College Football National Championship Game

Live Blog College Football National Championship Game

College Football Opening Day Live Blog

I've been busy all summer with work, couldn't post anything on this blog and by sheer luck I finished with harvest on the day college football started. So as a celebration for one harvest being over (I have another coming up in a few weeks) I'm going to do a college football live blog. Leave comments, be nice, and enjoy the games. South Carolina-Texas A&M get us started on 3 PT.

Here's the rest of the schedule for tonight.

Live Blog College Football Opening Day Live Blog

 

Annual Day of the Insane

Today is the day I dubbed "The Annual Day of the Insane". Yep it's national signing day, the only day of the year where fax machines are still relevant, where recruits can send their letter of intent to whatever school they choose. I've written about this day before twice now. Well here's a third time.

I've talked about the allure of recruits and why fans get excited about this day, today I'm going to talk about the fans themselves and how they should react to this day and how their team does in terms of recruiting.

Number 1, Don't Stalk, Throw Verbal Abuses, or Complain why a recruit didn't choose your school: I remember when Keenan Allen choose Cal, Alabama fans were pissed. You see before Allen became a great receiver, Bama recruited him as a defensive back. He didn't want to be a defensive back and Cal offered him the opportunity to be a receiver. He choose Cal. Bama fans complained, threw insults at him, and stalked him on Twitter. Don't do this folks.

Remember these are kids that are 17 or 18 years old. Most of them are still in high school from tiny schools. Remember how undecided you were when you were that age? And remember they're choosing what's best for them. Keenan Allen choose the receiver and Cal route over Bama and secondary because that was best for him. And after judging his season in San Diego I'm guessing he made the right decision.

New Year's Day College Football & Winter Classic Live Blog

Bowl games and outdoor hockey, what's not to enjoy? Leave comments and don't be a troll.

College Football and Baseball Open Thread

Here's the college football schedule for today. Baseball starts at 5:30 Eastern. Should be a great day of sports. Leave comments and don't be a troll. And yes Wilbon pretended to be a Northwestern fan today.

It's cute when Wilbon pretends to know something about college football
— DCTrojan (@DCTrojan) October 5, 2013

And David Pollack hates gurls.

ewww girls RT @ChrisMottram: David Pollack just said that no women should be on college football playoff selection committee.
— edsbs (@edsbs) October 5, 2013

Video: There's a Fox on the Field

Lubbock, Texas is a weird place. I've visited Lubbock twice in my life visiting a cousin who has since moved. And when I was there I thought to myself, "this is a weird place". Lubbock is a cross between an old cowboy town and what I imagine what a Middle East city would look like. Once you leave Lubbock you're in the middle of oil fields and sage brush. The smell of oil makes you nauseous. It's horrible. It's weird. It's where fox's run onto the playing field of the Texas Tech-TCU game.



Now we've seen animals run onto a field before. Squirrels, rabbits, etc. But a fox? Only in Lubbock, Texas.

College Football Open Thread: Week 1

Last year I posted open threads and by the end of the season they had disappeared. This year I'm going to try to make it through the whole year with open threads but most likely they'll disappear again. For now though enjoy the college football season, leave comments, and don't troll.

(Schedule via the506)

College Football Open Thursday Night Thread

The wait is finally over. College football has returned. And there are actually some good games to watch, particularly the Vandy-Ole Miss game. Utah vs Utah State ain't bad either. Hell you can watch Clowney as well. As always leave comments and don't be a troll.

ESPN College Football Announcer Pairings

Here are your 2013 college football pairings on ESPN. (All times are Eastern) Not that many changes this year.

Thursday
ESPN (8:00): Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, SR: Samantha Ponder

Friday
ESPN/2 (7:00): Carter Blackburn, Danny Kannelll, SR: Allison Williams

Saturday
ESPN (Noon): Dave Pasch, Brian Griese, SR: Tom Luginbill
ESPN2 (Noon): Beth Mowins, Joey Galloway, SR: Paul Caracterra
ESPNU (Noon): Tom Hart, John Congemi
SEC Network Game: Dave Neal, Andrew Ware, SR: Cara Capuano
ACC Network Game: Eamon McAnney, Anthony Becht, SR: Brooke Weisbrod
ABC (3:30): Bob Wischusen, Rod Gilmore, SR: Captain Quint Kessenich
ABC (3:30): Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham, SR: Jeannine Edwards
ABC (3:30): Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman, SR: Shannon Spake
ESPNU (3:30): Anish Shroff, Kelly Stouffer
ESPN Primetime Game: Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge, SR: Holly Rowe
ESPN Primetime Select Games: Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen, SR: Maria Taylor
ESPN2 Primetime Game: Mark Jones, Brock Huard, SR: Jessica Mendoza
ESPNU Primetime Game: Clay Matvick, Matt Stinchcomb, SR: Dawn Davenport
ABC (8:00): Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, SR: Heather Cox
ESPNU Late Game: Joe Davis, David Diaz-Infante

A few quick thought:
- RIP either Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore being on the Friday night game. I'm not sure if ESPN had a more entertaining duo calling mundane Army vs Ball State game.

- I am happy to see Gilmore being promoted to a Saturday afternoon game. He deserved a promotion.

- I'm not happy Tessitore is stuck again with Millen. Just pair him with Gilmore and make us all happy again.

- Really not that many changes this season which is actually kinda refreshing.

- I'm surprised Giants announcer Dave Flemming isn't working an ESPN game. I assumed since he quit his job as the radio voice of Stanford football he would get an ESPN game. I'm going to have to assume he's going to become the main voice for football for the Pac-12 Network. I would like to watch the Pac-12 Network, but they're in a petty feud right now with my cable provider.

Should be a great year for college football!

The Annual Day Of The Insane

If this post looks familiar it's because I wrote a post like it last year with the same exact title. Yep today is signing day for future college football players. Fans, coaches, and analysts wait on the whim of a 17 or 18-year old kid to fax in his letter of intent to their future school.

Last year I looked at why people are insane enough to follow the whims of a kid. It's insanity was my conclusion. This year I want to look at why I've always taken today with a grain of salt.

Player Development In College Is Just As Hard as The Pros: SB Nation had a round table discussion of their favorite recruiting stories and each player mentioned, except Desean Jackson and surprisingly Bryce Brown*, flamed out in college. Besides a couple of those players getting in trouble with the law the rest of them flamed out spectacularly at their original choice of school. Why? Because these players have to be developed just like rookies in all leagues. Recruiting is easy for some coaches (see Ron Zook) it's the development and coaching part that is the hardest. This is why I believe college coaching is a little bit more stressful than the NFL. Not only do you have to have recruiting chops, but you also have to know how to coach. It's the reason why so many coaches fail. I take today with a grain of salt because you just don't know who is going to flame out or not.

*I put an asterisk next to Brown because in reality his college career did flame out but he somehow carved out a nice little niche for himself with the Philadelphia Eagles last season. 

Muschamp-49er16 Model or The Five Stages of Muschamp

/taps microphone
//hears feedback

Welcome ladies and gentleman to my presentation. I'm not much for introductions so let's just get right into this. By now I'm sure you've heard of the Kubler-Ross Model before right? Maybe you've heard of the 5 stages of grief? Okay good because they're the same thing. According to Wikipedia the 5 stages of grief can be described as a "hypothesis was that when a person (and/or their survivors) is faced with the reality of their impending death, he/she will experience a series of emotional "stages": denial; anger; bargaining; depression; and, acceptance (in no specific sequence)."

Well I have created a new model. It's called the "Muschamp-49er16 Model" or "The Five Stages of Muschamp". The 5 stages of Muschamp is a hypothessis that when Muschamp is faced with an embarrassing loss or the impending loss he will go through a series of emotional "stages": Anger, Anger, Anger, Anger, and ANGER (in no specific sequence). Please let me demonstrate the model.

Stage 1, Anger-  "I'm going to murder you motherfucker." 

As you can see in the picture, Muschamp's neck veins are like a Mission: Impossible message. They're about to self-destruct in 5 seconds. The gritting of the teeth and the crazy eyes are one long master plan to murder one of his players and leave him in a Florida Swamp.

Stage 2, ANGER- "How can you call that fucking call?!?!" 

This stage is actually the least angriest. The veins in his neck aren't going to explode. He's not gritting his teeth or giving a death stare. In actuality he's just showing the referee his tonsils for a check up. He's a nice guy that way.

Stage 3, Anger- "Fuck you!"

And we're right back to the hostility but in a playful, silly way. Look at how Muschamp is sticking out his tongue at the referee. There's no veins ready to explode. This is the type of anger a child has at his parents when he or she isn't given a cookie after dinner.

Stage 4, Anger- "I've got to really fart but I'm afraid I'm going to shit my pants." 

This stage of anger everyone has gone through in life. It's when you're not near a restroom but you have to fart badly but are afraid you might shit your pants. Many men went through this stage this year during the Christmas season at the mall based on my highly scientific research at the mall while shopping for Christmas gifts.

Stage 5, Anger- "I may look subdued, but I'm really looking at the best place on your back to stab you." 

He might look subdued. He might look like he's about to cry. He might look unhappy. He's not. He's steaming inside. There's an ulcer growing inside his stomach like the alien from Alien. He's thinking about killing Spurrier on his favorite golf course and bury him at the ninth green. This is the most dangerous stage of Muschamp. The lay in quiet, Muschamp.

I want to thank everyone for sitting through my presentation today. Remember it's called the Muschamp-49er16 model of The Five Stages of Muschamp. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments box.

New Year's Day College Football Open Thread

Justin will be out most of today so instead of an live blog I'm throwing up an open thread. Yes I know these are not as fun but just pretend they're live blogs. Anyway have fun watching today's games, leave comments, and don't be a troll. Schedule below.

TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl: Mississippi State vs. No. 20 Northwestern (ESPN2, Noon) - Bob Wischusen, Danny Kanell & Allison Williams

Heart of Dallas Bowl: Purdue vs. Oklahoma State (ESPNU, Noon) - Clay Matvick, Matt Stinchcomb & Kaylee Hartung

Capital One Bowl: No. 7 Georgia vs. No. 16 Nebraska (ABC, 1 PM) - Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack & Samantha Steele

Outback Bowl: No. 10 South Carolina vs. No. 18 Michigan (ESPN, 1 PM) - Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden & Shannon Spake

Rose Bowl Game Presented by Vizio: Wisconsin vs No. 6 Stanford (ESPN, 5 PM) - Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Heather Cox & Tom Rinaldi

 Discover Orange Bowl: No. 15 Northern Illinois vs No. 12 Florida State (ESPN, 8:30 PM) - Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen & Maria Taylor

The Coaching Carousel

I must admit first I've always had a weird fascination with coaching carousel's in sports. It's fascinating to see what team/school hires a coach quickly, which team/school takes forever to hire a coach because they swung and miss at so many candidates, and which team/school hires a retread that makes you say out loud, "How the hell did that guy get another job?".

The last part is always what is so fascinating to me. In every sport at every level there's a coach who receives a 2nd or 3rd or 4th attempt to prove they're head coaching material when they're clearly not. Think of Norv Turner with the Chargers. Chan Gailey with the Bills. Jim Tracy, who I'm sure will be managing a baseball team again one day. John Gibbons was rehired by the Blue Jays after they had already fired him a couple of years ago. *My favorite example is Vinny Del Negro proving he was a horrendous coach with the Chicago Bulls and then receiving the Los Angeles Clippers job almost immediately after receiving his pink slip in Chicago. Meanwhile a great coach who had bad luck at previous jobs, Rick Carlisle, had to sit out a year and work for ESPN before the Dallas Mavericks hired him. Guess what team won a championship recently?

*Another good example is Terry Francona. Do you realize it took three years before Boston hired him after the Phillies fired him? 3 years! Meanwhile Jim Tracy was barely fired from the Dodgers job before Pittsburgh stupidly hired him. The people making the decision on who to hire must be really stupid.

Report: University of Phoenix To Join The Big East

With news this morning that both Maryland and Rutgers are leaving their respective conferences the Big East has announced they have added the University of Phoenix to their conference to replace Rutgers.

"The University of Phoenix brings a great athletic tradition to the Big East," said Big East commissioner Mike Aresco.

When asked what "athletic tradition" the University of Phoenix had Mr. Aresco just stared at the press with a blank expression.

"The University of Phoenix can field teams all over the United States and even over seas with their 200 campus'," continued Aresco. "If Boise State needs an opponent we can send the University of Phoenix to Idaho because of their campus in Moscow, Idaho. If San Diego State needs an opponent their's a University of Phoenix right there in San Diego. It's really a good fit for everyone in our conference."

The University of Phoenix's bid was bigger than DeVry University, Wyoming Tech, Cal Tech, MIT, and UTI to gain entrance into the Big East. Expect the University of Phoenix to suit up a team for the first time at the Big East tournament in New York with failed junior college players from New Mexico.

"This is a new day for the Big East," Aresco finishing the press conference and then running to the bar next door where he drank hard alcohol for the next 10 hours.

Must List: Week 10

This season is almost over and if there were ever a time to see Alabama knocked down a notch it's this week against LSU. There are other great games this week as well. Here's the Must List for week 10.

November 3rd
Texas A&M at Miss State, Noon (ESPN: Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe) This game immediately lost it's luster as soon as Miss State got hammered by Bama. Still though you don't have much of a selection on Saturday morning. Should at least be a fun game offensively but it doesn't have much of an impact in terms of standings or rankings.

TCU at West Virginia, 3:00 (Fox: Craig Bolerjack, Joel Klatt, Petros Papadakis) Another game that doesn't matter in terms of rankings or standings, but should be a fun watch because of the offenses. Despite a couple of losses Geno Smith and West Virginia are still must watches and Holgo will forever be a must watch just to see him drink Red Bull on the sidelines.

College Football Open Thread: Week 3, Vols Deep

Another full slate of college football games to watch. This is your open thread to comment on those games, enjoy those games, just don't act like a troll. Also if you want to comment on a baseball game go right ahead.  I won't mind. Enjoy.

The Must List.
Announcing Schedule via the506.

College Football Open Thread: Week 2

Not the strongest slate of games this weekend, but still there's college football on. If you're not excited for college football, then there's something wrong with you. So here's your open thread to leave comments on college football or pennant race baseball just don't be a troll.

Must List.
Announcing Schedule.

College Football Open Thread: Week 1

The calendar changes and there is college football looking at us. While the first usually doesn't have a full slate of games that will grab your attention (unless you're a fan of watching BCS teams playing non-BCS or even FCS schools) there are though a couple of games that look intriguing. Anyway enjoy the first football weekend of the year, leave comments, and don't be a troll.

Must List.
Announcing Schedule via The506.

This wins the Internet for the day

College Football Open Thread

Do you smell that? That's the fresh smell of an open thread. College football is back baby! This is your first open thread of the season for college football. Let me know if you want an open thread tomorrow for the Boise State v Michigan State game. There will definitely be an open thread on Saturday. You can also talk baseball in this thread or anything else you feel like talking about. Enjoy, leave comments, and don't be a troll.

Here's the Must List.
Here's the schedule via The506.

2012 ESPN College Football Announcer Pairings

I saw this ESPN press release this morning and completely forgot that college football is about to start around the corner (along with the NFL). The Olympics and MLB have taken my mind off the thought that yeah we're less than a month away from college football. Anyway here are the 2012 ESPN college football announcer pairings.

Let's go over the changes first:

-Chris Spielman is replacing Matt Millen as Sean McDonough's partner for the ABC afternoon games.

-Brian Griese will replace Spielman with Dave Pasch for the ESPN morning game.

-Millen will work with Joe Tessitore on a select Primetime package on ESPN

-Carter Blackburn will replace Tessitore on Friday nights.

-Ed Cunningham will now work with Mike Patrick on ABC afternoon games

-Danny Kanell (who used to work with Pam Ward, RIP Pammy's college football days) will also move to the ABC afternoon games with Bob Wischusen*.

*If you're counting at home. All three ABC afternoon games have new analysts.

-David Pollack replaces Craig James on the Thursday night game to work alongside Rece Davis and Jesse Palmer

-Joey Galloway will work the ESPN 2 Noon crappy Big Ten game with Beth Mowins.

- A new team of Tom Hart and John Congemi will now call the ESPNU noon game.

- Brock Huard replaces Bob Davie on the ESPN2 night game with Mark Jones.

-Matt Stinchcomb will call the ESPNU primetime game with Clay Matvick

I feel bad for Joe Tessitore. He's a genuinely good announcer and now he's stuck with Millen. I also feel bad for Cunningham who is  now stuck with Mike Patrick. I feel good for McDonough who doesn't have to work with Millen anymore. I don't care much for Blackburn so I don't know how much of the Friday night games I'll watch now. It's nice seeing a Griese with Pasch again on the morning game.

Also of note this is going to be weird not having Pam in our lives. Pam Ward has been a part of my life since 2006 when I really started following college football in a hardcore way. She was soooooooo bad she was good. RIP Pammy.

Here's the master schedule of announcers:

Game Telecast	Play-by-play	Analyst	Reporter
Saturday Night Football (on ABC)	Brent Musburger	Kirk Herbstreit	TBA
ESPN College Football Primetime (Saturday)	Brad Nessler	Todd Blackledge	Holly Rowe
ESPN Saturday Prime Time	Joe Tessitore	Matt Millen	Jessica Mendoza, Shelley Smith or Shannon Spake
ESPN2 College Football Primetime(Saturday)	Mark Jones	Brock Huard	Jessica Mendoza or Shelley Smith
ESPNU Saturday Prime Time	Clay Matvick	Matt Stinchcomb	Allison Williams
ESPN College Football Primetime(Thursday)	Rece Davis	Jesse Palmer and David Pollack	Samantha Steele
ESPN and ESPN2 Friday	Carter Blackburn	Rod Gilmore	Jemele Hill
ABC Saturday Afternoon	Sean McDonough	Chris Spielman	Quint Kessenich
ABC Saturday Afternoon	Mike Patrick	Ed Cunningham	Jeannine Edwards
ABC Saturday Afternoon	Bob Wischusen	Danny Kanell	Maria Taylor
ESPN College Football (Saturday afternoon)	Dave Pasch	Brian Griese	Jenn Brown
ESPN2 College Football (Saturday afternoon)	Beth Mowins	Joey Galloway
ESPNU Saturday Afternoon	Tom Hart	John Congemi
ESPNU Saturday Afternoon	Anish Shrof	Dan Hawkins
ESPNU Thursday (HBCU)	Joe Davis	Jay Walker
ESPNU Late Saturday (HBCU)	Joe Davis	Jay Walker
ESPN Radio	Bill Rosinski	David Norrie	Joe Schad
SEC Network (ESPN Regional Television syndicated games)	Dave Neal	Andre Ware	Cara Capuano
BIG EAST Network (ESPN Regional Television syndicated games)	Eamon McAnaney	David Diaz-Infante	Paul Carcaterra

(Via the ESPN Media Zone)