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Week 12 2013: College Gameday review! (signs edition)

Posted on November 16, 2013 by gamedaycole

This week was a fantastic edition of College Gameday. Last week’s was great, even though we missed out on doing a full review last week, so it is a real treat to get two great episodes in a row. Last week had really fantastic content, and this week had the best signs of the year without a doubt. This week’s edition was broadcasting live from the Stanford/USC game in Los Angeles.

Early on, Fowler and the gang welcomed us in and let us know that Corso is 15-0, UNDEFEATED, when he picks USC as a headgear pick. Take note gamblers.

The boys immediately dove into coverage of the Jameis Winston investigation, and I am already tired of this story. The reason I am already tired of this story is that they are reporting more questions than answers. They need to report this story when they have something to report (one way or the other). The most important note of this story so far is that Mark Schlabach, who has taken the lead on it for ESPN from the start, looked tired as hell and appeared to not have slept in a week when he appeared on Gameday this morning. Get some sleep Mark. Desmond Howard immediately came to the rescue of Winston, as he always does when any player is involved in controversy. I’m not saying he’s wrong; I just notice that he is always first in line to defend a player when they are accused of anything. Since I have nothing of significance to contribute to this story (as if I ever do), I am going to move along.

Quick hits for today’s show: Sam Ponder is nowhere to be found. Absent from Gameday; absent from Twitter. Could we be seeing the end of the Sam Ponder era of Gameday? Wildly speculate amongst yourselves. Cowboy Troy was back in the intro last week as well as this week. Let us celebrate this occasion and not forget several gloomy weeks without a rapping cowboy to start our mornings. Also, Georgie Whitfield was nowhere to be found this week. Good.

Tom Rinaldi had a piece called “All Sizes”, highlighting many of the big rivalries between little schools. D2, D3 and so on is full of fun rivalries with crazy trophies, and its always fun to see these kids out there playing in their own rivalries that mean nothing to most of us. The even better part of this was that while I like to poke fun at Rinaldi for his beatnik poetry segments, this segment actually had a nice soft jazz going in the background as he continues to morph into a modern day poet.

Shortly after that, we got our weekly 6-man yelling roundtable segment featuring Paul Finebaum. In response to Rinaldi’s segment on the small rivalries, Paul Finebaum appeared that he did not have time for these shenanigans, and probably believes that anything outside of the SEC shouldn’t even exist. This week we wanted to debate the Heisman favorites. The consensus was that Manziel is the best player in college football, even though there are a few debatable characters. Paul Finebaum thinks AJ McCarron should be getting major consideration. Since you are likely in shock from such a statement from this man, I will give you a minute to catch your breath.

Tom Rinaldi had a piece on the Michigan State defense. They have nicknames and like to have fun and stuff.

Gene W. had a piece this week about the Skov brothers from Stanford. This was this week’s typical mother/player segment which has seemingly become a staple of the show. These are nice segments, but I feel they get repetitive at times.

We saw the return of the Jake Olson segment this week. If you weren’t familiar with Jake Olson, he is the huge USC fan who lost his eyesight to cancer in his early teens. The night before his surgery to remove his last good eye, he spent the entire evening with the USC football team and went to a game for one of the last memories he would ever see. He also appeared on Gameday as a special guest picker. These days, he is a long-snapper for his highschool football team. Since this is the only position which is protected from contact, it is the only position he could play. He obviously was not good at first, but won the job after many long hours of practice. This was a tear-jerker of a piece. However, his football team was on location today, and we were graced with the presence of THIS GUY!!!

Now onto the best part of today’s show. The signs were everywhere. The signs were hilarious. The signs were offensive. This was an all-time great day for Gameday signs. Let’s get right into it.

There was a guy with a sign of Chairman Mao wearing a USC visor. There was “Corso Asks Jeeves”. “Even Lennay Kekua got into Stanford”. “Kiffin owned a Blockbuster”. “David Shaw bowls with bumpers”. “Fire Kiffin”. “Hire Kiffin”. “Sports”. However, these were the best of the day.

Find out who Big Game Brent has on Facebook!

For those wondering where Kiffin is these days.

That final sign rivals the “Crap on me Sam Ponder” sign as the most offensive of the year. The presentation might not be as great, but we still salute this effort.

This week’s guest picker was Chris “THE BEAR” Fallica. He is a long-time Gameday researcher who has become a regular on this year’s show when they need to settle a tough debate. This guy has a reputation as someone who knows what is going on and who can pick games, so it was a real treat to have him on the show today. Also, we’ve had a string of pickers with little to no football input, so it was nice to have someone worthwhile picking games. He picked Stanford over USC. Corso immediately started needling the crowd hyping up Stanford. He picked Stanford to win the national championship. Stanford is favored. On and on. Would he really pull a fast one and pick USC? He donned the USC armor and picked USC this week as he began sword fighting with Kirk Herbstreit. In the process, he busted open his lip and started bleeding. Whoever had Corso injuring himself and drawing blood in this week’s Gameday pool just won big.

Have a happy football.

Week 10 2013: College Gameday review!

Posted on November 2, 2013 by gamedaycole

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!

Week 4 2013: College Gameday review!

Posted on September 21, 2013 by gamedaycole

Today is a rare occasion in the history of College Gameday. It is the day that they go off the beaten path and venture out from the realm of the FBS schedule and broadcast from an FCS location. Today’s edition came to you live from Fargo, North Dakota for the big matchup between the two-time defending FCS champions North Dakota State Bison (pronounced BI-ZON and DON’T FORGET IT) and the Delaware State Hornets. You might be saying “BUT COLE! WHO CARES ABOUT THE FCS?” and I say me for one. You might be saying “BUT COLE! WHY NORTH DAKOTA STATE?” and the answer is that this may be the most rabid college football fan base in all of college football. This is not an exaggeration and it is hard to explain unless you’ve seen it in person. This NDSU team went into Manhattan, Kansas and beat KState, and this “cupcake” game for KState drew the 2nd largest crowd in KState history. Having attended the FCS championship between the great Sam Houston State Bearkats and North Dakota State in Frisco, Tx, the Bison crowd outnumbered Texans no less than 3 to 1 IN TEXAS with a TEAM FROM TEXAS playing in the championship. They travel like none other, and if you saw Gameday this morning, you realize that surely most of the town of Fargo was at this broadcast of Gameday.

This crowd today had it all going on. The massive crowd was loud, rowdy, possibly drunk, and had some very quality signage. We had several strong contenders for sign of the day, including “I’m White”, “We’re not all married to our cousins”, and the Beef Cake sign below (which in my opinion is STRONG to QUITE STRONG).

However, this week’s sign of the week is undisputed, offensive, and the guy holding it is INCREDIBLY proud of himself for getting it on TV. We present it below without comment for your review.

Speaking of Sam Ponder, here she is from today. Jennifer enjoyed her outfit today. Great jacket, pants, and shoes. Jennifer expected the return of the boots from last season, but those haven’t made an appearance yet.

There was a lot of talk about NDSU’s program today. I had tweeted at Brad Edwards for his famous “Ask Brad” segment this very question, but never got an answer: Where would NDSU stack up against the FBS programs if they were ranked? Well he is a jerk-face and didn’t answer my question, but luckily we got our answer today. NDSU would be power-ranked 55 in the FBS, and would be a 32.5 point dog against Alabama according to those experts out in the desert. NDSU os 7-3 against FBS teams since 2007 and has beaten an FSB opponent for four years straight. Coach Craig Bohl did an interview with Sam Ponder and it seems like he really his act together. It is something special how confidently he and his players carry themselves against any and all competition. They seem to fear nobody and expect to play with anyone on any given day.

As the day rolled on, we once again did NOT see the return of David Pollack Using the Internet. This is highly disappointing, so please write angry letters to Gameday letting them know that we want more of David Pollack Using the Internet. The Chris Fowler $100 Question for today was “Who was the opponent when Arkansas played a game in the Northeast the most recently?” and the answer was Fordham. The $100 went unclaimed again. Gene W. had a quick piece which was a montage about great FCS players who went on to great NFL careers including Tony Romo and Terrell Owns and Jerry Rice and others. He said you can have the FBS players; he’ll take the FCS any day. Even an FCS fan like me would probably still take the FBS players Gene.

Tom Rinaldi did a segment traveling around Fargo to cover NDSU more in depth. There were three highlights. The first was the fact that Coach Bohl goes to EVERY high school in North Dakota that has a football program to recruit players whether or not the program is one of any significance or not. The second was Tom Rinaldi running around with a bunch of Bison. The third was that Coach Bohl does a kickass Lou Holtz impression.

We also unfortunately saw the return of “GENERIC QB TALK WITH QB GURU GEORGE WHITFIELD”. He talked about NDSU QB Brock Jensen and said he is good. Whitfield also wanted to remind you of how great his paying clients like Braxton Miller and Johnny Manziel are. I’ll say it again; this segment needs to go away.

Today’s edition also had a pair of Tim Tebow memorial emotional segments. Gene W. had a piece on UCLA freshman WR Nick Pasquale who died two weeks ago after being hit by a car while walking home. Apparently he was a scrappy young guy who had offers to play football at smaller shcools, but instead chose to walk on at UCLA. Against Nevada, his teammates campaigned for him to get into the game for a single play, which was the highlight of his career. His life was ended a week later. Coach Jim Mora Jr. had his parents speak before the Nebraska game about playing how Nick would have wanted them to play, and it inspired them to a tremendous comeback win over Nebraska. The most touching part was learning that his ashes will partially be scattered on the Rose Bowl field where he saw his only college play.

We got a Tom Rinaldi emotional piece about Louisville QB Teddy Bridgewater and his mom. His mom was diagnosed with breast cancer while he was a star QB in highschool. Teddy offered to quit football forever, get a job, and support his mom while she underwent treatment. She wouldn’t let him, and after enduring treatment she is in remission and is now attending his games. She always thought he had a gift for football and didn’t want him to give up his gift for her.

The strangest moment of the year so far was experienced today when Chris Fowler busted out this little guy below. It is apparently the trophy awarded to the winner of the D3 Concordia/St. Olaf game. Bizarre.

Other highlights from today’s show include Lee Corso repeatedly criticizing Bo Pelini for “bitching” about his fanbase. He repeated the word “bitching” several times, and was warned that he is still on probation by the other guys from his famous SMU incident several years ago. We also saw the return of TODD MCSHAY LOOKIN’ AT THE TAPE!!! He looked at tape of FCS players and reminded us that some of these guys are good, including his #2 overall FCS prospect Tim Flanders from Sam Houston State. There was also a piece of Tom Rinaldi beatnik poetry about North Dakota entitled “Lonely”. He discussed the significance of the cosmic vastness of the open land in North Dakota, and included the incredibly deep line “We are dust….”. I feel like he probably just stays up the night before Gameday smoking pot while writing stream-of-consciousness poetry about the location.

Anyways, let’s get down to the business at hand. Today’s guest picker was former NDSU DB Tom Hansen. He came on and made some good picks and kept the energy of the segment going much better than Mark Harmon. No surprise; he went with NDSU over Delaware State. For the record, Billy the Cat also took NDSU too.

Who would coach Corso pick? It was never in doubt. NDSU is a big favorite in today’s game, and Corso wasn’t even on set when the pick was made. He came busting out of a local theater with the Bison head on pulling a live baby bison along his side. Jennifer called this one ahead of time saying he would show up with a baby bison, and I think Corso made the right choice. The Bison fans are not to be tested, and they would have run him out of town with pitchforks if he picked Delaware State. Enjoy your day!