The Dubgate Wants You to Bring the Noise

By Jason Priestas on September 8, 2012 at 6:00 am
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OHIO SPEED

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)

 

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