Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Rah! Rah! Sis-Boom-Bah!

It’s September, the nights are chilly, and the leaves are starting to fade from green to their fall colors. There's a definite smell of Autumn in the air. The Mets have faded in to meaningless limbo with an injury list that could fill a major hospital. Thank goodness the college football season is about to get underway once more.

The preseason Top 25s have been out for a while now but most of them will play their first game sometime between Thursday (9/3) and Monday (9/7).
Here’s a look at this week’s Top 25 and their opponents. The polls used here are, in order, The AP Top 25, the Coaches Poll, and the CBSSports.com120. NL means the team was not listed in the Top 25 of that poll.

1/1/1 Florida hosts Charleston Southern Saturday evening.
2/2/4 Texas hosts Louisiana-Monroe Saturday evening.
3/3/5 Oklahoma hosts #20 Brigham Young Saturday evening.
4/4/3 Southern California hosts San Jose State Saturday afternoon
5/5/6 Alabama plays at #7 Virginia Tech Saturday evening.
6/6/11 Ohio State hosts Navy on Saturday afternoon.
7/7/15 Virginia Tech hosts #5 Alabama on Saturday evening.
8/10/12 Mississippi plays at Memphis on Sunday afternoon.
9/11/17 Oklahoma State hosts #13 Georgia Saturday afternoon.
9/8/9 Penn State plays host to Akron on Saturday afternoon.
11/9/NL LSU plays at Washington Saturday evening.
12/12/21 California hosts Maryland Saturday evening.
13/13/14 Georgia plays at #9 Oklahoma State Saturday afternoon.
14/16/10 Boise State hosts #16 Oregon on Thursday night.
15/15/NL Georgia Tech hosts Jacksonville State on Saturday afternoon.
16/14/8 Oregon plays at #14 Boise State on Thursday night.
17/17/7 TCU does not play this weekend.
18/19/22 Florida State plays at home on Monday against Miami (Fla.)
19/18/2 Utah hosts Utah State Thursday night.
20/24/20 Brigham Young plays at #3 Oklahoma on Saturday evening.
21/20/NL North Carolina hosts The Citadel on Saturday evening.
22/21/19 Iowa will host Northern Iowa on Saturday afternoon.
23/23/NL Notre Dame will host Nevada on Saturday afternoon.
24/22/NL Nebraska hosts Florida Atlantic Saturday evening.
25/NL/NL Kansas hosts Northern Colorado on Saturday evening.
NL/25/23 Oregon State hosts Portland State on Saturday afternoon.
NL/NL/16 Cincinnati plays at the newly expanded Rutgers Stadium Monday afternoon.
NL/NL/18 Missouri plays at Illinois Saturday afternoon.
NL/NL/24 West Virginia hosts Liberty Saturday afternoon.
NL/NL/25 Michigan State hosts Montana State Saturday afternoon.

As is usual early in the season, there are some real mismatches on the schedule (WVA vs Liberty?) but there are also some good games on tap as well. #5 Alabama at #7 VTech could be a close game and will have an impact on conference standings. #13 Georgia at #9 Oklahoma State could be entertaining as could #16 Oregon at #14 Boise State.

Beside the Alabama/VTech SEC match-up, the only other game with conference ramifications that I can spot is the Big East contest between Rutgers and Cincinnati on Monday afternoon. That game could see the winner emerge as the favorite to win the Big East title.

[Duh! Miami (Fla.) vs Florida State is an ACC match-up that deserves to be mentioned as a significant conference game. How could I have missed that one?]

Let’s see…
I’m at the Aerie so I’ve a pretty solid TV connection.
I’ve got beer, soda and chips on hand.
I guess I’m ready. How about you?

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