Destination: East Lansing, Michigan.

My pick: Notre Dame 33 - Michigan State 28

In today's other "big" game, Penn State-Ohio State, I'm picking the Bucks 42-3.

Posted at 07:49 AM | Permalink | in Big Ten, Game of the Week, My Games, Notre Dame | Comments (0)

Chris Fowler in his column today touched on ESPN's decision to send College GameDay to Los Angeles, when clearly there are better games in Auburn and Notre Dame on Saturday. It seems he is just as disappointed in the decision as I am:

For 13 seasons, the locations of the GameDay road shows have been editorial decisions based on the college football landscape. The basic principle was to (almost) always come from the site of the "biggest game," or occasionally, "the best story."...

Now, the philosophy has been rethought by upper management. For the first time, the competitive landscape of football programming is a frequent consideration. Serving the needs of ABC's new prime-time package of games is often a priority. The decision on GameDay's site is less a clear-cut "best game" philosophy now and is more complicated, made on a landscape where terms like "synergy" and "branding" live.

Please know this: Lee, Kirk and I have no say in decisions on GameDay's location. But as host of the show for 17 years, I am mainly concerned with the show's specific legacy, not the global college football landscape.

Let's hope that ESPN can get it right in the future. It reflects poorly on ESPN to only showcase ABC's games. Hey, I know there's a game on ABC on Saturday night. You don't need to hold a two-hour-long show at the game's site to inform me. Go to the site of the best game!

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Posted at 02:23 PM | Permalink | in TV Coverage | Comments (1)

I'm heading to South Bend in less than an hour for the Michigan-Notre Dame matchup tomorrow. Should be an interesting game, as it will most likely be the stiffest test for each team until their final games of the season. (Michigan closes at Ohio State and Notre Dame closes at USC.)

My pick: Notre Dame 21 - Michigan 20.

Posted at 01:38 PM | Permalink | in Big Ten, My Games, Notre Dame | Comments (0)

Tomorrow is Showdown Saturday. There are seven games that feature AP Top 25 teams going head-to-head. Teams from seven conferences plus Notre Dame will take part in those games. For some odd reason (or perhaps because it's the best game on ABC tomorrow), ESPN College GameDay is headed to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the Nebraska-USC showdown, even though it was voted as the 3rd most popular game this week in an ESPN user poll. I suppose they didn't want to hype a game on CBS (LSU-Auburn) or NBC (Michigan-Notre Dame). It's a shame that they can't go to a better game though. Anyway, here are the games with my score picks (with rankings in parentheses):

(2) Notre Dame 21 - (11) Michigan 20
(3) Auburn 15 - (6) LSU 9
(12) Louisville 27 - (17) Miami 24
(18) Oregon 31 - (15) Oklahoma 17
(20) TCU 38 - (24) Texas Tech 31
(4) USC 42 - (19) Nebraska 21
(7) Florida 20 - (13) Tennessee 14

Posted at 01:21 PM | Permalink | in ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Game of the Week, MWC, Notre Dame, Pac-10, SEC | Comments (1)

Dropped from rankings: Clemson (12), Penn State (18), South Carolina (24)

Posted at 01:30 AM | Permalink | in Rankings | Comments (0)

Notre Dame didn't dominate this game from the start, but certainly took control of the game in the second and third quarters, capitalizing on Penn State miscues and making big plays. Some photos taken during the weekend:

Friday, 3:36 p.m. EDT — Indiana I-80 Eastbound Exit 77:

6:38 p.m. EDT — Pep Rally. I estimated the crowd at around 35,000. Less than last year's USC game, but still pretty big:

7:03 p.m. EDT — Me with Touchdown Jesus and football:

Saturday, 1:21 p.m. EDT — ND players walk from the basilica to the stadium:

2:10 p.m. EDT — Notre Dame Marching Band:

2:52 p.m. EDT — Goodyear blimp over Notre Dame Stadium:

4:29 p.m. EDT — Jeff Samardzija makes a catch in the second quarter:

4:43 p.m. EDT — Notre Dame lines up against Penn State in the second quarter:

7:04 p.m. EDT — Final score, Notre Dame 41 - Penn State 17:

Posted at 12:37 AM | Permalink | in Big Ten, My Games, Notre Dame | Comments (1)

I returned from Atlanta over a week ago, but haven't found the time to make this post until now. I was extremely nervous for the first 59 minutes of that game, much longer than I thought I would be. Georgia Tech has quite a defense. Quinn looked very shaky, especially in the first half. But the Irish came away with the W, which is all that matters. Here are some photos from what I call Marathon Saturday.

6:58 a.m. EDT — College GameDay Set. Three hours til live:

10:17 a.m. EDT — Buzz gets a bit close for comfort:

11:42 a.m. EDT — Touchdown Jesus in Atlanta (I'm the one holding it up):

11:51 a.m. EDT — I make an appearance on ESPN:

5:19 p.m. EDT — Inflatable Buzz in front of Bobby Dodd Stadium:

5:57 p.m. EDT — Brady Quinn departs ND's team bus:

6:12 p.m. EDT — Me with Touchdown Jesus mockup:

7:19 p.m. EDT — Bobby Dodd Stadium from section 214, row 33:

11:32 p.m. EDT — Final score, Notre Dame 14 - Georgia Tech 10:

11:43 p.m. EDT — Bobby Dodd Stadium after the game:

Posted at 11:26 PM | Permalink | in ACC, My Games, Notre Dame | Comments (1)

Oh boy, we had some technical difficulties over the last few days, so I'll have to get up my GT summary and photos when I get back on Sunday. But right now, I'm out the door for South Bend to see Penn State vs. Notre Dame, the first meeting since the famed Snow Bowl of 1992. Weather looks like it should be in the mid-70s with a chance of rain this time around. No snow, sadly.

Anyway, onto the predictions for Week 2:

In my game... Notre Dame 27 - Penn State 20
In the big game... Texas 34 - Ohio State 31

I'll be back Sunday.

Posted at 12:32 PM | Permalink | in Game of the Week, My Games | Comments (0)

Over at College Football Nation, I've got an interesting analysis of a new restaurant at the new Cardinals Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., home of this year's BCS National Championship Game. Check it out: South of the Border? No, It's Glendale.

Posted at 06:09 PM | Permalink | in General | Comments (0)

My Top 25 after Week 1 may look a little unorthodox, but what I've done is rewarded teams who have actually proved something so far this season. In my opinion, Florida State's 13-10 win at Miami is a heck of a lot more impressive than Texas' 56-7 win at home against North Texas. Wins at home against inferior opponents, especially against Division I-AA schools, don't impress me much. I like seeing wins against solid teams, especially wins on the road in tough environments. Notre Dame won on the road in a tough environment against Georgia Tech but it was a sloppy win, so I knocked them down from #1 to #5. Florida State and Southern Cal both won on the road. Tennessee won at home vs. California against the odds and a lot of adversity.

Dropped from rankings: Boise State (21), Arkansas (23), Fresno State (24), Arizona (25)

Posted at 01:48 AM | Permalink | in Rankings | Comments (0)

Later this afternoon, I'm flying from Chicago to Atlanta for the ND-GT game. Then Saturday morning, the fun begins: College GameDay is broadcasting live from Tech campus starting at 10:00 AM ET and the game doesn't kickoff until 8:08 PM ET, so it will be a marathon start to the college football season for me. It will be my 174th college football game for which I've been in attendence. But it will be my first time ever seeing Georgia Tech, and consequently, my first game at Bobby Dodd Stadium in downtown Atlanta.

Expectations of Notre Dame are higher than they've been in over a decade. I have the Irish ranked #1 in my preseason Top 25. But, are the Yellow Jackets capable of stunning the Irish in the opener? While Calvin Johnson is an All-American wide receiver, quarterback Reggie Ball is just too erratic and the Jackets' secondary is thin and inexperienced. Brady Quinn should have a field day throwing the ball downfield to Jeff Samardzija and Rhema McKnight.

My Pick: Notre Dame 42 - Georgia Tech 13

Posted at 02:27 AM | Permalink | in My Games | Comments (0)

Sep. 1, 2005 marked the first day of the 2005 season. It also marked the start of College Football Blog. Since then, we've come a long way, posting 100 items in the first year. And now we are at the beginning of yet another season of my favorite sport. And tomorrow night, I'll be attending my 174th college football game. More on that in a bit.

Posted at 01:59 AM | Permalink | in General | Comments (0)