It doesn’t look like a great weekend of college football, but then again last weekend didn’t look good either aside from the Florida-Alabama and Stanford-Oregon games. It turned out there were a whole slew of exciting finishes with Tennessee-LSU being the most notable.
A little anecdote here. I was in the Dodger clubhouse as this game was winding down. Ryan Theriot, an LSU grad and Baton Rouge resident, had his LSU shirt on watching as that final drive kept going. And when the clock mismanagement and fumbled snap happened, Theriot was so incensed he took off his shirt and threw it in the trash, the same receptacle where players’ chew, spit and other vile substances go when they don’t have an empty water bottle to do it.
So there Theriot is grousing ready to take on head coach Les Miles as he’s putting on another shirt. Then the referee calls the illegal participation on the defense, and in Theriot went into the trash can digging up the shirt with all the enthusiasm of the six-year old at Disneyland. Russell Martin was a bit grossed out by it so he took the shirt and threw it across the room. Theriot managed to get his hands on it again and put it on top of the new shirt he donned.
LSU scores, Theriot goes crazy and runs laps around the crowded clubhouse. After he finishes hooting and hollering he takes the shirt off and puts it into the laundry basket. And that has to be simultaneously the funniest and most repulsive thing I have seen from a college football fan ever.
Most amusing betting line of the weekend: Purdue at Northwestern (-9.5). That’s right, Northwestern is actually favored in a Big Ten game. Granted they might have been favored last week against Minnesota, but I didn’t notice. Also Northwestern is 5-0 and 1-0 in the Big Ten. Yeah it’s against cupcakes, but if they beat Purdue as expected it will be the first time they will have started a season 6-0 since 1962 when they were ranked No. 1 in the nation.
In the oh-how-the-mighty-have-fallen line of the weekend: San Diego State at BYU (+4.5). BYU is 1-4 coming off an embarrassing road loss broadcasted on ESPN to Utah State. Aside a six-point victory over Washington in week one, they have lost by double-digits to Air Force, Florida State, Nevada and the aforementioned Utah State. Note that this is a team that views itself as the Notre Dame of the Mormons and will be going independent in football next season. At least record-wise they are aspiring to 2-3 Notre Dame.
Largest line of the weekend: San Jose State at Nevada (-39.5). This is with Toledo at Boise State (-39.0) and Oregon at Washington State (+36.5) trailing right behind them.
Local lines: UCLA at California (-8.0) and USC at Stanford (-10.0). I wouldn’t touch either game with a ten-foot pole. It’s unknown whether UCLA is an ascending program or just happening to beat up on patsies. As for USC, they do look overmatched on paper against an angry Stanford team that was just given the business by Oregon last week. Also there is a history of enmity between the two programs since Jim Harbaugh took over as head coach of the Cardinal. However USC hasn’t lost in Stanford since 2000. So stay away.
9:00 am
Tennessee at Georgia. KDOC.
Baylor at Texas Tech. FSWest.
Central Michigan at Virginia Tech. ESPNU.
Indiana at Ohio State. ESPN.
Illinois at Penn State. ESPN2.
LAist Pick: Sleep
12:30 pm
Alabama at South Carolina. CBS.
Pittsburgh at Notre Dame. NBC.
Michigan State at Michigan. ABC.
UCLA at Cal. FS Prime Ticket.
Virginia at Georgia Tech. ESPNU.
Clemson at North Carolina. ESPN.
Northern Iowa at Southern Illinois. Fox College Sports Pacific (Noon).
Elon at Appalachian State. Fox College Sports Central (Noon).
Wyoming at TCU. CBS College Sports.
LAist Pick: Michigan State at Michigan.
2:00 pm
Southern Utah at North Dakota. Fox College Sports Atlantic.
4:00 pm
Colorado at Missouri. FS Prime Ticket.
Eastern Michigan at Vanderbilt. ESPNU.
Utah at Iowa State. Fox College Sports Central.
Oregon State at Arizona. Versus.
LAist Pick: Oregon State at Arizona.
5:00 pm
USC at Stanford. ABC.
LSU at Florida. ESPN (4:30 pm).
Auburn at Kentucky. ESPN2 (4:30 pm).
Mississippi State at Houston. CBS College Sports.
LAist Pick: LSU at Florida.
7:30 pm
San Jose State at Nevada. ESPNU.
