Here We Go: 2009 College Football Ready for Kick-Off

If you know me, or read me before I am all about the game. Well, Oregon football first, then all about the game. I love watching college football top teams, average teams, even the bottom feeders. As long as the games are competitive anyway.

Last season I saw 119 out of 120 teams play. Now with a few more channels, finally got ESPNU, I think I should be able to all of them.

Everyone has their “must see” lists and almost all of them feature five or so games with top teams.

Here is my list of “if its on tv, I am going to watch it” games.

Thursday September 3

Troy at Bowling Green—The favorite for the Sun Belt to play a likely middle of the road MAC team. Most of the time even the Sun Belt favorite is the underdog no matter who they play but the Trojans look to be favored.

South Carolina at North Carolina State—Last year this game wasn’t even close. But as the year went on South Carolina dropped off and North Carolina State rose up. Probably a bit more competitive this season.

Oregon at Boise State—I could go on and on about this one. Revenge game for Oregon, cheap shots from Boise State last season, Boise State’s home record. What I will say is top ranked teams going at it.

Friday September 4

Tulsa at Tulane—Conference USA game to open up any and all league play. It is likely a favorite, Tulsa, against a bottom, Tulane, but what else is on?

Saturday September 5

Appalachian State at East Carolina—Not on the level of knocking off Michigan in the Big House but should still be an exciting game.

Weber State at Wyoming—This could hurt the Mountain West and their quest for a BCS automatic bid. Weber State was 10-4 last season, a Big Sky favorite and likely FCS top 10 team.

Western Michigan at Michigan—Michigan is covered in distractions right now with anything and everything going on. Western Michigan is a MAC contender that can be dangerous.

Nevada at Notre Dame—Nevada has a dangerous offense with three returning rusher who have gone for 1,000 in a season. Their pass defense was the worst in the FBS. Notre Dame has tons of talent and need to continue to improve into this year as they did through last year. My opinion, game could go either way.

Georgia at Oklahoma State—The questions here are can UGA replace Stafford and Moreno and can Oklahoma State improve on defense? A couple of top 15 teams meeting.

Baylor at Wake Forest—Baylor could be one of the most improved teams in the country behind up and comer QB Robert Griffin. Wake on the other hand goes with veteran QB Riley Skinner.

Missouri at Illinois—These two have played the last couple years and the games have been decided by 10 or less. How big a difference will we see with Missouri losing a lot of big names?

Stanford at Washington State—Pac 10 conference opener. Stanford wants a repeat performance from RB Toby Gerhart. Washington State wants an improved run defense that got torched over and over last season.

Richmond at Duke—Richmond won the FCS last season and Duke has been a bottom tier FBS team for quite a while. They played in 2006 and Richmond won 13-0.

BYU at Oklahoma—BYU wants to bust the BCS. Oklahoma is a National Championship contender. Both in the top 20 but we are talking BYU at No. 20 and Oklahoma at No 3.

Idaho at New Mexico State—So not top tier teams or anything and probably playing to stay out of last place in the WAC. But like I said I like games that look like should be competitive. The last four games have been decided by 1, 8, 14, and 7.

Alabama at Virginia—Both teams in the top 10 but a lot of questions for both teams as there are controversies and illness at Alabama while Virginia Tech recently lost their top rusher.

Maryland at Cal—A lot was said about Cal going to Maryland last year and playing the game at what equated to about 9A.M. west coast time. This year Maryland goes out west and plays at 10 P.M. East coast time.

LSU at Washington—Looks like it should be one sided but no one really knows what to expect from Washington under new head coach Steve Sarkisian. With Jake Locker under center again Washington should be more competitive than last season. There is also that late kickoff for LSU players.


Sunday September 6

Mississippi at Memphis—Ole Miss just wants to prove last year was no fluke. Memphis isn’t really a top tier opponent to make that statement against but at least there isn’t any other college games on at this time.

Colorado State at Colorado—Colorado has won four of the last five. I kind of expect the same this year. Again though, nothing else on.

Monday September 7

Cincinnati at Rutgers—Cincinnati is the defending Big East champion. Rutgers is the trendy pick for the Big East title this year. Can the conference be decided in the first game?

Miami at Florida State—They may have been down recently but the names still make this a must see game. ACC and state tilt.

So there you have it, my watch it list. Sure I may catch a few more and of course people are going to watch their favorites, but if you want to see more games look for these in your local listings.