#I think what the coaches did was so fucking dumb but this whole notion that Canada now has this massive upper hand is just entirely untrue

[justbackgroundnoise]

anyone who is still hung up on the Canada drone thing and continues to say Canada should have been kicked out of the Olympics because they have the “upper hand on all of their opponents” must not be people who have ever really played soccer, followed soccer, or are people who really understand how the game actually works. does the drone thing suck and is it so stupid that any coach would even try this? absolutely! but you can do all the prep in the world (in whatever that means) and it can ultimately be for absolutely nothing because soccer is a game of in the moment decisions and big emotions.

A soccer game is 90 minutes and it is unbelievable how much can happen and how much can change within even a fraction of that time frame. A player can get hurt and maybe a team’s star gets subbed out which leaves them without their number one goal scorer, someone gets two yellows or a straight red and a team goes down to ten men which changes how they attack and defend, someone decides they want to cross the ball to change the field of play but they give the ball directly to an opponent who gets a breakaway, a team can adjust their formation fifteen minutes into a match to account for pressure from attackers or a tight midfield that they didn’t anticipate, the goalie spills a ball and the other team scores on a rebound, etc. There is SO much happening and so much changing so quickly in a soccer game that this notion that Canada knows how to beat their opponents now because of “drone spying” is kind of silly. Yes it’s a team sport but players can make choices for themselves on the pitch that affect the game in ways no one but themselves can control or make up for and in this game things happen swiftly and unexpectedly most of the time. that’s just how soccer works.

I’m not making excuses for bad coaching and stupid choices and I’m glad the people directly responsible were penalized for it but don’t assume that because of all of that, the Canadian players have this incredible in depth advantage and can beat every team they play cause….that’s just not it lol

[annewithagee]

Let Anne Say (Part III)

Anne Shirley has never be one to throw swearwords around carelessly - but then again, we all slip sometimes.

She just really isn’t sure how to feel about the fact that whenever she does, Gilbert Blythe is there to listen.

Shirbert, Modern AU, dedicated to/blamed on @wilderwestqueen​

ff.net / AO3

"A fucking idiot, that's what I am!" she cried out with exasperation, tears still glistening in her grey-green eyes as she glared at her loyal friend, who had been trying so unsuccessfully to comfort her for the past quarter.

Gilbert could do little else than sigh wearily at the performance.

"You know this isn't true, Miss Highest-Score-On-The-Island-Last-Year," he said firmly, rubbing his temples, slowly losing hope that his reasoning could be of any help after all. "You made a mistake, and that's true; it could have been avoided and that is true as well. But for the last time, Anne, it doesn't make you a fool."

"Yes! Yes it does!" she objected instantly. "Oh, don't you understand anything?"

"I understand that you have accidentally put one customer's coffee on another customer's tray and then rushed towards their table with a speed of lighting as soon as you'd realised the mistake. You made it right long before either of those girls realised that there had been any mistake at all, not to mention that even if you hadn't, there would be next to no consequence – except maybe having to remake the order this once. Don't you think that maybe it's time to stop making it sound as if you'd killed someone in cold blood today?"

"You're impossible," Anne exclaimed again, burying her face in her hands, and nearly knocking her own tea with her elbow in the process. Gilbert reached out and moved the mug to a safer position, but said nothing. "And this whole situation is unbelievable. How can you not see that it was absolutely, entirely, doubtlessly my fault, all caused by my own cursed tendency to daydream? And that it shouldn't have been possible to even make such mistake, because the task was so silly, so simple. And goodness, Gil, consequences or not, can't you really see how stupid that makes me feel?"

For a few moments Gilbert did nothing but stared at her, carefully weighing his next words. His arsenal of good reasons was still quite well equipped, even with so many of them already presented to his miserable, slightly hysterical best friend. There were many things he could still tell her, remind her of: how she had been working in that shop for more than a month now and yet, it had been the first time when she'd made such a mistake; how the shop had been at its busiest, with students running in an out, ordering the strangest and most complicated drinks when she eventually had; how she herself had spent most of the preceding night studying, ending up with next to no sleep to keep her going through the day that followed after it.

And yet, knowing Anne Shirley as well as he did, Gilbert realised that none of those arguments would be of any meaning to her. She was too damn stubborn for them to be.

"Is that what you would say to me if the roles were reversed?" he asked suddenly, making her look up at him, surprised with this new approach. "Is that how you'd react if I had come here today and told you that I'd made such a mistake myself?"

Anne's eyes were round with shock when she said, "You know this isn't -"

"You know what, forget that," he interrupted her with a wave of his hand, taking her aback again. "You and I have argued enough times for me to imagine you actually saying something of the sort, so it doesn't really take us anywhere. But Diana? What about her? Would you treat her in the way you're treating yourself now?"

Anne took little time pondering over his question. As soon as she had comprehended the real meaning of it, she snorted impatiently, looking away with a scowl on her already wrinkled forehead.

"Well, first of all, Diana never would have made a mistake so dumb," she answered sharply, turning towards him once more to bestow another glare on his face. "The very notion is absurd, so I really don't think your example is a very good one."

"Alright then," Gilbert didn't give up. "What about Phil?"

"She might do something of this kind, I suppose; but I can hardly imagine her coming here to cry on my shoulder because of that. She's too strong – or too careless – to have a need for that."

"And you're not?"

"No!" Anne's voice was audibly higher this time, as she put down her mug with a clank, only narrowly avoiding spilling the beverage inside it on the table before her. "I'm not like her. I'm not used to people ignoring my mistakes thanks to a sweet smile I give them the next moment. I'm not having fun pretending I'm sillier than I am to appear more innocent or appealing. And I'm definitely not ready to take it calmly that my wit, my only good trait, turns out to be so much weaker that I thought it to be."

Silence fell on the room when she had finished her tirade, or at least this first, angry part of it. Gilbert, who had long ago learnt Anne's habits, knew that there was another part to come, probably even more serious than the one he'd just heard.

As impatient as he was growing, he knew he had to allow her to speak the rest whenever she choose to do so.

He watched her slump wearily and hide her face in her hands, his heart cracking with sorrow that mirrored the one that had so suddenly reflected on her. Careful not to startle her with his movement, he leaned forward and reached his hand to cover her wrist and hopefully drag it away from her face.

"I'm not Phil, Gilbert -" she said weakly a moment later, after she had eventually allowed him to do just that. "and I'm certainly not Diana, either. I'm me. Just me."

A sigh escaped Gilbert's lips, but he didn't let himself forget of the matter at hand. Easing his grasp on Anne's wrist, he slid his hand towards hers and covered it, giving her the little squeeze she undoubtedly needed. She looked up at him then; but it was clear she had no desire to speak anymore.

"Well, first of all, I really don't get that need to add the 'just' before talking about yourself," he said gently. "You're you, that's true; but it doesn't make you any worse than either of your unquestionably fantastic friends. And Anne, your wit really isn't any poorer than you think, as each of your tests and assignments confirms. Not to mention, there really is a lot more to you than your intelligence, you know."

She could hardly bring herself to do more than grumble at him. "Like what?"

"Like that incredible imagination of yours. No, Anne, you don't get to complain about it now, and even less so to blame that cursed coffee shop mistake on it. It is a gift; and like almost everything else, those also tend to be inconvenient at times." He fell silent for a moment, as if weighing his next words, even though he was perfectly sure of what he wanted to say. With a quick glance to her heavy bag that now lay in the corner of her room and the stacks of books that covered more than a few spots in it, he resumed, "You are hard-working and consequent, both in your studies and any other jobs you take upon yourself. You can be determined to the extend no one I know is -"

"I believe you meant to say stubborn, coach Blythe -"

"Even if, then it is in the utterly positive way," he refuted her argument easily, finally letting go of her hand and reaching out for her abandoned mug instead. "It made you catch up and outshine everyone at school and now it's pushing you to do the same here. And yet, even that isn't all. Because you know what else you are, Anne?"

"I can't wait to find out," she muttered under her breath.

"You are kind."

The look she gave him was full of disbelief at first, and was now starting to border with derisiveness as well. It was a look Gilbert had expected; he held it calmly, aware of how much depended on his own show of certainty, of his belief in what he was saying now.

"I'm under a strong impression you no longer know whom you're talking to, Gil," she grumbled eventually, taking her mug from him and resting her lips against its rim. "Either that, or you're just quoting some great motivational speeches without thinking; to be fair, I'd prefer the former to be the case. I would be severely disappointed to find you so utterly unprofessional."

"You can call me whatever you like, Carrots. You know that, unlike some people, I'm immune to name-calling, especially when done by you," he answered her lightly, before saying, "Now if you just let me do what I'm trying to do here, it would be greatly appreciated. Will you?"

"Will I what, exactly?"

"Will you humour me and answer the question I asked you before? About Diana?"

That request earned Gilbert another glare on Anne's part, but she did not protest this time. Swallowing the last of her tea she muttered a quiet "Fine," before she put the mug away and breathed in deeply.

"Okay," she spoke up eventually. "Assuming that by some great disturbance in the Force or another miracle Diana Barry actually managed to mix up her orders and serve the drinks to wrong consumers, and that she would care about such a mishap enough to come to me looking for comfort -"

"You know that she would -"

"In such case, I believe I would tell her to put it behind her and not to worry too much," Anne finished with a roll of her eyes. "I suppose I'd tell her that everyone can make a mistake and that it doesn't make her any less competent, especially as no real harm was done, and that, knowing how well-organised and skilled in the field she is – because honestly, I've never seen a barrister more talented than her – we really must agree that there was some external powers at work for her to make any mistake in the first place."

"Powers like a night spent with Shakespeare?" Gilbert suggested with a smile.

"I was thinking of witches and charms but I guess the Bard is closely enough related to those," Anne admitted with another roll of her big green-grey eyes.

"Good. Now pray tell me: why do those arguments are enough to justify Diana's error but not to justify yours?"

To that Anne had no ready response. She had expected the conversation to head that way, of course; she'd known what Gilbert's plan was all along and could not claim to be surprised by this final question of his.

And yet, she could not answer him, either.

Meanwhile, Gilbert went on. "Why can't you be kind to yourself in the same way you are to her? Why are you so unforgiving towards yourself when we both know how understanding you're always trying to be to everyone around you? They say you can't really go through life happy if you're not your own best friend – so why are you so determined not to be yours?"

For the first time that day Anne laughed quietly with a mischievous sparkle returning to her eyes once more.

"I suppose I'm too spoilt by having you and Diana occupy that post with such fervour," she admitted with a smile at last. "To be fair, I'm not even sure if I could beat you if I tried."

"Well, I dare say Di won't mind stepping down for such a noble cause," came Gilbert's ready answer. "And as much as I hate not coming in first, I certainly am used to you outrunning me by now. So? Do we have a deal, Miss Shirley, or should I really call Diana to support me in that final strive?"

"There's no need for that. At least, that's what my best friend thinks."

[groundramon]

Homph I finished tri and I wrote down my thoughts as I was watching because I had too many funny shitposts and nobody to share them with bc charlie hasn’t watched tri yet

PS i wont be reblogging tri spoilers (besides MINOR stuff like, digivolutions of already confirmed digivolution lines or non-spoilery shitposts, but I’ll try to tag shitposts as #tri spoilers anyways [digivolutions specific to tri ill tag as well but not ones that were already basically confirmed]) for a while so ur safe here!  I’m just gonna like everything/most things because then I can rb em to hisyaryumon lmao (also u should check out hisyaryumon....its me n charlie’s digimon blog)

EP 1:

- ok. alright. ok. good. they’re dealing with kari’s emotions now instead of just. nothing.  ok. alright. cool.  Still dont like how obscure/”artsy” they’re being with it, this is digimon not kagerou project, but ok.

- Also. I stand by tk and kari being one of the few good straight ships in digimon.  just saying.

- kari: this is my fault... me: god damn it shut up you little brat also me: god relatable ALSO me: ill take whatever display of emotions i can get

- I love how nobody believes tai is dead like.  They’re upset and worried but they’re also like “nah. he cant be. that fucking asshole just left us in our time of need” (actually only matt is the last one)

- Gabumon i would die for you also im crying and I think that’s the first time tri managed to make me fucking CRY

EP 2:

- I had thoughts but then the 02 kids happened and I entered another plane of reality.  I don’t feel real right now

- the only one I can remember is evil!gennai being a dumbass and being like “SUFFER AND SQUIRM YOU PATHETIC HUMANS AS YOU FIGHT OVER THE LAST SEAT” 1. humans are KNOWN for their ability to care for others you dumb obvious fuck and 2. is. is the entire tube going? because that tube can fit too people if they squish.  This isn’t a joke I’m serious it can.

- oh yeah also when i saw whomstever the fuck his name is (adult guy who i love but fuck names) and he was all bloodied i was like “its a cold day in hell when i see blood in digimon” (I think there was blood in an earlier ep but shh idc)

EP 3:

- didn’t nishijima start off as a fucking life coach to these kids.  What the fuck he was supposed to help them find a career not emotionally scar them by bloodily dying in front of one of them

- im realizing that the reason hackmon was always in his cloak, in the shadows, standing still is that they cannot animate him in any normal position for the life of him.  I drew him with better anatomy when i was 14 and didn’t have a tablet.  No seriously, look:

I didn’t say it wasn’t bad, you guys are just underestimating how bad the anatomy on this poor creature is.  Why cant ppl draw dracomon or hackmon correctly imma cry

- ordinemon has the best reaction faces

the best part about these two screenshots is that they literally cut one to the other, first the first one to the second one and then it cuts back to the first one.  They were really proud of these stupid ass expressions.

- I started overcoming my dissociation shock from the second episode and my hypercritical mind was analyzing the shit out of everything that happened (it is Not happy) but then evil!gennai called kari and evil goddess and idk if he’s exaggerating to make her feel bad or if she’s literally a fucking god of chaos and destruction and either way im like

she did kinda like.  Watch wizardmon die, watch tai die, watch gatomon get absorbed.  The dark ocean is just a metaphor for depression and honestly if 02 wasn’t all over the fucking place I think Kari would’ve had some pretty decent development in it.  Actually you know what, I’m using that as an angle to approach Tri at now, wish me luck bc i might actually give it more leeway now

EP 4:

- I’m not dissociating but I forgot to say anything again and I already forgot what happened

- Cant believe mei is fucking dead

EP 5:

- I like to imagine that Tai got there like a few minutes ago, but he was like “well damn guess yall figured it out without me.  alright ill just. see if I need to do anything” and then meicoomon was Still Bad so he waited for when she struck just to make the most badass entrance possible.  Fucking extra ass bitch

- I forgot to write anything again but uhhh I wasn’t satisfied so anyways lets just get into the Juicy Details

Originally I was actually planning to be kinder to Tri than I expected.  Was very invested during it.  ‘Round the end of the last ep I realized hmmm no this isn’t working out.  Where are the 02 kids.  You should’ve brought them in to save the day.  That would’ve been SO cool and SO fun.  Fucking cowards.

god I’m kinda tired so I’m going to address a couple things I still had problems with, note that this isn’t everything it’s just everything I felt comfortable yelling about without rewatching past eps.  Like I forgot nishijima was all bloodied and presumably died in the last part until they brought it up and I was like “????” ALSO DID THE LADY WHO WAS HIS PARTNER OR W/E KILL HERSELF WITH THE GUN SHE FOUND, I JUST REALIZED LITERALLY AS I WAS TYPING THIS THAT SHE FOUND A GUN AND THEN I THINK IT CUT TO BLACK AND I’M

DID SHE FUCKING KILL HERSELF WHAT THE FUCK

anyways my problems:

1. They did joe. really dirty.  I’ll write a more proper rant on this sometime later (mostly bc charlie is MUCH better at talking about joe than I am) but basically I can tell you that his character development in the movies squandered his OG character development.  He’s basically an entirely different person.  Like Tri joe isn’t bad, besides being largely neglected (yes he has a whole half a movie to himself, no that doesn’t make up for it all), its just...not OG joe.  He’s a fine character just not the same character, and its NOT fine when you put the two together.

2. THEY DID THE 02 KIDS EVEN DIRTIER IM SO BITTER sorry you nostalgia-blind, money-hungry fucks at bandai, but the 02 cast is PART OF THE ADVENTURES UNIVERSE.  The only people who hate 02 are ones who like the characters but hate the mess of the storyline at the end, or are completely irrational and elitist about their love of the digimon series and would greatly re-evaluate their opinions if they watched the original series and 02 back to back.  They couldn’t even show them in some kind of group montage at the end??? Standing in the background when they call Mei???  Why couldn’t they call mei from a home phone also, but that’s a less important problem idc that much.  It was a cute scene besides the lack of 02 characters.  Whatever.  AND THE PROBLEM IS LIKE kari and tk?  This entire time???  Were like “oh they disappeared. oops” instead of being frantically searching for their lost friends???  Like i get tk and kari probably have fucking ptsd and can’t express any emotions because they watched important people die in front of their eyes at an incredibly young age but also 1. they didn’t address the ramifications of ptsd, so fuck that theory/excuse and 2. THAT??? WOULD ONLY MAKE THEM LOOK HARDER??? and put on a brave face as they look, but inside they’re so scared and so worried.  Not just “oh sweet, they were found/saved, theyre in the hospital but that’s fine” like WHAT theyre fucking assholes if that’s what they’d canonically do lmao.  God I am SO bitter over the ENTIRE thing with the 02 kids, it would’ve been BETTER if they were deleted from the fucking canon entirely.  Would I have still been bitter?  Yes.  But at least I wouldn’t be madder at TK and Kari too.

3. I stand 100% by the notion that Digimon is not and will never be cut out to be an adults’ franchise.  It wasn’t designed for adults, and it can’t be skewered towards adults.  These particular characters were designed for kids to relate to and find entertaining.  They do not work when placed into an adult setting.  Like, can you imagine a character like Ed from FMA going to the Digimon world?  I guess in a way that’s just Marcus but like.  Just imagine the FMA cast in Digimon Adventure.  It doesn’t work.  Digimon Tri is basically that except real.  Also Data Squad was darker than Adventure so my joke doesn’t even work.

I guess my primary point is that Tri isn’t mature enough of a setup for an adult audience.  It puts a focus on being “complex” and “philosophical” instead of working within Digimon’s constraints and making something good and adult out of that.  Like!  Digimon is a fucking TOY COMMERCIAL.  Don’t give me messages about the futility of human life.  I want bad puns and emotional characters.  That’s what Digimon has ALWAYS been, and ideally always will be.  Tri could’ve made itself more mature by dealing with the ramifications of the Digital World’s events, how it affected the kids psychologically and dealing with healing old scars.  It would’ve been a more mature take on a story we loved and would use things we loved about the story already - the fact that it took so much time exploring characters’ emotions and was surprisingly mature for the time - to make itself better.  You need to take the aspects that drew adults to the show and amplify them, not just slap on a complex story and unfunny dialogue and be like “oh this is fine, right?”

It’s not that Digimon can’t exist as an adult property, its just that if it repeats what Tri did, it’s got no merit and in my eyes the franchise is dead.  If it survives I guess I’ll be happy that people can still enjoy it but I find it unsustainable and unsatisfying to fans of the older series.  Tri is just a fuckfest of highly specific nostalgia that tries too hard to appeal to old fans without capturing what made the original series so magical, and in part thats because the original series WASN’T FOR ADULTS.  I don’t know about the Digimon Story games, bc they’re T-rated so perhaps they’re a better take on an adult Digimon story than Tri?  But you either need to make your own characters and lore specifically for an adult-oriented Digimon season, or perish.  Also, please make it a series and not a group of movies.  Getting four eps every 6-9 months was hell.

I stand by saying Appmon is a more faithful Digimon season than Tri to Digimon’s original spirit.  I believe it holds more potential for success than Tri and better embodies the spirit of the older Digimon seasons.  It’s dumb, its corny, it has horrible puns, but I LOVE it because it also has a deep dark story and emotional moments.  If you dislike Tri and you agree with things I said that make it unlikeable, I highly recommend giving Appmon a chance - if you watch a few episodes and think “oh yeah, I guess this is decent” you’re going to like it.  It’s everything Digimon has always been and hopefully always will be, just with a different concept.  And hopefully the end of the series doesn’t leave a sour taste in my mouth and I have to redact this statement haha since I’m not done with it yet, but I’ve heard good things about it so I’m hoping not so.

Overall, if you watch Tri, don’t get your hopes up.  It resolves everything okay-ish but it’s a pretty forgettable anime on its own and simply doesn’t work as part of the Digimon franchise.

I am, however, pretty interested in what evil!gennai said at the end about Diaboromon and Daemon.  It raises interesting questions about the timeline too.  We know Daemon is in the dark ocean, so perhaps that’s a hint at a future project?  (They did confirm a future project btw, in conjunction with tri being over)  But what about Diaboromon?  I dont believe that Our War Game (I think thats what its called?) took place after Tri, based on the outfits and ages and stuff, but I also don’t remember the movies that well.  Could Diaboromon still be out there too?  It’s interesting.

However, because of the lackluster performance of Tri, I don’t have my hopes up and I really hope that this “next project” goes in a different direction.  Although I guess if they include the 02 kids, I’ll be somewhat less salty...

Side note, did they ever explain why the gennais went evil?  Like ?  That’s a pretty important thing.  The gennais helped SAVE the human world in 02.  And I get that apparently Tri is ignoring 02′s ending but still.  It’s shitty, because Gennai was still a good guy in the original too (and also they cant just keep is younger look and act like 02 never happened)  MAYBE its something I missed but I dont think so.  God there’s just.  So much wrong with Tri.  I’m very displeased and very bitter and I wanna get back to Appmon asap.

It’s got good moments, its got bad moments, I dont know, I don’t care.  There’s nothing wrong with you if you like it, there’s nothing wrong with you if you don’t, and there’s nothing wrong with you if you flip flop and are split like me.  I just wish Tri fulfilled its potential instead of becoming a boring mess.

[racingtoaredlight]

Degenerate’s guide to college football tv watch ‘em ups for week 10, 2018 season

Somehow there are a couple of HUUUUUUGGGGGEEE! matchups this week and the overall effect is still a complete waste of time trash set of games.

I love it and hate it all at this point. Rooting for a repeat national title for UCF. Of course, this Bama team is one of the best talent collections in football history but I still don’t want them to win anything.

You know the drill. Times are eastern. Lines are accurate per Vegas Insider at the time the post is written and will not be checked again before publishing. Advice is sketchy at best. All complaints are to be addressed to Dr. Soused Bergin, Toronto, Canada.

Saturday, November 3

Matchup                                             Time (ET)                     TV/Mobile

Air Force at Army                               12:00pm                       CBSSN

Air Force destroyed Navy earlier this year so a win here gets them the Commander in Chief Trophy. Go Zoomies.

Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan   12:00pm                 ESPN3

I doubt I’ll ever care about the MAC.

24 Iowa State at Kansas                       12:00pm                      FSN

Kansas is +15.5 at home against a team with only one more win than them. The Jayhawks are second in the country in turnover margin and feature one of the top players in the country for total yards. And I can’t stress enough how much you should put your money on Iowa State in this game.

Louisville at 2 Clemson                         12:00pm                      ABC

Two years ago at this time Louisville was a top 10 team with a soon-to-be Heisman trophy winner at QB and a close loss to eventual national championship winner Clemson the only blemish on their record. Now they’re a 38.5-point underdog against the same Clemson program, which somehow seems too low, and Bobby Petrino is probably going to get fired even with a $14 million buyout.

Memphis at East Carolina                      12:00pm                   ESPNU

Memphis has a lot more talent than their record would suggest. ECU does not. I’ve been burned too many times by Memphis this year, though, so take the Pirates at +11.5.

Michigan State at Maryland                    12:00pm                   ESPN2

This is really kind of gross feeling right now. If you watch this game make sure to report back on all the awkwardness from the announcers. There should be a lot.

Nebraska at 10 Ohio State                      12:00pm                     FOX

Scott Frost somehow has Nebraska in better shape than Louisville so that’s some sort of victory, right?

Oklahoma State at Baylor                       12:00pm                      FS1

Okie State is only a 6.5-point favorite. Is Baylor really going to have a decent team again within 2 years? That’s terrible. Go Cowboys. Beat that spread all to hell, please.

Rutgers at Wisconsin                               12:00pm                      BTN

Oddsmakers like Wisconsin to win 40-10 but they’re hardly any better than Rutgers at this point.

South Carolina at Mississippi                  12:00pm                    SECN

You will be hard pressed in your lifetime to find a game featuring more NFL talent that is less worthy of your time than this piece of shit.

19 Syracuse at Wake Forest                     12:00pm                RSN/ESPN3

Syracuse is ranked 19? What a stupid year this is.

20 Texas A&M at Auburn                           12:00pm                   ESPN

aTm at 20 isn’t much better than Syracuse at 19. This is a matchup of two of the better QBs in the country but the twist to that is that neither of them is really very good. Kellen Mond is OK. Jarrett Stidham is a stiff now, as he always has been.

Georgia Tech at North Carolina                12:15pm             Raycom Sports

I am absolutely dumb enough to watch a bit of this.

San Jose State at Wyoming                       2:00pm                    ATTSN

This is true degenerate football but it’s scheduled very weirdly. The over under of 38.5 is hilariously low and appropriate. I don’t know what happened to Wyoming this year but they are pure trash. SJSU is trash but they’ve been that way.

Texas State at Georgia State                      2:00pm                     ESPN+

You could convince me pretty easily that these schools don’t actually exist in the sense of having classes or students.

Georgia Southern at ULM                            3:00pm                    ESPN3

Georgia Southern is going to end up with a 12-1 record playing in a bowl game before Christmas. Not sure if I wish this was a 1-AA game or if I’d rather have all of D-1 be a single division (like it is in basketball.)

Marshall at Southern Miss                           3:00pm                   Facebook

Marshall has been one of the better group of 6 teams for a long time now but Southern Miss gave us NFL superstar QB Nick Mullens. So the Favres are better in the long run even if they’re losers in the immediate term.

South Alabama at Arkansas State               3:00pm                     ESPN+

There is no joy to be had in this drab expression of “football.”

Florida State at 21 NC State                          3:30pm                      ABC

FSU is at an interesting point where everything they do can make me laugh. They can live up to their talent level and win big or they can bicker and fall in on themselves like they normally do or they can get excruciatingly close and lose in heartbreaking fashion. I don’t see a downside here.

6 Georgia at 9 Kentucky                                3:30pm                       CBS

Georgia is favored by 9 and I think Kentucky is a mirage of a team but I also think the line is too high and I can’t quite explain my thought process there. THE ONLY PROCESS I NEED IS MY GUT!

16 Iowa at Purdue                                           3:30pm                      ESPN2

I think this matchup looks like fun. I might need to be committed.

Kansas State at TCU                                       3:30pm                       FS1

This game is a perfect metaphor for the Christian notion of purgatory.

Liberty at UMass                           3:30pm         11 Sports / NESN / WZBJ-24

Liberty is #4 in my teams I’m least likely to ever root for. Go Minutemen.

Louisiana at Troy                                            3:30pm                   ESPN+

It’s stupid that Troy’s teams are named Trojans instead of Horses.

Minnesota at Illinois                                        3:30pm                    BTN

This game is a perfect metaphor for the coming apocalypse.

Navy at Cincinnati                                           3:30pm                  ESPNU

Navy is bad this year but they might not be any worse than periphery of the top 25, 1-loss Cincinnati. The world is not orderly.

Tulane at USF                                                   3:30pm                 CBSSN

Is Charlie Strong any good as a defensive coach anymore? Did Texas just completely break him? Tulane is all scheme, no talent and they’re somehow only a 6-point dog on the road against USF. This is all very odd.

UTEP at Rice                                                     3:30pm                  ESPN3

This is an important game every year for recruiting. It’s hard to play in Texas and never find any good players but Rice and UTEP have made it an art form. Sure, UTEP has a rookie starting in the NFL this year but sometimes things but even the greatest masters don’t always get it right.

13 West Virginia at 17 Texas                            3:30pm                   FOX

If Texas is really BACK! they’ll lose this game by 40. 

22 Boston College at Virginia Tech                 3:45pm          Raycom Sports

Football actually sucks and here is my proof.

14 Penn State at 5 Michigan                             3:45pm                ESPN

In the interest of making football terrible for everybody as long as I’m hating it, I am rooting for Michigan to win out and make it to the playoffs. Even allowing that I don’t really want that for anything other than spite I’d still hope for a huge blowout win by the home team in this instance.

Alcorn State at New Mexico State                    4:00pm            AggieVision

Look at New Mexico State out here scheduling a 1-AA team in November like an SEC team.

Charlotte at Tennessee                                      4:00pm                 SECN Alt.

Tennessee is gonna lose.

Missouri at 11 Florida                                         4:00pm                   SECN

Florida is still Florida but the ranking doesn’t seem wrong because there are only a couple of actually good teams this year.

15 Utah at Arizona State                                     4:00pm                 Pac-12N

Utah could lose this and it wouldn’t be at all surprising even though there’s no logical reason for Utah to lose this game.

Appalachian State at Coastal Carolina              5:00pm                   ESPN+

It seems like only a week since Appalachian State was a top 25-ranked powerhouse.

Duke at Miami (FL)                                               7:00pm                  ESPN2

Mark Richt is playing some kind of long cruel joke on his alma mater. The only nice thing I have to say about Malik Rosier anymore is that he’s never lost to Duke. I half expect that to change this week.

 Houston at SMU                                                   7:00pm                  ESPNU

Ed Oliver probably isn’t going to play, which is a shame for watching Houston games but is good for him and his future earnings, but D’Eriq King and the Cougars offense has been going berserk all year. I don’t know about the -14 on the road but the o/u 71 seems like smart money.

UConn at Tulsa                                                     7:00pm                   CBSSN

Nobody likes football enough to watch this on purpose.

3 Notre Dame at Northwestern                            7:15pm                   ESPN

Maryland eventually listened to public outcry and fired their murderous head football coach but Notre Dame plays with a different set of morals. I’m still waiting for the Irish to unravel and bring some balance back to a world gone evil.

Florida Atlantic at FIU                                           7:30pm                Stadium

I always thought that in the long run Butch Davis would be the better hire between these two head coaches and looking at their current records the long run might have only been 18 months.

LA Tech at 18 Mississippi State                           7:30pm                 SECN

I don’t think anybody could guess the top 25 right now.

UCLA at Oregon                                                     7:30pm                 FOX

I’m interested to see the reception for Chip Kelly in his old haunts. Justin Herbert is probably sitting this one out so if you were planning to check this one out for his sake make other plans.

UTSA at UAB                                                           7:30pm      beIN SPORTS

Very solid weird football as counter-programming to LSU-Bama.

1 Alabama at 4 LSU                                                  8:00pm            CBS

Very obvious game of the week choice, might be the game of the year. Might be a platform for the Tide hype to kick into a ridiculous gear. Night games in Baton Rouge are often a bad time for the visitors but Bama’s whole thing this year is bombing the shit out of their opponents in the early going so if Tua is who we  want him to be and it’s 35-3 at the half then where do we go? Alabama has a tiny little bit of apparent vulnerability at this point but I’m not sure if LSU has what’s needed to exploit the defense. Ultimately I view this game as a way to gauge how sure I am that Clemson-Bama IV is going to happen in the CFP first round or in the championship game.

7 Oklahoma at Texas Tech                                       8:00pm             ABC

You’ve probably seen by now that this is a replay of the Most Big XII Game Of All Time. I watched the end of that game. I fucking hated it. The offenses didn’t look unstoppable except that the defenses didn’t look like they were even playing. This will probably be a lot like that but with worse QBs. Hurrah.

Stanford at Washington                                            9:00pm        Pac-12N

Weird set of circumstances that this game is mostly worthless in a national sense.

USC at Oregon State                                                10:00pm           FS1

It might be best for the long-term health of the USC program if they just go ahead and lose this game and fire Clay Helton now instead of waiting a few weeks to do it.

BYU at Boise State                                                    10:15pm         ESPN2

Not a bad blue field game. If Boise wins out they’ll be a top 25 team playing in a decent bowl game. That’s always entertaining.

San Diego State at New Mexico                               10:15pm          ESPNU

This is pretty good late night football.

23 Fresno State at UNLV                                           10:30pm          CBSSN

I am not seriously considering attendance for this which, in my defense, charts with writing about football as a TV entertainment.

California at 8 Washington State                              10:45pm          ESPN

Last year Washington State was a top 10 team playing Cal and they lost 37-3. So there’s no reason to think you know what the outcome should be in this game.

Utah State at Hawaii                                                    11:59pm       Spectrum

Utah State probably deserves a top 25 spot as things stand. This game is being televised by a cable provider instead of being on a channel that you can watch. I don’t really know how that works.