John Elway's Horsefaced Heroes; Week 7 NCAA FB Thread

Is Ron Zook in danger of being fired after this season? I have never understood the love for that fraud.

 

He's drafting off Chef's upset special heat.

 

i've grown to appreciate the smurf turfers. plucky, hardworking program. they used to be nothing, and now they're something. something fierce, even.

but this week? this week they're getting their asses waxed.

 

On ESPN at the moment:
The La-Monroe runner just swept past Arkansas State's contain and was headed to the endzone when the announcer blurted out "Get In, Big Man!"
The runner was stopped at the one, but the fact that the announcer was doing a Tiger Woodsish "Get in the Hole" shout-out was awful.
Anyone hear it?

 

That's why he's doing La-Monroe-Arkansas State on a Tuesday night ...

 

He sounds like Doug Gottlieb sounded in his first years in media.
Knowledgeable about sports, mind you.
But, really young.

 

A supposed top 15 team only beat Arkansas State by 3 at home.

 

Also, how any times are Sun Belt stadiums more than half full? Outside of a game at Troy, I don't think I've ever seen anything approaching a capacity crowd in a Sun Belt stadium.

 

Even Troy has trouble drawing fans. My daughter goes to school there, so my wife and I went to their HC game last year against W. Kentucky. They had a pretty good team that ended up winning the Sun Belt, and an absolutely picture-perfect autumn afternoon for football, and they only had about 19,000.

 

Sadly, 19K is a "great" crowd for a game in the Belt. Case in point: UL Lafayette drew 12K last week for the conference opener against North Texas. In the season opener against Southern University, a record 42,000 showed up.

Sun Belt Football: It's Tastic.

 

A couple of good Big Ten games on tap this weekend. Let's pretend like we know what we're talking about ...

1. Illinois at Indiana.
Line: Illinois by 3.
Pick: Someone's got to lose and challenge Purdue for the Big 10 basement, and that someone is Illinois. I like Ben Chappell and the Hoosiers in a shootout.

2. Iowa at Wisconsin.
Line: Iowa by 1.
Pick: The Hawkeyes won't go unbeaten this season, but their loss is further down the road (maybe next week in East Lansing). Iowa wins in a great game.

3. Delaware State* at Michigan.
Line: Couldn't find one.
Pick: Wolverines romp, take another step toward a bowl berth. And they've still got Illinois and Purdue left on the schedule. Oh well.

4. Northwestern at Michigan State
Line: Michigan State by 13.5.
Pick: Take Northwestern and the points -- this will be a close game. In fact, given the Spartans' history of inconsistent play, I like the Wildcats to pull the upset.

5. Minnesota at Penn State
Line: Penn State by 15
Pick: Start of a tough 3-game stretch for Minnesota (at Ohio State, vs. Michigan State next) ... Penn State wins easily.

6. Ohio State at Purdue
Line: Ohio State by 14.5 (and rising)
Pick: Purdue couldn't beat Northern Illinois at home. Against Ohio State? C'mon. Buckeyes trounce the Boilers.

* changed for accuracy. Thanks, Micro-guy!