2011 opponent scouting - Week 1 schedule
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.
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.
August 30th, 2011 at 6:50 PM ^
except I kick back with the kids (teenagers). Extremely pumped about the start of the season.
August 30th, 2011 at 8:45 PM ^
Do you also have to explain to your wife why you're watching Toledo versus Bowling Green, or some other random MAC game on a Thursday night?
August 30th, 2011 at 8:48 PM ^
I do.
August 31st, 2011 at 8:26 AM ^
my wife cares nothing about college football so all games are equally worthless. I get no extra scorn for watching a random MAC game than for the National Championship.
August 31st, 2011 at 8:47 AM ^
My wife was a high school cheerleader and cheerleading coach but she still hates football. She gives me a hard time when I watch pretty much any sport on TV.
August 31st, 2011 at 10:27 AM ^
p yes sir
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
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.
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.
August 30th, 2011 at 5:25 PM ^
but in this case, i will say that Purdue is MTSU's cupcake.
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.
August 30th, 2011 at 5:46 PM ^
I will laugh if Eastern loses to Howard.
August 30th, 2011 at 6:13 PM ^
I will be sad if Eastern loses. When I looked up this schedule for the post, I honestly was surprised that Howard had a football team. I just assumed they were a basketball only school like Butler or Oakland.
August 30th, 2011 at 7:26 PM ^
said he had a big exam next week, so he might not show up.
August 30th, 2011 at 8:25 PM ^
http://www.butlersports.com/sports/m-footbl/index
Butler has a football team (I only know because I live here).
August 31st, 2011 at 4:48 PM ^
My gf is from Indy and her family are all big Butler fans. I've literally never heard them mention Butler football. Maybe they're overshadowed by the Colts.
August 30th, 2011 at 11:50 PM ^
Next week's oopponent, Alabama State, maybe, but not Howard. Howard is awful.
Of course, as I say that they will lose to Howard. I've seen EMU lose to a 1AA team before(Eastern Illinois) a loss in the first two games would not surprise me.
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.
August 30th, 2011 at 6:19 PM ^
Go Zips!
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.
August 30th, 2011 at 6:41 PM ^
Akron was one of the worst three teams in the FBS last year. It's going to be a bloodbath.
August 30th, 2011 at 8:59 PM ^
Not if Fickell plays TresselBall.
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?
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
August 30th, 2011 at 8:21 PM ^
She's not the one.
August 30th, 2011 at 9:10 PM ^
Haha the big debate will be what I do to tolerate all of the ND fans Ill be sitting with next weekend
August 30th, 2011 at 9:11 PM ^
I watched the last 2 Michigan/ND games in an irish pub with 99% ND fans.
Sometimes when you're on, you're really fucking on.
August 31st, 2011 at 8:37 AM ^
i live and am surrounded by ND fans .... there's nothing better* than wearing the maize and blue the day after a victory over ND
*except after beating State AND TSIO
August 30th, 2011 at 8:34 PM ^
Thanks for doing this. Keep it going all season.
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.
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.
August 31st, 2011 at 12:26 PM ^
Just to be clear - Wisconsin is not on our schedule this year. We will see them in the Big 10 championshp.
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.