Just in case anyone cares, at all, about my viewing schedule on Saturdays, I will be posting it every Sunday. I devoted all day yesterday, like I'm sure much of you did, to watching football from 9:00 in the morning out here on the west coast all the way to 10:30 PM, when USC began to pull away from Idaho. I did step away from the TV for enough time to eat some meals, barely, but the TV always had a football game on. Always.
9:00-9:15 -- East Carolina @ Virginia Tech
I had to see the beginning of this game, to see the tribute paid to the lives lost in the horrible tragedy earlier this spring. Listening to the crowd's roar as Va Tech emerged from the tunnell was amazing; it was impossible to listen and not get goosebumps. It was a remarkable atmosphere, and I watched the first drive or so before making what turned out to be a very good decision; to turn it to channel 220 on DirecTV.
9:15-12:30ish -- Appalachian State @ Michigan
Yep, channel 220 was the upset of the century. I always try to find a big underdog game, and watch it until the favorite pulls away. App. State-Michigan figured to fit the bill so I decided to give it a try, and turned to it just in time to see Dexter Jackson catch a 5 yard pass and sprit 70 more past the secondary to tie up the ballgame at 7. It was one of the best games I have ever watched, only made better by the remarkable ending that has now been shown on SportsCenter an approximated 1,567,800 times. I don't need to tell you the story of the game, if you don't know what happened you have either not turned on a TV or computer in the last 24 hours, or aren't a college football fan. Or both.
Also Watched: I channel-surfed (is their any other way to watch college football) quite frequently, checking in on: East Carolina-Va Tech and Colorado-Colorado State.
12:45ish-4:00 -- Assorted
There was plenty to watch at this time, and with none of them nailbiters, I hopped around between Georgia Tech-Notre Dame, Wazzu-Wisconsin and Muzzurrah-Illinois. GT-ND never was really close, with Ga Tech beating them for 60 straight minutes. If ND didn't start playing good defense in the Red Zone, it would have looked a lot uglier than the 33-3 final. ND is in for a long season, and for the first time in what seems like forever, we might have a better football team than the Fighting Irish. Seriously. Wazzu played better than expected, but 'Sconsin's new QB Tyler Donovan played tremendous. Wisconsin is likely the Big 10's best team, thanks to Michigan's loss yesterday, and is a legitimate national title contender. Lastly, Muzzurrah-Illinois was a very good game, lessened by the final outcome. Missouri looked far from inspiring yesterday, barely escaping a Ron Zook-coached team with the backup QB playing practically the entire game. Based off opening-week performances, we might be able to beat Muzzurrah in Arrowhead at the end of the year.
Also Watched: Wake Forest-Boston College and UCLA-Stanford.
4:00ish-8:00 -- Kansas State vs. Auburn
I have to admit it, I was cheering for the Wildcats. I have never hated K-State the way I despite Muzzurrah, and I always will cheer for a Big 12 team against the supposed "football-juggernaut" of a conference in SEC. Plus, I hate Auburn. Kansas State looked pretty good, although Auburn continually shot themselves in the foot which played a big part in not taking the lead until late in the game. K-State had quite a few personal fouls, and by quite a few I mean about one a drive, which played a big part in them giving up the lead late. KU-KSU will be quite a game when it comes down to it, but I don't know enough on K-State to make a prediction. I will, though, by October 6th.
Also Watched: Oklahoma State-Georgia; Baylor-TCU and Tennessee-Cal.
8:00ish-10:30 -- Bowling Green @ Minnesota
Thank God for the Big Ten Network! The two best games I saw all day were on the BTN, although I only saw the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter + OT of BGSU-Minnesota. BGSU had been winning 21-0 in the second half, so I didn't pay much attention until a later channel flip (after KSU-Auburn ended) showed it to be 24-21 Minnesota. So, I saw BGSU drive down, kick a field goal, and sent it into overtime and then saw a very well played OT period. Minnesota got the ball first, and took two plays to run the ball in the endzone. Bowling Green took awhile longer, but also found the endzone leaving them with a decision very similar to that of Chris Peterson at the end of Boise State-Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. BGSU made the same decision, to go for two, and the QB rifled a pass barely past the outstretched hand of the defender to win the game for the Falcons. The Tim Brewer-era at Minny got off to a less-than-perfect start, as they got thoroughly outplayed by a MAC team. That was the outcome numerous people expected out of the KU-CMU game, which we will get to in that recap.
Also Watched: Idaho-USC.
I had a tremendous day watching football, and while actual analysis of the games are lacking, (for that, check out Sunday Morning Quarterback, the great college football blog around IMO) I just wanted to let you know of the games I watched. The Muzzurrah and K-State games were good to watch for scouting purposes, specifically the weak defense of Muzzurrah. I mean weak.
ROCK CHALK!