A warm welcome back to the Friday Evening Pregame, an entry intended as a primer for the upcoming weekend of college sports. Today, I’ll briefly take you through some interesting weekend matchups, a recommended viewing schedule for football this weekend, and my own predictions for the top 25 teams in action. Grab your glass, the pregame starts now!
Interesting Matchups
South Florida at Notre Dame: A notable game for more than one reason. Second year USF coach Skip Holtz returns to South Bend to lead a Bulls team that, much like UConn last year, is a trendy dark horse candidate to win the Big East. They’ll face Brian Kelly, also a second year coach, as he continues his efforts to revive an Irish program that has struggled of late. As interesting as the coaching storylines are, I’m much more interested in what’s happening on the field. USF always fields a BDB type of quick defense that is sneaky good. They could prove an interesting matchup for newly reinstated quarterback Dayne Crist, who was not nearly as effective last year against quick defensive lines. Conversely, it should be interesting to see how Notre Dame’s defense, which has been rejuvenated with several SEC-type defensive prospects, will hold up against the dual threat capabilities of Bulls qb BJ Daniels.
Minnesota at USC- Minnesota sports has generally relegated to the corner of the sports world that generally involves using the words “golden gopher” as a punch line. Even still, Minnesota is going to run a style of offense that will grind USC down similar to how UVA did the last time those two teams played. Sure, UVA still lost- but it was a close game because of the style of play. Expect a close game and a great matchup.
Boise State at Georgia- SEC talent vs… well, Kellen Moore. Aside from Boise’s impressive running game, Bronco quarterback and 2010 Heisman finalist Kellen Moore will need to elevate a very mediocre group of receivers if they want to survive to be nationally relevant after week 1 of the college football season. The real great matchup will be Georgia’s front 7 against Boise’s O-line.
Recommended Viewing Schedule:
12:00- Northwestern at Boston College, ESPNU
3:30- USF at Notre Dame, NBC. Alternatively, check out Minnesota at USC (ABC) until 4:45 when BYU @ Ole Miss (ESPN3) starts. Then you could go either way.
7-8: The first quarter or so of ECU vs South Carolina, ESPN3.
8:00: LSU vs Oregon, ABC. If you don’t watch this game, shame on you.
Predictions: My bold predictions according to the USA Today’s top 25, which I compose early in the week before any games occur:
Thursday
UNLV @ Wisconsin
Miss St @ Memphis
Friday
TCU @ Baylor
Youngstown St @ Michigan St
Saturday
Utah St @ Auburn
Kent St @ Alabama
App St @ Virginia Tech
Akron @ Ohio St
Miami (OH) @ Mizzou
Tulsa @ Oklahoma
Oregon @ LSU
Boise St @ Georgia
LA-Monroe @ FSU
San Jose St @ Stanford
LA-Lafeyette @ Ok St
Chattanooga @ Nebraska
ECU @ S. Carolina
Missouri St @ Arkansas
South Florida @ Notre Dame
Florida Atlantic @ Florida
Minnesota @ USC
Sunday
SMU @ Texas A&M
Marshall @ WVU
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