, I take that back. We were #23 after the loss in Raleigh (which was a game we should have won), it required Case Keenum and Houston coming to Greenville the next weekend to knock us out of the polls for good.

 

[Nicksfix]

The Stanford vs. Washington was a good game. Stanford played well, and as close as we were, we just weren't as good.

No hard feelings on this one. If anything, it's somewhat uplifting to know that we got so close to winning on the road, at the home of a team that's ranked 10 places ahead of us.

Your Huskies played a hell of a game. There is nothing to hang your head about ... at all. As you stated, you should feel good about this one. You had them on the ropes. This game resembled the Northwestern / OSU matchup. You had the opponent on the ropes, but just fell short of delivering that knock out punch. Your Huskies will be fine this year and I believe that we will see these guys with an admirable bowl game at the end of the season. Best of luck to you on the remaining games. 👍

How are our teams doing? Here are the current records for us GTPlaneteers' teams. Their next opponent is in parentheses:

* Ohio State: 5-0 (Iowa - Oct. 12)
* Houston: 4-0 (Memphis - Oct. 12)
* Rutgers: 4-1 (at Louisville - Oct. 10)
* South Carolina: 4-1 (at Arkansas - Oct. 12)
* East Carolina: 4-1 (at Tulane - Oct. 12)
* Duke: 3-2 (Navy - Oct. 12)
* Michigan: 5-0 (at Penn State - Oct. 12)
* Tennessee: 3-3 (South Carolina - Oct. 19)
* TCU 2-3 (Kansas - Oct. 12)
* Florida Atlantic: 2-4 (Marshall - Oct. 12)
* West Virginia: 3-3 (Texas Tech - Oct. 19)
* USCal: 3-2 (Arizona - Oct. 10)
* Washington: 4-1 (Oregon - Oct. 12)
* Kansas: 2-2 (at TCU - Oct. 12)
* Stanford: 5-0 (at Utah - Oct. 12)
* Alabama: 5-0 (at Kentucky - Oct. 12)

Still a lot of season left, and anything can happen. A team can be ballin' and end up trending in the wrong direction. A sorry team can somehow catch fire and have a run equal to what the Los Angeles Dodgers did in baseball this season. And some teams that are in the middle of the road may remain in mediocrity for the rest of the season. Teams got to soldier on and hang tough. Hope that's what your team(s) do moving forward.

to John, thanks for displaying the progress of the GTPlaneteers. 👍
In all seriousness, I was going to do this after this weekends games ... kind of like the mid-season report as to who is doing what.

Yeah, there is a lot of football left, and on any given weekend ......
bad things can and do happen. You gotta play all 12 like there is no tomorrow. Full throttle and wide open.

John, you are looking down at a 5-0 start. You gotta be liking this scenario. How are you feeling about this awesome start ?
Cam, 4-1, gotta be a happy camper as well. Congrats on your fine start. 👍
Blitz24, 4-1, cool to see this. 👍 (future BIG opponent)
Crash is 4-1 ... nicely done. 👍
nielsenman2 ... 5-0. It's 'Bama, of course they would be undefeated and #1. 👍
Joeys Wolverines are making noise in the B1G. A couple of close calls, but they are still hanging in there. 👍
Jahgee1124 .... sorry man. The men of Troy are spiraling out of control. They will be back ... rest assured. 👍

Keep it up guys, hoping to see you all in post season play.

 

[JohnBM01]

Well like I said earlier this season, I have no real expectations for the Cougars. I really don't know what we have considering the Coogs being at this level. If anything, I'm surprised we're doing better than last season or two seasons ago. One expectation I'm not having is for Houston to be a Top 25 team. You know people will be like, "who have Houston beaten?" Smashing Southern and taking down UTSA in San Antonio doesn't exactly make you a juggernaut. They can, however, REALLY make a statement if they head into the at Louisville game and stun the Louisville Cardinals. Houston and Louisville used to be Conference USA foes. I still remember Louisville slapping around Houston often times in the C-USA days. I would like to see the Houston Cougars win the inaugural championship of the American Athletic Conference and go on to a BCS Bowl Game. If I'm not mistaken, the Cougars are no strangers to winning a championship in the first year of a conference, because I think we won the inaugural Conference USA championship back in 1996 or so. History repeating itself? Would be interesting in the AAC...

But other than that, I'm pleasantly surprised at how my Houston Cougars are doing so far.


Here are a few other teams I want to curiously add:

* Sam Houston State: 4-1 (Lamar - Oct. 12)
* Texas Southern: 0-5 (at Arkansas-Pine Bluff - Oct. 12)
* North Dakota State: 5-0 (Missouri State - Oct. 12)

I actually follow the Sam Houston State Bearkats as my favorite FCS school and make fun of Texas Southern. I make fun of them, but I follow the Tigers from time to time. My heart also belongs to Lamar a bit because I used to be a Lamar University student. I don't follow Lamar football much. Back when I first became a football fan in 2002, Lamar didn't have football. It was not too long ago that the Lamar Cardinals reinstated football.


Anyhow, still a lot of season left.

 

[Nicksfix]

But other than that, I'm pleasantly surprised at how my Houston Cougars are doing so far.


Here are a few other teams I want to curiously add:

* Sam Houston State: 4-1 (Lamar - Oct. 12)
* Texas Southern: 0-5 (at Arkansas-Pine Bluff - Oct. 12)
* North Dakota State: 5-0 (Missouri State - Oct. 12)

Keep playing the way you are and you'll have a legitimate shot at that AAC title.
Best of luck to those Coogs. 👍

My favorite alternate team, from the Ohio Athletic Conference ..... Mount Union Purple Raiders. (link) Currently sitting in at the #1 spot. These guys are fun to watch.

 

[nielsenman2]

Doesnt the coach for Mount Union Purple Raiders have the most wins in a career? I was bored flipping through the espn channels last year and saw one of their games and when he won the game it said he was the most winningest coach in college football?

 

[JohnBM01]

Here are some of this weekend's games:

Thursday:
* Rutgers at #8 Louisville
* San Diego State at Air Force
* Arizona at USCal

Friday:
* Temple at Cincinnati

Saturday:
* #25 Missouri at #7 Georgia
* #12 Oklahoma vs. Texas (Red River Rivalry)
* #17 Florida at #10 LSU
* East Carolina at Tulane
* #15 Baylor at Kansas State
* #2 Oregon at #16 Washington
* #18 Michigan at Penn State
* #1 Alabama at Kentucky
* #9 Texas A&M at Mississippi
* California at #11 UCLA

The game I have the most interest in this week is Oklahoma vs. Texas. I especially think Mack Brown's job security will REALLY hinge on if his Longhorns can take down those boys from Norman. The Red River Rivalry (which I've always known as the Red River Shootout) is one of my personal favorite rivalries in college sports. Many feel Iowa State got hosed Thursday last week hosting Texas. This is going to be a big deal for the Longhorns to take down the Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma is undefeated so far- 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the Big XII.


Good luck to all of your teams this weekend.

 

[JohnBM01]

Sad news for Houston Cougar nation... here it is courtesy of the University of Houston Athletics' Facebook fan page:

"Leave your well wishes for David Piland below - The University of Houston announced Tuesday that multiple concussions will force the end of quarterback David Piland’s career. The junior from Southlake, Texas, is scheduled to graduate from the University in December with a bachelor’s degree in business administration."

Man. Sad stuff. The Houston Cougars will need to find somebody else on the depth chart to take over for Piland.

 

[nielsenman2]

Man that has got to stink. That is one of the reasons my dad does not allow me to play football. Hopefully it does not affect him too much and he will be able to graduate without his grades fluctuating.

 

[Nicksfix]

Doesnt the coach for Mount Union Purple Raiders have the most wins in a career? I was bored flipping through the espn channels last year and saw one of their games and when he won the game it said he was the most winningest coach in college football?

Here's a read for you. 👍

Sad news for Houston Cougar nation... here it is courtesy of the University of Houston Athletics' Facebook fan page:

"Leave your well wishes for David Piland below - The University of Houston announced Tuesday that multiple concussions will force the end of quarterback David Piland’s career. The junior from Southlake, Texas, is scheduled to graduate from the University in December with a bachelor’s degree in business administration."

Man. Sad stuff. The Houston Cougars will need to find somebody else on the depth chart to take over for Piland.

So sad to hear ... thoughts and prayers to him and his family.

 

[Crash]

Thanks Nick. Your Buckeyes look to be doing really well also. Best of luck to your team! 👍

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Crash, the purple and gold boys get Oregon next. This is obviously going to be a HUGE game for the Washington Huskies to host the Ducks. What are your early thoughts on this upcoming match for your Huskies?

I'm scared ****less about it.

Honestly, I don't have really high hopes just because Oregon's been just such a juggernaut. I think I would be happy if we can get on the board with a few touchdowns and be able to hold Oregon to less than 50 points.

Huskies are strong, but not THAT strong. Even though I think we are the strongest team they've played so far this season. If I have to make a prediction Oregon 34 - Washington 24.

Secretly, I'm hoping for a win, but we all know that's highly unlikely to happen.

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Good luck to everyone and your team on this weekend's games!

 

[Panoz]

There is going to be a announcement on Monday that Virginia Tech and Tennessee is going to play a game at Bristol Motor Speedway in September 2016.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2013/10/09/virginia-tech-tennessee-football-bristol-motor-speedway-2016/2955835/?sf18150659=1