It's long been fashionable to think of today's matchup as a potential nail-biter. The Buckeyes get the Knights in the Horseshoe, but UCF is a talented and well-coached team that is a trendy pick to finish as the nation's best non-automatic qualifying BCS team.
But last week you saw this and were reminded of the fact that your team has Braxton Miller, while other teams do not and soon your confidence had its own swagger (which in turn had its own swagger) and you were all in on the high double-digit line for the game.
And then George O'Leary did what George O'Leary does best and said, "Hey Buckeye fans, I heard you guys like bulletin board material," and it was on.
The thing about O'Leary's comment—and WTVN's Matt McCoy said it best—is that O'Leary was kind of right. Make no mistake, Ohio Stadium can be one of the loudest places on the planet for big games, but when the UCFs of the world roll into town, it's not exactly rocking for the full 60 minutes.
Now it will be. And the wall of sound will come in glorious technicolor.
As for today's other games, they can best be described as a great big bundle of meh. You do have the first SEC games for foreign exchange programs Missouri (welcoming Georgia) and Texas A&M (welcoming Florida) and boy are the Aggies excited for this one, but Saturday brings us no top-25 matchups.
Looking at early Big Ten games, Penn State is at Virginia, Purdue travels to Notre Dame, and Iowa will try to top Iowa State for this monstrosity. Later on, Wisconsin visits Oregon State, Bo Pelini and the Cornhuskers head west to face Jim Mora's UCLA Bruins, Vandy and Northwestern do battle in Nerd Bowl, and Illinois faces Arizona State in the nightcap. While none of those games really jump out at you, today, like most September Saturdays, is an opportunity for the Big Ten to look good or further the narrative of a conference that has seen better years.
Here's the full slate of today's relevant or otherwise interesting matchups.
| Time | GAME | TV | INTERNET | FAVORITE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00pm | Miami (FL) at #20 Kansas State | FX | KSU (-7) | |
| 12:00pm | New Hampshire at Minnesota | BTN | BTN2GO | |
| 12:00pm | Penn State at Virginia | ABC | WatchESPN | UVA (-9.5) |
| 12:00pm | Auburn at Mississippi State | ESPN | WatchESPN | MISS (-3) |
| 1:00pm | Maine at Boston College (Bollman Tracker) | ESPN3 | ||
| 3:00pm | Southern Utah at Cal | Pac-12 Network | Pac-12 Now | |
| 3:30pm | #2 USC vs Syracuse | ABC/ESPN2 (Map) | WatchESPN | USC (-26) |
| 3:30pm | #9 Michigan State at Central Michigan | ESPNU | WatchESPN | MSU (-20.5) |
| 3:30pm | Air Force at #19 Michigan | ABC/ESPN2 (Map) | WatchESPN | UM (-21) |
| 3:30pm | Purdue at #21 Notre Dame | NBC | ND (-14.5) | |
| 3:30pm | Indiana at Massachusetts | ESPN3 | IU (-14) | |
| 3:30pm | Florida at Texas A&M | ESPN | WatchESPN | Toss-Up |
| 3:30pm | Iowa State at Iowa | BTN | BTN2GO | IOWA (-4) |
| 4:00pm | #17 Wisconsin at Oregon State | FX | WISC (-7) | |
| 6:30pm | Fresno State at #4 Oregon | Pac-12 Network | UO (-34) | |
| 7:00pm | Washington at #3 LSU | ESPN | WatchESPN | LSU (-24) |
| 7:30pm | #13 Nebraska at UCLA | FOX | NEB (-5.5) | |
| 7:45pm | #8 Georgia at Missouri | ESPN2 | WatchESPN | UGA (-2.5) |
| 8:00pm | Vanderbilt at Northwestern | BTN | BTN2GO | VAN (-3.5) |
| 10:30pm | #15 Oklahoma State at Arizona | Pac-12 Network | Pac-12 Now | OKST (-10.5) |
| 10:30pm | Illinois at Arizona State | ESPN | WatchESPN | ASU (-4) |
Comments
It is true some of the games can get a lil quiet when we are routing a team but thats everywhere. As for the aggies i find it hilarious the players were saying the wanted to play the best so they are in the SEC if memory serves me correctly they were not exactly beating up the big 12 far from it exactly.
Michigan Sucks!
I'm liking ND, Neb, and UNC to win and UF, UGA, Vandy, ASU, ISU, and NCSt ats.
With the into to technicolor and the bulletin board material I am sure we'll have the place rockin till were blowing them out
Seems Mizzu and Texas AtM got instantly better just by joining the SEC (according to ESPN promo's). Advertisements for the Georgia/Mizzu and Florida/AtM games make you believe WWIII is about to start.
Mizzu hasn't won a conference Championship since 1969 and this: http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/sec/missouri/national_champs...
Texas Atm hasn't won a conference since 1998 and their last National Championship was 1939, before that 1919.
just sayin.
best thing about adding Mizzu and AtM to the SEC, is bringing them the fashion trend of cowboy boots and shorts to go along with the long standing SEC trends of jorts, mullets, the Moe haircut and random rebel flag displayed on tailgate vehicle.
WHAT AN AWESOME SIGN!!!
God I hope we decimate their offense and run wild on their d.
pretty good games today! Lookin forward to those sec games
I like football
Thanks! I made the sign and that's me holding the right edge (looking to my left). It was an idea I had when Miami (Fla) came to town a few seasons ago. It actually was on TV more than I expected (probably 3 or 4 different shots of us). I think this pic was taken after the long interception return by Cam Heyward.
I'm actually looking forward to watching TSUN's DL respond after getting totally dominated by Bama's OL. Playing an academy option team is a DL's worst nigtmare considering all of the cut blocks they face. UM will win but I don't think they'll cover the 21 pts since AFA will move the ball and burn clock.
Hoke will be taking a page out of Tressel's book and honoring the armed forces today by eating 10 K ration kits and 20 cans of Spam.
I have been known on occasion to howl at the moon. - Crash Davis
I'll be watching the D-line closely on this one. Quite a bit of expectations on our front and this will speak volumes to what we actually have.
You can get arrested with Ohio speed. Maybe that's the SEC's secret weapon.
man i hope the shoe is rockin today
I said it on the live feed but these announcers are stupid. They constantly comment how quite the stadium is while we are on offense. Come on Galloway, stop towing ESPN's line, you know that the crowd is supposed to be quite while we are on offense. Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story.
"Because the rules won't let you go for three." - Woody Hayes
THE Ohio State University
Mowens has called the wrong down twice and id'ed the wrong player several times. This is like ESPN's D crew