Gameday Recap

Week Six
October 6, 2007
Baton Rouge, Louisiana - Florida at LSU

Second visit to Red Stick, third visit to the SEC. Hopefully this recap won't be tainted by some lingering bitterness from last weekend. Also, hopefully the show will keep up the relatively speaking "good" streak they've been on.

• Just like last time, Fowler opens by talking about how confident LSU fans are about their team.
• Herbstreit goes straight for the jugular and calls Fowler on his ridiculous sweating problem last time they were there.
• Opening recap clips of LSU-Tulane showed only successful plays by Tulane. Yes, the game was unexpectedly close for a half, but it was a Milton Berle performance by the Tigers, and the highlights don't reflect that.
• Clips of Auburn beating Florida.
  
• Fowler says that if Florida wins over LSU, they're right back in the national title picture, "check the polls".
  
• "Gut Check Saturday" makes an appearance. Gut Check Saturday, brought to you by the All-you-can-eat Kentucky Fried Chicken Buffet.
• Herbstreit tells us we'll learn a lot about Auburn, Colorado, Maryland and Illinois because they had emotional upsets last week and we need to find out if they're mature enough to handle it. I truly wonder what Herbstreit thinks matters more to a football game, (a) emotions and maturity or (b) talent and execution? Think about that question while you watch this show next time.
• Corso tells us not to get too excited if our team is undefeated, not get too upset if they've lost a game or two. His reasoning: the Phillies and Rockies came from nowhere to make the playoffs. I know most readers have already started rolling their eyes. Lee: college football has significantly fewer games than baseball. Lee: a baseball team that loses twice is not effectively eliminated from competition for the title.
  
• Fowler again talks about which teams are ready to redeem themselves from upset.
• Not off to a good start here. So far, they've been intangible-riffic.

First Commercial Break

• Gut Check Saturday is mentioned for the 4th time, 12 minutes in.
• Purdue-Ohio State talk. Herbstreit's interested in OSU's defense because Painter at Purdue is supposed to be good.
• Oklahoma-Texas talk. Corso thinks Oklahoma's defense was exposed the week before.
• Nebraska-Missouri. Fowler thinks it'll be a shootout.
• Herbstreit asks if Cincinnati is for real, but says their defense was tenacious.
• Corso thinks Virginia Tech would bring their A game against Clemson, Fowler says it's payback time for Clemson and that's a big difference maker for Clemson.
  
• Fowler, Corso and Herbstreit all agree that Clemson's kicker shouldn't be allowed to play soccer.
• Herbstreit: Clemson, we love you, but you need a psychiatrist. Thinks the crowd will cause problems for VT's QB. Again, more intangibles.
• Corso likes VT for defense and special teams. Exactly right.
• Some other ACC talk - referring to all the coaches going up against their former schools (NC State-FSU, UNC-Miami, MD-GT)

Second Commercial Break

• Some highlights from the previous weekend's upsets.
• Some historic perspective on team's who lost games in September but went on to win the MNC.
• Desmond Howard joins the set.
• Who is the best 1-loss team, with best chance to get back in MNC picture.
• Howard: stumbles a whole bunch talking about Cal, which doesn't have one loss. WVU he says is a problem because of Pat White's injury. Florida has to play at LSU. Then he finally says Oklahoma.
• Corso agrees with Howard about Oklahoma. Feigns snoring. Twice.
• Herbstreit says Oklahoma is the obvious choice because of the easiest route.
• Herbstreit: Georgia is a team to keep in mind, because they've recovered and rebounded, have a good running game, a good enough defense. So, so, so wrong.
• Fowler points out that Oklahoma isn't ranked in many computer polls (because their schedule played up to that point wasn't all that good), causing consternation from Herbstreit, who hates these coils of wire and metal that produce something called "objectivity".
• Fowler also adds that Oregon is considered best of one-loss teams by computers.

Third Commercial Break

• I saw it elsewhere in the blogosphere, but I have to say that the sign referring to Tebow in a glory hole in Middleton (louisiana?) is a little weird.
• Ohio State-Purdue talk. Purdue has lost 13 in a row to ranked opponents. How is that possible for a program that gets even a little respect?
  
• Joe Tiller press conference clip shows him to make very little sense, and be extremely boring. Weird clip for them to show.
  
• Corso says Purdue needs to throw to beat OSU. They showed the same TD reception clip twice in a 45 second span.
  
• Corso says he's not sure he's seen a better football team playing this year than OSU.
• Herbstreit (playing against type) says OSU has looked great against weak opponents. In hindsight, the Washington win was OK, but the Northwestern win looks a little stronger now.
• Corso says the UW win was good.
• Fowler asks the crowd whether they think Ohio state and Purdue are overrated, and they agree.
• Herbstreit thinks OSU-Purdue will be close, Corso picks OSU big. Corso's meds are right today.
• Throw to Howard on the bus chatting with people online.

Fourth Commercial Break

• The crowd appears to include a whole lot of really old people, not just still-drunk college age kids. Interesting.
• LSU players and coaches think Matt Flynn looks like Matt Damon.
• Tennessee-Georgia talk.
  
• Fowler calls the previous year's UT-UGA game an embarrassing loss for Georgia's defense. 28 points UT scored were directly the result of Georgia turnovers (3 short fields, 1 blocked punt TD). Georgia's D wasn't spectacular, but they weren't to blame for 51 points.
• Lots of graphics and numbers showing how bad Tennessee was at home, how good UGA was on the road.
• Corso saw Georgia with his own eyes, likes Georgia's spirit and toughness.
• Herbstreit thinks Georgia wants the South Carolina game back, thinks the running game at UT will set up the passing.
• Herbsteit is shocked that UGA was an underdog. Wow were these guys wrong about this one.
• Fowler hints that he likes UT, and Herbstreit snipes sarcastically.
• Vanderbilt-Auburn. Now Fowler says Vandy's pretty good on D (not on Saturday).
  
• Corso thinks Auburn won't let up because they've heard too much about Alabama.
• Herbstreit thinks Vandy is an "ultimate sandwich game" because of tough games for Auburn coming up. Wrong.
• Are Woodson's Heisman chances over? Herbstreit says he'll have to beat Florida or LSU, and he doesn't think he will.
  
• Corso hints that he's sweating about how South Carolina might win a title and make him look bad.

Fifth Commercial Break

• Corso says the Louisville D is the most disappointing team in the nation. Herbstreit and Fowler say "aside from Notre Dame".
• WVU-Syracuse. Corso thinks WVU wins big.
• South Florida-FAU: Herbstreit thinks no letdown, huge win. He can't pick anything today.
• Cincy-Rutgers. Some clips of Brian Kelly coaching. This is kind of a more-in-depth WIRED!!!, and there's a lot more actual information offered - philosophical views toward how they approach practicing. Actually pretty interesting.
• Herbstreit takes a few shots at Cincinnati's sports teams.
• Herbstreit picks Rutgers. Wrong again.

Sixth Commercial Break

• Gillette Game Face. A giant man in a small helmet is yelling.
• Colorado-Baylor. Herbstreit says Colorado would be better off playing someone better because of a letdown, picks Baylor. Wrong again. He is getting killed today.
• Corso likes Nebraska to upset Missouri. Herbstreit thinks it'll be a shootout (wrong), but picks Missouri (because of the home field advantage). Herbstreit has never met an intangible he didn't base his entire analysis on.
• Kansas-KSU. Kansas hasn't scored at KSU in forever, Kansas hasn't played anyone good all year - Fowler says that is important.
  
• Extended piece on Kansas State's tie with the nearby Army base. Tom Rinaldi reporting. The report itself was probably OK, but they worked out together for just 4 hours. Doing the reporting for this 6 minute piece probably took several times longer.
  
• Live satellite link-up with troops in Iraq. I think the guy called Fowler "Sean".
  

Seventh Commercial Break

• A weather forecast for LSU-Florida. I think they should do a bit on weather for the entire country.
• Austin Scott update on his suspension for Penn State. I think they should talk about this more too.
• Iowa-Penn State. The whole crew thinks both teams stink.
• Wisconsin-Illinois. "Who is Illinois?" reads the graphic.
  
• All Access with Ron Zook. WIRED!!! With Ron Zook's exuberance! Pretty useless, especially compared to the bit on Brian Kelly. This is just a bunch of yelling "let's go" and Zook saying that they have fun.
• Herbstreit nails one (finally) in saying Mendenhall for Illinois is one of the best backs nobody's ever heard of. But then he picks Wisconsin, because (get this...) they're tired of hearing about Illinois and Ron Zook and how Wisconsin wins ugly. Yeah, the ultimate hype machine behind Illinois is driving Wisconsin. See that bit above where their own graphics said "Who is Illinois?".
  
• Corso picks Illinois because he's confused by the Vegas line favoring Illinois.

Eighth Commercial Break

• Extended piece on Danny Woodhead, the back about to break the all-classification rushing record at Chadron State. They misspelled his name on one graphic. Shelley Smith reporting, and it must've been hilarious for her to go from BS pieces on USC players chilling at Les Deux and travel to rural Nebraska.
• Let's just say this: the Chadron State Coach's Mustache is SPECTACULAR.
• Todd McShay comes on to talk about Danny Woodhead. Says he's got some potential, though undersized. Compares him to Maurice Jones-Drew. This segment with McShay is a little more NFL-drafty, rather than analyzing the player for his own college football purposes.

Ninth Commercial Break

• They come back to show a real gator roasting on a spit. I love LSU fans.
• Notre Dame-UCLA talk. Graphic shows the other 1-A winless teams. Charlie Weis press conference clips. The other teams listed on that graphic received no analysis, no discussion of who the starting QB will be, no clips of the coach's press conference.
• Howard is back, says UCLA wins big.
• Corso doesn't really like UCLA, but thinks ND won't win (but will cover).
• Herbstreit thinks UCLA is underrated by everyone, has a chance to win out up to the USC game. Bad bad bad day predicting for Herbstreit.
• Arizona State-Washington State. Herbstreit likes ASU big.
• USC-Stanford. Fowler says they had to look very hard to find any plays run by Pritchard at Stanford.
  
• Graphic displays Harbaugh's media day quote about how USC is the best team in the country and maybe in the history of college football. Fowler wonders aloud why Harbaugh is stirring the pot and suggests that USC won't take the foot off the gas if they get a big lead.
• Howard, when asked about USC-Stanford, says he likes LSU better than USC, because of LSU's defense. Now the graphics catch up to Howard.
• Herbstreit thinks USC is better because defense is on par with LSU, but the offensive potential is much better.
• Corso likes LSU's defense a whole lot more, USC's offense better. Says LSU is better on a neutral site because they've played tougher opponents.
• Fowler throws in that the computers liked LSU better than USC.
• Herbstreit says what was on the mind of so many in the national media (verbatim quote): "The beautiful thing is, hopefully they both advance to the championship and we can settle it on the field." Should a member of the media like Herbstreit "hope" for a particular outcome which can be influenced by his own coverage? Also: Cal, Boston College, any other undefeated team, and such fans: Kirk Herbstreit doesn't hope you win.
  

Tenth Commercial Break

• Now they show Gator Gumbo cooking from a pot hanging from a tree.
• Oklahoma-Texas talk. Corso likes Oklahoma because their mad, and want revenge and stuff like that. Herbstreit agrees, because of balance on offense and a strong O line. Actually decent analysis on this one from Herbstreit.

Eleventh Commercial Break

• Herbstreit mentioned this before the break, but they finally start covering the Florida-LSU game, 100 minutes into the broadcast.
• Wendi Nix does an extended piece on Florida trying to bounce back from the loss to Auburn. So far this year, I'm not sure anyone has received more hype from Gameday than Florida, even Notre Dame and USC. Seriously. It'll be interesting to see if it stays that way after their second loss. Also, Tim Tebow seems to have a slight lisp.
  
• Howard is back, talks about Florida's use of Tebow. Says when Florida has the ball, it'll be like Kasparov vs. Deep Blue. He might have been spending too much time online in that bus.
  
• Corso comes up with some exciting, pristine, fresh analysis: Get the ball to Percy Harvin.
  
• Herbstreit thinks Florida will use a similar strategy as they used in the OSU title game "when they didn't run the ball all that well" - to the tune of 156 yards, monopolizing the time of possession.
  
• Herbstreit: Glenn Dorsey might be the best player in college football.
• There was some pretty good in depth analysis in here, I just haven't written all of it down. If they covered more games with the detail they've used for this game, the show would be a lot better.
  
• Desmond Howard picks LSU.

Twelfth Commercial Break

• On-site previews of ESPN noon games. Erin Andrews says to Fowler, "Chris, I know you like body paint." Hmmm...
  
• Pontiac Game Changer. LC: Ben Olson, UCLA KH: Sam Bradford, Oklahoma CF: Jordy Nelson, Kansas State. Herbstreit gets this one. Wasn't Olson injured?
  
• Saturday Stupid Selections. Corso: Kansas State, Georgia, Nebraska. Herbstreit: Oklahoma State, Clemson, Rutgers, Georgia, Wisconsin, Florida.
  
• If the words "urgency", "emotion" and "redemption" were never uttered on this show again, it'd be a better show.

Not as good a show as the past couple of weeks. Herbstreit was wrong so much it was almost funny. It was bad enough that I wouldn't be surprised if they actually refer to it on air next week.

Speaking of next week, I haven't seen where they're heading, but I'd guess they go to Norman, Oklahoma for Missouri-Oklahoma. It's a matchup of two top-11 teams, and the only other matchup of ranked opponents is LSU-Kentucky, and they've seen LSU twice already. Not too many great games next week, expecially compared to last week's slate. Unfortunately, that may mean more filler during the show with human interest stories.