2011 opponent scouting - Week 1 schedule

Submitted by Mitch Cumstein on

Here are the week 1 games for our 2011 opponents (all times are EST):

 

Thursday Sep. 1

UNLV @ Wisconsin*, 8 PM, ESPN ESPN3

Friday Sep 2

Youngstown State @ MSU, 7:30 PM, BTN

Saturday Sep 3

Akron @ Ohio (state), 12 PM, ESPN ESPN3

Northwestern @ BC, 12 PM, ESPNU

Middle Tennessee @ Purdue, 12 PM, BTN

Tennessee Tech @ Iowa, 12 PM, BTN

South FL @ Notre Dame, 3:30 PM, NBC

Minnesota @ USC, 3:30 PM, ABC ESPN2 ESPN3

Arkansas State @ Illinois, 3:30 PM, BTN

Chattanooga @ Nebraska, 3:30 PM, none listed

Howard @ Eastern Michigan, 7 PM, none listed

Cal Poly @ San Diego State, 10 PM, none listed

 

2011 opponents are in bold text.

*Potential 13th opponent in B1G championship game

 

Mostly cupcakes in week 1 per usual.  I would say out of this entire list the Minnesota game intrigues me the most, although it will be on at the same time as our game, so I will probably not catch very much of it (those of you with dual TV setups are in luck).  In the 12pm Saturday slot I will probably watch the NW game.  They face a historically decent BCS opponent on the road.  Might also be interesting to check out the OSU game to see how the offense rolls with the new QB. 

What games will you be watching?

If anyone finds the TV listings for the games missing please pass that information along.

elaydin

August 30th, 2011 at 4:54 PM ^

I'm sure it'll end up sucking, but I can't wait to watch the Thursday Wisconsin game, simply because it's college football.  Also, I love putting the kids to bed, kicking back and watching football on a Thursday night.

switch26

August 30th, 2011 at 4:54 PM ^

there are a lot of games i want to watch saturday, but ill be at the game which will make up for it

BlueDragon

August 30th, 2011 at 4:58 PM ^

How many season openers must they sacrifice to USC?  UNLV seems to love getting beaten up again and again by Wisconsin for some reason.  NW and ND have the most relatively even matchups out of the bunch.  I'll probably hang out in the local sports bar for awhile and watch ten of these games at once.

jcgold

August 30th, 2011 at 5:14 PM ^

I want to see Braxton Miller play a series for Ohio.  Other than that, I'll be switching between all big ten games.

Angry that Oregon/LSU and Boise St./Georgia are at the same time.  We need to bring back pre-season kickoff week.

EDIT:  In addition, the Nebraska game will be on BTN and San Diego St will be on the MTN.  Not Suprisingly, the Eastern game will not be televised.

LSAClassOf2000

August 30th, 2011 at 5:28 PM ^

I'll be at a certain  game on Saturday, of course, but I imagine I will at least watch a quarter or two of the Wisconsin and MSU games because I will have nothing going on during both timeframes unless my wife says otherwise, in which I will vacuum with a live feed on the desktop machine. 

omg_shiirtless

August 30th, 2011 at 6:16 PM ^

I know they won't win, but I think it'll be very interesting to see how close Akron can play Ohio State. I think Ohio State has the potential to be mediocre this year.

WolverineHistorian

August 30th, 2011 at 6:35 PM ^

I think it might be interesting for half a quarter.  But eventually OSU starts rolling over the Zips.

Akron is coming off a 1-11 season.  They squeaked out a win over a 10 loss Buffalo team in their final game to avoid going winless.  Their defense gave up an average of 35 points a game...which is still better than what we did on defense.

I think OSU will start a little slow but eventually get a rhythm going and win by 40 points or so.  Then their fans will pound their chests and claim to be on their way to the conference title.

WolverineHistorian

August 30th, 2011 at 6:28 PM ^

The first game of the year is always fun to watch (despite being a terrible matchup) because of the feeling you get knowing that college football is back. 

This is the 8th time Wisconsin is playing UNLV since 1996.  Are they trying to start a rivalry or something?

triangle_M

August 30th, 2011 at 6:33 PM ^

I'll be in BFE, North Carolina, helping my gf's family clean up Irene. No internet and none of the bars have BTN so I'm pretty much screwed for the game.

C'est la vie.

bluewave720

August 30th, 2011 at 6:52 PM ^

I mean, it doesn't really matter from the standpoint of being ready for football.  University of Illinois-Chicage could be playing ESU (the football team from "The Program") and I'd still be watching.

Edit:  I didn't see the asterisk, my bad.  

cjffemt

August 30th, 2011 at 7:08 PM ^

I think the most intriguing game from those listed above will be ND USF.  Skip hotltz will have those boys ready to play.   We will see if ND is looking ahead to the night game next week!

WolvinLA2

August 30th, 2011 at 7:58 PM ^

Anyone else in Vegas this weekend who wants to meet up for the game?  We're going for my wife's birthday but I'm sending her to the spa for her "gift" on Saturday and I'll be in the sportsbook.  If someone wants to meet up, let me know.

cincywolverine88

August 30th, 2011 at 8:14 PM ^

Got the girlfriend I am living with now who is an ND grad and huge football fan, splitting time between the ND game and Michigan will be tough....even tougher might be the fact I am sitting with ND alum next weekend. 

 

PurpleStuff

August 30th, 2011 at 9:23 PM ^

I want to see if Darrell Scott can get some carries against ND and the Wisconsin game could be interesting since it always seems like they are involved in an early season 21-19 type game, no matter how good they end up being on the season as a whole.

SalvatoreQuattro

August 30th, 2011 at 11:58 PM ^

 In 2005 I went to the ND-UM game and the Eastern-Louisiana Lafayette game. The teams I was cheering for went 1-1. I think everyone here knows who lost that day.

Still, it was a blast. If I could get a ticket for the night game this year I would do it again.Alas, I do not have $300.

Mitch Cumstein

September 1st, 2011 at 4:09 PM ^

I wasn't incredibly stoked about it when I started this thread, but now that I'm getting antsy for the Michigan game this weekend I will definitely watch whatever football I can find tonight.