Must List: Week 1

The time has finally arrived. College football has finally arrived. For two off-season's in row we've had plenty to talk about and most of it has been negative. In 2010 it was the year of conference realignment. 2011 has been the year of the scandal between Ohio State, Miami, LSU, and Oregon. We can finally look past all of that and just watch the games on the field.

This season I am interested in watching how conference realignment affects the Big tewlve and the Pac-10 12. Will Nebraska win the Big Tewlve in their first year? Could Utah face Oregon in the first Pac-10 championship game? Will Boise State win the Mountain West in their first year in the conference? These are all issues to sort out as the season progresses.

College football is upon us and it's time to enjoy Kent State vs Alabama! Okay so the first week of the season is usually lame because most teams play soft non-conference opponents. Don't let that fact dissuade you though from watching college football because there are some games this week that are a must watch. So without further ado, here's the first Must List of the 2011 season.

Announcing schedule brought to you buy the always incredible Awful Announcing.

(All times Eastern)
Thursday, September 1st
UNLV at Wisconsin, 8PM (ESPN: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, Craig James, Jenn Brown): For the first time in what feels like forever, the opening Thursday night ESPN game doesn't involve South Carolina. Wisconsin could be an interesting team this season. Former NC State quarterback Russell Wilson transferred to Madison for this season and should make Wisconsin a contender for the Big Tewlve championship again. Even though I'm excited the season is going to start, I'm not looking forward to Craig James commentary.

Mississippi State @ Memphis, 8:00 (FSN: Ron Thulin, JC Pearson, Jeremy Bloom): I'm interested in this game for one simple reason. I want to see how the new Fox announcing set up is going to work. Instead of using a traditional sideline reporter, Fox is going to try the Tony Siragusa method of calling games. The former player on the field giving his opinions to the booth. I'm not sure I'm going to like this set up or the announcers, but at least Fox is trying something new.



Friday, September 2nd
TCU at Baylor, 8:00 (ESPN: Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore, Samantha Steele): Both teams played in a bowl game last season but only Baylor returns their starting quarterback. I would be afraid of betting money on TCU for this game. A non-conference game on the road with a new starting quarterback. I wouldn't touch that bet with a ten foot pole.

Saturday, September 3rd
Akron at Ohio State, Noon (ESPN: Dave Pasch, Chris Spielman, Urban Meyer): Our first Noon Big Tewlve game of the year features the Jim Tressel-less Buckeyes. Also we have Urban Meyer calling his first college game for the mothership. I probably won't watch a lot of this game, but I'll definitely check it out to see what Ohio State looks like now and how well Meyer is doing in the booth.

Northwestern At Boston College, Noon (ESPNU: Rob Stone, Danny Kannell): All last season I complained about the lack of compelling games during the Noon slot. And if the first week schedule is any indicator, I'm going to be complaining for a second year in a row. Sadly Northwestern at Boston College is the most compelling Noon slot game of the first week. I guess the schedule makers want college football viewers to actually get chores done during these hours.

South Florida at Notre Dame, 3:30 (NBC: Dan Hicks, Mike Mayock, Alex Flanagan, Anthony Herron): Remember when Jim Leavitt was the South Florida coach and they would receive a ton of pre-season hype only to finish the year 4th or 5th in the Big East? Well South Florida is receiving a ton of hype again only this time Skip Holtz is the coach. I'm through buying into the South Florida hype and it will probably be squelch by Notre Dame in the first week of the season.

Minnesota at USC, 3:30 (ABC: Carter Blackburn, Brock Huard): Year 2 of the Kiffykins era at USC starts the year against Minnesota and their new coach Jerry Kill. I think USC is going to be very good this year and they should probably steam roll over Minnesota.

UCLA at Houston, 3:30 (FSN: Craig Bolerjack, Joel Klatt, Petros Papadakis): USC will be very good this year but they can't play in the Pac-12 championship game because they're on probation. I saw Herbstreit picked UCLA to represent the Pac-12 South in the championship game this upcoming year. They'll need to beat a veteran Houston team first.

Brigham Young at Mississippi, 4:45(ESPN: Bob Wischusen, Bob Davie, Jessica Mendoza): An under the radar game in my opinion. BYU starts off their football independence against an Ole Miss team that is rebuilding. BYU is also rebuilding their defense but the offense should be improved with starting quarterback Jake Heaps returning.

Oregon v. Louisiana State, 8:00 (ABC: Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Erin Andrews): I have no idea what to make of this game since both teams have suspended key players. I would say bet on Oregon, but LSU always seems to find a way to win these type of games. Even if Jarrett Lee is the starting quarterback. After the game everyone can go to Shady's for a round of kicks.

Boise State v. Georgia, 8:00 (ESPN: Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe): It pisses me off that ESPN scheduled this game to oppose the Oregon-LSU game. Couldn't they stagger the start times by at least a half an hour? Back to the actual game that will actually be played at the Georgia Dome and with Boise State as the actual favorites. I have less confidence in Boise State in this game than their past games against Virginia Tech and Oregon.

Tulsa at Oklahoma, 8:00 (FX: Gus Johnson, Charles Davis, Tim Brewster): None of us have any real reason to watch this despite listening to GuJo. So I would switch to this game when the other games at this time are at commercial break.

Colorado at Hawaii, 10:15 (ESPN: Dave Lamont, David Diaz-Infante): I love these late night games on ESPN. There's just nothing quite like laying in bed watching Hawaii football. No matter how bad or good it might be.

Sunday, September 4th
Southern Methodist at Texas A&M, 7:00 (FSN:): Not much for Sunday viewing except this game. This game will be just flat plain awkward. Texas A&M is leaving the Big 12 while SMU will be one of the teams fighting for TAMU's slot in the Big 12.

Monday, September 5th
Miami at Maryland, 8:00 (ESPN: Sean McDonough, Matt Miller, Heather Cox): I have no idea why Miami has gotten the Labor Day slot on ESPN the past few years, but after this season ESPN should find another team for this day. Miami won't be worth watching for a few years anyway.

Recipe of the Week, Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken: This recipe comes via James Craven. I like this recipe because there are very few ingredients and very few steps of direction to cook this style of chicken. I've also like mustard flavored food whether it's pretzels or chicken. Kudos to James Craven for finding this delicious recipe.

Alcoholic Beverage of the Week, Moose Drool: We're still in the beer drinking season. It's still hot outside so it's not quite time yet for the hard alcohol. So the beverage of the week is Moose Drool by Big Sky Brewing that is a brown ale. Now I'm not normally an ale drinker, but I love this ale because of it's creamy and caramel taste.