Allen Bored
This feature is to help you comb through the seemingly endless number of college football (aka FOOTBAW) games each week. I’ll highlight the Thursday and Friday games (plus Sunday and Monday for this week) and break up the Saturday schedule into the four viewing quadrants of the day. Don’t expect a lot of analysis here, just an appreciation for the game of FOOTBAW and terrible jokes.
Check Sports on Your Television to get a full national schedule.
Week 1 Featured Games
Thursday
Mississippi at Vanderbilt, 9:15/6:15 PM, ESPN
Spread: Mississippi -3.5
All-Time Series: Mississippi leads 47-34-2
Last Meeting: 11/10/2012 Vanderbilt 27, Mississippi 26
Reason to Watch: Because it’s the first night of the FOOTBAW season that’s why! Also unlike many opening nights in recent years this is actually a good match-up for an opener.
Other Games of Interest: North Carolina at #6 South Carolina (6:00/3:00 PM, ESPN), Rutgers at Fresno State (10:30/7:30 PM, ESPNU)
Friday
Texas Tech at SMU, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN
Spread: Texas Tech -5.5
All-Time Series: Texas Tech leads 32-16
Last Meeting: 9/5/2010 Texas Tech 35, SMU 27
Reason to Watch: Former Texas Tech quarterback and Johnny Football offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury makes his head coaching debut. It will also be an opportunity to remind you that SMU now plays in something called the American Athletic Conference which believe it or not has a BCS bid. And Memphis.
Back Up Game: Florida Atlantic at Miami, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPNU
Early Saturday
Rice at #7 Texas A&M, 1:00 PM/10:00 AM, ESPN
Spread: Texas A&M -26.5
All-Time Series: Texas A&M leads 50-27-3
Last Meeting: 11/9/1995 Texas A&M 17, Rice 10
Reason to Watch: The Week 1 schedule is always a bit light so to start the day you might as well see Johnny Football air it and bro it out in the second half of this game after his one half suspension. The mute button will be highly recommended for this one with what should be three straight hours of announcer babbling about how a famous athlete dared to try to cash in on his fame.
Back Up Game: Purdue at Cincinnati, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPNU
Mid-day Saturday
#1 Alabama vs. Virginia Tech, 5:30/2:30 PM, ESPN
Spread: Alabama -19
All-Time Series: Alabama leads 11-1
Last Meeting: 9/5/2009 Alabama 34, Virginia Tech 24
Reason to Watch: Because you’re a God fearing American and you don’t want to feel Nick Saban’s wrath if you don’t watch this game. While this game probably won’t be close come the 4th quarter you might at least get some gratuitous shots of Katherine Webb.
Other Game of Interest: Mississippi State vs. #13 Oklahoma State, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN2
Primetime Saturday
#5 Georgia at #8 Clemson, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC – ***GAME OF THE WEEK***
Spread: Georgia -1.5
All-Time Series: Georgia leads 38-15-4
Last Meeting: 8/30/2003 Georgia 30, Clemson 0
All-Time Series: It’s actually pretty rare you get a non-neutral site game of this caliber in Week 1. We’ll get to find out which of these two teams in massively overrated (hint: It’s Clemson). You’ll need your remote handy with LSU/TCU playing opposite of this in the Jerry Dome.
Other Game of Interest: #12 LSU vs. #20 TCU, 9:00/6:00 PM, ESPN
Late Night Saturday
#19 Boise State at Washington, 10:00/7:00 PM, FOXS1
Spread: Washington -3.5
All-Time Series: Tied 1-1
Last Meeting: 12/22/2012 Boise State 28, Washington 26
Reason to Watch: Rematch of last year’s underrated MAACO Bowl: Las Vegas (the schools from the MAACO Bowl: Congo are still missing). Be sure to check what channel Fox Sports 1 is on in advance of this game. It was previously the Speed Channel which means you never watched it.
Back Up Game: #22 Northwestern at California, 10:30/7:30 PM, ESPN2
Sunday
Ohio at #9 Louisville, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPN
Spread: Louisville -20
All-Time Series: First Meeting
Reason to Watch: Hey it’s FOOTBAW on a Sunday! What are you going to do, spend time with your family and enjoy beautiful late Summer day? Also Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater potentially could be the #1 pick in next year’s draft.
Monday
#11 Florida State at Pittsburgh, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN
Spread: Florida State -10
All-Time Series: Pittsburgh leads 5-3
Last Meeting: 10/8/1983 Pittsburgh 17, Florida State 16
Reason to Watch: It’s the annual “Why the hell is there an ACC game on a Monday?” game. And yes Pittsburgh is now in the ACC which will certainly help the conference compete with the SEC just like the addition of Boston College did.
Week 1 Game Rankings
The idea here is to rank the entire week’s slate from games you should absolutely check out to games that you should avoid at all cost. In the case of the Texas game that won’t be a problem as no one gets the Longhorn Network. Rankings are based on a combination of the quality of teams playing and the competitiveness of the match-up. Only games involving FBS teams will be listed.
1. Georgia at Clemson
2. LSU vs. TCU
3. Alabama vs. Virginia Tech
4. Mississippi at Vanderbilt (Thur.)
5. Boise State at Washington
6. North Carolina at South Carolina (Thur.)
7. Mississippi State vs. Oklahoma State
8. Florida State at Pittsburgh (Mon.)
9. Rutgers at Fresno State (Thur.)
10. Utah State at Utah (Thur.)
11. Northern Illinois at Iowa
12. Northwestern at California
13. Syracuse vs. Penn State
14. BYU at Virginia
15. Tulsa at Bowling Green (Thur.)
16. Louisiana-Lafayette at Arkansas
17. Toledo at Florida
18. Ohio at Louisville (Sun.)
19. Rice at Texas A&M
20. Louisiana-Monroe at Oklahoma
21. Washington State at Auburn
22. Texas Tech at SMU (Fri.)
23. Purdue at Cincinnati
24. Nevada at UCLA
25. Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky
26. Louisiana Tech at N.C. State
27. Temple at Notre Dame
28. Colorado vs. Colorado State (Sun.)
29. Buffalo at Ohio State
30. Wyoming at Nebraska
31. UAB at Troy
32. Western Michigan at Michigan State (Fri.)
33. USC at Hawaii (Thur.)
34. UNLV at Minnesota (Thur.)
35. Florida Atlantic at Miami
36. Central Michigan at Michigan
37. Miami OH at Marshall
38. Texas State at Southern Miss
39. FIU at Maryland
40. Akron at UCF (Thur.)
41. UTSA at New Mexico
42. Idaho at North Texas
43. Massachusetts at Wisconsin
44. New Mexico State at Texas
