Gameday Recap

Week Five
Iowa City, Iowa - Ohio State vs. Iowa
September 30, 2006

Ohio State makes their third appearance on Gameday. Huge crowd on hand. I honestly thought there might be an upset in this game. Oh well. It'll be interesting to see how they cover this.

• Musberger's sleeping off the hangover. Fowler does the opening, with appropriate hyperbole: "biggest game here in over 20 years"
• Really does look like a massive crowd. I can't wait for the day when the crowd is so big they cover the fake field and Desmond Howard can't report.
• Iowa is special for Lee because his mother was born here.
• Herbstreit: Iowa is one of the most hostile environments in the country.
• Troy Smith: Losing to Iowa was a "cold cold cold feeling". His interviews sometimes seem like slam poetry. And I like it.
  
• Corso: Iowa has some voodoo going for them, like Penn State last year. Herbstreit shrugs, but says the crowd will be a big factor, and that's similar to that Penn State game.
• Herbstreit is confident that Iowa is Ohio State's last tough game until Michigan.
• Fowler: "We all agree" that the environment in Iowa is tougher than at Texas. Something about how Texas is wine and cheese, while Iowa is beer and brats. (Enjoy that line, BON. ESPN hype is like the biggest player on campus... he told me he loved me, then we had a moment, and he was gone.)
• Best Sign: Lou Holtz for Prethident
• Herbstreit calls Corso "Scooter". The ESPN ombudsman complained about Corso calling Herbie "Sweetheart". Will he follow up with this?
• What to watch for has some info there, but they clog it up with guitars in the background.
  
• Herbstreit calls Corso "LC". (Would Lauren from Laguna Beach provide better insight? A good question...)
• Fowler asks us why Brady Quinn has been sucking compared to last year. Charlie Weis thinks Quinn was over hyped, not overrated. Fowler hints that Quinn's overrated, forgets that he's part of the reason why he's rated highly.
• Corso thinks Quinn's in the Heisman top three. Herbstreit wants to talk facts, then gives his opinion on what Notre Dame and Quinn will do over the next few weeks. Corso and Herbstreit thinks Quinn will end up a finalist. Fowler tries to suggest that Quinn wouldn't be as noted if not the ND uniform (duh).
• Fowler: BYU pounded TCU, so BYU should be ranked
  
• WIRED with the coach of Boise State. Useless.
• Fowler suggests that Boise will have trouble with Utah because they struggled at Wyoming. Corso thinks Boise will go undefeated and play in a BCS game. Herbstreit thinks Boise will win, run the table, but won't make a BCS bowl. (I think Herbstreit's logic here is flawed, and Fowler calls him on it.) Corso thinks there'll be a revolution if Boise runs the table but doesn't make a BCS game. Herbstreit really thinks voters won't move undefeated teams up as other teams lose.
  
• GameFace: no facepaint. Iowa, you just got some respect from these corners.
• In depth focus on Colorado. Dan Hawkins has some Busey in him. Never noticed that before. Fowler's gotta be hurting during this story. Fowler: Colorado's the best team ever to have lost 8 in a row.
  
• Extended piece on Dan Hawkins. Shelley Smith (!!!!!!!!) reporting and it's not on USC. Stunning. Shelley finally gets some frequent flier miles! This is her best piece in a decade. No soft lens, no wispy narration. Lots of Busey in Hawkins.
  
• Corso thinks Colorado is gonna be OK. Herbstreit thinks Hawkins needs time, but that Colorado might compete in the Big XII North, starting with an upset today. Corso gives him an uninspired NSFMF.
• Herbstreit says there's potential upsets all over the place today, singles out Wazzu over SC.
• Desmond Howard joins, and Fowler says that he's another ex-Big Ten guy with fond memories here. (That doesn't raise eyebrows).
• Corso gives an obvious pick, that Oregon and ASU will be a shootout with Oregon winning. Fowler the only one who doubts Oregon.
• WSU-USC. Herbstreit thinks Jarrett will be a problem. They point out the WSU flag.
• Howard: USC isn't explosive, doesn't have stars except Jarrett. (Smith, all those damn stud RBs? Does Howard have no idea what he's talking about?)
• Howard and Corso think Michigan is #2. Corso thinks the preseason polls were way wrong about Michigan. Herbstreit also thinks Michigan is #2, because Auburn played a close game on Thursday.
  
• Herbstreit seriously thinks WSU beats USC. Good if you got the spread. Bad if you took the money line. Herbstreit says he's taking WSU because Tommy Tuberville told him the Cougars had a good line.
• Little bit about how all the QBs OSU has faced have been young and inexperienced, unlike Iowa. The hype seems a little balanced this week so far - lots about Iowa.
• Semi-extended piece on Drew Tate. Lots of celebration shots.
• Musberger woke up and rolled out of bed. On the fake field with a bad broadcast team. Bob Davie has trouble deciding which camera to look into. Herbstreit thinks the crowd will have to be huge for Iowa to win.
  
• Fowler asks Corso what he'd do if he were coaching against OSU. (Simple answer: lose hilariously). His answers: run the ball, score early, play good defense. (You could pay him for it, but it's priceless info)
• Fowler teases a Buy/Sell bit. Royalties owed to EDSBS.
• Iowa City looks like a nice town from the blimp.
• Segment on the unheralded unbeatens.
  
• Insane clip of the Rutgers locker room celebration. Schiano seems to be an impressive dude. I kind of hope he stays at Rutgers.
• Buy/Sell. Fowler even name drops Jim Cramer. SUE ORSON SUE!
• Auburn: Corso selling, Herbstreit buying.
• South Carolina: Corso selling, saying they'll lose 5 of 7. Herbstreit buying, Newton the real deal.
• Clemson: Corso selling, Herbstreit buying. (I like Herbstreit's calls so far)
• Georgia: Corso buying, thinks they'll win 4 in a row. Herbstreit selling because of young QBs.
• Washington: Corso selling. Herbstreit selling.
• Michigan State: Corso sold them last week. Herbstreit also selling.
• More stuff on Michigan State. Wow they are pretty embarrassing. Can't someone turn that place into a winner?
  
• Extended piece on last week's Notre Dame comeback. Everyone thinks the MSU comeback is good for ND.
• Flashback: Herbstreit's first day of school. In it, Fowler says that Corso and Herbie were agreeing too much. Now there's forced arguments. Great.
  
• Houston-Miami. Seems like they're covering more teams now (Boise, Miami, Colorado). A good change. Hopefully this isn't just something they do on slower weekends. Corso thinks Miami wins close because of the off-week. The experts don't like the heat Coker is feeling.
• GT-VT: Corso thinks VT wins with D and special teams (the opposite happens. Also, is the CorsoBot 3000 filling in today? Everything Corso is saying is cliched and something he could've said any year in the last 10. Herbstreit thinks the GT run D will be very good. Herbstreit thinks Ball might ruin the game for GT, but thinks they win anyway, along with Calvin Johnson making plays (pretty much right on - Herbstreit nailed a whole lot today).
• Another good sign: RELEASE MAURICE!
• Tulane-SMU: first home game since Katrina. Nearly 2 years since the last home game.
• LSU-MSU: LSU's D is killing it, MSU can't score. Big Hype for LSU's D. Over under game on # of first downs.
• Clemson-LTU: Fowler thinks the Tigers are underrated, Herbstreit agrees.
  
• Texas-Sam Houston: They think Texas will gain a lot of yards. It appears that the show is covering the bad matchups today. I actually think this is a good thing. I'd rather hear them talk about more teams even if in bad matchups than torture the analysis of OSU, ND, and USC and ignore everyone else.
• Legacy of Great WRs at Michigan. A chance for Desmond to fluff himself. Awesome.
• Extended piece on Mario Manningham. Desmond Howard on the scene. They show Desmond's diving catch against ND only 5 times. Desmond: "I did it like this. It was one of the best catches of all time!!!! How'd you do it?" or something like that. Manningham is about a foot taller than Desmond. Mario: A good route runner means good technique.
• Desmond is on the field by himself. When Fowler suggests that Mario thinks he's taller and faster than Desmond, Desmond calls him a comedian. Yeah. It's funny that Mario is 6 inches taller. Also: don't try Desmond's moves unless you want to hurt yourself. Is it just me, or does Desmond have kind of a "Drag Queen bitchy" confidence about him, rather than a "great athlete swagger" confidence?
• Minnesota is evicting the Twins today, building their own stadium.
• Michigan good?: Herbstreit thinks Michigan is all about payback this year. Corso thinks Iowa has a chance against Michigan in order to get love from the crowd his father never gave him... [stares blankly off toward the icy ocean... fade]
• Fowler says the crowd is getting bigger, but from the blimp it looks like it's shrinking.
• Countdown to Kickoff for the... uhhh... UT - Memphis game.
• Alabama-Florida: Fowler doesn't think Florida's schedule this month should be legal. Corso also adds that Florida's schedule includes the SECC. Some hype for Tim Tebow. Corso thinks it'll be a close game because Alabama holds on to the ball well. Herbstreit doesn't think it'll be too close because Alabama doesn't have big play capability. Also, Herbstreit thinks Florida's speed on D will be key.
  
• Fowler suggests they're rolling to Gainesville the next week (and they are).
• Wisconsin-Indiana: Smaller piece on Terry Hoeppner's surgery. He seems like a nice guy. Iowa fans applaud. Hoeppner's hat has his own name in script on the side.
• Extended piece on Anthony Gonzalez's Everest Altitude tent. I like these kinds of pieces because they give some interesting information. Steve Cyphers reporting. What are the drawbacks to using that thing?
• Herbstreit likes Iowa's outside pass rush. Corso also thinks Iowa needs to outscore Ohio State to win the game. (McCarverism)
• Corso: Psychologically, Iowa should get a running TD, because Ohio State hasn't allowed one yet. Herstreit says "not gonna happen".
• Breaking News for Memphis! Rob Stone tells us that some good players are suspended for the first half. Now that's the kind of key, on-site reporting that compulsive gamblers used to be able to count on Gameday to provide! More of this please!
• Pontiac Game Changer: Corso: Iowa's kicker. Herbstreit: Antonio Pittman. Fowler: Earl Everett.
• Saturday Stupid Selections: Corso: Bama to cover, VT, Texas A&M, Iowa. Herbstreit: USC (though WSU covered)
• Again, Herbstreit just offered his opinions in a hundred different ways about this OSU-Iowa game, but he can't predict a score. Stupid.

This was a good show. They covered a lot of games. None of the extended pieces were obnoxiously maudlin. Herbstreit was right about almost everything he took a position on. Corso was obvious, but at least he wasn't totally insane. Even Fowler played the role of journalist a little, questioning Notre Dame hype. Good show. Might've been the best so far.

Any chance that the show isn't annoying me as much because a producer is reading these recaps? If so, you shouldn't pay attention to me. I'm an idiot and pretty drunk while doing this.