The Official 2019-2020 Season Football Thread

[haunted]

Week 1's "biggest games":

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/27488358/college-football-picks-wins-week-1-biggest-games

I still think North Carolina v. South Carolina is going to be a lot lower scoring than what's predicted. UNC's defense is all upperclassman and they have a true freshman QB. South Carolina is going to win 24-14 or something similar. Off of memory I've bet the under for 1st half and the whole game and won every time during their past 3 match-ups. I recall one final score being 17-10 3 years ago.

Not listed is Duke @ Alabama. I think Duke is going to surprise them and put up 14 or so more than likely in the 2nd half, but I also see duke's secondaries being outmatched big time. Probably going to be some deep TD passes early on and bama running up the score. Might be a good game to take the over in the 1st half, wait for the o/u for the 2nd half to go up at half-time, then take the under for the 2nd.

I wonder if boise state will beat FSU. Everyone is unanimously against that but I wouldn't be so sure. An ok wager would be for Boise to cover the spread.

In the mormon showdown it being a rivalry game, either taking the under or byu covering the spread against Utah.

Auburn > Oregon
Oklahoma > Houston (I might take the over on this one)

[|iR|Focalor]

So last night the dork on the news was talking about the upcoming Georgia Tech vs #1 Clemson game Thurs night. I remembered that GT's coach "retired" last season and thought, "Hmm, maybe I'll watch to see if the new guy actually passes the ball."

Opening weekend of football, I have the god damn Dish 500 package I've always had, which has EVERYTHING except premium channels and the extra special sports packages like NHL Center Ice or NFL RedZone, etc. You'd THINK the game with the #1 team in the country would be on somewhere. Yeah, it is, it's on ACC Network. Which happens to be the fuckin' ONE channel I DON'T have.

I look on there a few minutes ago looking to find the college football game schedule channel where they scroll through all the games, times, and channels. Adjacent to the damn college football schedule channel... is the MOTHERFUCKING ACC NETWORK NOW! Pretty fucking sure I didn't have it last night. Today, I do.

Dunno if anyone else is in this boat, but I'm also not getting my local channel 46 CBS affiliate because of contract dispute bullshit with Dish Network. Also not getting fucking Braves games anymore. Dish keeps talking shit about all these people they sign contracts with getting greedy and they're fighting for better prices for their customers... *eye roll*... but if that were the case, how come I'm paying as much as the fuckers with other satellite providers?

FUCK THIS SHIT LETS RIOT.

[haunted]

The ACC network JUST launched a week ago. Pretty sure it was the only major conference without it's own channel. They announced it in 2017 that it would be a thing in the 19-20 season. On the downside, ACC games aren't aired for free by typing theacc.com/live anymore. Right now I'm in the va beach area and cox cable didn't have the acc network. I watched a little bit on my laptop on low quality and GA Tech was getting stuffed bad in the red zone, rarely completed a pass, and still has most of their success running it. Oh and they still go for it on 4th down every damn time. Thank goodness NC got rid of Larry Fedora. He had a fetish for that too.

[|iR|Focalor]

Not knowing anything about the current coach at Georgia Tech, haven't even googled him yet, don't know his name, don't know jack shit about him... but from what you describe, I'm gonna postulate a guess that he was an assistant coach under Paul Johnson they promoted, and he's been baptized and brainwashed in the run option cult.

Let's be real. Paul Johnson and Mark Richt both probably didn't WANT to retire. They were "persuaded" to by their institutions respective athletic directors. And they replace the motherfucker with a carbon copy of him expecting a different result. AIn't that the definition of crazy?

I don't even give a shit enough at this point to go google it NOW and see if I'm right, lol.

They had a fucking golden opportunity there, playing a #1 Clemson at the start of the season. Had they changed up the program and went back to modern football tactics, they might've caught Clemson off guard and... probably still lost, but... maybe won.

Speaking of googling... Wanna see something funny? Go to google. Type in Gus Malzahn. See the first/main picture it shows of him on the right side of the page. A badly 'shopped pic of him with a dumb look on his face reading the "Idiots Guide to Coaching", lol.

[|iR|Focalor]

Perverted curiosity has me watching mostly the Ohio St vs Florida Atlantic game (ain't really any shit WORTH watching on until after 3pm EST).

Looks like Georgia's #1 QB recruit Justin Fields,... who pretty much SUCKED and ended up being Jake Fromm's backup and the designated QB run play guy... got pissed that his talent wasn't being utilized to it's full potential at Georgia (la-dee-fuckin'-da), and he packed his shit and moved to Ohio State.

The guys covering the game are creaming their panties over how great he's doing. They had 4 TD's after 8 mins of the 1st quarter alone, which, yeah, that's pretty good... until... you consider their opposition. I swear, FAU is F-O-U-L. They suck-diddly-uck. It's like the fuckin' three stooges had 22 kids and they turned them into a football team. All the highlights they've shown of Fields throwing TD passes, his receiver is WAAAAAAAAY wide open. And they still talk like it was an impressive pass. NAH, STUPIDS! PAY ATTENTION! Those kinds of passes were the ONLY passes he seemed capable of completing when QBing at Georgia.

So Ohio State's gonna win today. But mark my words, they're gonna have the worst season they've had in the last 10 years, guaranteed. There's a reason Kirby Smart chose Fromm over Fields.

It's like... if you're making a movie and you cast Denzel Washington to star in it, but Denzel quits... so you hire Eric Roberts to replace him. He's an ..."actor". People ..."know" his name. Good luck explaining your box office revenues to the investors (obviously a metaphor for the athletic director).

Speaking of Eric Roberts... I watched an old movie with him and Jon Voight and Rebecca Demornay for the first time the other week. It was called Runaway Train (1985). I figured I kinda liked Jon Voight in some other movies, I've seen Eric Roberts in things I didn't completely hate, I'll give it a whirl, and even if it sucks, hey, it's something different at least. MY - GOD. That was the most horrible piece of crap I've ever seen. No wonder people shit on Eric Roberts. He fucking RUINED that movie all by himself. How he got any work after that trainwreck (figuratively and literally... cuz the train wrecks in the movie... how fuckin' poetic... life imitating art imitating life, ...or some shit, weeeeeeeeeee)  is a miracle I can't explain or understand.

[haunted]

I had a similar experience with announcers while watching a similar match-up yesterday. Michigan State v. Tulsa. Tulsa was giving them a hard time in the 1st quarter all the while the announcers are just talking up the big 10 so much. Michigan State ended up beating them 28-7, but during that 1st Q when it was tied they had to make up excuses for why it was close. "The big 10 is the best conference in college football no doubt." "This is a really good game, not many people know that the AAC has surpassed the PAC12 and the ACC, so this could get interesting"

...Ya. Suuuuuuuuure. I think the AAC has improved and are good for what they are, but that was a stretch there.

About to tune into NC v. SC on espn @ 3:30. UNC has a senior defense, good RB's, a true freshman QB, and a new coach. I'm still thinking low scoring game and SC wins, but was surprised with kirk h. and others picking NC on sportscenter today(3 out of 5 picked SC). Hopefully i'll be surprised and see some decent football because the last 2 seasons were an all-time low. No expectations though.

Oh.. NC State looked pretty good against ECU today. They were already on the fringe of being ranked, I think they'll scrape the bottom 25 now. And a big lol @ FAU scoring that much on Ohio State. They might even get a 4th TD.

From the scoreboard FSU Boise state has been close all game, and Iowa st and Nebraska both had trouble with non-ranked small schools.

[haunted]

NC made a lot of mistakes but that was a far more conservatively coached team. Got stuffed in the red zone 3 times, settled for a FG all 3x. I know it ain't a big deal for y'all to beat an average or a tad above average SEC team, but larry fedora lost to them all 3 times with way more talent.  In 1 game the difference was obvious. In the first half, I didn't know this before the game, but NC was down 2 starting linebackers and it showed. 1 serving a first half suspension from the previous year, another injured. UNC's best QB from last year was playing middle linebacker and single-handed gave SC a TD. NC got lucky there at the end but exceeded my expectations.

[|iR|Focalor]

Yeah, I was kinda bummed to see Boise State win. Those ESPN idiots kept highlighting the fact that Boise State has beaten so many bigger names... more than 5 years ago, which means DICK since nobody who played back then is still around. Clearly it was a game of conditioning. All the FSU defense players looked tired and winded before the end of the 3rd.

AN UNDEFEATED NORTH CAROLINA TARHEELS. How many times has anyone been able to say that in a long time? Enjoy it while it lasts. I have no fucking idea how North Carolina managed to retain the lead at the end there. Some fucking HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOrrible play calls late in the 4th. That play on 3rd and 5 that would've taken the clock to 0's had they made the 1st... A terrible play in that situation. They need to watch what folks in the SEC do in that situation, because usually they're calling slot receiver or RB to take a shallow out route with the WR rubbing/blocking for them.  Then they take a fuckin' knee on 4th DOWN!?!?!?! PUT DOWN THE CRACK PIPE, SIR! And the guys announcing were like, "Surely that's a miscommunication." But it looked to me like the coach was just a-ok with it, so clearly he made a conscious decision to call that. If there was a way for it to happen... the NC players should've won the game, but their coach should've somehow someway lost. I mean WTF dude.

[haunted]

Yeah that call was insane. They were actually having luck doing EXACTLY that in the 1st quarter and got 5-7 yards off a quick pass to a back each time.  Crazy, sc fans left pretty pissed off in a sold out charlotte stadium. Everyone was cheering Mack is back. A lot of coaching mistakes as well, but such a breath of fresh air to see the old mistakes not be there anymore. I just went from undoubtedly selling my great nc clemson tickets to 50/50. I'll see how miami and app state go first. My wife even let her baby shower be scheduled on the game day, lol.

NC state destroyed a solid ECU team too. I hope this continues, the ACC needs it.

HAH! Tennessee lost to a sun belt team. Georgia State. And middle tennessee scored the first TD on Michigan. If Michigan loses to them that might even surpass the classic one where app state upset them in their home opener. It would be good for the big 10 if ohio state, michigan, and nebraska all fail miserably while the teams that quietly carry their conference do well (penn state, iowa, wisconsin).

AN UNDEFEATED NORTH CAROLINA TARHEELS. How many times has anyone been able to say that in a long time?

NC had lost 21 of their last 24 games against fbs opponents, and the first season opening win against a power 5 opponent in 20 years. And yeah, I was disappointed with the fsu boise game too. All of my gator fan friends were salivating over that one.

[Sgt. Dick]

FL St. losing at home to Boise after having an 18 point lead.  Their coach was already disliked by a big part of their fan base, so he is really in the hot seat now.

The Tenn loss was really bad also. 

FL St. & Tenn were out-played and that is what was really bad, they were not fluke defeats.

[|iR|Focalor]

FL St. & Tenn were out-played and that is what was really bad, they were not fluke defeats.

Definitely. Florida State's defense virtually quit in the 4th quarter. Reminded me of Georgia from years past where they'd look great in the first half, and by the time the 4th quarter hit, the defense players were playing like they were dead tired and just wanted to go home and didn't give a shit.

But Georgia's training facilities and equipment have gotten some SERIOUS facelifts and upgrades in recent years, and it seems like Kirby Smart is way harder on his players about conditioning than Mark Richt ever was. Seems like many schools are finally updating their shit though, even the ones who aren't doing so well. Makes me wonder if they have new accountability rules for the schools with the money they're making from football. They aren't paying the players anything at all, so there's no excuse for them NOT to have enough money to offer the latest advancements in training equipment and sports medicine.

[haunted]

Wow,  I looked up SC's schedule. Terrible timing to lose to UNC. They must have the toughest schedule in the nation. Alabama, clemson, AND Georgia. Does any other team have all of the presumed top 3? Plus other several sec matchups including texas a&m and Florida. Why didn't they throw in LSU and and Penn state while they were at it. Good luck to muschamp.  The media was really grilling him like he was in the hot seat about to be canned. UNC ain't THAT bad, they lost to Clemson in the ACC championship by 1 possession 3 years and 8 months ago, and had a 4 year streak of running the acc coastal. Just had a really, really bad coach with tons of kids that start in the NFL now. His last 2 seasons he didn't have a plethora of those players and it was glaringly obvious what the issue was.

[|iR|Focalor]

Well I'm not totally confident Georgia will beat them either. Georgia only put up 30 points against Vanderbilt yesterday. Alabama put up 42 against Duke. Clemson put up 52 against Georgia Tech. How many points someone scores on average in games is a good indicator of their offensive potency. The game vs. South Carolina is gonna be in Athens I think, which is good for Georgia. But even when South Carolina stinks, they show up pissed off and ready to play hard when it's Georgia.

[haunted]

On paper SC has the most talent they've possessed under muschamp, and he claims that too. I'm not one to make these claims like everyone else is, but NC's coach was the guys' mentor. Muschamp was his DC at texas when they won the national championship. Maybe, to a degree Brown had a small idea of what to expect. Yeah the 2nd half was pretty stagnant of vandy georgia. I went to bed near the end of the 3rd quarter and saw the score the next day. Georgia didn't shine, and simply won because they're better. Vandy is consistently a part of low-scoring games. Michigan state used to be like that, northwestern has always been like that. That coupled with the 1st game I wouldn't worry too much yet, even though I see what you're saying. Last year it was blatant that clemson and alabama were the 2 best teams in the nation, but it was also obvious that georgia was #3 and #4 was more so up in the air... Kinda looks it should be a similar situation. By the time of the playoffs I think Oklahoma was the best choice even though they've been absurdly overrated in the past. Still waiting on Penn State to not drop a 1 pt game to ohio state @ columbus and get in there.

[haunted]

This is the first time I haven't seen or received a ton of pictures claiming South Carolina is "The Real Carolina". They always rub that in NC's face after a win hahaha. Everyone I know calls NC "Carolina", and it's largely due to basketball. "The Carolina-Duke rivalry". It's always been an uphill battle claiming that name so they've always had to use beating us at football as rights to it. I personally could care less. I usually say their state not to be confused with southern cal.