1/2 way point of weekend... Good, Bad and Ugly of College Football

The Good, Bad and Ugly is always in the eye of the beholder. Of course, when a non-BCS conference team beats a BCS conference team that is good, right? When a FCS program beats a FBS team... it's always enjoyable rooting for David, right? Of course, it's great seeing those power conference match ups.

Here are some notable finishes: The Good

• Top 25 Wake Forest (ACC) travels to Baylor (Big 12) and wins 41-13 to open the season on Thursday night!
• Boston College (ACC) wins 21-0 on the road at Kent State (MAC)... one of those important road tests and BC passes it, with a new QB, since Matt Ryan has departed to the NFL...
• Vanderbilt (SEC) wins 34-13 at Miami-OH(MAC)... a surprise victory and one may say coach Shane Montgomery's seat gets a little warmer and a signature OOC win is missed.
• Oklahoma State (Big 12) wins on the road at Washington State (Pac 10) 39-13
• Utah (MWC) goes into the Big House and beats Michigan (Big Ten) 25-23... tough start for coach Rich Rodriquez at Michigan, but a great win for the Mountain West in '08!
• I am not a big fan of conference games being season openers, but a huge win to start the Sun Belt Conference race for Troy: Troy wins at Middle Tennessee 31-17 on the road!
• The Pac Ten Conference (Pac 10) is Good for playing a true round robin schedule, but Bad for starting the season with two conference games.
• California (Pac 10) 38-31 home victory over Michigan State...

Again, why play conference games before at least two OOC games? The Bad...

• Should this game be played in August? Top 25 Oregon wins home opener vs. Pac 10 rival Washington 44-10, ouch!
• The bad for Oregon State, not only do you start 0-1, but you are 0-1 in the conference... Stanford beats Oregon State at home!
• The MWC joined the Sun Belt with one conference opener... TCU picks up road win at New Mexico 26-3
• The SEC saw a team fall to a WAC program... Mississippi State lost at Louisiana Tech 14-22
• Debuts were tough by other coaches too, such as Mike Sherman at Texas A&M, who witnessed his Texas A&M Aggies lose 14-18 to Arkansas State (Sun Belt) in College Station.

Now, the Ugly so far this week...

• The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) takes major hits with Top 25 Clemson and Virginia Tech falling to Alabama (SEC) 10-34 (game in Atlanta) and at East Carolina (C-USA) 22-27, respectively... poor showings by North Carolina State (L 0-34 at South Carolina of SEC) and Virginia (L 7-52 at home vs. #3 USC of Pac 10) didn't help either.
• Not ready for prime time Pittsburgh (Big East) loses at home to Bowling Green (MAC) 27-17 in the season opener, ouch!
• The FCS gets a win over the FBS in '08... Cal-Poly beats coach Chuck Long's San Diego State 29-27, with a trip to South Bend for Notre Dame up next for the Aztecs.

Blow Out of the Weekend: Arizona (ACC) pounds Idaho (WAC) 70-0 as the kickoff of coach Mike Stoops season on the hot seat was delayed due to weather. But, after the lightning delay, the Arizona Wildcats had fireworks of their own in one of the many mismatches of the day.

There are four more games this weekend for FBS teams. Two today and two on Labor Day.

- Today's Games -
2:30 PM ET

Kentucky (0-0, 0-0 away)
Louisville (0-0, 0-0 home)

7:30 PM ET
Colorado St (0-0, 0-0 away)
Colorado (0-0, 0-0 home)
AT DENVER CO

- Monday, September 1, 2008 -
4:00 PM ET
Fresno St (0-0, 0-0 away)
Rutgers (0-0, 0-0 home)

8:00 PM ET
(18) Tennessee (0-0, 0-0 away)
UCLA (0-0, 0-0 home)

It's great to see the 2008 college football season kick off the season! Have a great Labor Day everyone! cidsports

peace

Sports Message Boards: Good, Bad and the Ugly

Over the past several years, I have enjoyed the opportunity to visit and post on various sports message boards. Avoiding the rude and insensitive posters can be a challenge from time to time, but it is a nice way to discuss college sports and other topics associated with sports fans.

For Hawkeye Sports, two boards come to mind for me, though there are others I have visited over the years... or offer fans an outlet!

Hawkeye Report is the bigger one. Tom Kakert and the folks over at Hawkeye Report do a very good job keeping us up to date with Hawkeye Sports as part of the Rivals Network. Yahoo has bought the Rivals Network recently, so it will be interesting to see how things shake out.

Hawks Turf is another site I have enjoyed over the years. A free site that has weathered the storms over the years of the big paid sites. crhawkeye does a very good job from his home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The Rivals Network is my favorite. It is a shame that some sites don't offer a free spot or at minimum, an open spot, for premium members from rival teams. Examples of closed sites are Missouri and Colorado. With a former Cedar Rapids Washington athlete on the Colorado football team, it is disappointing not to be able to get some news from the message board on Maurice Cantrell, the starting fullback for CU.

I enjoy hitting various sites around the Big Ten and Big 12. Iowa State's site is only for premium members within the Rivals Network. At least, ISU offers something better than the other two.

A favorite closer to me personally is the Bluejay Cafe. A great site to catch up with Creighton University athletics. The Bluejays offer solid programs in men's and women's basketball, soccer and baseball. Making the NCAA Tournament this past season in all 3 men's sports and losing out in the Women's MVC Basketball Tournament in a heartbreaking OT loss.

peace