Football on the Fringe » Game time

Fringe Hangover, 11/28: Two More Champs

lowercase — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:35:10 +0000

In case you were being dragged around the malls into the afternoon, we had two more titles handed out over the last 24 hours or so, and the BCS picture isn’t getting any better for Boise State. Here’s what we know, and what we think:

Ohio 35, Temple 17- Ohio is you MAC East Champion and will go on to play Central Michigan on Friday night. Both teams end their seasons at 9-3, as Temple’s 9 game streak comes to an end.
Boise State 44, Nevada 33- The Wolf Pack gave the Broncos all they could, but BSU got out to a big lead early and Nevada couldn’t get caught up. Boise State repeats as WAC champion, and will look to go 8-0 in the league for 2 years running next week.
Texas survived a good game from Texas A&M to stay in the driver seat for a BCS slot.
Alabama did the same against Auburn, to keep the SEC Championship locked in as a play-in game, unless UF loses to FSU today.
Pitt lost to West Virginia last night, which essentially eliminates them from BCS consideration unless they beat Cincinnati next week, and could mean that Cincy will not be rewarded with a BCS bowl if they lose to Pitt next week.

All this means is that as long as Cincinnati beats Pitt next week, it’s still a three way dance between Boise State, Oklahoma State (if they win today, and that’s a pretty big if), and Penn State/Iowa for two remaining places. If Oklahoma wins today, then a pretty clear path opens for BSU’s inclusion, especially if Cincinnati does beat Pitt next week.

Games I’ll be watching or keeping an eye on today:

Okie Lite at Oklahoma is on Fox Sports Net, 12:30, so no telling if I’ll be able to find it. But that’s a big one for everyone involved.
New Mexico at TCU is at 1 on the Mtn. I’ll keep an eye on the scoreboard on that one.
Southern Miss at ECU, 1:30, CBSC- CUSA East Championship
Florida State at Florida is 3:30 on CBS- FSU is our last hope for a rivalry weekend upset to shake up the standings.
Utah at BYU is at 5 on CBSC & Mtn, big game but without too much meaning this year.

A few key games in the CUSA Championship & Bowl picture are not on national TV:

Houston plays Rice at noon, win and they’re in the title game. Rice has been bad, but they’re on a 2 game win streak and this is a cross-town rivalry.
UCF is at UAB but not on TV, 1:30, UAB is playing for bowl eligibility
Marshall is playing at UTEP, 3:00, Marshall is hunting an important 7th win, they’d rather not be stuck at 6-6 especially if UAB gets there.
Tulane at SMU is also at 3, SMU needs a Houston loss and a win here to back into the game. They should know by the end of the 1st quarter what the deal is.

Mid-Day Updates!

lowercase — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:16:49 +0000

Some halftime-ish discussion of the games in progress here in the 2nd wave today:

Houston 24 Oklahoma State 7: If I had written the preview like I planned, I would have warned you about the upset. So watch out for the upset.

BYU 20 Tulane 3: BYU started slow but seem ready to pull away through the 2nd half.

SMU 21 UAB 7: CUSA beating itself up already, can UAB rally or was last week a fluke?

WVU 21 ECU 20: Close one heading into the half, ECU taking advantage of WVU mistakes.

Navy 18 La Tech 14: 2 solid teams slugging it out, interesting to see how this plays out. Loser drops to 0-2, which is always a tough way to start.

Texas 13 Wyoming 10: At no point was this game on my radar. Wyoming making a lot of Texans sweat.

TCU 14 Virginia 0: Looks to be going according to the script.

I need more TVs! More updates and analysis tonight and tomorrow. In the meantime, come hang out at The Gally Blog’s liveblog.

12 Straight Hours of Happy

lowercase — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 04:20:54 +0000

It’s been a heck of a day, and I’ll recap a few of the games in more detail tomorrow, but a few common themes from the night:

1-AA teams on the whole aren’t that far below 1-A teams. Lots of scares today, including my alma mater UCF, and 2 wins (one of them Thursday).

Except for Buffalo and maybe Bowling Green, the MAC stinks. 2-9 as of now, Buffalo may make it 3-9, and the only 1-A win so far was against Troy. The teams that were supposed to carry the conference, like Western Michigan, have been a disappointment. Good thing it’s only 1 week.

The Sun Belt isn’t much better, but their opposition was better overall. 3-5 for the weekend, but blew out both their 1-AA opponents.

The win for BYU was obviously huge, and will be written about by me and paid professionals at great length this week. The big debate is now whether they’re positioned for a run at the BCS Title Game. I say they are, but I still doubt they can run the table with the schedule they have.

Lots more to come tomorrow and this week here and at the Pub.