#also ucla did beat uconn last year and no one talks about that

[patellatubbies]

i’m also going to say something controversial which is that uconn could well end up w the natty at the end of the year, but they just haven’t had a strong enough schedule yet to be #1 over a team that beat the #1 ranked returning undefeated national champions by TWENTY.

uconn lost 2 of their best players last year and even though azzi is back from injury, it could still take her the rest of the season to get up to full strength. paige is amazing and so are a ton of others on that team, but they can’t get #1 on reputation alone when there’s so much parity this year

[fruitbasketball]

thoughts on the bracket?

Y’ALL KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS

okay so i might be him bc my final four is still the same i got:

UConn

UCLA

South Carolina

Texas

ALBANY 1 - i think obviously albany 1 is the hardest to get through. you’re looking at a bracket with south carolina, who is absolutely untouchable - but we know that from last march, that might not stay true.

that being said, i don’t see south carolina experiencing an upset before the final four. dawn run that shit like that navy bro - that is a team whose talent and discipline run deep.

that being said, notre dame has been tough this season, even without olivia miles. oregon state has recently been really holding their own, but my teams to watch are oklahoma and fairfield for upsets. i honestly do see indiana making an early exit from the tournament, but who knows!

ALBANY 2 - rebecca lobo might be onto smth here saying this is the hardest region. if you’re not iowa, ucla, or lsu, this region is a fucking nightmare. even if you are one of those teams, this region is a fucking nightmare.

the reason i have ucla in the final 4 is because both lsu and iowa have the huge potential to choke. ucla has also just been a very good fundamental team this year. they’re just a more polished team than lsu, and while i don’t think they’re more polished than iowa, i think they have the power to shut them down defensively in the way ohio state did their first matchup. they have very solid pieces in charisma osborne, kiki rice, and of course, lauren betts.

obviously, i’d still keep an eye on kansas state, but i would also look out for princeton with a great court presence in kaitlyn chen, as well as wvu, who had a really strong start to the season.

PORTLAND 3 - this vanderbilt columbia play in is going to be the most interesting thing to me in the beginning stages of the tournament. vandy isn’t a perennial powerhouse by any means, but they’re housing a slam? all american in justine pissott, but i haven’t heard from them at all this year. columbia’s got a serious threat in abbey hsu, so that should be a really nice matchup to watch.

y’all already know who i’m riding for out of here, but i’m serious when i say march madness p is a whole different beast. for those of y’all who just started watching, you’re not fuckin ready bro. you’re not ready. that’s why i have such confidence that they can beat socal.

y’all remember 2021 baylor right? yo that was a STACKED ASS TEAM. didi richards, dijonai carrington, nalyssa smith, queen egbo - and paige made the bubble her bitch. that sweet 16 rematch is definitely scary, but paige doesn’t like to make a habit of losing to the same team twice in a row (unless that team is south carolina). ohio state only beat us without paige. they’re not fuckin ready for this shit bro.

PORTLAND 4 - TEXAS FUCKING FIGHT BABY Y’ALLLLLLLLLLL TALK TO ME SO FUCKING NICE BRO. Y’ALL SEE THAT 1 SEED RIGHT?? Y’ALL SEE THAT SHIT TOO??? yeah stanny WIN YOUR CONFERENCE AND MAYBE YOU’D GET A 1 SEED TOO LMFAOOOOOOO

nah but real talk we just cannot stop making stanford our bitch

lemme brag on my school real quick: we had a team in the cfp, BACK TO BACK vball nattys, and both our teams in the ncaa tourn - and one of them is a 1 seed.

and because we’re just so good at making stanford our bitch? i’m not fuckin worried about a fuckin pine tree bro fuck outta here

that said, i’d keep my eyes on nc state and tennessee in this region, they’re bound to stir some shit up for sure

anyway, that’s it for now!!!! i’ll see y’all soon, and happy march 😈😈😈😈😈

[racingtoaredlight]

The degenerate’s guide to college football TV watch ‘em ups, 2019 season, week 2

Now do you want to read about college football or do you want to listen to your wildest fantasy of Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theories in a podcast format? If you answered “college football” then click to read more! If you want to listen to an incredible podcast that will feed your absolute worst inclinations towards nihilistic disillusionment then click right here! True Anon is really all I’ve ever wanted in a left-leaning shitfest. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Now for the football. Hell, the CIA is behind this shit, too. The highlight of the week for me is the line on the Bammers game. No way Saban holds up his end of that bargain. Why the fucking hell is there even a line on that shit?

If you’ve read this nonsense before you know the drill. If not, the times are eastern, the schedule is ripped from FBSchedules and the gambling informatics are per Vegas Insider dot com. Degenerate football can alternately mean football that you only pay attention to for purposes of gambling or the low-level, barely FBS, preferably late night types of games that play for stadium crowds in the hundreds and TV audiences in the dozens. It doesn’t have to be college ball, the UFL is my true ideal of football degeneracy. If you gambled on that you are my target audience. Onward and downward we go.

Saturday, September 7

Matchup                                                                   Time (ET)        TV/Mobile

Ohio at Pitt                                                                11:00am            ACCN

Wow. What a special game. It’s got a one hour headstart and for what? Goddamn is this trash. Why is ACCN not just an extra ESPN channel? SECN and Longhorn Network are just parts of the ESPN app but ACCNe is just off by itself inaccessible to 90% of the country.

Southern at Memphis                                              12:00pm  WMC-TV / ESPN3

There’s no line on this game so just check on it to see what’s going on with Memphis. They beat their secret rival The Racist South last week but scoring less than 20 is weird for them.

Rutgers at 20 Iowa                                                    12:00pm              FS1

This being a conference game is funny. Maryland and Rutgers being in the B1G is funny. And stupid. Mostly stupid. But that’s why it’s funny. Take Iowa even at -19 because it’s Rutgers.

West Virginia at Missouri                                          12:00pm           ESPN2

Speaking of dumb conference stuff, both of these teams belong in the Big 12. That’s the true spirit of college football and it’s completely akilter. Is Mizzourah the good offense out of these two now? Everything is wrong. I wouldn’t touch a 14-point line in either direction here but over 62.5 seems worthwhile.

Vanderbilt at Purdue                                                   12:00pm            BTN

These are the same team but one has Rondale Moore. Otherwise there is no difference.

UAB at Akron                                                               12:00pm          CBSSN

I don’t like the beloved CBS Sports hosting a MAC team even if they are hosting UAB. Why did the o/u drop from 55 to 46 over the course of the week? That’s odd. I’d have to check with our dear president but I don’t think Ohio is in the path of any hurricanes.

21 Syracuse at Maryland                                             12:00pm          ESPN

From the bottom of my Georgetown-born, VA-burbs raised heart I hate everything about this game. I would love to see Syracuse lose even if it means Maryland winning. The odds have flipped crazily from opening Syracuse -5 to now having Maryland -1.5. Take the turtles.

Army at 7 Michigan                                                      12:00pm           FOX

I saw ESPN talking up Army last night so go all in on Michigan to beat the ever-living piss out of the troops. -22.5 is nothing.

Bowling Green at Kansas State                                 12:00pm            FSN

Good lord, no.

Charleston Sou. at South Carolina                            12:00pm          SECN

This is cancelled, right? If not pound the under.

Cincinnati at 5 Ohio State                                           12:00pm           ABC

Cincinnati sucks but count on Fickell to make an Ohio State University look bad one more time. Bearcats +16, book it.

Kennesaw State at Kent State                                     12:00pm        ESPN3

I think Kennesaw is the Welsh version of the British Kent. I could be wrong about that but who cares?

Old Dominion at Virginia Tech                                     12:00pm        ESPNU

VPISU should be better by now. I’m wrong a lot but it’s possible I was really wrong about Justin Fuente. Betting on ODU sounds like a bad idea but I fully endorse it.

Western Carolina at NC State                                       12:30pm          RSN

There is no reason to bet on a game like this. This is practice.

NIU at 13 Utah                                                                 1:00pm         Pac-12N

I could be wrong but off the top of my head I don’t think Utah usually covers in the first four weeks of the season. This is a guess you can use in your gambling.

Fordham at Ball State                                                     2:00pm         ESPN3

Blocks of Granite for the win. Book it.

USF at Georgia Tech                                                       2:00pm          ACCN

By my count Georgia Tech covered last week against Clemson. USF just hung out in a trash can for 60 minutes. Yet the Bulls are favored here. Charlie Strong was once a hot commodity that programs all over the country coveted. Hindsight is absolutely hilarious.

Tennessee Tech at Miami (Ohio)                                    2:30pm          ESPN+

There’s no line but I’m loading up the wagon for the Golden Eagles. This is the big auto mechanics school, right?

Southern Illinois at UMass                               3:30pm     FloSports / NESNplus

I, uh, guess, uh... Don’t watch this under any circumstances. Pack a cyanide pill if you must.

Southern Miss at Mississippi State                                3:30pm         ESPNU

This is an appealing bit of misery but there’s no chance I watch it. Miss State -16.5 seems crazy against anybody. I think.

12 Texas A&M at 1 Clemson                                             3:30pm          ABC

This is statistically expected to be Clemson’s toughest game and they’re still favored by 16.5. The money looks to be going towards aTm but I can’t shake the notion that Clemson is going to absolutely maul them from the get go.

Central Michigan at 17 Wisconsin                                    3:30pm         BTN

I don’t trust Nick Saban to do what’s right by gambling folk but Wisconsin is different. If they don’t humiliate undermanned opponents that means they are a bad team. -35 is the kind of line you see when the Badgers go for 80+.

Charlotte at Appalachian State                                          3:30pm       ESPN+

You’re on your own with this one.

Eastern Illinois at Indiana                                                   3:30pm        BTN

See: Charlotte at Appalachian State.

Grambling State at Louisiana Tech                                    3:30pm      NFLN

Is there a way to make a throwback game between Doug Williams and Terry Bradshaw take place here?

Illinois at UConn                                                                   3:30pm    CBSSN

Oh, come the fuck on.

25 Nebraska at Colorado                                                      3:30pm     FOX

The two Big 8 programs that benefited most from 5th downs are facing off on national TV representing the B1G and Pac-12. That’s horrible. Nebraska being a top 25 team but also being favored by only -4 against this version of Colorado is what is known as a paradox.

Richmond at Boston College                                             3:30pm  ACCNE xtra

No line. What cowardice.

Murray State at 3 Georgia                                                    4:00pm    ESPN2

Pound the under.

UTSA at Baylor                                                                     4:00pm       FSN

Go UTSA. We’re all rooting for you.

Western Illinois at Colorado State                                      4:00pm     ATTSN

Man, this is all trash. Not even the good kind.

New Mexico State at 2 Alabama                                          4:00pm      SECN

The predicted score by way of gambling is Bama 60, NMSU 5. Saban is pulling his starters in the second quarter, though, so put a buck or two on New Mexico State just for the hell of it.

San Diego State at UCLA                                                     4:15pm   Pac-12N

This is Pac-12 After Dark/CBS Sports fodder playing in the sunlight. Both teams might explode, literally.

Northern Colorado at 22 Washington State                       5:00pm  Pac-12WA

Pac-12 Washington? That’s a channel? Washington State lookd good in week 1 so hit the over (63) and see what happens.

ULM at Florida State                                                             5:00pm      ACCN

Oh, Willie. Poor, poor Willie. Why, Willie, why? Monroe +22 looks pretty good to me.

Gardner-Webb at East Carolina                                           6:00pm     ESPN3

Yeah, buddy, now we’re into it. If this game happens. I think it’s not happening. But if it does? Man, oh, man. You know what I mean.

Maine at Georgia Southern                                                  6:00pm     ESPN+

Why would you think Eagles could beat Black Bears? That’s crazy.

North Carolina A&T at Duke                                            6:00pm   ACCNE xtra

Let’s go A&T, beat the devil.

South Dakota at 4 Oklahoma                                               7:00pm   FS PPV

What lunatics are paying for this? You should feel ashamed.

Jackson State at South Alabama                                         7:00pm   ESPN+

Lots of bodybag games, even at the lower levels. I hate it.

Wyoming at Texas State                                                        7:00pm   ESPN+

Kind of beautiful but you’ll probably have to squint to see it.

WKU at FIU                                                                             7:00pm    ESPN+

Get your shit together, Butch. Now. Stop embarrassing me.

18 UCF at Florida Atlantic                                                     7:00pm   CBSSN

Oh, now this - THIS! is what CBS Sports is great for. What a shitty game that I love like a long lost child.

Tennessee State at Middle Tennessee                                7:00pm   ESPN3

Too Tall U vs. MTSU is cool in a way but it won’t be a fun thing to watch.

North Texas at SMU                                                               7:00pm   ESPN3

Spencer is visiting ms621 and my people are expecting a lot of scoring in this one with the lawyers coming out on top. /suggestive eyebrow raises

McNeese at Oklahoma State                                                 7:00pm   ESPN+

Chuba Hubbard should get about 8 touches so watch early if you’re watching at all.

 Furman at Georgia State                                                        7:00pm   ESPN3

Man, this is a long list of boring crap.

Eastern Kentucky at Louisville                                          7:00pm  ACCNE xtra

Other than the 24 fumbles I thought Louisville looked pretty good last week. Not enough to tune in for a minute of this but maybe they can fine tune some of the difficult football activities like “snapping the football” and “holding the football close to your body” or “handing the ball to the running back” against Eastern Kentucky and then when they pop up against Clemson later on it’ll be worth watching.

Coastal Carolina at Kansas                                                   7:00pm   ESPN+

Les Magic: Kansas is favored to start the year 2-0. Not by a lot, mind you.

BYU at Tennessee                                                                   7:00pm   ESPN

Nobody tell Bergie but I’m rooting for the Mormons here. Gotta go for what makes the most people feel the worst about sports.

Tulane at 10 Auburn                                                                7:30pm   ESPN2

Is Auburn rising in the polls enough to make me bet against them at home -17 vs. Tulane? It sure is. Auburn is just as chaotic as LSU but not as funny about it.

UT Martin at 11 Florida                                                          7:30pm  ESPNU

Fuck the Gators, man.

Western Michigan at 19 Michigan State                              7:30pm     BTN

Sparty, too.

Arkansas at Mississippi, Oxford                                         7:30pm   SECN

I am on a descent into hell here.

Buffalo at 15 Penn State                                                       7:30pm     FOX

If Notre Dame is next I’m hanging up on this post.

Eastern Michigan at Kentucky                                             7:30pm   SECN Alt.

Whew. Hill people that can only intermittently football. That is a huge relief right now.

Liberty at Louisiana                                                              7:30pm     ESPN+

Fuck the Falwells, and not in a good way.

6 LSU at 9 Texas                                                                    7:30pm      ABC

There is one ironclad rule in college football gambling: never bet on an LSU game. Those who fail to heed this rule will never see longterm winnings. Oddsmakers keep pushing the line towards LSU and I agree wholeheartedly that’s where the expectations should reside but would you be even sort of surprised to see LSU blow this entirely and lose? No, you would not. Neither would I.

Nevada at 16 Oregon                                                           7:30pm     Pac-12N

Oregon is favored by 24 and my very cursory impression of these two is that Nevada is a straight up better team than the Ducks. Granted, I’m really bad at this, but that +24 looks like easy money.

Stony Brook at Utah State                                                   7:30pm   Facebook

Not even a great QB talent is worth going on facebook.

Miami (FL) at North Carolina                                               8:00pm     ACCN

Pound the damn under. Also, ESPN talking heads are all on the UNC to upset train so put whatever money you have set aside for this contest on the Hurricanes. 

Prairie View A&M at Houston                                              8:00pm     ESPN3

That one good recruiting class is mostly a memory for Houston at this point but they’ll still be fun to watch once D’Eriq King and Dana Holgorsen get on the same page.

UTEP at Texas Tech                                                              8:00pm       FSN

Wasn’t Texas Tech supposed to run the ball more this year? One week in they’re leading the country in passing. Maybe they ran the ball more and it still wasn’t very much.

Tulsa at San Jose State                                                      9:00pm      ESPN3

This is the kind of game that should be played in a prison yard.

Arkansas State at UNLV                                                      10:00pm  Facebook

This is the kind of game that shouldn’t be played.

California at 14 Washington                                               10:30pm      FS1

I do believe I’m the span of this game away from getting fully on board with UDub rolling the Pac-12 again. The only team with similar talent, as far as I have seen, is USC. But there are a long list of other issues with USC.

Minnesota at Fresno State                                                  10:30pm  CBSSN

This is the kind of stupid game I love but I think I’ll be watching Pennywise the Dancing Clown at this point.

23 Stanford at USC                                                               10:30pm    ESPN

USC should just fire Clay Helton now, win or lose.

Northern Arizona at Arizona                                                10:45pm   Pac-12N

It would be very Pac-12 of Arizona to lose this game.

Oregon State at Hawaii                                   11:59pm     Spectrum / Facebook

I guess facebook is there to scoop from the most bootlegged team in college football’s illegal audience but I still hate it. Hawaii playing at home two weeks in a row means pound the over even at 77.5. It’s not like Oregon State plays defense, either.

[junker-town]

7 times Duke haters got to celebrate Coach K’s failure

The haters love it when Coach K and Duke come up short.

The most visible coach in college basketball is finally hanging it up. Mike Krzyzewski has announced that the upcoming 2021-2022 season will be his final year leading the Duke Blue Devils before he retires. Duke has reportedly tabbed assistant Jon Scheyer as the program’s coach-in-waiting, ending speculation on who will replace Coach K before it even begins.

College hoops simply won’t be the same without Coach K. Duke has been the sport’s most dominant program since Krzyzewski was hired in 1980. He enters his final season with five national championships, 12 Final Four appearances, and 1,170 career wins — the most in the history of men’s college basketball.

College basketball fans couldn’t get away from Duke over the last three decades as the program rose to prominence behind Coach K. Duke was the team constantly getting talked about on ESPN, and annually playing in big tournament games. The coverage of Duke felt overwhelming to fans of any other teams, and that had a way of bringing people together.

With Coach K at the helm, Duke became college basketball’s universal villains. The Blue Devils might have won more than any other program under Krzyzewski, but the very nature of college basketball meant they also suffered a lot of high profile losses that were widely celebrated by the haters.

As Coach K calls it quits, we wanted to look back at the program’s biggest moments of failure.

Losing to Mercer in the first round of the NCAA tournament

The 2014 Blue Devils were supposed to do big things in the NCAA tournament. Duke was led by Jabari Parker, the top freshman forward who was about to become the No. 2 overall pick in the NBA draft. Duke also had future NBA players Rodney Hood and Quinn Cook, as well as a terrific role player in Amile Jefferson. No one could have predicted the No. 3 seed would drop its first game to No. 14 seed Mercer, but that’s exactly what happened.

After the champions of the Atlantic Sun pulled off upset, one of their players did the Nae Nae dance at center court. This moment was like the best Christmas morning ever for people who hate Duke:

Losing to Lehigh in the first round of the NCAA tournament

Two years before Mercer shocked Duke in the first round, it was was Lehigh who pulled off a shocking upset of the Blue Devils. Duke entered the 2012 NCAA tournament as a No. 2 seed with championship aspirations. Duke had four future NBA staters in their lineup, with Miles and Mason Plumlee being joined by Austin Rivers and Seth Curry. None of it intimidated the Mountain Hawks.

Lehigh became just the second No. 15 seed in the history of the tournament to that point to upset a No. 2 seed in the first round. For all the NBA talent on Duke’s roster, Lehigh still had the best player on the floor in junior guard C.J. McCollum. You can re-live the final three minutes here.

McCollum finished with 30 points and would go on to become a lottery pick a year later.

Failing to get to the Final Four with Zion Williamson and two other top-10 picks

Duke entered the 2019 NCAA Tournament with what felt like one of their most talented teams ever. Zion Williamson established himself as the most dominant player in the country, and one of the biggest stars college basketball had seen over the last decade. Duke also had the future No. 3 overall draft pick in R.J. Barrett and the No. 10 overall pick in Cam Reddish.

Duke barely edged UCF in the round of 32 and Virginia Tech in the Sweet 16 until they finally met a team they couldn’t beat in a close game: Michigan State.

Kenny Goins, a fifth-year walk-on senior, hit the go-ahead shot with 34 seconds left to put Michigan State up for good in the Elite Eight matchup. On a floor with so much NBA talent, it was incredible to watch a former walk-on in Goins make the biggest play of the game.

It just felt like Coach K failed to properly utilize Zion all season. There’s no doubt this one still stings for Krzyzewski.

Blowing a big lead vs. Kentucky in the 1998 Elite Eight

Duke’s 1997-1998 team had a loaded roster that included Trajan Langdon, Shane Battier, Steve Wojciechowski, and freshman big man Elton Brand. The Blue Devils started the year at No. 3 in the preseason polls and looked up be living up to the hype most of the year.

Duke entered the tournament as a No. 1 seed and blew out its first three opponents. Then came a matchup with Kentucky in the Elite Eight. Duke led by 15 points with under 10 minutes left in the second half when the Wildcats made their comeback, closing on a 30-10 run to stun the Blue Devils and knock them out of the tournament, 86-84.

Kentucky would go on to win its second national title in the last three years, but looking back, Duke certainly seemed like the most talented team in the country. The Blue Devils would get back to college basketball’s biggest stage the next year, but unfortunately for them they didn’t get the redemption they were hoping for.

Duke loses to UConn in 1999 national final

Duke returned the next year as the preseason No. 1 and looked poised for a vengeance tour. The Blue Devils won their first five games before falling to Cincinnati and future No. 1 overall draft pick Kenyon Martin in the Great Alaskan Shootout, but Coach K would get his team back on track. Duke did not lose again the regular season, and went on to win the ACC Tournament.

Entering the big dance as a No. 1 seed at 32-1 on the year, Duke blew out its first four tournament opponents, and then won a close game in the Final Four against No. 1 seed Michigan State. The only team standing between Duke and a national title was UConn, a men’s program that had never won it all. The Huskies would win, 77-74, behind Richard Hamilton’s 27 points. What could have gone down as K’s best team ever was ultimately a team that will be remembered for falling one game short.

Duke ended the year 37-2, but without a ring. The team would have four players selected in the lottery of the NBA draft in Brand, Langdon, Corey Maggette, and William Avery.

1993’s second round loss to Cal

Duke entered the 1992-1993 season looking to become the second team in men’s college basketball history to win three national championships in a row (John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins won seven in a row between 1967-1973). Christian Laettner had graduated, but Duke still had a stacked lineup that included Grant Hill and Bobby Hurley. The Blue Devils entered the tournament as a No. 2 seed and met Jason Kidd’s Cal team in the second round. No one expected the Bears to pull off the upset, but somehow they did.

While Kidd finished with 11 points and 14 assists, it was his teammate Lamond Murray who carried the scoring burden. Murray put up 28 points and 10 rebounds to shock the Blue Devils:

Duke’s entire 2020 season was a disaster

Duke was going to miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1995 during the 2020 season unless they won the ACC tournament. The Blue Devils won their first two games of the conference tournament, and then misfortune struck: there was a positive Covid test within the program that caused Duke to shutdown its season.

It’s hard to criticize any program trying to navigate the season during a global pandemic, but Duke simply wasn’t very good before the positive test. They finished only 9-9 in conference play, and saw their most talented player, Jalen Johnson, leave the team mid-season when he decided to step away from the team during a pandemic to prepare for the NBA draft.

Duke has reloaded for Coach K’s final season with a recruiting class led by the potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Paolo Banchero. Can Coach K go out on top? The upcoming farewell tour is going to be the biggest story in the sport, and should be riveting regardless of how it ends.

[flauntpage]

In Loss to UConn, Quinnipiac Shows Depth of Women's Game

It doesn't take much effort to look beyond the University of Connecticut and see the remarkable yet expected growth of women's basketball. It was visible right on the Huskies’ home floor at Gampel Pavilion Monday night, as the No. 1 seed took on another one of the Nutmeg State’s own in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Spoiler alert: Quinnipiac, one year removed from a Sweet 16 run, did not travel 55 miles to the game’s most hostile road venue and shock the world. The Huskies are better and bigger, and they sport a roster with approximately a half-dozen future WNBA players. But the Bobcats didn’t come in and embarrass themselves, either.

Twenty years ago, the story was a little different. In 1998, Tricia Fabbri’s Quinnipiac team had just made the transition to Division I, and she wanted to see how they stacked up against the best. So the Bobcats scheduled a game against the Huskies. UConn blew the doors off, winning 117-20. It is still UConn’s largest margin of victory. It will likely remain so, too, because the talent pool in the women’s game is deeper than it’s ever been, spreading the wealth beyond the traditional top teams. Even conferences like Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference are home to significant talent, as Quinnipiac, its reigning champion, has demonstrated.

Quinnipiac didn't need gimmicks to win their way into the Sweet 16 last season, nor to beat Miami (Florida) in the first round this year. Fabbri's team runs nine-deep with players who can run the break, but her biggest advantage is homegrown: her daughter, Carly, is the kind of point guard who could have played for UConn back when that program was just getting off the ground, with skills and basketball IQ far outpacing her size.

An ever-expanding women's basketball landscape means more Division I spots for someone like Carly Fabbri, who can not only play but lead a team deep into March. Fabbri shot better than 42 percent from three as a senior this season, topped 27 in assist percentage, and frequently led the team herself in timeouts, with that same intense expression as her mother. She's essentially the Jen Rizzotti of our time, and you can expect her on a sideline someday, just like Rizzotti, if she wants it.

The Bobcats declined to shoot 57 threes and hope enough of them went in, as St. Francis (Pennsylvania) did on Saturday in a blowout so apparently offensive it led ESPN's own Darren Rovell to define the entire sport on the basis of a single game. Instead, they held UConn to a season-low 71 points. They turned the ball over just seven times, fewer turnovers than any Connecticut opponent this year.

And yet, the Bobcats still fell, 71-46. So we are left to consider Quinnipiac's arc, and the continued growth of the game that hasn't yet toppled the Huskies. At the same time, also consider how no men’s teams managed to make mortals of John Wooden and UCLA at approximately the same point in NCAA men's basketball history: This marks Year 36 since the NCAA women's tournament began; Wooden won his tenth and final title in 1975, 36 years after the NCAA men's tourney debuted.

The women's game is reaching a point where merely citing Connecticut's excellence as Bad For The Game is telling more on yourself than anything else. People like Tricia Fabbri and Carly Fabbri have made certain of it. Quinnipiac is better than they were last year, and miles beyond where they were back in 1998 when they lost by 97 to Connecticut. They lost last year to the eventual national champion, South Carolina, and may well have done so again this year. And they are one of many such programs making strides. The top is getting closer to Connecticut, and the depth keeps on expanding.

As Fabbri played the final minutes of her excellent career Monday night, Central Michigan went up big on Ohio State, and Buffalo took a commanding lead over Florida State. A generation of women who grew up watching UConn has dispersed across the country, giving more programs than ever a chance to win.

“This is the mecca of women's basketball,” Carly Fabbri said, sitting at the postgame podium Monday night. “Growing up here, everyone talks about UConn. But we had a bunch of Quinnipiac fans supporting us. Even today, we had a big chunk of supporters here.”

Carly Fabbri came out of the game with 1:42 left in the fourth, and she embraced her mom on the sideline, both of them fighting back tears. An entertaining player, another great college career, and a program now defined. A cheer of “Carly Fabbri-clap-clap-clapclapclap” sprang up from the two filled sections of Bobcat fans.

“It was almost a storybook ending to have with your daughter, to lead a team into the Sweet 16, to beat Miami again, to play in front of 8,500 people,” Tricia Fabbri said, and she pushed through tears once more. “I just hugged her and said, 'Great job.'”

UConn moves forward. Quinnipiac, and the women's game, too.

In Loss to UConn, Quinnipiac Shows Depth of Women's Game published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[amtushinfosolutionspage]

In Loss to UConn, Quinnipiac Shows Depth of Women’s Game

It doesn’t take much effort to look beyond the University of Connecticut and see the remarkable yet expected growth of women’s basketball. It was visible right on the Huskies’ home floor at Gampel Pavilion Monday night, as the No. 1 seed took on another one of the Nutmeg State’s own in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Spoiler alert: Quinnipiac, one year removed from a Sweet 16 run, did not travel 55 miles to the game’s most hostile road venue and shock the world. The Huskies are better and bigger, and they sport a roster with approximately a half-dozen future WNBA players. But the Bobcats didn’t come in and embarrass themselves, either.

Twenty years ago, the story was a little different. In 1998, Tricia Fabbri’s Quinnipiac team had just made the transition to Division I, and she wanted to see how they stacked up against the best. So the Bobcats scheduled a game against the Huskies. UConn blew the doors off, winning 117-20. It is still UConn’s largest margin of victory. It will likely remain so, too, because the talent pool in the women’s game is deeper than it’s ever been, spreading the wealth beyond the traditional top teams. Even conferences like Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference are home to significant talent, as Quinnipiac, its reigning champion, has demonstrated.

Quinnipiac didn’t need gimmicks to win their way into the Sweet 16 last season, nor to beat Miami (Florida) in the first round this year. Fabbri’s team runs nine-deep with players who can run the break, but her biggest advantage is homegrown: her daughter, Carly, is the kind of point guard who could have played for UConn back when that program was just getting off the ground, with skills and basketball IQ far outpacing her size.

An ever-expanding women’s basketball landscape means more Division I spots for someone like Carly Fabbri, who can not only play but lead a team deep into March. Fabbri shot better than 42 percent from three as a senior this season, topped 27 in assist percentage, and frequently led the team herself in timeouts, with that same intense expression as her mother. She’s essentially the Jen Rizzotti of our time, and you can expect her on a sideline someday, just like Rizzotti, if she wants it.

The Bobcats declined to shoot 57 threes and hope enough of them went in, as St. Francis (Pennsylvania) did on Saturday in a blowout so apparently offensive it led ESPN’s own Darren Rovell to define the entire sport on the basis of a single game. Instead, they held UConn to a season-low 71 points. They turned the ball over just seven times, fewer turnovers than any Connecticut opponent this year.

And yet, the Bobcats still fell, 71-46. So we are left to consider Quinnipiac’s arc, and the continued growth of the game that hasn’t yet toppled the Huskies. At the same time, also consider how no men’s teams managed to make mortals of John Wooden and UCLA at approximately the same point in NCAA men’s basketball history: This marks Year 36 since the NCAA women’s tournament began; Wooden won his tenth and final title in 1975, 36 years after the NCAA men’s tourney debuted.

The women’s game is reaching a point where merely citing Connecticut’s excellence as Bad For The Game is telling more on yourself than anything else. People like Tricia Fabbri and Carly Fabbri have made certain of it. Quinnipiac is better than they were last year, and miles beyond where they were back in 1998 when they lost by 97 to Connecticut. They lost last year to the eventual national champion, South Carolina, and may well have done so again this year. And they are one of many such programs making strides. The top is getting closer to Connecticut, and the depth keeps on expanding.

As Fabbri played the final minutes of her excellent career Monday night, Central Michigan went up big on Ohio State, and Buffalo took a commanding lead over Florida State. A generation of women who grew up watching UConn has dispersed across the country, giving more programs than ever a chance to win.

“This is the mecca of women’s basketball,” Carly Fabbri said, sitting at the postgame podium Monday night. “Growing up here, everyone talks about UConn. But we had a bunch of Quinnipiac fans supporting us. Even today, we had a big chunk of supporters here.”

Carly Fabbri came out of the game with 1:42 left in the fourth, and she embraced her mom on the sideline, both of them fighting back tears. An entertaining player, another great college career, and a program now defined. A cheer of “Carly Fabbri-clap-clap-clapclapclap” sprang up from the two filled sections of Bobcat fans.

“It was almost a storybook ending to have with your daughter, to lead a team into the Sweet 16, to beat Miami again, to play in front of 8,500 people,” Tricia Fabbri said, and she pushed through tears once more. “I just hugged her and said, ‘Great job.’”

UConn moves forward. Quinnipiac, and the women’s game, too.

In Loss to UConn, Quinnipiac Shows Depth of Women’s Game syndicated from https://australiahoverboards.wordpress.com

[zeroviraluniverse-blog]

Katie Lou Samuelson helps UConn Huskies put away No. 4 Louisville Cardinals early

Visit Now - https://zeroviral.com/katie-lou-samuelson-helps-uconn-huskies-put-away-no-4-louisville-cardinals-early/

Katie Lou Samuelson helps UConn Huskies put away No. 4 Louisville Cardinals early

2:03 AM ET

Mechelle VoepelespnW.com

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ESPN.com women’s basketball/college sports writer

33 seasons covering women’s college basketball

Covered 24 Final Fours

STORRS, Conn. — In “we’ve seen this movie before … a lot” fashion, No. 1 UConn took the air out of No. 4 Louisville’s balloon in the first quarter Monday. What was hoped to be a highly competitive game was more a standard UConn display of pouncing with full force from tipoff. The Huskies built a big lead that you knew they’d never give away, even if their play couldn’t stay at quite the same level for 40 minutes.

UConn won 69-58, but the game-within-the game was the first quarter, which the Huskies dominated 24-6. And although Louisville was able to keep the scores of the other three quarters close — even winning the third 18-15 — the end result was the same.

It’s like trailing the leader by 10 shots after the first round of a golf tournament, then coming closer to matching strokes the rest of the way — but still finishing five shots back. It might give you a little confidence, but no trophy.

Admittedly, this nonconference game in mid-February wasn’t for a trophy anyway. But there was a sense of something important on the line: Could Louisville beat UConn for the first time since 1993, and just the second time ever? Could the Cardinals show they are one of the teams capable of derailing the Huskies’ pursuit of a 12th NCAA title?

Louisville didn’t do that Monday, but there’s still time for the Cardinals to improve. Coach Jeff Walz and his team now return to trying to win the ACC; they are 11-1 and tied with Notre Dame for first in the league.

Meanwhile, UConn has yet to lose to an American Athletic foe since the league started in 2013-14, and there’s nothing to suggest it will happen this season. They wrap up the regular season versus No. 22 South Florida on Feb. 26 (ESPN2, 7 p.m. ET), but Monday’s game was one of the last big national showcases for the Huskies until the NCAA tournament.

UConn’s Katie Lou Samuelson scored a game-high 26 points. “She’s got it going right now,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “She just had this look when I talked to her that today was going to be a really good day for her.” David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

And as much as they take pride in trying to play every game as well as possible, the Huskies knew this meeting with the Cardinals was a spotlight. They responded accordingly, especially junior Katie Lou Samuelson.

For the first half, it seemed like Louisville was facing “Lou-ville,” as the chorus of cheers for Samuelson from the sellout crowd of 10,167 at Gampel Pavilion echoed every time she made a shot.

“She’s got it going right now,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “She’s been like that at practice. She was like that this morning. She just had this look when I talked to her that today was going to be a really good day for her. She knew it.”

Samuelson scored 19 of her game-high 26 points in the first half, and maybe the only thing that slowed her down by the fourth quarter was a little fatigue, as she and senior Gabby Williams played all 40 minutes. Samuelson has been battling left ankle issues this season, too, but on Monday, nothing was going to stop her.

“I was really excited to play this game,” Samuelson said. “I made sure I was rested.”

While UCLA jumped to a No. 2 seed, defending national champion South Carolina dropped to a No. 3 in Charlie Creme’s latest projection. NC State and Stanford joined the top 16 teams. UConn, Louisville, Mississippi State and Notre Dame remain No. 1 seeds.

The most perplexing part of producing Bracketology each week has been which teams should constitute the all-important top-16 seeds. Here’s why NC State and Stanford moved into the group this week and Ohio State and Texas A&M fell out.

In upstaging one of the country’s top scoring threats, Kitija Laksa hit eight 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 41 points to lead South Florida to an upset of No. 13 Ohio State.

2 Related

Then she laughed and added, “I actually ate better, like, ‘Oh, I’m going to eat healthier leading up to this game.’ Maybe I should continue to do that, because I felt good throughout the game.

“I knew I was most likely going to have to play a lot of minutes, because this team is tough. I wanted to make sure I was as ready as I could be.”

Williams, meanwhile, lit the fire for UConn with her defense, getting into the passing lanes and frustrating the Cardinals into turnovers that likely wouldn’t be giveaways against most other teams. Williams finished with 12 points, 15 rebounds and six assists.

“We’ve got some players that are pretty tough,” Auriemma said. “Gabby made some plays today that are just impossible to describe. It’s unlike anything a lot of people have seen.

“She and Lou worked really well together. They got a lot done and kept the defense off-balance. We’re always pretty good defensively, but I thought the key would be how well we could execute our offense.”

And no one is better at that now for UConn than Samuelson, who leads the team in scoring at 18.0 and also is an improved passer this season, plus someone who — despite the sore ankle — moves well without the ball. That’s a UConn program staple, but it’s still something each individual star for the Huskies has to master.

“She hit a couple of big-time shots; you tip your hat to her,” Walz said of Samuelson. “She was the one we didn’t do as well of a job on defensively as I would have liked to have done, and she’ll take advantage of you.”

Samuelson is in the conversation for national player of the year, although when asked about that, she seemed genuinely surprised.

“I haven’t thought about that once all year,” she said. “Whatever comes, comes. But this year is about the team and doing what we want to do. Especially the way last year ended.”

Gabby Williams, left, ignited UConn with her defense, and finished with 12 points, 15 rebounds and six assists. David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Mississippi State, of course, upset UConn in the national semifinals. The Bulldogs are ranked No. 2, and Baylor No. 3. The eye test would suggest those two teams, especially with their combination of inside-outside scoring, could conceivably challenge UConn. But that would have to come in the NCAA tournament.

“We knew this was like a bonus game,” Walz said of facing UConn for the first time since 2014, when they were both in the American. “Even if we’d won tonight … if we don’t take care of business in these next four regular-season conference games, we don’t have a chance to win the league.”

Louisville finishes with three teams that have losing ACC records — Boston College, North Carolina and Pittsburgh — and Virginia, which is still battling to be a top-four seed in the league tournament. Notre Dame has Virginia, Boston College, Virginia Tech and No. 25 NC State. Then it will be a battle for the ACC tournament crown in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Disappointed as he was with the mistakes and missed shots that contributed to the blowout first quarter and a game that then didn’t have the anticipated luster, Walz thinks the Cardinals — led by Asia Durr with 20 points — can find good things from the second half that can carry over.

“I thought we took some shots that were too quick, and that’s something you can’t do,” Walz said. “You’ve got to make an extra pass, you’ve got to make them try to guard you — which, after the first quarter, we did a pretty good job of.

“That’s the one thing about them: They can score. And unfortunately, they scored a bunch in that first quarter and it put us behind the 8-ball.”

And once you’re there against UConn, your odds of getting out are always low.

“For me tonight, with everything we ran it seemed like I was getting open shots,” Samuelson said. “How we executed was really good overall. Our screens were good; everything was to a T.”

[racingtoaredlight]

The degenerate’s guide to 2017 college football TV watch ‘em ups: week 8

Last week was odd starting with the Friday games and this week features a few more eye-catching matchups so get ready for everything to go chalk.

The thing that’s got me a little perplexed here is that some of the lines seem very high, especially following on the heels of last week’s carnage. I’m a little short on time so I’ll try to run through these quickly. If that disappoints you, good, I’ve always wondered what it’s like to have kids.

Times are eastern, info is ripped from FBSchedules, gambling info is from Vegas Insider and all advice is guaranteed for the full amount of my weekly RTARL earnings and not a penny more.

Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017

Matchup                                                          Time (ET)                  TV

Akron at Toledo                                              Noon            Raycom/ESPN3

I like the way the games were sequenced this week because if you look at this from top to bottom the first games listed are the lowest of the low but they’re actually starting across from some worthwhile watch em ups.

Idaho at Missouri                                           Noon                   SECN

Missouri is favored by 14 but would anybody really be surprised if Idaho wins? Idaho is so bad they’re giving up on 1-A football but that doesn’t mean they’re worse than Missouri.

Iowa at Northwestern                                    Noon                    ESPN2

Oh, Iowa. So close to beating Penn State and being up in the top 10. But here they are just a couple of weeks later scuffling and roughly equal to Northwestern. Josey Jewell deserves better than this (UPDATE! He won't play in this game.) Those kids in the children’s hospital that looks over the Iowa football stadium deserve more. That hospital has been there all along, right? How come I never heard of it until this year?

Iowa State at Texas Tech                              Noon                      FS1

Classic cross-conference matchup of the dregs of the Big 8 taking on the dregs of the SWC.

Louisville at Florida State                            Noon                     ESPN

FSU is gonna run train on Louisville unless Lamar plays the absolute best game of his life. Think of how good of a game he has to have for it to be the best of his life. QB is legitimately the only position where Louisville is anywhere close to even with FSU let alone where they have an edge.

Maryland at (5) Wisconsin                            Noon                    FOX

Hahahaha - Maryland in the B1G is never going to become normal. It’s so stupid it hurts. Maryland isn’t any worse off from a wins-losses perspective, for what it’s worth. The ACC is better than the B1G from top to bottom and Maryland would be trash in the AAC. If Wisconsin doesn’t win by 40 I’ll be heartbroken and I don’t even really care about Wisconsin.

(10) Oklahoma State at Texas                       Noon                    ABC

Texas is still trash. Is it still Charlie Strong’s fault? Because they’ve got talent it just doesn’t go together for some reason. OK St is the best not really great team in the country. Put them up against any other team in the top 10 and they’d lose but against any unranked team? That’s basically a guaranteed blowout.

Purdue at Rutgers                                         Noon                   BTN

Is the Jeff Brohm to (insert big job opening) train slowed down at all? Or is it understood that Purdue hasn’t had a decent player since Drew Brees retired and so Brohm is getting graded on a generous curve.

Temple at Army                                               Noon                CBSSN

This is absolutely terrible and I love it. You don’t want no part of this Dewey Cox! CBS Sports is incredibly addictive but has no harmful side effects.

Tulsa at UConn                                               Noon                ESPNU

UConn is my least favorite team in the country. They’re boring as all hell but they never win but they also don’t get blown out on a reliable basis. What a waste.

Pittsburgh at Duke                                         Noon                 ACCN

I like to think Miami put Duke into a death spiral. I’ve really disliked David Cutcliffe ever since the Corn Elder return game and I wish Duke would lose every week.

Boston College at Virginia                            12:30 pm           RSN

Hey, Boston College found an offense last week! How much you want to bet they lost it during practice this week? UVA is right on the cusp of being horrible but they keep winning. They should get up to 7-1 before the bottom falls out. 

Kent State at Ohio                                          2:00 pm            ESPN3

I hate MAC football for the same reasons I hate Big XII football - there’s no expectation of anybody ever getting stopped so when a game is close it feels like a ripoff when there’s a game-winning drive. Like it shouldn’t count. Anyway, somebody will win this game.

NIU at Bowling Green                                     2:00 pm            ESPN3

Sutton Smith racks up at least a sack every week and I have no idea if he’s any good at all. I may not know much but I can assure you I won’t know any more about Sutton Smith on Sunday than I do right now.

  Troy at Georgia State                                      2:00 pm            ESPN3

The best part of Troy beating LSU is that they aren’t even particularly great within the context of the Sun Belt. They got knocked back by USA last week so seeing them as a 10 point favorite on the road is disconcerting.

Western Michigan at Eastern Michigan       2:00 pm             ESPN3

I’m trying to stay positive about the MAC this week. I bet that LT for Western gets a bunch of pancake blocks this week. He’s very good.

Buffalo at Miami, OH                                       2:30 pm             ESPN3

Miami and Buffalo had a cool rivaly in the 80s and early 90s. That’s not relevant because I’m talking about the NFL but I really loved Bruce Smith and Dan Marino and Thurman Thomas and Jim Kelly and the Marks Brothers.

Central Michigan at Ball State                       3:00 pm             ESPN3

Central Michigan is favored but Ball State hasn’t lost at home so there’s a storyline!

Arizona State at Utah                                       3:30 pm              FS1

What the hell is this clearly Pac-12 After Dark game doing kicking off at 1:30 Mountain Time? Utah is going to beat the hell out of Arizona State. I don’t think anybody on the planet can actually explain what happened last week in Seattle for the Wildcats but it won’t happen again.

Coastal Carolina at Appalachian State           3:30 pm           ESPN3

Coastal Carolina is close to the bottom of 1-A in almost every offensive and defensive category and App State is about on part with a Power 5 also-ran. 24 points or thereabouts is enticing.

Georgia Southern at UMass                            3:30 pm     11 Sports/NESN

This is one of the worst games possible this year. UMass is a 7.5 point favorite because they’ve actually won this year but if you feel confident betting on a game like this you are an alien.

Illinois at Minnesota                                         3:30 pm             BTN

Is Lovie Smith in danger of being fired? He’s really fucking bad and Illinois is only consistent in their inability to ever get better.

Indiana at (18) Michigan State                         3:30 pm            ABC

Indiana is the Big 10′s version of UVA but they didn’t get the schedule luck that the Hoos have had. It wouldn’t be a shock for the Hoosiers to beat Sparty and it wouldn’t be a shock to see them lose by 20. It’s worth mentioning that Sparty is just sort of OK but they did beat Michigan so we all love them.

North Carolina at (14) Virginia Tech                 3:30 pm          ESPN2

VPISU is a 22 point favorite and that seems low to me. UNC is horrid and the Turkey Gobblers are just barely out of the conversation as an elite team. Next year the Hokies should be a top 10 preseason team.

Syracuse at (8) Miami, FL                                  3:30 pm          ESPN

18 points seems crazy high to me even though I think Syracuse beating Clemson last week was even flukier than Iowa State beating Oklahoma the week before. People are falling all over themselves to talk about what a great job Dino Babers has done at Syracuse but that was basically the first good game we’ve seen from this program in about 13 years. So let’s not get crazy here. Miami’s big problem so far has been that Malik Rosier sucks in the first half. I’m interested to see what they can do if he’s good before halftime for once.

Tennessee at (1) Alabama                                 3:30 pm           CBS

Speaking of crazy lines - holy hell does Tennessee suck right now. Butch Jones is fired, he probably knows it by now. The only reason he’s still walking around on the sidelines is Tennessee doesn’t feel like paying his buyout. I still find it hard to believe that Bama will play hard enough to win by 34 (or even 37 depending on where you go.)

(20) UCF at Navy                                                  3:30 pm        CBSSN

UCF has been destroying people all year but Navy is the worst matchup for basically everybody in the country except Army (and Geogia Tech if they ever played each other.) At some point Nebraska or Texas or somebody is going to throw a ridiculous amount of money at Ken Niumatalolo to get back to 10 wins per season the quick and dirty way.

Kentucky at Mississippi State                            4:00 pm         SECN

SEC! SEC! SEC! No joke, this is probably going to be pretty entertaining as far as these things go. Both teams are just good enough to trick you into thinking they’re really good.

(9) Oklahoma at Kansas State                             4:00 pm           FOX

This would be such a perfect Bill Snyder game for K State to win. There really isn’t a good reason to think they can even compete with Oklahoma but Snyder has figured out even worse matchups before.

Oregon at UCLA                                                    4:00 pm         Pac-12N

I do not trust anything about UCLA. Josh Rosen is a threat to throw 10 interceptions against an Oregon defense that has loads of talent but no real cohesion. Oregon’s offense looked very bad last week without Justin Herbert (broken collarbone) so the Ducks might struggle but I have faith in JMJ to put together a defensive gameplan that still gives up 30+ points.

SMU at Cincinnati                                                 4:00 pm           ESPNU

The ms621s should be able to do whatever they want on offense. The 7.5 point spread seems low to me but I’m not sure it’s so odd as to make me feel good making a strong recommendation one way or the other.

North Texas at Florida Atlantic                            5:00 pm          ESPN3

Lane Kiffin still hasn’t done anything publicly embarrassing and I’m starting to get impatient. How long can this last?

ULM at South Alabama                                          5:00 pm            ESPN3

Maybe USA is out of their stupor now and can play like I thought they would back in early September? Maybe.

Utah State at UNLV                                                 6:00 pm         ATTSNRM

This is an ugly matchup in an ugly setting with no clear buildup. Good luck.

UAB at Charlotte                                                     6:30 pm      beIN SPORTS

UAB is 4-2 and creeping up on bowl eligibility in their first year back as a college football program. That’s one of the coolest low key stories in the sport this year. They have a decent shot to be 8-2 going into Gainesville on November 18th. Florida will be favored but UAB getting to that point with a better record than the Gators would be hilarious.

BYU at East Carolina                                              7:00 pm          CBSSN

No idea what’s going on with this time slot for this game. Both teams are pretty bad with random flashes of good. Who knows what to expect here.

Rice at UTSA                                                            7:00 pm    KMYS/Stadium

This should be a pretty easy win for UTSA. I’m just practicing that being an actual expectation that exists in the world.

Southern Miss at Louisiana Tech                         7:00 pm          Stadium

La. Tech does some cool stuff with their gameplans but I haven’t watched them play this year and they’ve been wildly inconsistent. I’d actually like to see Josh Allen go to Lousiana Tech next year if he does the grad transfer thing instead of declaring for the NFL draft. I think he’ll go somewhere with a higher profile but I’d still love to see him Ruston, LA.

(16) USF at Tulane                                                  7:00 pm            ESPN2

Tulane keeps getting better but so does USF and USF started out much better than Tulane. This should be bad in a fun way.

(24) LSU at University of Mississippi, Oxford      7:15 pm              ESPN

LSU lost three first rounders last year who are all among the NFL’s best rookies this year and they got their coach fired because they sucked so bad. This year is not much different for LSU. 

Wake Forest at Georgia Tech                                7:30 pm            ESPNU

The Wreck should be back to Ramblin’ after Miami shut down the option in the second half last week. There are a lot of things Miami’s players are capable of that Wake Forest’s players are not capable of.

(21) Auburn at Arkansas                                         7:30 pm             SECN

Bert isn’t dead yet! Maybe professionally but he looks like he might literally die at any second and I’m not joking to say I’m a little bit worried for him.

(19) Michigan at (2) Penn State                              7:30 pm              ABC

Michigan is going to make this ugly and James Franklin will do what he always does and try to challenge them on their level and it’s going to end up biting Penn State in the ass and I will never in my life feel happier about Michigan beating somebody.

(11) USC at (13) Notre Dame                                   7:30 pm             NBC

This is oddly important in the larger scheme of things. One of these teams will leave as a 1-loss playoff contender and the other will be playing spoiler from here on out. USC’s defensive front is banged up which is a little frightening with Notre Dame’s offensive line and running game. Here’s to Sam Darnold not playing like a fucking idiot for a full 4 quarters for the first time this year.

Arizona at California                                                8:00 pm          Pac-12N

Arizona’s offensive strengths are not going against the strengths of the Antifa Bears defense so this could get a little wild. Too bad nobody gets Pac-12 Network.

Kansas at (4) TCU                                                     8:00 pm            FOX

TCU is barely favored over Kansas by more than Alabama is favored over Tennessee. I find that hilarious. TCU is at the point in the season where they have to turn it on for style to make sure they stay relevant in the national conversation. That’s very bad for our plucky JVhawks.

(23) West Virginia at Baylor                                     8:00 pm             FS2

Will Grier is on pace to become the big enigma of the 2018 NFL Draft. Get ready for the conversations where he goes from first round sleeper to top 10 possibility to punchline when he gets drafted #3 overall. His gun is real and he’s got just enough size and athleticism to spark the yearly gumflapping about whether the offense he plays in will hinder him from transitioning to the pro game. Can you feel the excitement? As far as this week goes he shouldn’t have much difficulty notching his 7th 300-yard game.

Wyoming at Boise State                                           10:15 pm         ESPN2

The Josh Allen Sucks tour continues with a Boise State team that has maybe just decided not to be terrible all year. He only threw one interception last week so maybe he’s turning things around?

Fresno State at San Diego State                             10:30 pm        CBSSN

SDSU was looking like a New Year’s Six option with a Heisman Trophy contending running back but things are looking different this week after the wheels fell off at home against Boise last week. When they aren’t playing national championship contenders Fresno doesn’t look half bad. This is a big game for the MWC but only has national importance in SDSU wins.

Colorado at (15) Washington State                         10:45 pm          ESPN

Luke Falk did his level best to make Pac-12 football look as fraudulent as possible last week. The Antifa Bears are trying to duplicate the program methodology of Colorado so let’s see if Falk can put up another 5 interceptions against the O.G.

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