Thegreat city of Boston takes the lead in Friday’s TV daily sportsagenda, with a mix of high-profile baseball and under-the-radar college football.
MLB Network is on the call for the second game of the Red Sox-Yankees series from the Bronx, starting at 7 PM ET. Boston is looking to keep its cushion in the AL East, while New York is still pushing hard to complete its rally for a wild-card berth. MLB Network will also have coverage of a good National League game in the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds, with both teams looking on cruise control to the playoffs, but the Reds still hoping to win the NL Central.
College football has pushed its normal Thursday night telecast back to Friday, so as not to conflict with last night’s NFL opener. Good move—while no one competes with the NFL under any circumstances, I think it’s safe to say that Wake Forest-Boston College (8 PM ET, ESPN2) would not have drawn away any viewers from the NFL, save for maybe a few parents of BC and Wake players.
But if you like college football, it’s an interesting game, one of ten games TheSportsNotebook looked at as part of its review ofthe Week 2 undercard. We’ve also, of course, previewed the three marquee games of Saturday, which are Florida-Miami, South Carolina-Georgia and Notre Dame-Michigan, all on ESPN in succession tomorrow.
Today at TheSportsNotebook we’ll be talking some baseball, sizing up the landscape of the playoff race, updating in the injury situation and looking at each contender’s weekend schedule. We’ll also have a feature, still TBD, associated with that. And we’ll take a look at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular season finale that goes Saturday night in Richmond.
College football Week 2 doesn’t have jaw-dropping games that will reverberate throughout the season (unless there’s some kind of shocking upset), but there are six good games that are worth at least tuning into on Saturday. Earlier this week, TheSportsNotebook took a look at the undercard games and assessed the impact of Florida State losing Brandon Jenkins for the year. Now we’ll conclude our prep for Saturday with a look at six showcase games, starting with a big SEC doubleheader…
Georgia-Missouri: Because it’s a conference game in what promises to be an open SEC East race (the side of the league where MIzzou was slotted) this prime-time kickoff from Columbia gets the nod as the best game of Saturday. The Tigers were the more impressive of the two teams in the opening tune-ups, although that’s going to mean less than the fact they have to deal with SEC talent for the first time. Georgia’s Aaron Murray can exploit inexperienced Missouri safeties, and a running game led by emerging freshman Todd Gurley can make some hay against a soft defensive line. The Tigers have playmakers, led by receiver T.J. Moe, but that’s not enough to beat a team as good as Georgia. It’s a Welcome To The SEC kind of moment as Georgia silences the home crowd.
Florida-Texas A&M: Kicking off at 3:30 PM ET, this is on right ahead of Georgia-Mizzou. Because A&M is in the Alabama-LSU side of the conference, there are no big thoughts for them. Florida, meanwhile, can compete in the East if they can get some kind of passing game going. The offense was mediocre in a ho-hum win over Bowling Green and Jeff Driskell will have to justify the decision to make him the #1 quarterback for Saturday. But even if he doesn’t, the Gators play better defense, they can run the ball with Mike Gillislee and then there’s that whole Welcome To The SEC thing.
Purdue-Notre Dame: Purdue made a bowl game last year, brought back 13 starters and then warmed up by blowing out Eastern Kentucky. They have good reason to be optimistic about this season. Notre Dame did everything right offensively in its win over Navy. Both the Irish and Boilers suspended their quarterbacks for Week 1, but only Purdue’s Caleb TerBush gets his job back this week. Brian Kelly is sticking with Everett Golson. The one area ND looked weak in was pass defense. Navy, running the triple option, was not equipped to exploit that. Will TerBush fare any better in his first game back? From a matchup standpoint and considering homefield, the signs still point to the Irish. But this is still a game in a dangerous schedule spot—right after the game in Ireland and right before the game against Michigan. At the very least, Purdue’s going to keep this one close—closer, as Lee Corso might say than the experts say. And the experts say Notre Dame by two touchdowns.
Miami-Kansas State: I wasn’t expecting Miami’s road win over Boston College, though I’m inclined to write it off more to BC incompetence than anything special about a very young Hurricanes team. It does mean that Al Golden can coach and that K-State will start to playing football considerably earlier than they did a week ago, when they messed around with Missouri State for three quarters before dropping five touchdowns in the final period. One thing to consider—K-State’s young on the offensive line, with two freshman starting, meaning the sluggish starts might not be all about focus. I expect the focus to be there, Collin Klein will be there and playing at home that likely means a Wildcat win. But I won’t be surprised if it’s less than pretty. Las Vegas is pegging 58 as the number for combined points in this game and I don’t think it’s going anywhere near that.
USC-Syracuse: This game is in MetLife Stadium, where the Giants and Jets play, as Syracuse looks to increase its exposure to recruits. If any high school defensive backs are visiting, Doug Marrone might want to get them in uniform early because a defense that was lit up by Northwestern is going to be positively scorched by Matt Barkley and the Trojans. There’s no question who’s going to win this game, but I’m interested to see how ‘Cuse quarterback Ryan Nassib fares. He threw for over 400 yards in Week 1 and a nice showing here would send a clear signal that Nassib is ready to carve up the Big East defenses ahead on the schedule.
Washington-LSU: Washington set new levels of stupidity this week in having a caged tiger at its practice field this week. Which led me to wonder what kind of moron—either in the athletic department or at the zoo—actually approves such a request. Washington might have been better served in wondering why their offense was so-so in a win over rebuilding San Diego State. Or trying to figure out how the young front seven will stop an LSU rushing attack led by Spencer Ware. Then again, if I had to figure these things out, maybe I’d do what Steve Sarkisian did and just bail out by creating an unnecessary and potentially dangerous distraction.
College football Week 2 gets started tonight, although the Thursday & Friday games of Pitt-Cincinnati and Utah-Utah State aren’t reason to get that excited. There are some good games on the Saturday undercard though, so let’s run through a list of games that might not fall in the category of games that make you clear three hours on the schedule to watch, but are certainly worthy of clearing 10-15 minutes to check in on the results of…
Vanderbilt played a good game in defeat last Thursday against South Carolina, while Northwestern beat what I believe is a pretty good Syracuse team on the road. The Commodores played a defensive battle, while the Wildcats won a shootout. Vandy-Northwestern meet in Evanston and it’s a good matchup of the pass defense of the Commodores against the pass offense of the Wildcats. And from the standpoint of conference strength, though it will never match Michigan-Alabama in terms of hype, it’s good barometer for how the leagues stack up in the middle.
Iowa did not play well in barely escaping a rebuilding Northern Illinois team in Week 1, while Iowa State got their season off to a strong start by running over Tulsa. The in-state rivals meet in Iowa City on Saturday and the Hawkeyes’ rush defense in general, and defensive line in particular, have to step it up against versatile Cyclone quarterback Steele Jantz. And other Big Ten team in desperate need of a bounceback effort would be Michigan—they host Air Force. If this were a typical Falcon team, an upset—or at least a close game—could be in the works. But Air Force has substantial rebuilding to do and this game comes down solely to Wolverine recovery abilities.
We’ll continue our Big Ten theme—it’s a big week for the conference after a disastrous Week 1 showing and a number of indicative games going on Saturday—with a trio of visits to the west. You have Illinois-Arizona State, Wisconsin-Oregon State and Nebraska-UCLA. The Cornhuskers looked the best of any Big Ten team in the opener and their run defense will be tested by the Bruins’ Jonathan Franklin. Wisconsin’s pass defense nearly collapsed in the second half against Northern Iowa, and now will be spread out and exposed by Oregon State’s three-receiver set and talented sophomore quarterback Sean Mannion. The possibility for the Beavers to move the ball through the air is real, but they have to avoid turnovers, sacks and most important their defense has to get off the field. And Illinois looked sharp in a win over Western Michigan and can make a nice statement by beating rebuilding Arizona State, playing its first real game of the Todd Graham Era (the Sun Devils warmed up with Northern Arizona last week).
Next up is three games where we can learn something about the ACC. N.C. State lost to Tennessee in its opener, but that’s no shame and the Wolfpack weren’t blown out. If they bounce back and beat a respectable UConn team, it says N.C. State is still on track to win at least eight games. Virginia wants to show it can make another run at the conference title, and Mike London’s team has to prove it can handle Penn State at home. We know about the Nittany Lion problems, on and off the field, but they still have talent and focus is probably going to be easier in getting away from the circus in Happy Valley. And Duke was a surprising easy winner over Florida International, while Stanford had to struggle past San Jose State. Now it’s the Dookies and Cardinal going head-to-head out west (is this the other half of an All-Academic tournament, along with Vandy-Northwestern?). I’m not saying Duke needs to win this game, but if they push Stanford hard it suggests David Cutliffe might have the Blue Devil program ready to compete for a bowl bid.
Perhaps no one’s Week 1 performance slid under the radar more than Nevada’s dismantling of Cal—it wasn’t a blowout, but the Pack pounded the Golden Bears at the line of scrimmage. Now they continue a good non-conference schedule by hosting South Florida, who’s got hopes for a bounceback year in the Big East and has a veteran defense. This game will also be under the radar, but if you love college football beyond the elite teams, it’s potentially as good as any game out there on Saturday. Another indicator game out west will be Arizona hosting Oklahoma State. Rich Rodriguez, with quarterback Mike Scott, have already shown they can pile up yardage. But is it enough to beat a Cowboy team that has still has good defensive talent on hand, even if their high-profile offensive playmakers from last year are all starting in the NFL on Sunday.
Conference games are, by definition, important at this time of year. Well, I guess I won’t sell the idea that Tulane-Tulsa (C-USA) or Florida Atlantic-Middle Tennessee (Sun Belt) are really crucial. But the Sun Belt does have a good one with UL-Lafayette going to Troy. Lafayette quarterback Blake Gautier is extremely versatile and led his team to a bowl win over San Diego State last year. Troy had been a top team in this conference, fell back last season, but then knocked off UAB last week and hopes to return to Sun Belt prominence in this game. And in the BCS conferences, Auburn-Mississippi State is one that will loom over the bowl positioning in the SEC West the rest of the year, while Wake Forest needs to look sharp against probation-saddled North Carolina. Demon Deacon quarterback Tanner Price did not play well in Week 1 and Wake needs him to get rolling.
I cite these not because I think an upset is imminent in any of them, but all have the possibility of being closer than the experts say. In particular, Nick Saban was right when he scolded the media about underrating Western Kentucky. It was coach-spin of course, but in this case the spin was accurate. Alabama will win, but if it stays competitive longer than you expect give credit to the Hilltoppers—the best team in the Sun Belt—rather than knocking the Tide.
More college football previews are ahead tomorrow, focusing on these six showcase games…
USC-Syracuse
Washington-LSU
Georgia-Missouri
Miami-Kansas State
Purdue-Notre Dame
Florida-Texas A&M