40 Acres Sports

Pretty good week for Big 12 fans as there’s two games to definitely keep an eye on. Texas Tech and Missouri could hit 100 and Kansas has a chance to prove it’s worthy of being the 13th best team in the country.

On the national scene, two SEC games today between ranked teams. Florida at Kentucky if the afternoon and a primetime match-up between Tigers tonight when Auburn visits LSU.

Here’s how to spend your day on the couch:

(22) Texas at Baylor – 11:30 am on Versus. DirecTV finally picks up FSN HD and Texas’ game is on the even crappier Versus. If you thought last week‘s announcing was bad, today’s game could be worse.

(15) Florida at (7) Kentucky – 2:30 pm on CBS. The Wildcats are the seventh-ranked team in the country and just knocked off LSU but they’re still 7 point underdogs today at home against the Gators. If Kentucky’s line can protect Andre Woodson they can pull the upset at home today.

(24) Texas Tech at (16) Missouri – 2:30 pm on ABC. Should be one of the highest scoring and most exciting games of the day. Whichever team plays a little defense will win.

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Great NBC/Notre Dame commercial parody from Saturday Night Live (courtesy of With Leather):

I’ve got to add SNL to my DVR, I haven’t watched it in years but there’s more and more funny clips from the show lately. I wonder what kind of ratings NBC is getting on Notre Dame games this season. I can’t imagine they’re recouping their investment, though I certainly have tuned in to enjoy a little schadenfreude at Charlie Weis and the Irish’s expense.

Saturday’s game against Baylor will be on Versus at 11:30. If you don’t know what that is the Statesman can help you find it.

Ross the Intern (Jay Leno) goes to the Red River Shootout. Not super funny but decent to see some video from around the game and State Fair.

I mentioned FSN’s “wonderful” announcing and overall presentation repeatedly during Saturday’s live blog of the [tag]Iowa State[/tag] game. They missed plays, butchered names, and were just generally awful, but the most awkward moment of the day came courtesy of color man Dave Lapham. He was confused most of the game but he found some clarity when he went nuts and repeatedly says that Texas safety [tag]Erick Jackson[/tag] “face rapes” ISU receiver Todd Blythe.

The great site Awful Announcing found video of the comment and it’s embedded below for your enjoyment/bewilderment:

There’s some comments over at AA with people claiming he said “face raking” but on the live broadcast it was pretty clear what he said. Plus he said it again in about 30 seconds. Awkward.

Only two games between ranked teams and neither is that sexy. The one of the most interest is in the Big 12 featuring the Oklahoma Sooners hosting the undefeated Missouri Tigers. I complain about this just about every week but that game is big enough that ESPN’s College Gameday shows up but the Big 12 television contract is so awful that a huge game between two highly ranked teams is buried on FSN.

(23) Texas at Iowa State – 11:30 am on FSN. Longhorns try to get their first Big 12 win in way too long against former Texas coach Gene Chizik’s Iowa State Cyclones.

(1) LSU at (17) Kentucky – 2:30 pm on CBS. Probably been a while since Kentucky came into this game ranked but I don’t think the outcome is going to be too different. UK’s Andre Woodson has a solid game but LSU still rolls in this one.

Texas A&M at Texas Tech – 2:30 pm on ABC. The Aggies haven’t won in Lubbock since 1993 and are double digit underdogs today. I just noticed Tech QB Graham Harrell has 28 touchdown passes already this season. Wow. A loss for A&M could mean seal Coach Franchione’s fate. Could be ugly.

(4) Boston College at Notre Dame – 2:30 pm on NBC. The Irish get a chance to return the favor for the BC upsets that ruined seasons for them in the past, but they won’t. Boston College actually has a four game winning stream in this matchup, sad (not really) how far Notre Dame has fallen. BC isn’t worthy of being the number four team in the country but Notre Dame sucks so they win easily today.

(11) Missouri at (6) Oklahoma – 5:30 pm on FSN. Were the upset by Big 12 North members Kansas State and Colorado two weeks ago a fluke? Oklahoma is definitely not the dominant team of years past, if Chase Daniel gets hot the Tigers definitely have a shot today. Texas fans should definitely be rooting for Mizzou here, another conference loss by OU gives the Longhorns a real shot at a Big 12 title if they can win out.

Not really anything interesting going on this weekend in college football, with only one match-up between two ranked teams. Probably one of the better games to watch is happening tonight, with the over-rated West Virgina facing off against South Florida. Anyone else notice the Bulls use the same hand signal as us? Copiers.

Baylor at Texas A&M – 11:30am on Versus. What’s funny about this match-up is that on the radio Aggy faithful were talking about it being a big game in the season. My thoughts, anytime Baylor is a “big game”, you have reached a sad day in your program.

Kansas State at (7) Texas – 2:30pm on ABC. Revenge game for the first second loss last season. Texas has started this season off a little slow, but things are getting back on track. Texas needs to make a statement in this game in order to carry some momentum going into the match-up against OU.

(6) California at (11) Oregon – 2:30pm on ABC. Talk about some high powered offenses. This game might end up looking like the Texas Tech / OSU game last weekend. I am thinking Oregon will pull the upset off in this one.

Auburn at (4) Florida – 7:00pm on ESPN. Definitely not as much hype in this match-up as last year, but when these two teams play you know it will be a good game. Auburn could get their program back on track with another win against Florida.

Not a great college football weekend at all. Only two games between ranked teams and one of those is Georgia at Alabama but I’m not sure either of those teams are really that great. Not much interesting going on in the Big 12 either. Here’s today’s games worth watching:

(12) South Carolina at (2) LSU – 2:30 pm on CBS. How in the world did South Carolina climb to #12 in the rankings already? LSU looks incredible, they could make this one a blow out quick if Steve Spurrier can’t find some magic.

(10) Penn State at Michigan – 2:30 pm on ABC. Could be disasterous for the Big 10 if Michigan wins this game. Texan Ryan Mallett is starting again for the Wolverines, the kid has a cannon but hasn’t learned to use it yet.

Texas Tech at Oklahoma State – 2:30 pm on FSN. Is Oklahoma State really as bad as they’ve looked in their first three games? And what did they do to quarterback Bobby Reid? This is Texas Tech‘s first big boy opponent, any chance they keep things going now that they’re into Big 12 play.

Rice at (7) Texas – 6 pm on FSN. Can the Longhorns finally put up a dominant performance against an inferior opponent? If they can’t blow out the Owls the Interweb is going to explode. Make sure to check your local listings if there is an alternate channel (it’ll be on 667 on DirecTV) to catch the game in case Tech vs OSU runs long.

(22) Georgia at (16) Alabama – 6:45 pm on ESPN. Would Alabama be at #16 if Nick Saban wasn’t their coach? This is their last big test until November when they’ll face LSU. Texas fans wanted QB Matt Stafford bad, will it ever click for him and the Bulldogs offense?

Another solid Saturday of games to watch. There’s a couple of good SEC matchups, which means a return of CBS’s great coverage and great high def picture. Texas plays in the afternoon and there’s another big chance for the Big 12 to prove itself tonight as Nebraska faces off against USC. Don’t leave your couch.

Illinois at Syracuse – 11 am on ESPNU. If former Texas defensive coordinator Greg Robinson’s Syracuse team doesn’t win today he’ll likely start the year 0 – 4 and won’t make it till the end of the season.

Iowa at Iowa State – 12:30 pm on Versus. Speaking of former Texas defensive coordinators… Gene Chizik is just in his first year but after losing to Northern Iowa last week the Cyclones are just hoping they’re not laughed off the field today against the Hawkeyes.

(22) Tennessee at (5) Florida – 2:30 pm on CBS. Good SEC matchup today in HD on CBS. I’m not completely sold on Florida yet this year but they should be able to handle Tennessee in the Swamp.

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A few more exciting games on today’s schedule than last week, including a big matchup for Texas against the TCU Horned Frogs. Two ranked teams and the game is on freaking FSN. The Big 12 desperately needs a better television contract if it wants to be thought of as an equal to the SEC and Big 10.

Miami at (5) Oklahoma – 11 am on ABC. Texas fans will be rooting for the Hurricanes but if OU blows this one it’s going to be tough for the Big 12 to get any respect this season nationally. Can the Sooners’ offense move the ball against Miami the way the did against UNT?

(16) Nebraska at Wake Forest – 11 am on ESPN. Wake Forest played well against Boston College last week but the Cornhuskers should be able to run away with this one. Marlon Lucky is a stud.

Fresno State at (23) Texas A&M – 2:30 pm on FSN. Could be a trap game for the Aggies. This isn’t the same top 25 caliber Fresno State team that was hanging with USC a few years back but if A&M comes out flat they’re good enough to pull off the upset.

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