Bumped. -- BN Eds.
The opening games of the 2014 season are upon us. There are a couple of interesting conference matchups, as well as the usual list of prospective blowouts, where teams look to pad their win totals without regard to strength of schedule.
The teams looking for wins over cupcakes may have caught an early break. The athletic director at the Clown College is on the selection committee for the inaugural playoff system. He is supposed to help determine the four teams who will be squaring off for the top spot in college football. Presumably to do that, he should be paying attention to the games being played. Unfortunately, he is otherwise occupied. Somebody has to find nephews to be rescued by other members of $C's secondary. And that is probably first priority for the Clown College AD.
Meantime, we can keep track for him. The biggest game with national implications is an SEC matchup between two top-25 teams, as #21 Texas A&M visits #9 South Carolina. The game will be shown on SEC Network (meaning I won't see it, for one). This begins the post-Johnny Football era for Texas A&M, while South Carolina will also be replacing their starting QB for the last three seasons. Kick off is 6 pm Eastern time.
The Pac-12 Network features an opening night doubleheader. Utah hosts Idaho State from the Big Sky Conference (ouch) at 4:30, followed by #19 Arizona State taking on another Big Sky opponent (ouch again) in Weber State. Kick off is at 7:30. The last time that Idaho State won a road game was 10/7/06 at Northern Colorado. So Utah may have found an easy mark. Weber State is 4-19 over the last two seasons, so this also looks like a mismatch on paper. But the score is always 0-0 before the opening kickoff.
The other game involving a Pac-12 team has two FBS teams (hallelujah), with Washington State playing the newest member of the Big 10- Rutgers. The Rutgers AD asked Washington State if they could play at a neutral site. The Washington State AD suggested the home of the Seahawks in Seattle. When the Rutgers AD said that Seattle didn't sound very neutral, the Washington State AD pointed out that Doughnut thinks Cowboy Stadium is neutral for a game against Texas. So, not wanting to make Doughnut look any more foolish than he already does every day, the Rutgers AD said okay to Seattle. Game time is 7pm, with the game being televised on FS1.
Another game which could be interesting is #18 Ole Miss playing Boise State in Atlanta. This will be the first game for Boise State since Chris Peterson took flight to Washington. The game will be televised on ESPN, beginning at 5 pm Pacific, 8 pm Eastern, 5 pm Pacific.
Friday night, Colorado opens the 2014 season with a big game for bragging rights against Colorado State, at Mile High Stadium in Denver. Colorado State had a decent season last year, winding up in the New Mexico Bowl, where they won a shootout over Washington State. Colorado has had losing records for eight straight years, despite winning the Colorado State game the last two seasons. So winning this will be crucial for the Buffaloes if they want to start heading in the right direction (the other option would be to steal Doughnut from Westwood, and let him hire football coaches- it didn't work out very well for us, but it may be worth a shot for somebody else). The game will be on FS1, beginning at 7 pm Mountain time, 6pm Pacific time.
Arizona also begins the 2014 season on Friday night. The Wildcats host UNLV. The game will be televised by ESPN, beginning at 7:30 Pacific time. Both teams are coming off bowl appearances last year. Arizona won by 45 points in Las Vegas last year. Hopefully, this will be a more competitive matchup in 2014.
Here are all the Thursday matchups, courtesy of SB Nation (all times are Eastern)-
Thursday
Time | Road team | Home team | TV | Streaming |
6 p.m. | No. 21 Texas A&M | No. 9 South Carolina | SEC Network | WatchESPN |
7 p.m. | Chattanooga | Central Michigan | WatchESPN | |
7 p.m. | Eastern Illinois | Minnesota | Big Ten Network | BTN2GO |
7 p.m. | Howard | Akron | WatchESPN | |
7 p.m. | Presbyterian | Northern Illinois | WatchESPN | |
7 p.m. | Wake Forest | ULM | ESPN U | WatchESPN |
7:30 p.m. | Idaho State | Utah | Pac-12 Network | Pac-12.com |
8 p.m. | Cal Poly | New Mexico State | WatchESPN | |
8 p.m. | Tulane | Tulsa | CBSSN | ulive.cbssports.com |
8 p.m. (Atlanta, GA) | Boise State | No. 18 Ole Miss | ESPN | WatchESPN |
9:15 p.m. | Temple | Vanderbilt | SEC Network | WatchESPN |
10 p.m. | North Dakota | San Jose State | WatchESPN | |
10 p.m. (Seattle, WA) | Rutgers | Washington State | FS1 | Fox Sports GO |
10:30 p.m. | Weber State | No. 19 Arizona State | Pac-12 Network |
Pac-12.com |
And here are the Friday matchups (Eastern time) again courtesy of SB Nation-
Friday
Time | Road team | Home team | TV | Streaming |
7 p.m. | BYU | UConn | ESPN | WatchESPN |
7:30 p.m. | Jacksonville State | No. 8 Michigan State | Big Ten Network | BTN2GO |
7:30 p.m. | Villanova | Syracuse | WatchESPN | |
7:30 p.m. | Bowling Green | Western Kentucky | CBSSN | ulive.cbssports.com |
9 p.m. (Denver, CO) | Colorado State | Colorado | FS1 | Fox Sports GO |
9 p.m. | UTSA | Houston | ESPN U | WatchESPN |
10:30 p.m. | UNLV | Arizona | ESPN | WatchESPN |
There are obviously plenty of viewing choices. Pace yourselves, please. We need your undivided attention and enthusiasm Saturday morning, as the Bruins start the road to January. This is your Thursday/Friday opening night game thread. Fire away with your comments.