Murfreesboro, Tennessee is the ultimate destination this week. Folks may be surprised that I did not have a lot of interested takers for this game. Apparently, neither being a half hour outside of Nashville or the allure of see two 1-2 teams battle was enough to entice any of my friends to join me. Not wanting to make the ten hour drive by myself, I had to find a way to entice my wife to come. It just so happens Asheville, NC is sorta, kinda on the way. Friday will be a very un-football like day at the Biltmore Estate. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Last Week: I love it when a plan comes together
We knocked off number 124 last week with a visit to Georgia Southern. I also met another stadium hunter. Andrew Bauhs of collegefootballtours.com whose count is at 118. Laughing at the travails of trying to hit all these stadiums, we swapped some stories and swag,
The full review will get updated later this year, but some quick observations on the weekend. We stayed in Savannah, Georgia for the trip and that turned out to be the right choice. Hanging out in the city Friday night got us a tasty meal at the top rated Brochu’s Family Tradition .
Saturday we tailgated with the friend of a friend of a friend. Barry from Georgia connected me with Randy from Georgia Southern, whose tailgate did not disappoint. It was great people, good food, and good times. The game was also very entertaining with the Eagles sealing the win very late. The only disappointment was that the Jax State Marching band stayed home.
Observations from last week.
- What a great week of games. My phone was burning up with score updates all day long.
- Nice to see Delaware snag the win against Connecticut. I am a fan of the Coop and the program will make a successful transition to the FBS.
- The Nittany Lions are not the number two team in the country.
- Good lord, the Hokies are just awful. Bret Pry seemed like a good guy, but that firing was overdue.
The Picks
Last Week’s Picks
Another 1-3 week. Brutal, absolutely brutal. I mentioned in the ‘Other comments’ again that I wanted to take Ohio and the points at against Ohio State but was too weak to do it. And, of course, I didn’t make the bet and the Bobcats covered (Double Ugh).
- The Jax State pick was not off by much, but this isn’t horseshoes or hand grenades.
- The vaunted Ducks offense just didn’t show up against Northwestern.
- WVU not only covered, but they even won the game. For excitement, the Backyard Brawl almost always delivers.
- South Florida is clearly not the best team in Florida. I was out of that bet early.
This Week’s Picks
What’s the definition of insanity? Doing same thing over and expecting a different result. I haven’t changed up anything yet so I guess I should expect another 1-3 result.
- I don’t have much reason to go with Middle Tennessee other than I want to be fully invested in the stands this weekend.
- Tulane has been hot. I think they can hang with Ole Miss.
- Indiana has a better big game pedigree than Illinois. I am going with the Hoosiers at home.
- WVU kept me off the snide last week. Kansas is not bad, but I hope and pray WVU can keep it close this week too.
Other relatively uninformed thoughts for this week:
- The ESPN Game Day location of Miami was a poor choice. Illinois/Indiana or Texas Tech/Utah are more worthy. Additionally the game day scene at Miami always looks a bit contrived.
- Auburn at Oklahoma may be the game of the week. I may have to put that on the DVR
- If Arch Manning doesn’t have big day for Texas against Sam Houston State, the discontent in Austin is going to go way up.
- Still plenty of cupcake games this weekend. Wofford is at Va Tech but I am not sure which team is the cupcake.
I will leave you with the a comparison of Georgia Southern’s souvenir cups. There was no way the $20 collector’s cup would work on my display shelf.
Enjoy the games,
Tree
