The Truth Without Hype: Gameday in Boise

After a few weeks of letting us down, college football finally delivered us some honest to god actual competition, well outside of the Big Ten. Most teams have finished playing the cupcake portion of their schedule and are either into conference play or are actually testing themselves against some decent foes. Although there were not a lot of actual upsets, we actually what we used to call "competitive games." These are uncommon for teams in the top 25 until conference play begins as most teams prefer to save all their effort for the end of the season and let the hype carry them as far as possible. This week Boise State, Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arizona, Penn. State, Oregon, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, West Virginia, and South Carolina actually saw themselves tested. Not all of them survived the tests. Texas was the first juggernaut of the season to fall, at one time a top five team, and with even bigger tests starting next week we actually get to see a dramatic shake up in the top of the polls.

For me, however, this all takes a back seat to what Bronco fans got experience this past weekend. College Gameday has been around for a long time and to some schools a visit from the crew may not be that big of a deal but is sure as hell meant a lot to us. For the first time in history, Gameday deemed Boise worry of the weeks best game and broadcast live from the Smurf Turf on Saturday morning. The show airs at 9 AM Eastern Time, Boise is in Mountain Time, so if you don't live here you may not have realized that meant every fan in the stadium for the show had been there well before 6 AM.

My experience started well before 6 AM. I was lucky enough to volunteer for the event, I know it doesn't sound that lucky, but trust me it was. While the majority of the 13,205 Bronco faithful stood in the audience booing viciously every time Mark May was one screen, I was setting up tables, painting signs, hanging flags, escorting VIP guests to their seats, and handing out buckets of Home Depot gift cards to every set of greedy hands in sight. Even better, I got to arrive at 4 AM to start my slave labor. I live 20 minutes from campus and if you were thinking I got to park right outside of the stadium and just waltz in, you've never been to BSU on Gameday before. To make a long story short, I merrily jumped out of bed at 3 AM to start my adventure, if you know me well, you know that I prefer that as a bedtime, not a a wake-up call.

The experience was something I will never forget. As I walked past the crowd on the other side of the gaurdrail with a box of Home Depot hard hats, fans began to cherr me like a rock star. "HARD HATS!! GIVE US SOME HARD HATS!!! ALRIGHT ORANGE SHIRTED CREW GUY!!!" I felt like the guy in the Winnie the Pooh costume at Disneyworld or Barack Obama at a trendfollowing tools rally, and all I was doing was opening a box of plastic hats. When we had finished handing them out, there were fans booing us and security begging us to find some more to give to crying disappointed children. I was then informed by the supervisors that they usual can't get rid of them all because people have no intrest in all that promotional crap. The energy was unusual even to the professionals. The signs were great as well, unfortunately, about twenty people had their Mark May hate propaganda taken away at the door, and countless more lost there sexual advances towards Erin Andrews. Here are some good ones.

Most of the best ones didn't make it in but such is the way of television. My reward for all this? I didn't get paid, I didn't really get to watch the entire show, and I certainly didn't get a full nights sleep. I did however get to rub up against Desmond Howard's Super Bowl ring, do a Heisman pose on the Gameday set, and follow Erin Andrews out of the stadium for about 500 feet (and I didn't even get maced by the two cops with her). Also, these pictures speak for themselves.

Thanks for coming guys, I made sure to thank every hand I shook, and with any luck they'll be back next year.

25. Arkansas - There are no longer 25 undefeated teams in the country, so I can now show some love for some one loss teams. Sometimes, a loss speaks more about how good you are than a win does. That was the case for the Higs this weekend, losing a heartbreaker to the top ranked Crimson Tide.

24. Miami - The lists other 1 loss team. The Hurricanes haven't played an oustanding schedule but they have destroyed everyone but Ohio State so far, and lets be honest, they outplayed the Buckeyes. If Jacory Harris knew how to throw the ball to his own guys in the big games, the Canes are the national title hunt.

23. USC - No undefeated team in the country has been less impressive than the former powerhouse out of LA. The defense has been very shaky and the strength of schedule boasts the worst team from three different BCS conferences. Yeah, they killed Washington State this week, but all that proves is that they aren't a 2-A team.

22. Texas A&M - The Aggies haven't been a whole lot better than the Trojans but they are undefeated. This weeks contest against OK State will start to show who belongs in the top haf of the conference and who goes back to the bottom.

21. Oklahoma State - The week one blow of Washington State looks a little bit impressive every time a 2-A team hangs thirty on them. The offense looks great but has yet to face any real tests.

20. Northwestern - The Wildcats are not overly impressive, but they have simply one every week. That isn't a big deal for some teams but for the Wildcats it is huge.

19. Nebraska - The Cornhuskers struggled quite a bit against South Dakota State this week. Which begs the question: How bad is the Washington Huskie defense?

18. Missouri - Are you seeing a theme here? The Big 12 has 4 undefeated teams without a single impressive win. At least Missouri is consitantly doing it big though.

17. Kansas State - The trend continues.......

16. Florida - Is the offense back after looking like Florida again this week against an overmatched UK team? It might be, but only because Urban Meyer gave up on his new starter in the red zone already and has Tebow lite running the option at the goal line every time down the field.

15. Wisconsin - Another case of who have you played but I'll be damned if this weeks game against Austin Peay wasn't impressive. The Arizona State win looks a littel better in hindhight as well after the Sun Devils put a scare into Oregon this week.

14. Michigan State - A big win over anybody when your head coach isn't at the game is really impressive. The Spartans face Wisconsin this week, one will move up, and the other probably will fall out of my top 25.

13. Nevada - The California blowout looks even better after the Bears really beat and Arizona team coming off a huge win over Iowa. The Wolfpack now enter WAC play unbeaten and could be unbeaten when they clash with Boise State in a suddenly very big game the day after Thanksgiving.

12. LSU - It may not be very pretty, butthe Tigers a quietly 4-0 against two SEC teams and two ranked teams out of conference. Granted those teams aren't really great right now either, but the schedule deserves some respect.

11. NC State - Only one team still stands undefeated in the ACC. A victory over the reigning champion Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets has the Wolfpack thinking BCS.

10. Ohio State - I don't care how many points they scored, call me when they play somebody. For all the criticisms that BSU and the SEC teams get for their soft scheduling, the Buckeyes have played one of the easiest slates in the nation to this point.

9. Oregon - The strenth of schedule doesn't look much better than OSU's after Tennessee needed 2 overtimes to get past lowly UAB this week. Arizona State put a scare in them, the Ducks just might be mortal after all.

8. Arizona - The Wildcats came out cold this week against Cal but a late rally showed for the second straight week that they can win in the fourth quarter against good teams.

7. TCU - The Horned Frogs didn't look terrible against SMU on Friday, but if they want to be in the national title picture, they need to look better.

6. Utah - Quietly sneaking back towards the top after another blowout, the schedule is trash until late October though, so don't expect them here for very long.

5. Oklahoma - The wins keep coming, and even though the margins are small, the Sooners probably have faced the nations toughest schedule to date.

4. Auburn - The Tigers have really proven how tough they can be, coming back twice in the fourth quarter in as many weeks against some really good teams. With Cam newton can QB, this team can beat anyone, including archrival Alabama.

3. Stanford - The Cardinal just keep cruising past everyone on their schedule, making Notre Dame just look like any other team in a rout in South Bend Saturday. This weeks showdown with Oregon will go a long way towards deciding the PAC-10.

2. Alabama - The Tide impressed in a second half rally at Arkansas. I hate them, but they keep winning for a reason: they are really good.

1. Boise State - A second win on the year over a ranked team makes the Broncos one of only two undefeated teams in the country to do so. At this point in the season, the schedule is in the Broncos favor. Enjoy it while it lasts. A side note, I forgot about Michigan until I finished writing the list and don't want to go back and edit it. You can put them in around 14.

Also considered: South Carolina, Air Force

Dropped from rankings: Texas, West Virgina, Temple, Fresno State, South Carolina

Picks of the week:

Alabama 28 - Florida 10

Oklahoma 17 - Texas 16

Stanford 47 - Oregon 41

Miami 32 - Clemson 23

Wisconsin 24 - Michigan State 22

NFL

Miami 37 - New England 28

Baltimore 20 - Pittsburgh 9

Washington 17 - Philadelphia 30

Chicago 31 - New York Giants 16

Tennessee 20 - Denver 13

The Truth Without Hype: Week 3 - What Happened to the Drama?

Does anyone remember all the upsets that we got to enjoy early in the season last year? I really, really miss them right now. Three weekends in we have barely seen any upsets at all, this past weekends Iowa/Arizona contest may have been the most important of the year and those teams were ranked 9th and 24th, hardly a large difference. Last year, a top five team lost in each of the first seven weeks of the season, this year, top five teams are still undefeated. The only one that even came close to losing was Boise State in week one and they were playing a team ranked sixth in the coaches poll. There has been one big upset, James Madison over Virginia Tech, but that team was already outside of the top ten and virtually no one actually got to watch. It strange to say this, considering that the gap between big programs and the FCS has never looked more narrow, but the gap between the top ten and everyone else has never looked wider. Florida doesn't even have to play decent to win by double digits anymore, seriously, the team looks like garbage every week and is never even challenged in the fourth quarter, and the same has gone for Texas so far. I just miss the drama, hopefully, we can actually see some teams start falling soon now that conference play is starting for many, and the mismatches should be over.

25. Florida - The Gators still are struggling quite a bit on offense, yet they still keep winning by double digits. The last two wins came against decent teams, so they've earned a vote even if the team isn't preforming well as a whole.

24. Fresno State - The Bulldogs were simply adequate in beating Utah State on Saturday, then again again, they were more convincing against this team than Oklahoma was.

23. Temple - A big win over UConn has many thinking that the Big East could very well be worse than the MWC, MAC, and WAC.

22. West Virginia - The Mountaineers became the first team from the Big East this season to win a game against another BCS conference team. They are the killer whale in a small pond.

21. Texas - The Longhorns still looked pretty lost on offense but they still look absolutely dominant on defense. Through three games, other teams defenses and special teams are outscoring their offenses against Texas.

20. Oklahoma State - The Cowboys offense has not been slowed by anybody yet but that defense is looking like it may not be up Big 12 standards once conference play starts.

19. NC State - The Wolfpack beat two-time defending Big East champion Cincinnati pretty badly this past week, giving them a 3-0 start.

18. Michigan State - The most exciting win of the weekend launches the Spartans into the top twenty. Unfortunately for the Sparty, the win was so exciting, it just might keep their head coach sidelined for a while, he had a minor heart attack just hours after the game ended.

17. Nevada - A previously unbeaten Cal team had no answer for QB Colin Kaepernick on Friday night and all of a sudden, BSU's conference schedule doesn't seem to be filled with automatic W's. The Wolfpack host BSU late in November.

16. Michigan - It's amazing how much one week can change things. It was almost Appalachian State all over again, as the Wolverines struggled to beat FCS foe UMass. The losses of both Notre Dame and UConn to underdogs didn't do their strength of schedule any favors.

15. Arkansas - Yes, the win over Georgia was big, but it was also very close. The Razorbacks still only have one significant win on the year but they most assuredly jump into the top ten if they can top Alabama this coming Saturday.

14. Kansas State - Quietly 3-0 with wins over two BCS teams. If only those teams weren't Iowa State and UCLA, they might even have a prayer at the top ten.

13. South Carolina - The Gamecocks struggled against Furham but those first two wins still look pretty good.

12. Utah - The Utes kept the momentum going with a demolition of the lowly Lobos of New Mexico.

11. LSU - This is the Tiger team people expect to see. After struggling against Vanderbilt and a barely there UNC team in the first two weeks, the Tigers crushed Miss. State.

10. Oklahoma - Yeah, it was close, but the Falcons are much better than anyone gives them credit for. The Sooners still have one of the nations better strength of schedules.

9. Auburn - An impressive come from behind win over Clemson, coupled with an early SEC win, make Auburn one of the most underrated 3-0 teams in the nation.

8. Boise State - The Broncos didn't miss a beat after 12 days off, crushing the Cowboys 51-6 in their own stadium in a game that didn't feel nearly as close as the score looks.

7. Stanford - The Cardinal look to have one of the best offenses in the nation after hanging 68 on Wake Forest.

6. Ohio State - The Buckeyes cruised past in-state "rival" Ohio. Maybe it's just me, but when they blow out nobodies, it just seems to lack a certain top-fiveness. I suspect they'll be blowing out somebodies soon though.

5. Nebraska - Jake Locker can kiss those Heisman votes goodbye after the Husker made him look absolutely terrible at home this week.

4. Arizona - A big win over Iowa, coupled with blowouts over a few nobodies makes the Wildcats the most surprisingly impressive team in the nation thus far.

3. TCU - Another week, another murder. Thats just how these Horned Frogs roll.

2. Alabama - No one has slowed the Tide to this point, the only reason they are not number one is because of the way Penn. State struggled against Kent State, thus slightly cheapening their only win over a decent team thus far.

1. Oregon - Speaking of not being slowed at all, the Ducks are averaging more than a point a minute after three games. Yes, two of those games were against garbage but a win at Tennessee is the third game and anyone scoring like this against decent competition deserves major props.

Also considered: Northwestern, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and USC.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Week 2

The Good

San Diego Chargers WR Vincent Jackson - I didn't see him at all this week and considering the luck of the San Diego Chargers on Monday night, his chances of getting a new contract seem better than they have at any point since his holdout began. Phillip Rivers played a fine game, but his receivers let him down, dropping two passes in the red zone in the fourth quarter Monday and then were completely ineffective again on the last drive in the loss at Kansas City. Also, if a trade can be worked out by next week, he'll see a two game reduction in his suspension. Good week for a football player who never left his house.

The Houston Texans and RB Arian Foster - The Texans entered Sunday 1-15 against the Colts in their franchise's history. Behind a 230 yard, 3 TD game for their new starting RB, the Texans look ready to take the AFC South over, despite allowing Peyton Manning to throw for over 400 yards.

The Kansas City Chiefs Defense - The Chiefs have royally sucked over the last three years, and while the offense didn't look much better this week, the defense specifically DL Glenn Dorsey looked outstanding in holding the four time defending division champion Chargers to only 14 points.

The New England Patriots - I predicted a fall from their tower atop the AFC East this year and they made me look stupid in the season opener against Cincinnati in a game that was never close.

The Tennessee Titans - Sure it was the Raiders but still, 38-13 is a great start for a team that had a ton of questions entering the season.

My Career - I finalized my internship this week and should be rolling into some real professional work this coming week, in addition to getting a resume professionally written for thanks to an opportunity through one of my teachers. Things look good for me right now, now if only anyone was actually hiring......

New England Patriots WR Wes Welker and Miami Dolphins RB Ronnie Brown - Both players were coming off of serious injuries in the second half of last season. Ronnie Brown looked great in the win over Buffalo and Welker scored two TD's early in the game against Cincinnati. There were plenty of concerns about both entering the season and all of them look unfounded as of now.

Daredevil - This book is just so damn good it's unbelievable. Shadowland has been brilliant so far, and the fact that this book stays amazing through all the changes to the creative team is just unheard of. I'm excited to see how this ends, although not stoked to see that Marvel is apparently "ending" the series. Look for an all new Daredevil #1 on the shelves by next September.

The FCS - Formerly known as division II-A football, these teams are started to close the gap between themselves and the monsters on top of the college football world. The FCS featured wins over Virginia Tech, Akron, Minnesota, and Ball State on Saturday, bringing their total to six for the season.

Alabama - Really this is no surprise as Penn State didn't really have the firepower to hang with a top ten team, but the way they ended any suspense by halftime on a very talented Nitany Lion defense was very impressive.

Scarlet - The latest Icon creation of Brian Michael Bendis has been brilliant through two issues. I have really questioned his books lately because I don't like the way he writes team books and he is behind most of the Avengers titles currently, but give this man a good artist and a solo character book and he is absolutely golden.

Oklahoma - They crushed Florida State this weekend in a way no one has since 1992. People can stop worrying about the shaky performance against Utah State to open the season.

Half-Off Appetizers - Every Sunday at Chili's if you sit in the lounge, which means I have a new Sunday night hangout. All the food you can eat for under twenty bucks for two people is something you just can't beat. Southwestern eggrolls, spinach and artichoke dip, buffalo wings, chili fries, bottomless chips and salsa, fried cheese, and bean dip for about eighteen dollars. Awesome.

Denard Robinson - Can you say Heisman? If he keeps these numbers up, he'll win the award in a landslide, he currently has more total yards on the season than Texas or Florida as a team.

The Return of Doctor Octopus - I have been eagerly awaiting the return of Doc Ock since Amazing Spider-Man #600 and this week I got it. This storyline is off to a great start and looks to be one of the best Spidey stories in quite some time.

South Carolina Defense - No TD's allowed against a Georgia team coming off their highest scoring game in four years. The Gamecocks look like they're for real this season.

DTV's New NFL Commercials - These are just hilarious, naturally my favorite is the one with the Dolphins fan in New England, but they are all good.

The Bad

USC - A seven point win over Virginia to follow up a 12 point win against Hawaii really makes the Trojans look like a shell of the team we saw over the last decade. Forget the PAC-10 title, I don't know that this team will be bowl eligible, no that it really matters.

Amazing Spider-Man's Art - It is so simple that it no longer looks like a modern comic. It isn't awful, just a little behind the times.

My Fantasy Football Teams - I went 13-13 this week. Yes, you read that right, I have 26 teams. .500 isn't technically terrible but I have high standards for myself as I am usually near the top of every league I'm in. The worst part is I lost to my archrival Jeremy twice and my Uncle Dave. I can accept losing to random people in random leagues I sign up for but losing to people I have to talk smack to every week is unacceptable.

Laurence Maroney to Denver - I just don't see why the Broncos would make this trade, I think Bill Belichick is taking advantage of his former protege.

Obama's Education Speech - I have no problem whatsoever with Obama making these speeches and really can't defend anyone who says that their children shouldn't be exposed to the president of their own country. My problem is that the speech was boring, uninspiring, and lacked charisma. There is only one thing I expect from Barack Obama, it's not good politics, it's good speeches.

The Dallas Cowboys - When you literally lose on a penalty, things can't get much worse. No one on this team looked bad expect for the offensive line, unfortunately for Dallas, your O-line loses games faster than anyone else if they perform poorly.

BSU's Title Hopes - Thanks to Virginia Tech's loss to James Madison and Ohio State and Alabama winning their biggest tests out of conference for the year, the Broncos title hopes are on life support. They aren't over yet, as it's still easily possible that everyone else could lose and let them in but this weekend certainly derailed any momentum they had coming out of the big Labor Day win.

The Ugly

Referees - I told you it wouldn't take long for the zebras to find their way into this column. The easy criticism is to rip them for the horrific call that ruined the Lions week one upset of the Chicago Bear but I can't. It's a stupid rule, but according to the rule they made the right call. The terrible calls I am referring to are in college football. Last week I ripped apart the new rule that automatically penalized players flipping into the endzone. This week, Alabama star WR Julio Jones did it and so did a Oklahoma player that I can't remember the name of, neither were flagged. I guess like all college football fouls, they are subjective to how good your team is supposed to be.

The ACC - I could go on forever about this, if want to see the full rant, you can read my last post.

The Big East - This conferences automatic BCS qualification will likely come under heavy scrutiny after this season. The conferences only ranked team struggled to beat a MAC team in overtime this past weekend. They are still probably worse than the ACC, it just isn't a surprise to anyone when they underwhelm anymore.

J-E-T-S - I could post all the stats telling you how much they suck, or you could just look at the box score. Virginia Tech looked more impressive this weekend than the Jets did.

The San Fransisco 49ers - I predicted big things for the niners in my preseason preview. They rewarded my by absolutely dominating the game...... for about nine minutes, the rest of the way was all Seahawks earning a 31-6 victory. Alex Smith awful, Crabtree looked worse, and the o-line and Frank Gore didn't do a lot to help them.

The Wall Street Journal - Today marks my eighth day of my subscription, it also marks 8925th straight day of my life that it wasn't delivered to my home. A cancellation is now pending.

The Arbiter - Honestly, I could write about how bad our student newspaper is but you can read it online and see for yourself. Imagine Fox News' bias with high school talent writers, and CNN's actual bias. I was under the impression our student fees didn't have to support this garbage anymore this year.

Cleveland Browns QB Jake Delhomme - I don't understand why Cleveland signed him, I don't understand why they traded anyone who could possibly beat him out for the starting job, and I don't understand how they plan to win with him this year. Ne looked just like the guy who led the NFL in turnovers for Carolina last year.

LaRouche PAC - Where do I start with this guy? He shows up on campus last year with posters showing Obama with a Hitler mustache, justifying it with talks of how his budget is killing NASA funding? I fail to see how this relates to the holocaust. Guys like this are why people just hate people like me. Just because I am a conservative who considers my political views very tea partyesque does not make me a racist, a homophobe, or a muslimphobe. This guy makes all Obama haters look bad. Then I look him up online and he is a democrat? What an idiot.

Finally here are my picks for the week, hopefully they go better than last week.

College:

Clemson 35 Auburn 31

Iowa 31 Arizona 30

Notre Dame 27 Michigan State 14

UPSET SPECIAL: Tennessee 20 Florida 14

Nebraska 28 Washington 13

Oklahoma 24 Air Force 21

Boise State 50 Wyoming 7

NFL:

Cincinnati 17 Baltimore 14

UPSET SPECIAL: Minnesota 24 Miami 27

New Orleans 31 San Fransisco 20

Indianapolis 37 New York 23