Since it is a holiday weekend, classes are canceled! The Saturday lecture will return next week. In its place is this:
HOOOORRAYYYY!!!!! Its my favorite time of year! NCAA football is upon us!
This will be weekly, every Saturday after the lecture is the open NCAA thread for those of us watching football and not wanting to soil the respectable threads with cries of ‘Hook ’em Horns’ or ‘Soooeeeee Piggie!’ and we sure don’t want to run Ralphie through a serious thread! Some of our writers would get really mad.
How about that PITT v Utah game on Thursday night. The polls had my beloved Panthers ranked an early #15 and the pick to win the Big East. PITT has the talent, and i hope that Coach Wanstedt doesn’t do his normal routine of wining just enough games to keep his job. It’s time to produce, Coach! (late edit: They lost to an un-ranked Utah. Coach Wanstedt failed to win the big game again, the offensive play calling was predictable and abysmal. It is time for him to go, he cant coach his way out of a wal*mart bag.)
The top 5 in all of the polls this early are 1 Alabama, 2 Ohio State and then 3-5 in no order Boise State, Florida , and Texas. The Boise State Broncos from the WAC just wont go away. They cant move to the SEC or the Big 10, so they try to make their non-conference schedule as tough as they can…and some teams just dodge them and refuse to schedule them because they are so dangerous, especially on the Smurf Turf. Is it time for Boise state to play for a national championship if they are the only undefeated?
And from Los Angeles, the USC Trojan’s got a dump truck full of sanctions handed to them by the NCAA for the Reggie Bush/sports agent money escapade. The Coaching staff and administration claimed they knew nothing of this, so the NCAA cited gross incompetence and a complete lack of administrative oversight against the program and the coaches. So its no 2004 BCS championship, deletion of the entire 2005 season, and are banned from postseason play for two years and will lose 20+ scholarships. Players will also be allowed to transfer to other schools without the one year sit down time.
And how about the brilliant move that the Big 10 made by getting Nebraska to join the division next year, what a great fit! I cant wait for a Penn State Nebraska series. Great call Big 10!
Notre Dame has a new coach, Brian Kelly, formerly of Cincinnati. Coach Kelly did a great job of building up the Bearcats and left his contract early. He got some heat for this. But, the Coach is an Irish Catholic from Boston, ‘Head Coach of Notre Dame Football’ is his dream job, so I think no ill feelings should be felt toward him. Its a once in a lifetime opportunity and i wish him well, except against my Panthers.
What games are you watching?
So, this is an open thread…it will run until the overnight behind the other threads while there is NCAA football on. Refer to here when talking football, and remember, lecture starts up next saturday!
Foodie Update: And here’s lunch: Andouille and Israeli Couscous stuffed italian peppers…its cajun, jewish, italian fusion food. And damn are these stuffed peppers excellent!
