The Must List: Week 4

We're finally entering the time of the year for conference games. While there will be quite a few marquee non-conference games, my concentration will be on conference games. Specifically SEC conference games between Arkansas-Alabama and Auburn-South Carolina. What I can't believe is the lack of must watch morning games. Look at the TV schedule, there isn't a single morning game that is interesting(Sorry Kris, Florida International-Maryland doesn't interest me). There are great games after the morning slate and here's the list of them.

Announcing schedule via Fanhouse (All times Eastern)

Thursday, September 23
Miami at Pittsburgh (ESPN, 7:30)- Another dud of a Thursday night game. The Hurricanes travel to Heinz Field to take on the fighting Wannstaches. This will be another road test for Miami quarterback Jacory Harris who failed his last road test against Ohio State throwing four interceptions. While Pittsburgh's offense may struggle in this game, the defense will be attacking Harris all night long. Did I just convince myself to watch this game?

Saturday, September 25
Alabama at Arkansas (CBS, 3:30)- The lack of good morning games to watch is disappointing, so we'll have to start off the must watch Saturday games with Alabama at Arkansas. Alabama is finally playing a team of consensus after beating up on cupcakes the first three games of the year. Last year's Arkansas-Alabama game was an Alabama blowout.  Hopefully this year will be different for Arkansas. Ryan Mallett is a year older and the Razorback defense seems to have improved. Arkansas though is unbalanced on offense preferring the pass over the run. If Alabama stops the pass by getting pressure on Mallett, this could be another Alabama blowout.



Stanford at Notre Dame (NBC, 3:30)- Notre Dame is coming off of back-to-back last second loses to the Michigan schools. Stanford meanwhile looks like they cannot be stopped. They blanked UCLA 35-0 two weeks ago and scored 68 points on Wake Forest last weekend. I don't expect Stanford to shutout the Irish or score 68 points, but I do expect them to beat Notre Dame. If the Cardinal beat the Irish on Saturday, it will be Stanford's first win in South Bend since 1992.

UCLA at Texas (3:30, ABC Or ESPN, Coverage Map)- Last Thursday I would have said this would have been an easy Texas victory and it still might be, but UCLA actually looked competent last week against Houston. The Bruins stopped the high powered Houston offense and put up 31 points of their own. I still don't expect UCLA to win, but I at least expect this game to be semi-exciting.

South Carolina at Auburn (7:45, ESPN)- Both teams are undefeated and both teams have exciting offenses. That's enough to get me to watch. Both South Carolina and Auburn are lead by exciting Freshman running backs Marcus Lattimore and Michael Dyer and steady quarterbacks Stephen Garcia and Cam Newton. This will be South Carolina's first road game of the year and if they want to make their mark in the SEC, they have to win this game.

Oregon State at Boise State (8:00, ABC)- The Gameday crew will be making their first quest to Boise, Idaho to check out the Broncos. This game was suppose to beef up Boise State's credibility, but with Oregon State losing to TCU and barely beating Louisville the Beavers might not do much for the Broncos BCS credibility. Boise State though still needs to win this game and the only way they'll do that is if they stop electrifying Oregon State running back Jacquizz Rodgers.

West Virginia at LSU (9:00, ESPN2)- This game interests me for one single reason, the two coaches facing off against each other. Bill Stewart (WVU) and Les Miles (LSU). Both coaches have had their fare share of critics and their fare share of people that have laughed at them. Quite frankly, I find both coaches incompetent who'll lose more games they should win. Right now though both teams are undefeated and looking to stay that way.

Recipe of the Week, Pam's Bierocks: I'm German, we're entering Oktoberfest, so this week's recipe of the week is a German dish. Pam's Bierocks is actually a sandwich with a twist. The twist is that you stuff ground beef, onion, and cabbage into a homemade sweet dinner roll. Their simple to make and the final result looks delicious.

Alcoholic Beverage of the Week, Hoptober by New Belgium: When I worked for Coors, New Belgium beers were my favorite group of beers we distributed. I've tried all the different varieties of New Belgium beer. Skinny Dip was my favorite out of the seasonal beers. I've never tried Hoptober so I figure to give it a try. And besides, we can't eat a Oktoberfest meal without a Oktoberfest beer.