Can you even believe that this is WEEK 10 of college football? I feel like it was just yesterday that we were kicking off this year wondering CAN VIRGINIA TECH KNOCK OFF ALABAMA IN WEEK ONE? Apparently Alabama held them off. Anyways, today’s edition of College Gameday was broadcasting live in color to your television set from Tallahassee, Florida for the big matchup between Florida State and Miami. Surely I’m in a time machine saying Miami @ Florida State is the biggest game of the year.
This week’s edition opened up with Chris Fowler, Desmond, Herbie and Coach Corso getting us pumped up. Then due to what appeared to be technical difficulties, we did not get the opening Big & Rich music video. Due to this fact, I cannot confirm whether or not they are comin to your citay. Nor can I confirm a little zing in your zang zang, nor any bang in your yin yang and so on.
Early on in the show, we got some GREAT highlights of Lee Corso’s time playing QB and cornerback at Florida State circa 1955. I love watching old timey football. Maybe that is because I think I probably could have played big time football in 1955. Either way, it is always fun to watch the Lee Corso playing highlight reel.
Sam Ponder joined the show again today. I believe her role has been reduced and firmly set into interviewing a coach live on set each week. I much preferred last year’s Gameday itinerary where we had Sam Ponder hosting the opening hour with Pollack and Desmond Howard, before handing it off to the A team. This week she interviewed Jimbo Fisher, and generic coach interview was generic. Speaking of Samantha Ponder, she had what was determined to be the best outfit of the year on today. Jennifer said she loved the necklace/chain thing, that Sam had great hair, that the leather pants were a nice touch and the heels were enjoyable.
Speaking of Jennifer, I would like to officially announce the launching of “GAMEDAY JEN” on Twitter. You should probably follow her @gamedayjen for all of the expert picks, hot sports opinions and sports fashion advice you could want.
While on the topic of sports fashion, what is the deal with QB guru George Whitfield? I’m not going to break down his segment this week, because if you saw his segment a month or two ago, it was the same segment (just substitute Jameis Winston for the name of the week). What I’m wondering about is his fashion choices. He is not an overly large man, but his clothes appear to be tiny on him. His jacket button looked like it was barely holding on by a thread and that the button could shoot off into Chris Fowler’s eye while making an old timey gunshot-ricochet sound at any moment. Also, isn’t it against the rules to wear a pocket square if you are going sans tie with your top three or four buttons unbuttoned on your shirt? I mean, what’s the deal with that? I don’t claim to be a fashion guru (although my sweatpants might disagree), but come on George.
The signs were EVERYWHERE at today’s Gameday, but I was thoroughly disappointed. Quantity does not equal quality. The only real highlights were “The real Miami is in Ohio”, and “I’m drunker than Sunshine Scooter”. This week’s winner is courtesy of Reddit user DeuxBoy.
Now that we have that out of the way, I would like to discuss a new regular feature of Gameday this year. What is the deal with the six man highchair roundtable discussion segment each week? I’m talking about the segment where they get Fowler, Herbie, Corso, Desmond, Pollack and Paul Finebaum all in tall director’s chairs to sit awkwardly and talk over each other for ten minutes. They try to debate things, but it just turns into a blurry mess of Desmond Howard telling us about a great receiver, David Pollack making a separate point about some Georgia’s defense, Herbie letting us know that Ohio State doesn’t have the resume to move up in the rankings, and Paul Finebaum telling us that the ACC or Big 12 is worthless compared to the SEC. It is like watching six separate conversations happening at the same time, and it is quite frustrating. Also, I really feel like Paul Finebaum and Desmond Howard don’t like each other.
During this segment, Chris Fowler offered up the hundred dollar question of the week: Other than NDSU, what other two FCS teams are undefeated? Obviously it is Fordham and Coastal Carolina. WATCH OUT FORDHAM AND COASTAL CAROLINA, SAM HOUSTON STATE IS COMING FOR YOU!
This week saw the return of the “Tom Rinaldi Beatnik Poetry Piece of the Week brought to you by Tom Rinaldi”. This week’s piece was entitled “November”. T.S. Elliot once said that April is the cruelest month. Tom Rinaldi has decided November is the cruelest month. Upsets happen and dreams are shattered. Incredibly deep stuff.
Rinaldi also had a piece on Jameis Winston from FSU. He seems like a genuinely likable kid who likes to have fun. He is a pitcher for FSU as well. He likes to motivate his teammates whether or not he is involved in the action. His best line was “If you can play, then you can lead”. Good stuff.
Gene W. had a piece on Fresno St QB Derek Carr (brother of Houston first round bust David Carr). He was highly recruited coming out of highschool, and then fell into a rough crowd. He liked to do hoodrat stuff with his friends. Then his girlfriend (now wife) wrote him a letter stating that he was not the man she once knew, and he turned his life around. He had a little baby named Dallas, and the baby had some serious intestinal problems requiring three surgeries in the first month. The baby is now recovered, and regularly attends Fresno St games in tiny Derek Carr jerseys. Pretty good little piece of work by Gene W.
Bald Man on Campus returned with SVP and Duke Johnson from Miami. It was overly casual and they talked about his mom requesting nothing more than a win over FSU over Florida this year. I feel like there have been a lot of pieces this year about Player X being raised by his mother alone, and their relationship as the kid becomes a football star. Good stuff, either way.
When it came time to make the picks, Coach Corso looked like he had gotten a chill. He suddenly had on a heavy overcoat and a scarf as they made their picks. Today’s guest picker was country music sensation and incredibly handsome man Jake Owen. He had very little sports perspective to contribute to this segment, and mostly picked based on wherever one of his roadies went to school or some sound engineer he partied with one time. He has FSU ties, so it was no shock that he picked FSU. I thought for sure Coach Corso was going to give us a NOT-SO-FAST and pick a HUGE upset of Miami over FSU. I thought this because he never disappeared to become Chief Corso of the Seminole Nation like he usually does. However, he ripped off the heavy coat and scarf to reveal that he was wearing his 1954 FSU jersey and put on a helmet (sans facemask) to let us know where his heart lies. Billy the cat also picked FSU, so the two remain tied whoever wins tonight. Enjoy your evening folks!
good stuff