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)

College football is here once again. Below, Kelly/Shorts Stadium on campus of Central Michigan University, host of the first game of the 2006 season, against Boston College (live now on ESPN2).

Posted at 06:00 PM | Permalink | in Big East, General, WAC | Comments (0)

Well, the Ohio Bobcats sure set the stage for a huge weekend of college football in the state of Ohio. Oddly enough, in a game that featured three touchdowns, not one of them came from either offense: Pitt scored their touchdown on the opening kickoff courtesy of LaRod Stephens; Ohio's two touchdowns both came on interception returns by Dion Byrum, one in overtime which gave the Bobcats a 16-10 victory over the Panthers. It was Ohio's first game on national television since 1969 and head coach Bob Solich's home debut. And it couldn't have been any sweeter for the Bobcat fans who came to see Ohio defeat Pitt for the first time in eight tries. Pitt, who narrowly escaped Fordham last season, is now 0-2 for the first time since 1984. And suddenly, Notre Dame's first win isn't looking so impressive.

Posted at 01:52 AM | Permalink | in Big East, MAC | Comments (0)

Picks on the Notre Dame-Pittsburgh game from the College GameDay crew and me:

Kirk Herbstreit: Notre Dame
Lee Corso: Pittsburgh
Jimmy Atkinson: Notre Dame

Posted at 09:12 AM | Permalink | in Big East, Game of the Week, Notre Dame | Comments (0)

ESPN College GameDay is live in Pittsburgh right now to preview many of today's college football games, highlighting tonight's Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh matchup at Heinz Field.

The last times we saw each of these teams in action were in their respective bowl games. Each team was handed an embarassing defeat, with Notre Dame losing in the Insight Bowl to Oregon State, 38-21, and Pittsburgh losing to Utah in the Fiesta Bowl, 35-7.

Fast-forward eight months: each team has a new head coach returning to his alma mater from an NFL coaching career. The Charlie Weis vs. Dave Wanstedt matchup certainly makes an intriguing story line. But personally, I'm more interested in seeing what Notre Dame's defense can do to slow down Panthers quarterback Tyler Palko, who threw for five touchdowns in last year's 41-38 Pitt win at Notre Dame Stadium. I'm also interested in seeing just how explosive the Irish offense can be. Ten starters return, including quarterback Brady Quinn. And with Weis being the offensive mastermind that he is, the Irish certainly will score a lot this season.

Last year's Pitt-ND game was a scoring fiesta. Tonight's game will feature many points once again, but this year under Weis is different. Notre Dame's talent will be too much.

My Pick: Notre Dame 38 - Pittsburgh 31

Posted at 07:56 AM | Permalink | in Big East, Game of the Week, Notre Dame | Comments (0)