Must List: Week 1

Welp I blinked and college football season is already here. And thank God because we needed a distraction from freaking Deflategate or whatever nonsense Roger Goodell is up to. The first week is always interesting because you have a combination of intriguing games and non-competitive games featuring Pac-12 teams versus Grambling (Looking at you Cal). Don't let that bother you though and enjoy the weekend!

(Schedule via 506)

Thursday, September 3rd
North Carolina vs South Carolina (Charlotte) 6:00: (ESPN- Joe Tessitore, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Kaylee Hartung): Why South Carolina is always the first game of the season pisses me off. Get all excited for the college football season and there's South Carolina and some patsy in the way. Thankfully the opening Thursday has more than these two so let's just move on.

OK State at Central Michgian 7:00 (ESPNU- Adam Amin, Kelly Stouffer, Olivia Harlan): Ready for some MACtion? Of course you are! OK State is looking to bounce back after a terrible 2014 season and traveling to Central Michigan is going to be a tough way to start the year. Central Michigan is coming off a bowl game and should be pretty good again this year.

Michigan at Utah 8:30 (FS1- Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt, Molly McGrath): Gut feeling: Michigan wins this game, everyone gets excited about them, and then they finish the year 6-7. Utah meanwhile should be one of the best teams in the Pac-12 this year but this is still a tough game to start out with even if they did beat Michigan last year in the big house.

Must List: Week 4

Just a few weeks ago I was complaining about the weak slate of games, especially the Thursday night game. Well this week there's almost too many good games on with a great Thursday night game. Maybe I should complain more. Or uh........look ahead at the schedule. Nah I'll just complain some more. Here's this week's must list.

Thursday, September 18th
Auburn at Kansas State, 7:30 (ESPN: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Samantha Ponder) I'm completely surprised Bill Snyder would schedule a game like this. He usually schedules non-conference games against junior colleges. This must have been scheduled while he was gone the first time. As for the game itself, it should be an offensive shootout. Both of these teams can run the ball with ease and they should be able to pass as well. Auburn appears to be the better defensive team but neither of them have played enough games yet to make a judgement on that. Should be a fun game.

Must List: Week 3

Another week, another weak schedule of games. There are a few games that I'm interested in because we still can't judge these teams yet but we're getting close. There are about 6 teams I'm interested in and how well they look and play this weekend so not all is lost. Still though we need to get into the meat of the conference schedule soon because this is a weak slate.

Thursday, September 11th
Houston at BYU, 9:00 (ESPN: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Samantha Ponder) I only have this game down because I want to get on my soapbox for a second. The ESPN Thursday night football game used to feature really good teams and really good games. And then the NFL comes along and takes over Thursday nights with their crappy games and bogarted the night and basically kicked college football to the curb. So now we're stuck with games like Arizona-UTSA and Houston-BYU. What I'm getting at is that like usual, the NFL sucks.

Saturday, September 13th
East Carolina at Virginia Tech, Noon (ESPN: Dave Pasch, Brian Griese, Tom Luginbill) Would anyone be surprised if Virginia Tech lost this game? Virginia Tech has entered the Clemson zone, losing games they shouldn't have receiving hype, and after beating Ohio State last week in Columbus the Hokies are receiving hype and they're about to play a team that gave South Carolina everything they could handle at the chicken coop.

Must List: Week 2

Okay here was the deal with me this summer and the state of this blog. I work in agriculture and a harvest was taking place this summer, mainly peaches. That chewed up two months of my time, specifically July and August, and left little time for any blogging at all. Well the peach harvest is done with and at a perfect time because college football and the NFL start up or have started up.

One problem though is that I was still in harvest right when the first week of the college football season started so I couldn't get a Must List done. And just my luck there was a glut of great games played during the first week of the season. Also my luck when I finally had time to work on a Must List the second week of the college football season is as bad as the first week was good. Have you seen the slate of games for this week? Yikes. Still there are a few good games and here's the very first Must List of the season. (Ed Note: I'll try to do a weekly Must List until the end of the year but I can't guarantee this blog will be very much active from now on besides a post here and there with a live blog.)

Thursday, Sept 4th
Arizona at UTSA, 8:00 (FS1: Tim Brando, Joel Klatt): Both of these teams looked really good in their opening week games. Rich Rod had Arizona rolling against UNLV racking up over 700 total yards of offense. Then you have the return of Larry Coker at UTSA coming off a big victory against Houston. UTSA may be out of their league in this game but they're definitely a team to keep en eye on.

Saturday, Sept 6th
Oklahoma at Tulsa, Noon (ABC/ESPN2: Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman, Todd McShay): Ah another year of college football, another year of Oklahoma hype. The article this time is that the Oklahoma defense is already in midseason form. Who wants to bet when Oklahoma's defense collapses and people are writing them off? I say week 8 against Kansas State. Or it come sooner again against Texas like last season.

UAB at Mississippi State, 2:00 (FSN: Bob Rathburn, Tim Couch) Speaking of another team that always starts the season red hot and then fades badly it's Mississippi State. They thrashed Southern Miss to start the year and will probably thrash UAB this week. I want to see them play against SEC teams before I start blowing smoke up their butts like Oklahoma.

Must List: A Look Back at the College Football Predictions

Looking back at my college football predictions I came to one conclusion, I know college football way more than the NFL. I say that because unlike my NFL predictions, my college football predictions were pretty much spot on. Let's take a look back.

Louisville Will Win Their Conference, but Be Left Out of the National Title Game: They didn't even win their conference! UCF and Blake Bortles beat them and then went on to win the Big East American Conference. Louisville despite not winning the conference was still a very good team and probably should have made it to a BCS game.

Lane Kiffin Will Finally Be Fired After This Season: And he was fired in spectacular fashion. Fired on the team bus returning from a loss to Arizona State. It was beautiful and adds to the Lane Kiffin firing legacy although it wasn't as good as Al Davis firing him via overhead projector.

Jadeveon Clowney Won't Live Up To The Hype: It barely took until halftime of the first game before Clowney lived down to his incredible hype. He looked out of shape and tired for most of that first game of the year and never quite looked right again. It didn't take long after that for his character to be questioned and the usual hit pieces to emerge. Looking at the stats I never realized how badly he actually played this season. He only had 3 sacks on the year, good for 2nd place on his own team, while being outplayed by his own teammate Kelcy Quarles. I have no idea where he'll be drafted but him and Manziel will be by far and away the most dissected players in the draft.

Must List: Bowls, Part 2

Finally we get to the good bowl games and the BVAA Compass Bowl. How the Compass Bowl and GoDaddy Bowl are played beyond the New Year is quite frankly incredible to me. Well thankfully the good games outnumbered the crappy games in this slate of bowl games and I'm here to preview them all.

January 1st
Gator Bowl: Nebraska vs Georgia, Noon (ESPN2: Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham, Jeannine Edwards) Color me shocked that Georgia has a worst defense than Nebraska. But of course Nebraska's problem has always been their QB situation. And thankfully for the souls of Nebraska fans Taylor Martinez is about to play his last game for the Cornhuskers. Also could this be the last game for Nebraska coach Bo Pelini? After the Iowa loss it sounded like Pelini was done at Nebraska. What happens if they get blown out in this game? For my entertainment value I hope Pelini stays at Nebraska forever.

Heart of Dallas Bowl: UNLV vs North Texas, Noon (ESPNU: Clay Matvick, Matt Stinchcomb, Dawn Davenport) Why is this game played during New Year's Day? Who's going to watch it besides these team's fan bases? And you know what this game will be kind of exciting because neither team can play defense.

Must List: Bowl Games, Part 1

I'm a sucker for bowl games because I do enjoy college football. That being said my God the bowl season is becoming more and more bloated. And not in a good way. And there will be more bowl games added to the schedule next season! Between the 6-6 teams and the corporate sponsors the bowl season is becoming harder and harder to swallow. I'm here though to preview these games so this is this year's must list: bowl edition.

December 21st
New Mexico Bowl: Washington State vs Colorado State, 2:00 (ESPN: Mark Jones, Brock Huard, Jessica Mendoza) Is there a better way to start the bloated bowl schedule with two teams that are a combined 13-12 on the season in New Mexico? Washington State should throw all day against the 111th ranked pass defense in the nation.

Las Vegas Bowl: Fresno State vs USC, 3:30 (ABC: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Sam Ponder) Now here's one positive about the bowl season. You do get some interesting matchups like this one. USC is playing for their third head coach of the season and Derek Carr is trying to close out his incredible career on a high note. Also it never ceases to amaze me that a team like Fresno State could go from possibly playing in a New Year's bowl to playing in a bowl game that takes place 9 days before New Year's Day. Gotta keep the Mountain West down.

Famous Idaho Potatoes Bowl: Buffalo vs San Diego State, 5:30 (ESPN: Clay Matvick, Matt Stinchcomb, Dawn Davenport) Do you know Idaho's Famous Potatoes host a pregame event called the "Mash Bash"? I find this fact more interesting than the actual game itself.

Must List: Championship Week

Championship week in college football is one of my favorite periods of the sporting schedule along with the 2nd weekend of the NFL playoffs, the first week of the NCAA tournament, and the first week of the MLB playoffs. What I don't love about this week is the politicking going on between schools to see who gets into what bowl game. Let the games be played first before you start politicking guys. Please I beg you.

Friday, December 6th
MAC Championship: Northern Illinois vs Bowling Green, 8:00 (ESPN2: Carter Blackburn, Danny Kannell, Allison Williams) I love how they play this game every year in a quarter full Ford Field in Detroit. Because when you can only fill a quarter of a gigantic domed NFL stadium, you have to do it. Also I love how the MAC plays all of their games on weekdays. Is their better exposure for a lesser league like the MAC than playing on the weekday? I really believe a couple of weeks ago when Fresno State and Northern Illinois were undefeated and Northern Illinois was ranked higher it was because they played during the weekdays when everyone can watch them. East coast people are always going to watch weekday primetime MAC games over 11 PM weekend Mountain West games. It doesn't matter now since Fresno State lost.

Must List: Week 14

The last official week of the college football season. It always amazes me how fast the season flies by and then it's over and you're into bowl season. This week's slate of games are pretty meh. Besides the Iron Bowl, everything else won't go very well with leftovers. Even the Friday games are pretty meh. Kinda tells you how down all of these conferences were this season.

Thursday, November 28th
Texas Tech at Texas, 7:30 (Fox Sports 1: Gus Johnson, Charles Davis, Kristina Pink) Texas has had an amazingly quiet season since shitting the bed against BYU. Yes they were crushed by Oklahoma State, but the Pokes also destroyed Baylor. Does Mack Brown possibly keep his job after this season? Is there really another candidate for that job that is worth firing...err....forcing Mack into retirement for? Nick Saban ain't taking that job. Somehow Mack might survive past this season.

Must List: Week 13

This is one of those weeks in college football where there are just a few good games and a slew of Idaho's at Florida. Next week will be the good week when colleges play their rival games including the big Auburn vs Alabama game. There are some interesting games this week so let's take a look at them.

Thursday, November 21st
Rutgers vs UCF, 7:30 (ESPN: Rece Davis, David Pollack, Jesse Palmer, Sam Ponder) Does nothing but drama surround this school? Between Mike Rice, Eddie Jordan's fake diploma, the AD being accused of abuse and now their football is embroiled in a scandal of he said-she said. Rutgers is just constant drama that I'm not sure that school really isn't just a off-off-off-off Broadway play. I'm sure the Big Ten is thrilled they're adding this sideshow in New Jersey.

Must List: Week 12

This week's must list is just me rambling about various things on my mind. And that's the great thing about college football, there's much to talk about even if they're aren't many great games. I am fascinated with how this season has played out and how there are at least 7 to 8 teams that could easily play in the national championship game. That's not how the system works though and we're down to trying to figure out where a certain team will land in the bowl season. Fascinating stuff as the season begins to come to a close.

Thursday, November 14th
Georgia Tech at Clemson, 7:30 (ESPN: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Sam Ponder) One of the biggest MAC games ever (Ball State vs Northern Illinois) play on Wednesday night against the NBA while this turd of a game gets Thursday night primetime on ESPN. Go figure. Maybe ESPN could get more people interested in their Thursday night games again if they scheduled more MAC games and dropped the Palmer/Pollack combo.

Must List: Week 11

Finally, finally we've gotten a group of games which makes me want to watch college football. We even have two(!) Thursday night games that should be spectacular. The games this week also could provide quite a BCS mess if Oregon wins and Alabama wins. And what would the last year of the BCS be without a mess of undefeated teams ranked at the end of the season? So here are the games for this week.

Thursday, November 7th
Oklahoma at Baylor, 7:30 (FoxSports1: Justin Kutcher, Joel Klatt, Kristina Pink) Oklahoma already ruined Texas Tech's season and could they ruin Baylor's season next? It wouldn't surprise me if this happened because Oklahoma sucks. Seriously they should have put Mack Brown in his grave and they lost but watch them ruin Baylor's season by playing well and winning. Part of me doesn't even want to watch this game because Oklahoma is going to win*.

*God I hope this reverse jinx works.

Must List: Week 10

Not the greatest slate of games because many teams have bye's this week to prepare for the final three games. Still though we have some rivalry games, a possible Tessitore upset alert, and a chance to watch a team you'd normally not watch despite their chance to play in a BCS game. Let's get to the games.

Thursday, October 31st
Arizona State at Washington State, 10:30 (ESPN: Rece Davis, David Pollack, Jesse Palmer, Sam Ponder) Lots and lots of points are expected in this game. If we don't get over 80 points I'll be disappointed. One last note, this game will be played on Halloween so I fully expect Mike Leach to dress like a Pirate for this game. Come on Mike, you know you want to dress like a Pirate on the sidelines for this game.

Must List: Week 9

If there's one thing to be said about the BCS is that it's made college football relevant on a national level. College football before the BCS was a regional sport where you followed your team, the conference they're in, and the conference with the teams they could play in a bowl game. You just didn't pay attention to teams that didn't have an effect over your team.

That changed with the BCS. All conferences became linked and college football became relevant on a national level. That too me is the ultimate legacy of the BCS.

Thursday, October 24th
Kentucky at Miss State, 7:30 (ESPN: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Sam Ponder) I miss the days when Thursday night college football was a must watch. This game isn't a must watch and actually makes me want to watch that awful NFL game that will also be played at the same time. Who decided to give Kentucky a primetime game?

Friday, October 25th
Boise State at BYU, 8:00 (ESPN: Carter Blackburn, Danny Kanell, Allison Williams) I don't get either of these teams. Boise State looked shaky against Nevada at first and then blitzed them off the field. BYU has scored at least 30 points in 4 straight games but have been shut down by Utah and Virginia. Will this game be high scoring? Or will it be a defensive slogfest? I have no fucking clue except I know there will be a lot of white people watching this game.

Must List: Week 8

Thursday, October 17th
Miami at UNC, 7:30 (ESPN: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Sam Ponder) While everyone is excited over Clemson and Florida State, there's Al Golden making magic happen in Miami. Amazing what happens when you don't have Jacory Harris throwing arm punts to opposing teams and what happens when you have a competent running back in Duke Johnson. By the way, Duke Johnson is my new favorite name.

Saturday, October 19th
Florida at Missouri, Noon (SECTV: Dave Neal, Andre Ward, Cara Capuano) The best SEC game of the weekend and it's on a affiliate network on channels you probably won't get. Anyway I'm amazed at how unlucky the Missouri athletics are. I can go on forever about their basketball team falling short in the tournament but the football team is just as unlucky. Remember when they beat Kansas, played in the Big 12 championship game and lost, and were stuck in a lower tier bowl game while Kansas got to play in the Orange Bowl? Well that bad luck hit them again this week after a great victory over Georgia they lost James Franklin for a while. Missouri can't catch a break.

Must List: Week 7

Once again we're getting an uneven number of good games in certain timeslots and none in the other. That being said though we do have some great games this week and one possible game that could decide the fate of a coach. We'll also see if a team is for real and whether another can comeback from a crushing defeat. Interesting week of college football.

Thursday, October 10th
Rutgers at Louisville, 7:30 (ESPN: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Sam Ponder) Rutgers won a wild game last week in Dallas. Louisville just keeps chugging along as this year's Boise team meaning their weak conference will hurt them at the end of the year when they go undefeated. The Cards will need to thrash Rutgers, who is probably the 2nd best team in that conference, if they want to be taken seriously as title contenders.

Arizona at USC, 10:00 (Fox Sports 1: Justin Kutcher, Petro Papadakis, Joel Klatt, Kristina Pink) USC's first game without Kiffykins and I honestly don't know what to expect. I know I'll miss Kiffykins weird facial expressions during games.

Must List: Week 6

Looking at this week's slate of game I have ask, is college football not as deep anymore? We know the SEC isn't as deep this year. The Big 12 is basically just Oklahoma. The Pac-12 is the deepest conference. The B1G is gonna B1G. So I have to ask, is this a product of conference realignment? Are these conferences so watered down now that we're not getting the usual great slate of games week-in, week-out? Or is it because some teams (USC, Texas) not living up to expectations? Or are new recruits coming into the game not as good? Is it because almost all Pac-12 games not being played until late in the day so we're not paying attention?

I honestly don't have answers for any of this but I do know we're just not getting a full slate of games anymore that makes me wait in anticipation for games. There used to be at least two good games in each window of the day. Now I struggle to find games that I really want to watch.

Hopefully everything evens out next season because this season is looking like Alabama, Ohio State, and the Pac-12 or bust.

Thursday, October 3rd
UCLA at Utah, 10:00 (FS1: Justin Kutcher, Petros Papadakis, Kristina Pink) Utah is 3-1 on the season but it hasn't been pretty. They struggled to beat Utah State and BYU and already have a Pac-12 loss on their resume. So how will this game play out? For one Utah's defense is going to have to play the game of their lives because UCLA can rack up points. Hopefully this game will be a shootout because I'm not interested in Cleveland-Buffalo.

Friday, October 4th
BYU at Utah State, 8:00 (CBS Net: Andrew Catalon, Aaron Taylor, Lauren Gardner) BYU's offense is so bad to watch that it's becoming even more incredible they smashed Texas the way they did. It's amazing that Texas had the willpower not to clip Mack Brown Lane Kiffin-style after that game ended. Meanwhile I can't say this enough, watch Utah State quarterback Chuckie Keeton. He's freaking amazing.

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.

Must List: Week 4

I have no idea what to make about this week's slate of games. While there are a few intriguing games they're mostly dull and bland. Texas-Kansas State is the Musburger-Herbie game of the week. I believe that's all what you need to know about this week's slate of games.

(Schedule via 506sports)

Thursday, September 19th
Clemson at NC State, 7:30 (ESPN: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Samantha Ponder) I agree with Kirk Herstreit. If Clemson wants to pretend they're a contender then they need to win these type of games against NC State. Like Herbstreit though I keep waiting for them to lose. And wouldn't a game against NC State be the perfect NC State loss? It's on ESPN. A night game. Away game. It's the perfect recipe for an inexplicable Clemson loss.

Friday, September 20th
Boise State at Fresno State, 9 (ESPN: Carter Blackburn, Danny Kanell, Allison Williams) It's suppose to be 91 degrees in Fresno on Friday. Enjoy your trip Boise! The Broncos should also worry about the fact that Fresno State is actually pretty good with a really good QB in Derek Carr. Now watch Boise State win by 21 points............

Must List: Week 3

All I have to say about this week's slate of games is that thank goodness Alabama plays Texas A&M because the slate of night games are terrible. Musburger and Herbstreit will call the Notre Dame-Purdue game. Yes you read that right. Notre Dame-Purdue are the night cap on ABC. Woof. Like I said, thank goodness for Bama-A&M.

(Game times/announcer pairings/stations courtesy of the506)

Thursday, September 12th
TCU at Texas Tech, 7:30 (ESPN: Rece Davis, David Pollack, Jesse Palmer, Samantha Ponder) Gotta wonder who this is a bigger test for? Texas Tech's new coach Kliff Shades? Or TCU's offense now that Casey Pachall is gone? One thing that was always reliable about TCU over the years has been their defense, but is that the case anymore? TCU is another one of those schools you have to ask if it was worth it jumping to a bigger conference? They looked like world beaters in the Mountain West but in the Big 12 they're just another team with small players.

Saturday, September 14th
UCLA at Nebraska, Noon (ABC: Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman, Shannon Spake) Remember the old days when Nebraska ran all over people and had a world class defense? Well they still can run but woof that defense. Are the blackshirts really going to stop UCLA's offense which had a very balanced effort in their first game against Nevada? Nebraska gave up a ton of yards to Wyoming. How the hell are they going to stop UCLA*?

*Watch UCLA get shut out in this game because of A) that idiot Jim Mora Jr is their coach B) because that's a 9 in the morning start time on the West Coast.