Must List: Week 5

Not the longest list of good games but some pretty good matchups. We're thankfully starting to get past the non-conference fluff and getting into more conference play and there are some nice conference games this week.

(Schedule via the506)

Thursday, September 26th
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech, 7:30 (ESPN: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Samantha Ponder) I dunno what to make of Georgia Tech. Are they good? Mediocre? Are they frauds? They needed to comeback against UNC last week. Will they have to make a comeback against a bad Virginia Tech team? And when was the last time a Frank Beamer squad looked this bad? Weird game I won't be watching because I have to watch the Niners make me cry on Thursday.

Friday, September 27th
Utah State at San Jose State, 9:00 (ESPN: Carter Blackburn, Danny Kannell, Allison Williams) You need to watch this game just for the quarterbacks, Chuckie Keeton and David Fales. Now both of these squads are 1-2 but their losses were against teams in tougher conferences and they both looked pretty good in those losses. The Mountain West is really fun to watch this season.


Saturday, September 28th
South Carolina at UCF, Noon (ABC: Bob Wischusen, Rod Gilmore, Quint Kessenich) The morning slate of games on Saturday suck out loud. So that's why I've chosen South Carolina-UCF game as the morning game to watch. First off it's being played in Orlando and when do you see a SEC team play at a smaller school's field? Second UCF is pretty good this year, they went to Penn State and beat them, so this is no cake walk for the Cocks.

LSU at Georgia, 3:30 (CBS: Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, Tracy Wolfson) Amazing to think about but LSU has been overlooked this season. They have an actual real quarterback* who can throw. They have a good ground game. Their defense is always good. But they're overlooked because of Manziel and Bama's possible three-peat. If they beat Georgia in Columbus and I'll like them even more and more.

*Who's being mentored by Cam Cameron. I dunno even know either.

Oklahoma at Notre Dame, 3:30 (NBC: Dan Hicks, Mike Mayock, Alex Flanagan) Oklahoma is another team I don't know what to make of. They look like one of those old Sooner-Stoops teams that played outstanding offense but they've gone Michigan State with their QB's. Which QB gives them best chance to win? And Notre Dame still have Tommy Rees as their QB. If this game wasn't in South Bend, I would bet on Oklahoma.

Iowa at Minnesota, 3:30 (ABC or ESPN2: Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham, Jeannine Edwards) Minnesota is 4-0 on the year and beat a good San Jose State team last week but are they really this good? Are the Golden Gophers good enough to win whatever division they are in? And Iowa really hasn't played anyone either yet. One thing is guaranteed in this game is that it will be low scoring.

Ole Miss at Alabama, 6:30 (ESPN: Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe) Alabama looked disinterested last week against Colorado State. If they play disinterested against Ole Miss they'll lose. And what Ole Miss has in their favor is that they have had a bye week before this game. Now if this game wasn't played in Alabama, I would give Ole Miss more of a chance. They're not playing this game at Ole Miss though and the Rebels Black Bears are a young team that Saban can take advantage of.

Arizona at Washington, 7:00 (Fox: Gus Johnson, Charles Davis, Kristina Pink) Teams playing their first conference game after playing a soft non-conference schedule to start the year fascinate me. I bring this up because Arizona's non-conference schedule has been a joke while Washington has actually played a real non-conference schedule. Will Washington's non-conference experience show against Arizona's? Or does the non-conference schedule not matter?

Wisconsin at Ohio Sate, 8:00 (ABC: Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Heather Cox) Ohio State's offense is amazing. Yes they haven't played anyone but they haven't missed a beat with Braxton Miller out. Wisconsin's offense is still very good but they're still typical Wisconsin. They're going to run on you and that's about it. Conference games are always a little closer and I expect this game to be at least close.

Stanford at Washington State, 10:00 (ESPN: Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen, Maria Taylor) Washington State would have probably lost to USC if the Trojans had an actual offense in that game. What I'm saying is that they're still a year away from being a good team. Stanford is too tough on both sides of the ball to allow this game to be close.

USC at Arizona State, 10:30 (ESPN2: Dave Flemming, Mike Bellotti, Allison Williams) Arizona State was actually kinda impressive in their loss to Stanford. Well their offense looked impressive. I wonder though if that carries over to this USC game because the Trojans are really good defensively. And can the ASU defense stop a USC offense that seems to be heading towards a little more competence?

Recipe of the Week, Spanish Rice Bake: I'm a sucker for rice and ground beef. You can get this combination in most Mexican food selections. This recipe combines the two along with some Chile and brown sugar and pretty simple to put together and cook.

Alcoholic Beverage of the Week, Tumbler: Despite being located right in my backyard I'm not a fan of Sierra Nevada brewery. Their ales are just too strong for me. Now that being said I do like their seasonal fall beer called Tumbler. It's a malt beer and not a wheat beer or a pumpkin beer that you see this time of the year and that's the silly reason why I like this beer.