Week 1 upsets
So as the season kicks off tomorrow night are there any games this weekend that you think might be upset specials? Leaving the Bama game off the list any other games where upset looms large?
I like Auburn to beat Clemson with Clemson not having super-soph Sammy Watkins and still feeling West Virginias foot in their butt.
Wishful Thinking - Number two, you guessed it! BSU at MSU on Friday night. Yes at Sparty stadium, MSU Def is very good, and BSU lost almost everyone. Enter one of the best football coaches in the land Chris Peterson. This guy can coach and they will be ready, it happens every year. So much rests on the performance of Maxwell. I think its close and BSU wins a close one 20-16.
Any others???
August 29th, 2012 at 12:19 PM ^
NCSU over the Vols would be my actual guess.
August 29th, 2012 at 12:40 PM ^
No way. Tennessee is going to have a potent offense and with a new D-coordinator I think the Vols will surprise some folks this season.
August 29th, 2012 at 1:55 PM ^
Tennessee is overrated, and they just lost their best WR.
August 29th, 2012 at 3:26 PM ^
No one thinks Da'Rick Rogers is better than Justin Hunter. The only thing Da'Rick could do better was go over the middle for big 3rd down catches. Our new JuCo guy will be able to do that just fine, and we have better and bigger TEs now.
Tennessee hung with a lot of teams until the freshmen had to play in the second half last season--this year the freshmen are no longer freshmen. Expect Tennessee to hang with the SEC East's best.
August 29th, 2012 at 9:00 PM ^
August 31st, 2012 at 11:03 PM ^
Too much offense from Tennessee. No upsets here!
August 29th, 2012 at 12:18 PM ^
...tomorrow night? South Carolina at Vanderbilt. For some reason, that just reeks of an upset to me.
August 29th, 2012 at 8:57 PM ^
Agreed I'm betting the +220 moneyline.
August 29th, 2012 at 12:20 PM ^
I'd like to say Navy over ND as well, but I'm biased, so I don't trsut myself.
August 29th, 2012 at 12:26 PM ^
August 29th, 2012 at 12:29 PM ^
In Ireland, you have to give ND a huge homefield advantage. The crowd is going to be very loud and very biased against my poor Mids. Not that the Midshipmen aren't used to adversity. I like Navy for every other game they play, or at least give them a fighting chance, and I think we can beat ND too. But again, I think if I weren't being a homer, I'd say Navy pobably won't beat ND this year.
August 29th, 2012 at 12:34 PM ^
Maybe so but I'd still my money on the US Navy to take care of that "homefield advantadge bias" problem. What do the Irish boast? A few thousand drunken soccer hooligan with molitov cocktails and sticks.
We, on the other hand, bring this to the party
August 29th, 2012 at 12:35 PM ^
Nobody in Ireland gives a flying fuck about a college founded by French priests in Indiana. The crowd will be a few thousand rich ND alums who made the trip, a few locals with free tickets, and a bunch of folks disguised as empty seats.
If Navy can move/control the ball, they have a shot. The only worry I see is giving a team an entire offseason to prepare for the option instead of one week in the middle of the year. If ND is preared for it and not distracted by the vacation, things will be tougher. Either way I'll take the 15 points though.
August 29th, 2012 at 2:17 PM ^
Also, they are having joint exercises with the UK so there will be some navy ships anchored in Dublin, and crewman will be at the game. (But, half of those could root for ND as well. The typical navy crewman’s allegiance is not particularly strong for the naval academy.)
August 29th, 2012 at 1:00 PM ^
I wouldn't be so sure of that. My Irish grandmother loathed Notre Dame because no true Irish-Catholic school would hqave a French name. In addition, Ireland's younger generation has a rather large anti-Catholic group. Ireland leads the world in terms of growth rate for the athiest segement of its population. Those Catholic Church sex scandals had some really nasty fallout over there. My Irish relatives asked me to ship them Navy gear since they love football, but hate Catholicism these days. One of them was posting on Facebook how they ran some Domers out of a pub last night and was quite proud of it.
Basically the Catholic Church was really tightly ingrained in Irish society and that made the sex scandal a million times worse since it was like being betrayed by your best friend. Left some really, really, bitter wounds.
August 29th, 2012 at 5:38 PM ^
That's a really bizarre thought process. And the bar thing just seems dickish.
August 29th, 2012 at 1:58 PM ^
I have some Irish relatives, and they're appalled by Notre Dame's mascot.
August 29th, 2012 at 2:22 PM ^
I was wondering about that.
August 29th, 2012 at 3:45 PM ^
I spent some time in County Cork, and they simply didn't care about ND, college football, or this particular game in general. In fact, Speaking to some coworkers based there, there hasn't been much hoopla about it all (at least in County Cork... rival of Dublin's)
August 29th, 2012 at 11:58 PM ^
UCD grads--tended to scorn American ideas of Irishness, wanted nothing to do with St. Patrick's day (for example), when Dublin would fill with drunken American cops. I was surprised this thing was happening at all, but money talks. And Ireland and England have a few American football fans.
Hope Navy kicks their tail, of course.
August 29th, 2012 at 7:18 PM ^
August 29th, 2012 at 12:21 PM ^
Wishful thinking?
August 29th, 2012 at 12:23 PM ^
August 29th, 2012 at 12:33 PM ^
^^^ This.
Illinois has a completely new coaching staff with a team that had problems last year. There is only one Brady Hoke.
Good chance for a program like WMU to chalk up a win against the B1G.
August 29th, 2012 at 12:53 PM ^
in the state of Michigan. Just ask the reporters in Kalamazoo.
http://www.annarbor.com/sports/um-football/western-michigans-alex-carde…
August 29th, 2012 at 12:58 PM ^
Meh, Cubit can't coach his way out of a paper bag. I saw his squads up close multiple times a year, and they can't get the big win to turn the program into a consistent MAC contender. They may beat Illinois, but this Illini team is coached by the same guy who would frequently make the Broncos their whipping boys in Toledo.
August 29th, 2012 at 2:03 PM ^
Beckman's Rockets only played Cubit's Broncos 3 times. The first time he lost by 32 and the last 2 times he won by a combined 16. I hardly seeing that as "making the Broncos their whipping boys."
While I admit I'm not the biggest fan of Cubit and think he sometimes makes idiotic decisions, he took over a sorry excuse for a program and regardless of what you think you saw, he has indeed turned WMU into perennial contenders in the MAC and a team that has shown it can take down, or at least compete with, lower tier BCS conference foes.
August 29th, 2012 at 2:21 PM ^
August 29th, 2012 at 2:43 PM ^
Yeah, the Broncos have always stuck around 2nd or 3rd in the West, but they've always had the potential and have been in the position to get to the MAC championship game most years of his tenure.
Like I think you were kinda getting at (albeit in a way that degraded Cubit's accomplishments) , is that it's safe to say that Cubit has overperformed from what the expectations of Western used to be, but with the talent he's been able to bring in and develop, he's underperformed in conference play.
That being said, I think Illinois gets the win, but you can't count out the chance of another Bronco upset.
August 29th, 2012 at 12:24 PM ^
Boise State I'm actually conflicted about. I believe a rivalry is a rivalry because you hate the other guy, and it's impossible to wish them well. So I can't root for Sparty. On the other hand it will reflect poorly on the conference if State loses, so I can't in good faith root for either side. I'll watch it, of course. I'll just be unhappy no matter the outcome. Or happy. Depends on my mood.
August 29th, 2012 at 12:27 PM ^
August 29th, 2012 at 12:32 PM ^
Normally, I would agree. But it's not like Boise State=Appalachian State, even without Kellon Moore. We're not going to get the same mileage lording a loss over them. Appalachian State belongs in a seperate, miserable category of its own, that only Virginia Tech and Ole Miss, to my knowledge, can truly appreciate.
So for pure Shadenfreude purposes, I agree. But I don't know...
August 29th, 2012 at 12:47 PM ^
How the hell did you let Sparty fans lord that over you when we did this to them later that season?
August 29th, 2012 at 1:29 PM ^
August 29th, 2012 at 2:30 PM ^
August 31st, 2012 at 7:09 PM ^
is teh fact that they actually play them in Mt Pleasant next week. WTF... on the road to a MAC team? You've truly arrived Sparty!
August 29th, 2012 at 12:28 PM ^
You are absolutely right. Look at the beating the SEC received after Boise beat UGA in Atlanta. Boy, I wouldn't want that to happen to my conference.
August 29th, 2012 at 12:24 PM ^
In fact, I believe this so much so, I think that MSU winning would be an upset. I don't care how many players Boise lost -- Peterson knows what he's doing.
August 29th, 2012 at 12:31 PM ^
August 29th, 2012 at 12:56 PM ^
That's pretty bold. I wonder how many times "F you" will be yelled towards you and your son.
August 29th, 2012 at 12:58 PM ^
August 29th, 2012 at 1:01 PM ^
If so, you will absolutely get on TV and I would wager sports center as well. You might even get mentioned in subsequent press coverage. This is worth the risk.
August 29th, 2012 at 1:03 PM ^
August 29th, 2012 at 6:42 PM ^
August 29th, 2012 at 12:43 PM ^
August 29th, 2012 at 1:23 PM ^
It's not likely, but Clemson's defense did get ripped for 70 points in their bowl game, so it's not impossible.
August 29th, 2012 at 2:11 PM ^
August 29th, 2012 at 3:14 PM ^
Venables is a good DC, but Oklahoma also gave up 41 to Texas Tech, 45 to Baylor, and 44 Ok St. last year. He has also only been coaching since '93, and has had zero NFL experience. Comparing him to Mattison is quite the stretch.
August 29th, 2012 at 10:30 PM ^
August 29th, 2012 at 12:49 PM ^