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Let’s Play Some College Football!

September 1st, 2010 by Matthew C. Keegan | 1 Comment | Filed in Collegiate Sports, NCAA Football

2010 gridiron action kicks off Thursday night!

Utes fans await the Pitt Panthers for Thursday night action.

Can it be here already? That “here” would be the 2010 college football season.

After an active summer when several colleges announced that they would be leaving their leagues for brighter horizons, the conference transfer rumors quickly died down and practice for the season began. Those warm ups are now over and the first games will be held tomorrow night with opening weekend action continuing through Labor Day.

Thursday Night

The very first game of this season and weekend will kick off at 6:30 p.m. as Presbyterian plays at Wake Forest. The weekend’s action concludes on Monday at 8 p.m. when Boise State and Virginia Tech duke it out in Washington, D.C. Key games are getting air time with some getting national coverage while others are being shown locally.

Although there are a number of lopsided contests scheduled for this weekend–considering that college football doesn’t have a preseason like the NFL that is understandable–there are a number of contests worth following this weekend including:

Southern Miss at South Carolina – The Golden Eagles take on the Gamecocks in Columbia, a contest between a middle of the road Conference USA team and a middle of the road SEC school. I’m picking the Gamecocks to win at home.

Pittsburgh at Utah — Of course, THE game to watch on Thursday night is the Panthers at the Utes. The Panthers are the top choice for Big East honors this year while the Utes will be heading to the Pac 10 (12) next year. A lot is riding on this game for both teams, but I’m going with Utah in a close one.

Friday action is a disappointment as the only games scheduled are Villanova at Temple and Arizona at Toledo. Seems to me someone could have put a marquee game on; plenty of people won’t be able to tune in on Thursday night, but they will on Friday.

UConn at Michigan – Of all the Saturday contests, this one could be easily overlooked. Michigan is improved and so are the Huskies. I’m going with UConn to pull out an upset in front of 110,000 disappointed Wolverine fans in Ann Arbor.

San Jose State at Alabama – The only reason to watch this game is to see last year’s national champions start off their quest for a repeat. You’ll watch the game long enough for the real action to begin the following hour. Obviously, the Crimson Tide will romp.

Oregon State at TCU – 45 minutes after the ‘Bama game starts, these two teams will hash it out in Texas. I’m not sure why, but I keep thinking that the Beavers will dispose of the Horned Frogs in Arlington.

LSU at North Carolina — I like this match up because it is one of the more even games between ranked teams. Though I live only 30 minutes from Chapel Hill, I believe the Tigers will prevail.

Sunday will be like Friday as Tulsa takes on East Carolina followed by Southern Methodist at Texas Tech. Instead, fire up the grill and invite some friends over.

Labor Day games risk getting overlooked as people head back from the shore and are relaxing by cooking out or are preparing to head back to school. Though you may not be interested in tuning in to Navy at Maryland at 4 p.m. ET, you’ll want to make sure that you view the 8 p.m. contest between Boise State and Virginia Tech. Yes, the best game has been saved for last! I believe the Hokies will squeeze by the Broncos who, by the way, no longer are a surprise or underrated college football team.

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Photo courtesy of the University of Utah.


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5 Opening Week College Football Yawners!

August 26th, 2010 by Matthew C. Keegan | No Comments | Filed in Collegiate Sports, NCAA Football

One thing will be definitely different this year with the college football season: no games will be played in August. The month of August has in recent years become the starting point for the season, but with Labor Day arriving on September 6 this year, the first games will be played on Thursday, September 2.

Don’t worry, FBS (Division 1-A) teams will still get their twelve games in with many team schools getting give games in during September.

The first weekend, extending through Labor Day, there will be several notable match ups including Oregon State at TCU and LSU at North Carolina on Saturday followed by Boise State v. Virginia Tech at Washington, D.C. on Monday.

But most of the games for this first weekend of the season will be real yawners, almost as bad as scheduling Barbizon Beauty Academy to face off against the New England Patriots. Not that bad really, but “prep” games nonetheless including the following five we most certainly will NOT be watching:

1. Presbyterian Blue Hose at Wake Forest Demon Deacons — If any, these teams nicknames should be a rib tickler for fans watching the game. Presbyterian is a small-time Big South team coming off of an 0-11 season. They scheduled Wake Forest and Clemson for their first two games, suggesting that going into league play they’ll be beat up. Or at least richer for giving up two home games for pay!

2. Youngstown State Penguins at Penn State Nittany Lions — Okay, this match up isn’t as bad as the first one, but Missouri Valley Conference foe Youngstown State is no match for the No. 19 Nittany Lions. Easy win for JoePa who is still alive and coaching in Happy Valley.

3. Stony Brook Seawolves at South Florida Bulls — Maybe this game won’t be the terrible mismatch it appears to be on paper given that Stony Brook finished atop the Big South Conference last year with Liberty and has coaxed several Hofstra players to join the team following that school’s cancellation of football. Then again, the Bulls are now led by Skip Holtz and aren’t about to give the Seawolves a leg to stand on.

4. Miami RedHawks at Florida Gators — Miami v. Florida has a classical showdown tone to it, but that isn’t what will be seen on Saturday when the RedHawks of Ohio travel to the swamp to take on the Gators. 1-11 in 2009, the Ohio team will be playing the No. 4 team in the nation. Good luck with that!

5. Portland State Vikings at Arizona State Sun Devils — They went 2-9 in Big Sky Conference play last year while the Sun Devils struggled in the Pac 10, finishing 4-8 . Still, we’re talking to completely different levels of play and the Vikings aren’t up to where Arizona State has to be week in and week out.

Not every game between bigger and smaller programs will be a snap this weekend. UC Davis could give Cal some fits on Saturday while Maryland may rue the day they agree to play Navy in Baltimore on a Labor Day afternoon.

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10 Surefire College Football 2010 Happenings

August 18th, 2010 by Matthew C. Keegan | 1 Comment | Filed in Collegiate Sports, NCAA Football

Kickoff set for Labor Day weekend

In about two weeks the first college football games will get underway, officially launching the 2010 season. Over the next four months or so, you’ll be hearing pundits and prognosticators comment about everything from the surprise team of the season to the coaching bomb and everything in between.

At SayCampusLife, we’ll continue to keep tabs on all of the news and present what we hope you will find to be some interesting information just beyond the mainstream reporting including ten “for certain” happenings for this season:

1. Bombs away — During the first weekend and most definitely by the second weekend, one of this season’s top picks will be upset. Unlike when LSU won the national championship with two losses, this team won’t have the luxury of winning out and playing for the national championship.

2. Out for the season — Injuries are a fact of life with football. A Heisman hopeful or other top player will see his season end, perhaps his NFL aspirations with it.

3. SEC champs — The SEC is the odds on favorite for winning it all, an unprecedented fifth straight national championship. But it won’t be Alabama that wins the SEC; instead an upstart will contend for the national title in January.

4. Coach firing — Who won’t finish out their coaching career this year? Anyone who loses a bunch of games that they should have won. At least one seasoned coach will be fired in November.

5. Seasonal surprise — TCU, Boise State and Utah can no longer surprise anyone. Is there anyone left who can? Yes, and that team will emerge as a top ten candidate before October comes to a close.

6. Simply scandalous — Whose scandal will get the news this year? Will it be recruiting violations or some sort of unethical behavior not heard about before?

7. Conference rumors — No conference changes will emerge while the season is active, but that won’t stop the speculation from reaching a fevered pitch once again.

8. Player antics — Not completely related to #6, but an issue nonetheless will be some sort of yucky player behavior that will emerge before the regular season ends. Whether that be gambling on games or sordid dorm behavior, expect something to leak out.

9. Record broken — Records are broken on a regular basis, but one player will have either a break out game or season that will simply defy expectations. And he’ll do it without taking steroids!

10. Bowl angst — As usual, the bowl season will anger some while gladdening the hearts of others particularly Michigan fans if the Wolverines get a warm weather invite around the first of the year.

When the curtain officially settles on the 2010 season following the early January BCS game, check back to see how well I did. I’m willing to venture that I’ll be spot-on at least nine out of 10 times.

Adv. — Need cash for tuition this semester? A Sallie Mae Smart Option Student Loan can provide for you a way to close the financing gap.


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UConn to the BCS & Other Mysteries

July 29th, 2010 by Matthew C. Keegan | 1 Comment | Filed in Collegiate Sports, NCAA Football

Title Town For Someone

The UConn Huskies playing in a BCS game seems almost farfetched, but when you consider how close they played in each of their losses last season, the Huskies stand a chance to prove themselves nationally this year. Winning the Big East Conference championship would provide the Huskies with that access; who’s to say that UConn won’t win it all?

The Bleacher Report is just one of many websites offering up their predictions about how the 2010 college football season might unfold. And writer Ben Carson got one thing dead right: most avid fans think about college football year ’round, thus the prognostications are never too early.

SEC Rules

One thing on most fan’s mind is this: will the SEC fill out the glove and claim their fifth consecutive championship? Importantly, are the Tennessee Volunteers good enough to knock off the Tide and keep all challengers at bay?

Clearly, college football is one of the hardest sports to predict with supposed top teams going from glory to gloom in just one season. Yes, Hawaii got creamed by Georgia in the Sugar Bowl a few years back, but there always seems to be a handful of Cinderella teams who defy the odds and get an unaccustomed January play date.

Best Guess

Personally, I haven’t bothered to throw my predictions out there, not that I’m afraid of what you may think. I simply find it too difficult to offer anything that could possibly be taken seriously; then again I see the following trends unfolding in 2010:

New Champ — This will be the season that the national champion won’t be from the SEC. Instead, I see Texas (not Oklahoma as Carson suggested) winning the Big 12 and playing for the national title. The Longhorns will face off against an SEC opponent and surprise everyone with a statement making win.

No Irish — This is the year that the Irish will turn the corner. Not so fast.  Brian Kelly will make some much needed improvements including getting the Notre Dame defense to do their job, but I don’t expect they’ll manage much more than a lower tier bowl bid this year. Three years out and the Irish could be playing for the national championship.

Mountaineers Run It – UConn may be the odds on favorite for some, but I see West Virginia winning the Big East on the legs of Noel Devine. If Devine rushes for 2,000 yards, he’ll lead a perfect West Virginia team to a shot to play for the national championhip. Yes, they’ll have to beat LSU, UConn and Pitt on the road along the way.

In a few weeks we’ll take a look at the first games of the season and offer up our predictions then.

Adv. — Are you coming up short this semester? A Sallie Mae Smart Option Student Loan can help you close the student financing gap.



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