Posts Tagged ‘UAB Blazers’

Welcome This “New” Feature to Gate 21

After a few warmup weeks and people actually reading these weekend previews, we have souped it up a little bit, giving it a neat little banner (thanks again to Lawvol for the excellent work) and it’s own special title: “On Remote,” or what football you can look forward to this weekend.

Also, this post will normally be on Thursdays, like in the past. It’s just that lawvol’s Open Letter yesterday was such a great work that I felt it should stay up for a day. And that’s about the only difference you’re going to see in the post. We’re still focusing mainly on the SEC, and the couple big national games this weekend as well.

More big SEC games on this weekend, and hopefully they are as quality as the LSU-Auburn game was last weekend as opposed to what I witnessed in Neyland Stadium last Saturday afternoon.

Also, I’d like to offer a quick thanks to the Oregon State Beavers for beating “mighty” USC. All that talent, and they can’t go through the Pac-10 unbeaten. Seriously, to have the run of talent they’ve had, to have just one national title? Granted they’re still in it because it’s September, but last night didn’t help them in the eyes of us down here in God’s Country…

What’s on my remote this weekend? Well, last Saturday night there a double feature with the aforementioned “Tiger Bowl” and Georgia’s physical whipping of Arizona State (yes, we pulled out an extra TV in our apartment to watch the game. This weekend I’ll be in Auburn, so who knows how much other football I’ll be watching.

That doesn’t mean I can’t help you all out – here’s my attempt…

SEC Games

Ole Miss at Florida (11:30, RayCom): An intriguing matchup to start the day off in the SEC. The Rebels won their last visit to the Swamp, but Jevan Snead is no Eli Manning. It should be interesting to see how the Rebels respond after losing to Vanderbilt in a game they probably should have won (statistically they dominated minus the turnovers).

The Gators face Ole Miss and Arkansas before they host LSU in two weeks. I still think the Gators are the team to beat in the East, and while Auburn won in the Swamp this time last year, Ole Miss isn’t good enough to pull it out. They’ll stick around and put up a fight, but the Gators are the better team and at home.

Tennessee at Auburn (3:30, CBS): Amidst the sad state of the football program, the Vols – and myself in a couple hours – head down to Auburn to face a good team coming off a physically tough, late home loss to LSU. The Auburn defense showed again the ability to score, but LSU’s big offensive line and Charles Scott wore them down late, so there’s something to think about. Offensively, the Tigers showed signs of improvements from the Mississippi State debacle.

And you thought the Florida defense was really good...

Honestly, I have no idea how Tennessee is going to score on Auburn. And don’t think for a moment that Auburn will come out flat, as they are occasionally prone to do at home to inferior teams (see Mississippi State last year and Georgia 2006) – Tennessee’s not very good, but we’re still Tennessee. I’ll be there cheering on my Vols during these dark days, but let me be honest: I’m not expecting a win. Who knows, maybe Phil and the boys pull something out of their you-know-whats and Tennessee beats Auburn.

Arkansas at Texas (3:30, ABC): After getting steamrolled by Alabama, Arkansas travels to Texas. Not good news, and the Hogs are probably going to get pounded. I don’t think many would argue against saying Arkansas might be the worst team in the SEC this year (some Tennessee fans might say otherwise…). Arkansas is going to become a player under Bobby Petrino – just not this year.

Western Kentucky at Kentucky (7:00): We all know what happened the last time UK hosted a Sun Belt team – they won by a yard – literally. While MTSU is probably better than the Toppers, I just don’t see UK having the offense to blow people out. After Saturday night, both Kentucky and Vanderbilt are going to be 4-0…what?!?

UAB at South Carolina (7:00): Another tuneup for the Gamecocks, who struggled against Wofford last weekend. The Chickens go to Ole Miss and Kentucky the next two weeks. Does Carolina score more on UAB’s horrid defense than Tennessee?

Mississippi State at LSU (7:30, ESPN2): See, I told you people LSU was the West’s best team. That talent is sick, and once Jarrett Lee calmed down, looked pretty good. Like I said, simply adequate QB play and watch out for these Tigers. That’s what happens when you have the best offensive and defensive lines in the SEC. I have pledged never to call Les Miles “dumb” or “stupid” ever again after the guts he showed last week. LSU wins by a bunch – maybe a shutout?

Alabama at Georgia (7:45, ESPN): This is the Daddy of Saturday’s games. I’ve accepted the fact that Alabama is really good this year, and Georgia looked really good at Arizona State last week. What have I noticed with these two teams? They are both really physical football teams. Physical football teams playing each other = quality game for football fans (see LSU-Auburn).

Alabama can win this game, but they’re really gonna have to play well. UGA decided they weren’t going to need the blackout antics to beat Tennessee, so they decided on using their little ploy this week. J.P. Wilson will have to play a very good game to beat UGA. I think Georgia is better in the passing game and just slightly better on defense and they’re at home, I think they get the win.

OTHERS TO KEEP YOUR EYE ON:

Virginia at Duke (12:00, ESPNU): I miss the discipline of David Cutcliffe’s offense. This is one of Duke’s very winnable games, as UVA lost their starting QB. Potentially after Saturday: Duke 3-1, Tennessee 1-3…

Duke could be 3-1 with a win at home over Virginia Saturday

Fresno State at UCLA (3:30, ABC): This is going to once again show us how inexcusably bad that loss to UCLA was when Fresno pounds the Bruins – Arizona Arizona ARIZONA beat UCLA by 3 TDs last week…

Colorado vs. Florida State in Jacksonville (3:30, ABC): I said Lawvol was foolish for ranking the Buffaloes in his Top 25. Guess I was wrong. I know it was just a JV League team in WVU the Buffs beat, but this should tell us more about Colorado – and the depth of the Big 12. FSU had 4 more turnovers than points – at home – against Wake Forest last week.

TCU at Oklahoma (7:00, FSN?): Remember, TCU beat OU in Norman in 2005, and the Frogs are pretty good this year. The top of the MWC – BYU, Utah, and TCU – is very, very strong. TCU played Texas hard for three quarters last year, but they’re better this year, and they can give the Sooners a test. But at home, and the mere fact it’s in the regular season and not a BCS Bowl has me liking OU’s chances…

Virginia Tech at Nebraska (8:00, ABC): Another chance for a big non-conference win for the Big 12. For the Huskers, it’s a two-week stretch of home games against VT and next week Mighty Mizzou (my second favorite team…) comes visiting. Personally, I think Nebraska pounds VT, who just hasn’t been very good offensively this year, even with the redshirt coming off Tyrod Taylor. They scored 24 points on Furman for goodness sakes.

The first big games of the Bo Pelini era at Nebraska are Saturday against Virginia Tech and next week against Missouri - both in Lincoln

Northern Games: Only if you’re into that sort of thing. A couple of Big Ten showdowns – Wisconsin at Michigan (3:30, ABC) and Illinois at Penn State (8:00, ABC) – and “mighty” Notre Dame hosts Pur-don’t (win big games…EVER). Don’t sleep on 4-0 Minnesota beating the struggling Buckeyes either…

Enjoy it while you can, because it’s flying by!

Images Courtesy of: xx • xx • xx

From One of Their Own…

First off, let me say some stuff: I am currently a student at the University of Tennessee. This is my third football season here, and in the previous two years I’ve missed one home game (Kentucky 2006 because it was on Thanksgiving weekend) and been to five away games. I was in Athens in 2006. I witnessed the embarrassments at Florida and at Alabama last year. I saw the heartbreak of letting and SEC title slip away in ATL last December.

Proof I witnessed the beatdown in Gainesville last year (more on that trip Friday. I also saw the one in Tuscaloosa and the heartbreak in Atlanta...

So going back to last April, when The Daily Beacon broke the story (yes, it was their one occasion of actually printing new news) that students were going to have to begin to pay for football tickets, I hardly cared. I had spent probably close to over $300 on the three trips (hint: getting tickets from my dad and staying with people you know helps), what was $90 more?

The rest of my fellow students didn’t take the news so well. There was Facebook group that got up to 7,000 members in anger of what Mike Hamilton was doing. There were threats of boycotts of the UAB game, and a rally at the Orange & White Game, a rally that never occurred.

Personally, I got a kick out of watching everyone get so pissed off. I was actually happy in a way, because having to pay for tickets would get some of the people who don’t care enough anyways (dead weight, if you will) out of Neyland Stadium. It’s nowhere near impossible to save $90: like, say, spending less money on alcohol and the “going out” that I generally hardly ever take part in. Not only that, but I knew what getting tickets post-graduation was like, and we still have it pretty easy.

What does this have to do with anything? Well let me be blunt: on the whole, our students suck. Yes, I think we get pretty loud (the “F*** You Bama” chant in ‘06 was pretty good too) and I thoroughly enjoy sitting in the student section on Saturdays, have always enjoyed it, and will continue doing so. That’s about it.

It started with the whole unnecessary uproar over paying for tickets, the people who either show up late/leave at halftime, and the clingy couples who exhibit more PDA than interest in the actual game, and continued with this weekend’s nonsense. First, the booing – which unless my hearing is deteriorating (it’s not, that’s my sight) – began in the student section. After two incomplete passes and an interception.

I’m pretty adamant about this: NEVER BOO THE HOME TEAM. Not the players. The coaches I’ll give some leeway on, but never the players. Did Luke Stocker deserve to be booed after his drops? Probably. Does Jonathan Crompton’s play deserve the boos he got? Maybe. Still, there’s no reason for that – from the students, from anybody. I can’t count how many times Erik Ainge was cussed out last year around me – and we were undefeated at home!

Our moronic students need to be more aware that recruits on official visits come in and see that, and it’s duly-noted. Who wants to go where if they potentially screw up get booed? By their fellow students? Especially this week, when our recruit list is pretty phenomenal – not just limiting it to football recruits either. This is a big weekend for Bruce Pearl as well.

Then there’s the above picture, taken by my dad from his seats in XX3. Notice this is at the time the “T” is opening up. From D, I had no idea that was even there. It’s pathetic. Yes, it was UAB. Yes, it was a 12:30 game. Yes, it was on TV. Yes, it was really freaking hot. Yes, we lost to UCLA. Say what you want, give your excuses, whatever. That’s just awful and there’s no other way around it. I showed the picture to my friends later that night and they felt the same way.

I know attendance on the whole was pretty bad, but the last place I honestly would expect to see a decline in attendance would be the students. Out-of-towners, yes. Students, no. I know there are actually people here that came to UT and the whole football scene didn’t factor into their decision. Seriously, though, how hard is it?

You don’t have to live and die with every play. You don’t even have to know what the hell is going on. You don’t even have to know what a UAB is or name a Tennessee starter. Treat it like a social event for all I care (those types need to go in the upper deck, though). It’s not hard, and most of the time the games are pretty enjoyable – especially any win.

The main point of my post is this: from this point on, I won’t be defending the students when the awful attendance and not picking up 1,500 of the allotment or anything else gets criticized. I know it’s not everyone and there are plenty of true fans on this campus, but I’m done. And with all that done and said…

HERE’S TO THE STUDENTS AND ALL VOL FANS PULLING TOGETHER FOR SATURDAY – NEYLAND NEEDS TO BE ROCKING!!

Look, it was UAB – to me we could have beat them 77-3 and it wouldn’t have meant diddly squat. Well, we didn’t. It was more of what I expected: our defense would shut them down on the scoreboard and the offense would take about a half to get going. There’s no reason to lose sleep over beating a team 35-3. As they say, you’re only as good as your last game, and for us it’s now a win.

As an aside the BYU-UCLA massacre only proves that what happened two weeks ago in the Rose Bowl was a complete and total fluke. Did it still happen? Yes, and that score only makes us look worse. But it was a fluke, and we can all agree on that now, can’t we?

Back to the UAB game, I’m a glass half-full type, so I’ll point out some of the positive things from this game – or reasons logical stretches for hope that Florida won’t run us out of our own stadium. First and foremost, no one got hurt and some of the backups got some game experience, always a good thing for these type of games.

OK, Jonathan Crompton still wasn’t very good, but he was better. He went 19-for-31, and I thought the playcalling – though we still need to run the ball much much MUCH more (like 65-35) – was better in terms of making it easier for JC. Will screens to Lucas Taylor work against Florida? I have no idea.

Of his 12 incompletions, Luke Stocker dropped three and there were about three more. His first INT was simply a great play by the UAB defender (though Crompton probably shouldn’t have forced it). We saw slight improvement, but improvement nonetheless.

Our running backs are awesome. Foster, Hardesty, and Creer need to be fed the ball many, many times. Lawvol and I were talking after the game about how Clawson needs to find a way to get Foster and Hardesty on the field at the same time. The defense would have no clue what to do. If this offense has what you can call a “strength,” it’s pounding the rock. Let’s do that about 50 times against Florida, OK Dave?

Lucas Taylor and Gerald Jones had nice games. Luke Stocker is better than those passes he dropped – he’s just getting those out of the way before Florida. I still just think there are too many good athletes on this offense for it to be as bad as 2005. Hence, I’m hopeful

The only issues on defense I really saw were missed tackles. Once again, just getting them out of the way before Florida. It’s fixable. And if you miss tackles against Florida, what do you get? Well, last year…

The strength of this defense is easily the secondary. I’m all for playing five of those studs with Rico McCoy and Ellix Wilson at LB. One thing that was pointed out to me was the lack of pressure without blitzing. Wilson blitzed quite a bit, thus leaving the middle open. Hello, Percy Harvin on a quick slant. Still, I saw nothing that really discourages the notion of this defense not being pretty solid.

Anyways, stay tuned, because Lawvol will have his thoughts up here soon, and I’ll also be ripping into our sorry excuse for a student section (we’re talking major rant here). And for your enjoyment, here’s some pictures I took from before the game and my seat in Section D, Row 10…

Eric Berry (left) and Demetrice Morley were the last two Vols through the Vol Walk and they also happened to be the best-dressed. That’s just pure freshness right there from our stud safeties…

Lawvol goes to Gate 21, I went into Student Gate 4 Saturday

It has been 10 years since 1998, and Tee Martin was honored pregame, as each home game will honor players from that glorious run. Tee was also on the actual game ticket as well

The UAB mascot was just plain awesome - though I would NOT have wanted to be in that suit in that heat

Round-Up: It’s Football Time Again

My first week as the host of the totally awesome Big Orange Roundtable has come to a close, and I thoroughly enjoyed doing it. Actually, the Big Orange Roundtable has just completed it’s first run-through of all the Vol bloggers and it starts back up next week over at Yo’ Mama Slept With Big Wilt. I’m sure Thomas will have some excellent questions as it’s Florida week.

GOOD WORK EVERYONE!!

Enough of me, time for me to share the Roundtable’s answers. Since we’re all family here on the Roundtable and I’m just a nice guy, I’m going to include everyone in the round-up. You’re welcome…

(1) So we’re all still pissed off from losing to a UCLA team we would without a doubt beat at worst eight times out of 10, and now a pretty bad UAB team comes to Knoxville before the epic showdown with Florida and the rest of the SEC gauntlet – the deep breath before the plunge, if you will. What I simply want to know is what do YOU want to see from the Vols this Saturday?

Most of the answers to this question involved three things: (1) running the football, (2) some reason to feel positive about Jonathan Crompton, and (3) better coaching.

The always funny Jai Eugene at LWS wants better hands from the receivers (and Arian Foster). Thomas at YMSWWC used this question as an opportunity to bash RayCom’s three Daves. MoonDog wants the coaches to show that they actually can adjust in-game. Ghost over at 3SIB wants our offensive line to find their male parts and lead the way to an unstoppable running attack.

Much like Ghost, Will at SESB wants a reason to believe…and to pound the football only as to prepare for the Florida showdown next Saturday. New Roundtable member Patrick (what a great name!) at C4J uses his days of living in the B’ham and makes it personal: he wants to kick the Blazers while they’re down with a 65-point beatdown an old-fashioned ass-whoopin’.

(2) Flashback to Saturday night in Gainesville: up 23-3, Florida gets a good punt return by Brandon James inside the Miami 20. With 1:56 left, Urban Meyer sends Tim Tebow back in, and, after a screen pass, a throw into the endzone, and a lost-yardage run, Florida kicks a sand-in-the-face field goal with :25 left, prompting a death stare from Cane coach Randy Shannon and eventually a “handshake” at midfield after the game. Thoughts?

I have to be honest, I asked this question for the sole purpose of bashing Urban Meyer and watching others do it too. I hate Urban Meyer. Ghost also hates Nick Saban, but respects him. Urban? Not so much. Thomas calls Urban an asshole. Patrick does wish Randy Shannon had punched Urban’s face off. Jai? He makes the Gators/Patriots comparison.

MoonDog and Will took the higher road and didn’t express dislike for Urban Meyer or his move, with good reasoning. MoonDog points out the Gators’ recent fails against Miami and sending the message that Florida is the state’s best team as good enough reason to kick the field goal. Will went all sneaky – he says Miami should act like it’s not big deal on the outside, but use it for motivation to build up to the next meeting with the Gators and exact revenge then.

(3) And finally, a question that I’m not sure has been so directly asked in the course of the Roundtable, but one that needs answering: the “woo” in Rocky Top…do you “woo” and why do/don’t you “woo”?

This question sparked quite a bit of debate, as I thought. We actually had a comment on Gate 21 saying a trumpet player back in ‘92/’93 “woo”ed once. The band caught on and started doing it, then the stadium followed and the rest is history. Whether that’s true or not, the “woo” has been a part of Rocky Top as long as I can remember. But the consensus on the Roundtable? The “woo” sucks.

Thomas says “woo”ing is only for Ric Flair (see below…). MoonDog wants to shoot the aforementioned trumpet player for starting it. Patrick went with the gutsy admission of his love of the “woo,” expressing his inner Mike Gundy. Will? admits he enjoys the “woo,” but also defaulted to Ghost, whose answer was nothing short of epic…

This is going to bring into question my manhood, but I’m OK with that. I’m confident in my sexuality, but I must answer this with a story.

My wife — Mrs. Ghost — is a beautiful but immature lady. I love her, but she’s a Bama fan, No. 1, and No. 2, she absolutely loves 1980s music. Now, I’m not talking about the Thompson Twins, Howard Jones, Africa and all the tolerable stuff. No, no, no. My wife loves the New Kids on the Block. (I have another name for them … Yes, it’s the same as yours.) Well, Mrs. Ghost has been beside herself about the release of NKOTB’s new album — which since I download … er… bought, she HATES by the way — because she loved, loved, LOVED that new song about the Girls of Summer, or something like that.

So, I got the CD for her Sunday afternoon and on the way to church that night, she proceeds to pop in the CD and play the song that is on the radio right now. It is a terrible song with no vocal quality at all, but it’s got a catchy beat. Now, when I say that sentence right there, my wife says, “You know you like it.” And I hate it. The “B-A-N-A-N-A-S” song by Gwen Stefani was horrible. The “My Humps” song is my least favorite song of all-time. Going back even further, I despise “Love Shack” by the B-52’s. But it’s those songs — THOSE HORRIBLE SONGS — that get in your head. So, sure enough, when we were waiting for preaching to start standing on the front porch, I began humming the song. My wife gets a little half-smile, looks at me sideways and says, “See, you DO like that song.” I wanted to punch her.

Anyway, all that brings me to this: I’m completely and whole-heartedly against the WOO! in Rocky Top. I hate it. I think it’s stupid. If we wanted a stupid cheer, we’d have adopted Two Bits from the Gators or not let Ole Miss steal “Hotty Toddy” from us. I hate stupidity. And the “WOO” is our stupidity.

But, but, but in the heat of the moment after we score a touchdown and we’re dancing in the aisles and high-fiving complete strangers and clapping, I’ve caught myself WOOING before. I’m completely and abashedly ashamed. My fandom should be revoked.

That said, I hope there are thousands of WOOs! come Saturday.

Ghost, that took guts. Jai, not to be outdone, gives us his own history of the “woo,” and discusses how 14 year-old girls view the “woo.” I’m still laughing at his answer.

As I commented on 3SIB, I think everybody – even the toughest of the “tough” guys – deep, deep, down, knows they have “woo”ed before – they’re just in denial. And as my last act as Roundtable host, I’m going to plain straight overload on the “woo”…

Guys, it’s been fun. Maybe lawvol – who also answered my questions here – will let me answer next week…

Tee Martin vs. Florida State

This Saturday, the University of Tennessee will kickoff its celebration of the Tenth Anniversary of the Vols’ 1998 National Championship. As part of that celebration, immediately prior to this week’s game against UAB, the Tennessee Volunteers will honor the first in a series of former Vol footballers who played a role in that championship — quarterback Tee Martin.

Martin was truly one of the unsung heroes of the 1998 squd, who deserves far more credit than he ever received. I found a really great piece by Marvin West which looks at all of the comparisons that were made between Martin and Peyton Manning, which concludes that Martin deserves all the praise he gets this weekend. West writes:

Peyton was the quintessential quarterback, a genuine thoroughbred, great arm, marvelous reads and checks, flawless form. If you look up quarterback in my dictionary, Manning’s mug shot is the illustration.

Tee was just a winner. He wasn’t a perfect passer. He was a fine leader but never glorified as a great strategist or field general. What he did was good enough. Effective.

His ring says national champion.

I sincerely hope that all the Vol-faithful will show up to Neyland Stadium a few minutes early, take a moment to remember the “lunch-bucket brigade” that was the 1998 Tennessee Volunteers, and send a big thank you to one of the great players who made the magic of that season possible.

– Go Figure …

Image Courtesy of: AthlonSports.com
Marvin West writes for the Knoxville Shopper-News and is the author of “Legends of the Tennessee Vols”

Week Three!

It’s that time again – Thursday morning, meaning the weekend is just around the corner. And of course weekends in the fall are all about college football Saturdays and hoping I’ll win my weekly fantasy matchup on Sundays.

This week is different from the first two in two ways: first, Tennessee finally FINALLY plays a freakin’ home game. This good because (a) I’m pretty sure every Tennessee fan is ready to play another game, if for no other reason than to get the remaining bitterness from UCLA out of the mouth and look ahead to the Florida-Auburn-Georgia death-road and (b) home games weekends are what make my fall semesters (don’t forget about the facelift renovations to Neyland Stadium as well).

While Tennessee plays a cupcake in UAB, there’s plenty of other games around the country to look forward to this week. It’s the week before conference play becomes the norm and there are some great matchups.

You know the deal by now – I’ll talk about the SEC games and then the national games of note. However from this point on I’ll change my approach with this section: I’ll be more decisive and selective with which games, and they’ll get attention the same way the SEC games do. Why am I switching things up a little? Because I want to. And I can. Anyways, the games…

SEC Games

UAB at Tennessee: Oh, to be back in the student section at Neyland Stadium. I already said what I was looking for this weekend here, so I won’t go into that. What I’m probably most excited about the actual game? Finally getting to sit in D, thanks to the death of Orange’s Nation illegal block seating.

Arkansas at Texas (ABC, 3:30): Hurricane Ike striketh (not literally…yet) – Arkansas won’t go down to Austin and get hammered until September 27. They host Alabama next weekend, an intriguing game and the first SEC game in under Bobby Petrino. My guess is the Hogs will need the work after escaping total embarrassment by slipping past Western Illinois and UL Monroe.

Georgia at South Carolina (CBS, 3:30): So now Georgia begins the utter brutality (yes, more brutal than a cop at an East Carolina game) that is their schedule. The desperate Chickens seem to be reeling – or wait, that’s just reality setting in…

I’m interested to see how UGA handles their first big test of the year. South Carolina’s defense should keep it close, but are the Gamecocks gonna score? I know they always play UGA tough at home, this game is generally a pretty hard fought, low-scoring game, and Spurrier is good for one win a year over the East’s Big Three, but I just don’t see them winning this game.

Middle Tennessee State at Kentucky/Rice at Vanderbilt: These would be snooze games, except for the small fact that BOTH UK and Vandy – whom I was not expecting much from – have a chance to be 3-0. These were the penciled-in Ws for both teams coming in, and losing would really put a damper on any bowl hopes, especially for the Commodores.

Western Kentucky at Alabama/Samford at Ole Miss: Snooze games of the week, though I’m interested to see if the Tide play any better than they did last week against Tulane.

North Texas at LSU: After some uncertainty due to the aforementioned Ike, this game will be played in Tiger Stadium. It’s gotta be tough on the Tigers, especially since if they don’t play this one (they probably will) it will be a two week bye before they go to Auburn. I just gotta wonder what being an LSU student is like amidst multiple hurricanes…

Auburn at Mississippi State (7:00, ESPN2): Ah yes, more SEC football. I’m still not sold on Auburn’s offense, they looked better against Southern Miss, but definitely still sluggish. We’ll have to see how they handle a road game against a team that beat them last year with defense.

Yes, Chris Todd, I know it is just Starkville, but your first SEC road game is your first SEC road game...

Auburn should win because I don’t think Mississippi State can score on the Auburn defense, but State could easily catch War Eagle looking ahead to home games against LSU and the Vols coming up. Can Sly Croom make it four-in-a-row against the state of Alabama?

FIVE MORE TO WATCH

Ohio State at USC (ABC 8:00): First, I’m glad these two teams are playing this game. Second, anything I could say in terms of analysis about this game would just be more of what you all have already heard/will hear. ESPN’s Pat Forde wrote a good piece about this game here. I’ll take the easy route and borrow a video from Thomas the Terrible over at YMSWWC…that you can watch by clicking HERE!!

Kansas at USF (Friday ESPN2, 8:00): Kansas is playing someone with a pulse! Kansas is playing someone with a pulse! USF could the JV League’s best (oh, I’m referring to the Big East as a JV league from here on), though they almost blew a lead to Kevin Smith-less UCF last week before winning in OT. I like the Bulls because KU is a joke. Yeah, I said it. A joke.

UCLA at BYU (ABC, 3:30): Both of these teams had their last games given to them: UCLA by Tennessee’s coaches and BYU by moronic Pac-10 refs. It’s BYU’s second and last Pac-10 opponent in their BCS-busting quest. They need this to get out of East Carolina’s shadow.

I just hope UCLA doesn’t get blown out, though it would absolutely confirm the last 0.5% of doubt I have that their win over Tennessee was a complete and total fluke (it was, there’s no denying it).

Oregon at Purdue (ABC, 3:30): The undercard to the epic Big Ten-Pac-showdown later in L.A. Purdue has consistently been beaten by every team they play that has a pulse recently, and Oregon is under-the-radar out West after losing the Dixon/Stewart combo.

Oh the color clash when the Vols and Oregon play a home-and-home...

If I had to pick a favorite Pac-10 team, it would be Oregon. Honestly, it’s the jerseys. Give them credit for being fashionably bold. In all seriousness, the Pac-10 needs somebody to at least come close to USC, and Oregon may be the only hope. So I hope they cream Purdue. Plus I just don’t like the Big Ten.

Wisconsin at Fresno State (ESPN2, 10:30): A big “respect” weekend for the Big Ten, though I see them losing all three of these games. Fresno, like the aforementioned Pirates, has a chance for a second “name” win early in the year, though this would be bigger than either of the Pirates’ wins – not to take anything away from them.

HONORABLE MENTION: ESPN has a high school game tonight between lawvol’s Tar Heels and Rutgers. Cal is off to a fast start, having beaten Michigan State and Washington State on the road 66-3 last week. They now go cross-country to Maryland (ESPN, 12:00). Much in the same realm as Oregon, I hope Cal wins, because the Pac-10 needs some challengers to USC and the Bears and Ducks are the best bets.

And finally, if you want to watch an overhyped game featuring two offensively offensive teams (one of whom lost to Utah and the other who was all but beat by San Diego State), you can watch Michigan at Notre Dame. Neither of these teams win 8 games this year, why the overhyping this meaningless game?

Oh, to be in Section D Saturday afternoon…

Images Courtesy of: Todd Vanemst / AP (Daylife) • Kevin Briody / seattleduck.com

As Joel over at RTT and Ghost at 3SIB both noted, UAB is — well — “special.”  Between the Blazers’ apparent lack of a defense and their real inability to develop any offense, I really just don’t know what to say about this game.

In the past this would be when I would post some slightly off-color doctored photograph poking fun at UAB for their slim chances at winning the game.  I would probably pile on with a number of statements making fun of their coaches, players, fans cheerleaders, etc.  I would generally be a prototypical haughty SEC fan.

After the UCLA game, however, I am going to refrain from being petty and take the high road…

By announcing that I have recently updated the Tennessee Home for the Visually Offensive to include more fine works of the Farkers’ art..

Including some of these beauties:

When you have nothing intelligent to say, never fear resorting to low brow humor…

– Go Figure …

Images Courtesy of: SoonerFans.com • SmashSouthSports.com