College Football

Sports Watcher for the Weekend of 9/27-28

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All times PDT. All college football rankings reflect my C Ratings for teams in positive B Points.

Saturday
9-12 PM: College Football, Northwestern @ Iowa (ESPN Classic). Three teams in my top 25 and a team not in the top 25 but ranked ahead of either one of these two could conceivably go in this spot. But none of them are playing teams in positive B Points, and this might be a game to take that leap into the top 25, especially for Northwestern. Wait… Northwestern’s actually good?!?

12-2 PM: WNBA Basketball, Los Angeles @ San Antonio (NBA TV). Wait… a conference finals game on NBA TV? And it might be the deciding game?!?

Honorable Mention: 12:30-4 PM: MLB Baseball, regional action (FOX). All the hot playoff chase action! Too bad everything’s probably already determined.

4:45-8 PM: College Football, Alabama @ defending 2004 Auburn-Utah title holder Georgia (ESPN). Boy, how about my prediction on last week’s Watcher that Alabama would be “surprisingly strong”? Isn’t this two straight weeks CBS has screwed up the best SEC game? Not that Tennessee-Auburn is bad, per se…

Sunday
10:30-3 PM: PGA Tour Golf, THE TOUR Championship (NBC). The end of the playoff system that’s nothing like a playoff that no one cares about.

Honorable Mention: 11-3 PM: NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing, Kansas race (ABC).

5:15-8:30 PM: NFL Football, Philadelphia @ Chicago (NBC). A mediocre team and a team that was mediocre last year. But at least you got the big time markets!

College Football Schedule: Week 5

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All rankings come from the new C Ratings, out now. I’m going to do some reorganization later that will mean that link will always link to the current ratings; this will also involve improving access to last year’s ratings, and making some CSS changes. The asterisk still indicates lineal title holders (also updated). All times Eastern.

Top 25 Games
Alabama @ *Georgia 7:45 ESPN
*USC @ Oregon State 9 PM TH ESPN
Virginia Tech @ Nebraska 8 PM ABC
Mississippi @ Florida 12:30 R’com/Y’hoo
Wisconsin @ Michigan 3:30 ABC/ESPN
Weber State @ Utah 8 PM
Kent State @ Ball State Noon ESPN+
Illinois @ Penn State 8 PM ABC
Navy @ Wake Forest 3:45 ESPNU
#15 TCU @ #12 Oklahoma 7 PM FSN
Arkansas @ Texas 3:30 ABC
Western Kentucky @ #14 Kentucky 7 PM Gameplan
Central Arkansas @ #20 Tulsa 7 PM CBSCS XXL
#21 Colorado v. Florida State 3:30 ABC/ESPN
#22 Minnesota @ Ohio State Noon BTN
Troy @ #23 Oklahoma State 7 PM
Connecticut @ Louisville 8 PM FR ESPN2
Mississippi State @ #25 *LSU 7:30 ESPN2
Watchlist and Other Positive B Point Teams
Tennessee @ Auburn 3:30 CBS
Michigan State @ Indiana Noon ESPN
Houston @ East Carolina 3:30 CBS CS
Northwestern @ Iowa Noon ESPN Classic
Colorado State @ California 6 PM
Rhode Island @ Boston College 1 PM ESPN360
South Florida @ NC State 7:30 ESPNU
UAB @ South Carolina 7 PM Gameplan
North Carolina @ Miami (FL) Noon ESPN2
Oregon @ Washington State 6:15 FCS
Fresno State @ UCLA 3:30 ABC
This Week’s Other HD Games
Maryland @ Clemson Noon Raycom
Virginia @ Duke Noon ESPNU
Purdue @ Notre Dame 3:30 NBC
Big 12
Army @ Texas A&M 12:30 Versus
Big East
Pittsburgh @ Syracuse Noon ESPN+
Morgan State @ Rutgers 3:30 ESPN+
Pac-10
Stanford @ Washington 7 PT FCS
MAC
Northern Illinois @ Eastern Michigan Noon ESPN+
Western Michigan @ Temple 2 PM CSD.TV
VMI @ Ohio 2 PM CSD.TV
Buffalo @ Central Michigan 4 PM CSD.TV
Conference USA
Southern Methodist @ Tulane 8 PM TH CBS CS
Central Florida @ UTEP 8 PM CBS CS
WAC
San Jose State @ Hawaii 9 PT Gameplan
Bowl Subdivision
Arkansas State @ Memphis 2 PM CBSCS XXL
Cincinnati @ Akron 3:30 Gameplan
Marshall @ West Virginia 3:30 ESPN+
Louisiana-Lafayette @ Kansas State 3:30
Bowling Green @ Wyoming 4 PM mtn.
North Texas @ Rice 5 PM CBSCS XXL
Florida International @ Toledo 7 PM CSD.TV
New Mexico @ New Mexico State 8 PM Gameplan
Idaho @ San Diego State 8 PM
Nevada @ UNLV 7 PT mtn.

Sports Watcher for the Weekend of 9/20-21

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All times PDT.

Saturday
9:30-12:45 PM: College football, Alabama @ Arkansas (Raycom Sports). Look for Alabama to be surprisingly strong when the new ratings come out on Monday.

12:45-4 PM: MLB Baseball, regional action (FOX). As usual, this is the only place baseball can fit.

4-6 PM: WNBA Basketball, New York @ Connecticut (NBATV). Now the playoffs are in full swing.

6-8 PM: WNBA Basketball, Sacramento @ San Antonio (NBATV). Man, the schedule really gets cramped this week and next with all the stuff I have to squeeze in.
Sunday
9-3 PM: Ryder Cup, final round (NBC). Is it just me, or does it seem like only sports journalists and groups that cover sports (ie ESPN) care about the Ryder Cup? And gee, it seems a lot bigger now that ESPN is covering the final round…

Honorable Mention: 10-3 PM: NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing, Dover race (ABC). When I looked, both this race and the next one were identified as the “Camping World 400”, but with different “presented by” sponsors.

5-8:30 PM: NFL Football, Dallas @ Green Bay (NBC). Obligatory NFL game that has to be SNF.

College Football Schedule: Week 4

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Gonna try something different just for this week. Normally I put in the entire schedule, then I put in all the TV assignments, then I sort out the HD games. This week, for non-lineal title games, I’m going to start with putting in games from the TV schedule, and then adding in other games from the whole schedule. You shouldn’t notice the difference unless you’ve noticed that the schedule has pretty much followed the order on CBS Sports.com, and will seem a bit more random this time. All times Eastern, and college football rankings next week!

Lineal Titles (all games on Saturday)
Buffalo @ *Missouri 7 PM PPV
*LSU @ Auburn 7:45 ESPN
*Georgia @ Arizona State 8 PM ABC
This Week’s HD Games
Kansas State @ Louisville 8 PM WE ESPN2
West Virginia @ Colorado 8:30 TH ESPN
Baylor @ Connecticut 8 PM FR ESPN2
East Carolina @ NC State Noon ESPN
Iowa @ Pittsburgh Noon ESPN2
Florida Atlantic @ Minnesota Noon BTN
Troy @ Ohio State Noon BTN
Temple @ Penn State Noon BTN
Central Michigan @ Purdue Noon BTN
Mississippi State @ Georgia Tech Noon Raycom
Alabama @ Arkansas 12:30 R’com/Y’hoo
Central Florida @ Boston College 1 PM ESPNU
Arizona @ UCLA 3 PM FSN
Florida @ Tennessee 3:30 CBS
Rutgers @ Navy 3:30 CBS CS
Houston @ Colorado State 3:30
South Florida @ Florida International 5 PM ESPNU
Wake Forest @ Florida State 7 PM ESPN2
Rice @ Texas 7 PM FSN
Ball State @ Indiana 7 PM BTN
Fresno State @ Toledo 8:15 ESPNU
Other Games
Ohio @ Northwestern Noon BTN
Akron @ Army 1 PM ESPN Classic
Eastern Michigan @ Maryland 1 PM ESPN360
South Carolina State @ Clemson 1 PM ESPN360
Wyoming @ BYU 3 PM mtn.
Indiana State @ Northern Illinois 3 PM CBSCS XXL
Louisiana-Monroe @ Tulane 3 PM CST
Notre Dame @ Michigan State 3:30 ABC/ESPN
Miami (FL) @ Texas A&M 3:30 ABC
Virginia Tech @ North Carolina 3:30 ABC/ESPN
Marshall @ Southern Miss 3:30 CSS
Boise State @ Oregon 3:30 CSD.TV
Northeastern @ Syracuse 3:30
Utah @ Air Force 4 PM VS.
Idaho @ Utah State 4 PM Altitude
Alabama State @ UAB 4 PM CBSCS XXL
Sam Houston State @ Kansas 7 PM FCS
Portland State @ Washington State 7 PM FSN NW/FCS
SE Louisiana @ Louisiana Tech 7 PM ESPN+/CST
Wofford @ South Carolina 7 PM Gameplan
Middle Tenn. St. @ Arkansas State 7 PM CSD.TV
Kent State @ Louisiana-Lafayette 7 PM CSD.TV
New Mexico @ Tulsa 7 PM CBSCS XXL
Tennessee Tech @ Western Michigan 7 PM CSD.TV
Murray State @ Western Kentucky 7 PM CSD.TV
Vanderbilt @ Mississippi 7 PM PPV?
Massachusetts @ Texas Tech 7 PM
Miami (OH) @ Cincinnati 7:30 ESPN360
TCU @ SMU 8 PM CBS CS
Nicholls State @ Memphis 8 PM CBSCS XXL
Iowa State @ UNLV 9 PM mtn.
New Mexico State @ UTEP 9 PM CBSCS XXL
San Jose State @ Stanford 9 PM

Did I waste this weekend or what?

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Posting the updated lineal titles now because I can. Looks like LSU will finally be defending against a half-decent team this week in Auburn. Georgia shouldn’t slouch either because for the second straight week a title defense is on ABC’s Saturday Night Football. USC has the week off and Missouri might as well, especially since they DO have a week off NEXT week. Three of the four title-holders’ next defenses are on national television.

I haven’t done a lick of work to set up the infrastructure for the college football rankings, which need to be up… next week. Yikes. AND I need to do, you know, actual productive things. AND I’m falling behind on my other plans for Da Blog as well. God I suck.

College Football Schedule: Week 3

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Everyone retains their titles this week (and by “everyone” I mean “the two teams that actually had games this week”) but that’s by no means guaranteed this week. Slight change to the schedule: Games on ESPN Gameplan with no other applicable item to put in the TV slot will be described as Gameplan, not ESPN360. All times Eastern.

Lineal Titles (all games on Saturday)
Nevada @ *Missouri 12:30 PPV
*Georgia @ South Carolina 3:30 CBS
North Texas @ *LSU 8 PM Gameplan
Ohio State @ *USC 8 PM ABC
This Week’s HD Games
North Carolina @ Rutgers 7:30 TH ESPN
Kansas @ South Florida 8 PM FR ESPN2
NC State @ Clemson Noon Raycom
Navy @ Duke Noon ESPNU
California @ Maryland Noon ESPN
Florida Atlantic @ Michigan State Noon ESPN2
Louisiana-Lafayette @ Illinois Noon BTN
Iowa State @ Iowa Noon BTN
Montana State @ Minnesota Noon BTN
Southern Illinois @ Northwestern Noon BTN
UAB @ Tennessee 12:30 R’com/Yahoo
Washington State @ Baylor 12:30 FSN
Michigan @ Notre Dame 3:30 NBC
Chattanooga @ Florida State 3:45 ESPNU
Auburn @ Mississippi State 7 PM ESPN2
SMU @ Texas Tech 7 PM FSN SW
Virginia @ Connecticut 7:30 ESPNU
Oklahoma @ Washington 7:45 ESPN
Wisconsin @ Fresno State 10:30 ESPN2
Other Games
Temple @ Buffalo Noon ESPN+
Ball State @ Akron 1 PM CSD.TV
Toledo @ Eastern Michigan 1 PM CSD.TV
Central Michigan @ Ohio 2 PM CSD.TV
Delaware State @ Kent State 2 PM CSD.TV
East Carolina @ Tulane 3 PM CBSCS XXL
Charleston Southern @ Miami (OH) 3 PM CSD.TV
North Dakota State @ Wyoming 3 PM
Oregon @ Purdue 3:30 ABC/ESPN
Penn State @ Syracuse 3:30 ABC
Georgia Tech @ Virginia Tech 3:30 ABC/ESPN
Air Force @ Houston 3:30 CBS CS
Arkansas @ Texas 3:30 ABC
UCLA @ BYU 3:30 VS.
Hawaii @ Oregon State 4 PM FSN/FCS
Western Michigan @ Idaho 5 PM CSD.TV
Middle Tenn. St. @ Kentucky 7 PM Gameplan
Memphis @ Marshall 7 PM CSS
Western Kentucky @ Alabama 7 PM Gameplan
Southern Miss @ Arkansas State 7 PM CSD.TV
Stanford @ TCU 7 PM mtn.
Rice @ Vanderbilt 7 PM
Alabama A&M @ Louisiana-Monroe 7 PM CSD.TV
Samford @ Mississippi 7 PM
Alcorn State @ Troy 7 PM CSD.TV
New Mexico State @ Nebraska 7 PM PPV
Missouri State @ Oklahoma State 7 PM FCS
Bowling Green @ Boise State 8 PM Gameplan
Arizona @ New Mexico 8 PM CBS CS
Utah @ Utah State 8 PM Gameplan
San Diego State @ San Jose State 8 PM CSD.TV
UNLV @ Arizona State 7 PT FSN AZ/FCS

Sports Watcher for the Weekend of 9/6-7

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All times PDT.

Saturday
10-1 PM: College Football, New Hampshire @ Army (ESPN Classic). I chose this game almost completely at random. (Hey, Troy-LSU got postponed due to Gustav and would have interfered with tennis anyway, Missouri would also interfere with tennis, and all three lineal title games aren’t even on regional television. FSN South and SunSports for the Central Michigan-Georgia game doesn’t count.)

1:30-5 PM: College Football, West Virginia @ East Carolina (ESPN). Yes, Fox baseball will probably fall off the face of the earth with college football season in full swing.

5-7 PM: US Open Tennis, Women’s Final, S. Williams v. Jankovic (CBS). Rather than the all Williams final YOU demand, you get Williams versus a nobody!

7-10 PM: Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC 88 (PPV). Eighty-eight, eighty-eight, eight eighty eighty-eight… why isn’t this being held in China? Okay, I’m in an odd mood this week, you can tell because I didn’t even mention Couture v. Lesnar…

Sunday
10-1 PM: NFL Football, NY Jets @ Miami (CBS). OMG it’s the debut of Brett Favre! Let’s watch every single Jets game with such rapt attention our eyes come out of our sockets! (NASCAR or WNBA also possible.)

1-4 PM: US Open Tennis, Men’s Final (CBS). I know nothing about this! NOTING!

Honorable Mention: 12:30-3 PM: IndyCar Racing, PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 (ABC). It’s the last race of the season! The championship all comes down to this! (Er… ignore that little Australian race in the corner coming in a month and a half…)

Second Honorable Mention: 11-3 PM: PGA Tour Golf, The Barclays BMW Championship, final round (NBC). More of the playoff that’s nothing like a playoff! Why is this even on here?

5-8 PM: MLB Baseball, Philadelphia @ NY Mets (ESPN). I like cookies.

OMG! It’s football season! Our lives have meaning!

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Who cares about those amateur college scrubs? THE league of record in America is the National Football League, and Da Blog and Morgan Wick’s football site is ready with complete team coverage there as well!

Start with the NFL Lineal Title; as I said last week, it’s analogous to the college football lineal titles, but because of the NFL’s schedule structure there’s rarely more than one at a time, and never more than two. I need to explain something that I forgot to make clear last week: Split titles in the college football lineal title arise from teams going undefeated, or winning the BCS Title Game (which is why LSU gets a new lineal title this year despite not going undefeated). Obviously, it’s exceedingly rare for an NFL team to go undefeated, so what happens instead is that split titles are created when the title holder doesn’t make the playoffs. Obviously, that’s rather rare as well, and the Patriots nabbed the lineal title on their march to an almost-perfect season, so the Giants start the season with the title this year and will defend it against Washington tonight on NBC.

Speaking of which, starting Week 3 or 4, I’ll start my weekly SNF Flex Schedule Watch, which was perhaps the prime contributor of traffic to Da Blog last year, before it was taken over by webcomics. I correctly predicted the Week 12, 14, 15, and 17 games that were moved to primetime as part of NBC’s flexible scheduling, only missing Weeks 11, 13, and 16. I had thought I did the Flex Schedule Watch on Tuesdays last year, but it was actually a Wednesday feature last year so it’s a Wednesday feature this year.

There is a third concept that I used last year: the “SuperPower Rankings”, my experiment in creating a set of “super-power rankings” from the power rankings produced by the eight leading sports sites (ESPN, CBS, Fox, NBC, SI, Yahoo, USA Today, and Sporting News – Yahoo produced two rankings). It proved to be way too much work, so I’m not doing it this year, but I leave the concept open for someone else to pick up the gauntlet.

College Football Schedule: Week 2

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I haven’t updated the Web site with the new lineal titles yet; it’ll be updated by Thursday, probably Wednesday, but I need to write my NFL post first. No titles changed hands anyway, and now it’s Georgia and LSU most likely to lose their titles, though all of them are likely to retain for next week, when the titles are more likely to change hands, specifically when Georgia faces the other USC, and the first USC – off this week – faces Ohio State. All times Eastern.

Lineal Titles (all games on Saturday)
SE Missouri State @ *Missouri 7 PM PPV
Central Michigan @ *Georgia 3:30 SEC HD
Troy @ *LSU 8 PM ESPN360
This Week’s HD Games
South Carolina @ Vanderbilt 8:30 TH ESPN
Navy @ Ball State 7 PM FR ESPN
Georgia Tech @ Boston College Noon Raycom
Miami (OH) @ Michigan Noon ESPN2
Ohio @ Ohio State Noon ESPN
Connecticut @ Temple Noon ESPNU
Florida International @ Iowa Noon BTN
Marshall @ Wisconsin Noon BTN
Eastern Illinois @ Illinois Noon BTN
Southern Miss @ Auburn 12:30 R’com/Yahoo
BYU @ Washington 3 PM FSN
San Diego State @ Notre Dame 3:30 NBC
Richmond @ Virginia 3:45 ESPNU
West Virginia @ East Carolina 4:30 ESPN
Louisiana Tech @ Kansas 7 PM FSN
South Florida @ Central Florida 7 PM ESPN2
Murray State @ Indiana 7 PM BTN
Minnesota @ Bowling Green 7:30 ESPNU
Miami (FL) @ Florida 8 PM ESPN
Texas @ UTEP 10:15 ESPN2
Other Games
Eastern Michigan @ Michigan State Noon BTN
Northern Colorado @ Purdue Noon BTN
San Jose State @ Nebraska 12:30 PPV
New Hampshire @ Army 1 PM ESPN Classic
Furman @ Virginia Tech 1:30 CBSCS XXL
Oregon State @ Penn State 3:30 ABC/ESPN2
Mississippi @ Wake Forest 3:30 ABC/ESPN2
Cincinnati @ Oklahoma 3:30 ABC
Air Force @ Wyoming 3:30 CBS CS
Utah State @ Oregon 3:30 CSD.TV
The Citadel @ Clemson 3:30 ESPN360
Tennessee Tech @ Louisville 3:30 ESPN360
Eastern Washington @ Colorado 3:30
Sacramento State @ Colorado State 3:30
Akron @ Syracuse 3:30
UAB @ Florida Atlantic 4:00
Texas A&M @ New Mexico 5 PM VS.
Idaho State @ Idaho 5 PM ESPN360
Buffalo @ Pittsburgh 6 PM ESPN+
Western Kentucky @ Eastern Kentucky 6 PM CSD.TV
Western Carolina @ Florida State 6 PM ESPN360
William and Mary @ NC State 6 PM
Norfolk State @ Kentucky 6 PM ESPN360
California @ Washington State 6:30 FSN/FCS
Northwestern @ Duke 7 PM CBSCS XXL
Northern Illinois @ Western Michigan 7 PM CSD.TV
Tulane @ Alabama 7 PM ESPN360
Kent State @ Iowa State 7 PM
Arkansas @ Louisiana-Monroe 7 PM ESPN360
Maryland @ Middle Tenn. St. 7 PM ESPN360
Tulsa @ North Texas 7 PM
Texas Southern @ Arkansas State 7 PM CSD.TV
Northwestern State @ Baylor 7 PM
SE Louisiana @ Mississippi State 7 PM
Stephen F. Austin @ TCU 7 PM
Houston @ Oklahoma State 7 PM
Montana State @ Kansas State 7 PM FCS
Rice @ Memphis 8 PM CBS CS
UNLV @ Utah 8 PM mtn.
Texas St.-San Marcos @ SMU 8 PM CBSCS XXL
Texas Tech @ Nevada 9 PM CSD.TV
Toledo @ Arizona 7 PT
Stanford @ Arizona State 7 PT FCS
Weber State @ Hawaii 9 PT ESPN360