119 and counting

For those who have read my posts before, you may remember I am on the ultimate stadium journey to visit all 128 (soon to be 130) FBS stadiums.  As of last season I was up to 115, and this year I have already visited 4, with 8 more on the list for this season - I plan to finish up next year.

Weekly ACC Roundup, Week 2

Before we get to anything else, let me say this:

845 freaking yards of total offense. EIGHT HUNDRED AND FORTY FIVE. That's what Louisville ran up against Syracuse. That is roughly half a mile. That's obscene. That's...wow, UNC's run defense is thanking God tonight they don't have to face that this season. 

The Refs Are Unfair

Yes, Oklahoma State got screwed by a bad call in their lost to Central Michigan. 

TGIS! (a.k.a. how many football stadiums have I been to?)

Thank God it's September.

For those of you who have read my posts in the past, you may recall that I am on a mission to see all of the FBS stadiums, specifically home games if possible.  The number of FBS teams currently hovers around 128, including the addition of Coastal Carolina, the rebirth of UAB, the loss of Idaho, and the likely loss of New Mexico State - so far I have been to 115 of those stadiums (or 114 or 113 or 112 of them, depending on whether you let me count UAB yet, or whether you make me take off Idaho and/or New Mexico State).

Big XII Expansion Preview

The Big 12 conference (or as they like to call it, The Big XII, because Latin and stuff) is currently looking to expand. As part of the process, they invited roughly 20 - the number keeps changing - schools to participate in the interview and talent show portions of the competition this past weekend, including what appeared to be the entirety of the AAC.

5 win teams prove NCAA is wrong about bowls - again!

I posted before about the NCAA crying about how there were too many bowls, it wasn't fair that 5 win teams got to go, blah blah blah.  Well guess what?  Did anyone notice that all three of those 5 win teams WON their games?  That's right, so who's laughing now?  One has to ask how deserving were the 6, 7, and 8-win teams they played (and beat).

On Why Bowl Results Don't Matter (Again)

This is your annual reminder that, with the possible exception of the games in the "playoff", bowl games absolutely do not matter. You cannot tell a damn thing about how good a team is, how good a conference is , what a team's prospects are for next year, or really anything at all. This is because:

Things Broadcasters Are Forced to Say

The real proof that football season lasts too long is in listening to commentators desperately trying to fill air time as things stretch on and on.

Take, for example, respected and generally with-it CBSSports.com reporter Will Brinson, who, when discussing the coke-fueled bouncy house party that the ECU coaching carousel became, sternly suggested that East Carolina could not possibly succeed in a conference with teams like Houston if they kept scheduling powerhouses like Virginia Tech. Houston, the AAC champion, instead scheduled Louisville, and there's no comparison between scheduling VT and scheduling Louisville.

115 stadiums and counting - the year in review

About a week and a half ago I drove from North Carolina to Mobile, AL to see App State take on the South Alabama Jaguars.  This was my 115th FBS stadium, not counting bowl games or other special events.  The game started at 6:30 local time, so I had plenty of time to drive the whole way on Saturday, and then come home Sunday.

Some people say I'm crazy (very few have incontrovertible proof though).  But, as I tell my friends, obsession is what lazy people call commitment, and when you are committed to seeing all 130 FBS stadiums, you just don't balk at a 20-hour road trip!

Would anyone really care if more teams went to bowl games? Aka 6 reasons to have even more bowl games

So in my last post, which I know you all read, right?  RIGHT?  I criticized the NCAA for whining about there not being enough 6 win teams to fill all the bowl slots, which is ironic because it is the NCAA's fault in the first place for permitting too many of them.

Then I got to thinking, so what if more 5 win teams went to bowl games, or even 4 win teams?  Would anybody really care?

I was right about the bowl games - but why does that surprise you?

A few weeks ago I posted about there probably being too many bowl games - I totally scooped ESPN on this with my mad analysis.  I figured out that (at that time) there were not enough teams within enough wins to fill the bowls (based on current # of wins and projecting forward over time using kick-ass modeling skills).  No I won't give you my secret sauce.


Now the pundits have finally figured this all out, and the boys in charge are making a big stink about it, saying they will let some bowl games "go dark" to slow down growth in games.  Well, what the hell did you expect to happen?

114 stadiums and counting (aka Joe Paterno & bad signs)

Continuing this week's theme of bagging on Michigan State for not being undefeated, and also because they thoroughly humiliated my beloved Penn State Nittany Lions a few days ago, Spartan Stadium was #114 in my ongoing quest to visit all 129 (soon to be 130) FBS stadiums.  Fun fact - "Nittany" was added to "Lions" in Penn State's mascot years ago to create a more powerful version of the Big Cat (Nittany Lions are WAY better than just plain old Panthera leos).

112 stadiums and counting

So I was sick for most of last week, but since I can't help myself, on Friday afternoon I left my house in North Carolina at 6 pm, and drove all the way to the Alabama state line, where I stopped for the night.  The next morning I continued on to Hattiesburg, MS to see Old Dominion take on Southern Miss.  The game was back and forth well into the 3rd quarter, until So Miss recovered a fumble (which led to a TD) and then on the next series batted a pass at the line (around Old Dominion's own 3 yard line no less) which become a pick 6 - So Miss ended up winning 56-31, much to the delight of the home fans.

109 stadiums & counting (aka, 3 games in 3 days across 3 states, part 1)

For those following along at home, I am on a mission to see all 129 FBS stadiums - eventually this will be all current stadiums, by the by, but for now I am satisfied to say I have seen 111 of them play at home, plus some stadiums only used for bowl games & other special match-ups, like the Red River Rivalry (including all the NFL stadiums along the way, b/c every NFL team has a college team nearby, so you can see both in the same weekend).

108 stadiums & counting

On a mission to see all 129 FBS stadiums/see all 129 FBS teams play at home.  Currently I have been to 111 of them, but I am still a little behind so this post is all about 108.

So we are over 2 months into the college football season.  As of the end of last year, I had been to 100 of the 129 stadiums, and here are the numbers so far for this season:

This Year's College Football Highlights So Far

Things I am thankful for thus far this college football season:

1. No game has been described as "the game of the decade/century". Seeing as we've gotten an average of about six a year of those so far this millennium, that's a marked improvement.

107 stadiums and counting

On a mission to see all 129 (soon to be 130) FBS teams play at home.  For #107 I traveled to Phoenix (technically Tempe) to see the Sun Devils lose abysmally to Oregon.  Didn't these guys watch the Superbowl last year?  When you have 1st and goal from the 3, run the damn ball!  Don't throw an interception, especially not on 2nd down when the previous pass was almost intercepted.  What an anti-climactic way to end the game.  The euphoria of overtime, only to lose on a bonehead play.

And this is why I get mad at most of the coaches for being sissies.  At the end of the 2nd half, they had 10 seconds left, and just knelt down.  Why not try a long bomb and maybe kick a field goal for the win?  What is it about coaches that makes them think they have a better chance in OT?  Never will understand it.  My buddy says it's all about momentum, but I am not so sure.

Would you rather your team go to a crappy bowl and win, or a good bowl and lose?

This isn't so much a post as a question.  Which would you prefer?  I am curious what people will say.  Better bowl equals more money, but losing sucks.

Too many bowl games?

So I recently noticed that there are 41 bowl games this season, up from 37 or so last season - a couple new ones have been added in obscure cities, some of them being played at baseball parks.  I actually went to one of those last year (BYU lost the inaugural Miami Beach Bowl which is played in Marlins Park).

On some level I don't mind "new" venues, b/c I am all about visiting stadiums, so any chance I get to visit a stadium I have never been to and watch a college football game I will take.  But now I think they are overdoing it.

106 stadiums and counting

For those of you following along, I am on a mission to see all 129 (soon to be 130) FBS teams play at home.  To date I have seen 108 of them, so if you paid attention to the title you will notice I am a couple posts behind.  Sorry.

So for 106, a week and a half ago, I drove to Muncie, IN to see Central Michigan take on Ball State.  I am having the worst luck with weather this season, BTW.  I have already been to two games this season that were delayed by lightning (one until the next day), and multiple games where it has rained.  But these are all over the country, so no idea what the common denominator is - unless it is just me of course.