First the Blue Field and now Bluegrass

Earlier this season, I closed out Colorado. After this week, Kentucky will be in the books as well. We start off in Bowling Green where the Hilltoppers host the Blue Raiders on Thursday night. After a day off, we will start with the main course, Florida at Kentucky. I am looking forward to both of the games as, the Gators are the only team I have seen in action before. This is unusual, because with over a 100 games under my belt, there are not many teams I have not seen at least one.

Last Week:

It was great weekend – right up until it wasn’t. I knocked Wrigley Field off my bucket list. I saw the Pirates win Friday night and caught a Cubs win on a classic Friday afternoon. The Nine O’clock Club, while short-handed, was in rare form. Probably too rare of form, as I caved to peer pressure Saturday night and left the stadium at half time. It was a decision that became very regrettable just an hour later.

I am definitely off the Prime Train now. The Buffs were out of it five seconds after the national anthem. Luckily, WSU continues to roll, stomping the Beavers of Oregon State and giving them their first loss of the year. The result of the Utah game resembled the score of an 8th grade football game, but as long as the Utes covered, I did not care. My biggest frustration, however, was how the Gophers snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. When Minnesota went up by 17 at the half, I was counting my winnings and heading to the exits. Yes, I missed the Wildcats epic 21 point comeback. I am still not quite over it. See the Northwestern review later this week for a group decision heavily impacted by the rapid legalization of former vices, including gambling and marijuana.

Other observations from Week 4

• The Ohio State – Notre Dame game was worth the hype. It was a great game to watch. I am not a big Lou Holtz fan, but I think Ryan Day was a bit over the top with his post game rant on the former Irish coach’s comments. Why care what Holtz says these days? At 87 years old, he probably spends half his day yelling at clouds.
• Things are starting to become a bit clearer with some teams. Penn State and Miami may both be real as they each rolled to 4 – 0. I will reserve judgement on Kentucky until after I see them live this week.
• On the other side, there are some teams that are looking pretty bad. Nevada and Buffalo are both 0-4 and appear to be Bottom 10 contenders. Similarly, it appears it is going to be a long year in the ACC for Virginia Tech and Pitt. They play each other this week in a game that I will be happy to avoid. Night games at Lane Stadium are awesome, but not worth the trip this year.
• With Washington, USC, and Oregon all 4-0, the PAC 10 looks like the conference to beat this year. Conference realignment – what a great idea!

This week’s picks

We start on Thursday night in Bowling Green. I don’t know much about either MTSU or Western Kentucky. I am picking solely on making it more fun to root for the Hilltoppers. My reasoning for the Florida – Kentucky game is pretty much the same. I only saw Florida against Tennessee where the Volunteers did a lot of ole’ tackling against the Gators. It was hard too see how good the Florida offense really is. I think LSU is good, really good. I think Ole Miss falters in the second half in that one. Air Force is undefeated and San Diego State has struggled this year. I like the Falcons. Hopefully, it will be a better week overall. I continue to float along at break-even, which is a bit like getting a cost of living increase for your annual raise. It’s better than nothing, but you sure wish it was more.

Other Week 5 Observations

• Two things about ESPN Gameday heading to Duke. 1) I know it is a good matchup, but ND lost last week. Do we really need to see more drunk Irish fans running around? 2) Wallace Wade Stadium is awful – bleh. One of my least favorite stadiums.
• Still not quite all conference games, so there’s lots of kinda, sorta big games: Georgia-Auburn, LSU-Ole Miss, Florida-Kentucky, Kansas-Texas, Clemson-Syracuse. None of them strike me as absolutely must see though.
• I was going to say Buffalo at Akron was the worst game this week, but since the Zips nearly beat IU (which doesn’t say much for the Hoosiers), I will give that game a pass. That leaves Pitt at Va Tech as this week’s dud – and it hurts me to write that.
• Will have to balance my prep for a morning tailgate at Kentucky against my desire to watch the late Friday night game of Utah at Oregon State. Saturday morning could be rough.

That’s all I got, enjoy the games.