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Week 2 2013: College Gameday review!

Posted on September 7, 2013 by gamedaycole

Welcome back to another great Saturday of college football folks. The afternoon games are in full swing, and that means it is time for another College Gameday review. This week the show was broadcasting from Ann Arbor, Michigan for the big matchup between Notre Dame and Michigan; THE LAST TIME THESE TWO TEAMS WILL EVER MEET*! The show opened up at 8AM central, for what is supposed to be this year’s normal schedule of a three hour show on ESPN every week. The crowd wasn’t exactly the biggest I’ve seen, and wasn’t as big as Clemson/Georgia last week either. I expected a little bit better from these two schools. Its too bad they will NEVER MEET AGAIN TO PLAY FOOTBALL.

*Last time they will meet as advertised by ESPN, unless both schools decide that they like money in which case the series will resume

The show opened with Fowler, Corso, Herbstreit, and Howard at the main desk, to be joined later by Sam Ponder and David Pollack. Fowler had an early hundred dollar question for the group: What was the trophy called that Florida and Miami(Fl) used to play for once upon a time decades ago? The confusing answer is the Seminole War Canoe, and the hundred dollar bill remained unclaimed. Early in the show we also had the return of everyone’s favorite segment, DAVID POLLACK USING THE INTERNET!!!!

He was live Tweeting from the Michigan locker room where there is apparently a shrine to Desmond Howard. He answered about two tweets live before giving up and going back to the TV set. As the guys started breaking down matchups today, Lee Corso reiterated his bold claim that Stanford would win the championship this year, and they would make quick work of SJSU today. We were then joined by Samantha Ponder who had on another nice dress today. Jennifer predicts this will be the year of the dress with the belt to define her waistline (belt not pictured below; hidden by note cards). Other notes include that she parted her hair down the middle, and her wedding ring (courtesy of Christian Ponder) is absolutely huge.

We got an interview with Brady Hoke, and the main highlight was when Hoke declared that one John “Football” Manziel would ride the bench behind Devin Gardner if he played for Michigan. Alright then. There was a very strange segment featuring noted cellar-dweller (at least in my rankings) Mike Greenberg, of Mike & Mike in the Morning fame. Being a notable Northwestern grad, he was invited on campus to be an honorary team captain for today’s game against Syracuse. Highlights included Pat Fitzgerald not having time for this nonsense, Greenberg searching in many wrong places for the team’s offense meeting, and concluded with a goofy inspirational speech from the honorary captain. I found this segment to be unsuccessful, as it included far too much of Greenberg’s sarcastic, overly-dry, self-deprecating humor. And that is coming from someone who is full of unsuccessful, sarcastic, overly-dry, self-deprecating humor. Greenberg needs to stick to his radio show talking the Jets and Tebow every week and stay away from my Gameday broadcasts.

One of the funniest moments of the show was early on when Kirk Herbstreit started an extended speech breaking down some matchup from today, the Michigan band immediately began blaring music behind him and completely drowning him out. Intentional or not, it was quite hilarious.

I happened to notice something peculiar today. Chris Fowler was suspiciously QUITE interested in what the “experts” out in “the desert” thought about how “today’s underdogs” would “perform” against how they were “expected” to. Let me remind you that College Gameday endorses gambling in no way, shape, or form. Neither does Brent Musberger. Other Fowler notes include the fact that he continues to rag on Sam Houston State (who is playing some team from College Station with some guy that won some award last year). Keep it up Fowler, the Bearkat faithful do not forget these things.

George Whitfield Jr., quarterback extraordinaire, was interviewed again this week, and said more generic things about Johnny Football. This would be a cool segment if he went in-depth about how he sees things, but when it is so generic it is quite bland.

There was a GREAT piece by Tom Rinaldi this week about Tulane’s Devon Walker, who was paralyzed last year in a game against Tulsa. I remember seeing that game last year, and it was quite intense to be seeing it live. He wasn’t breathing on the field, and they were performing chest compressions to basically resuscitate him on the field before transferring him to a hospital. He is now paralyzed from the shoulders down, confined to a wheelchair, and is in intensive rehab. He vowed to be back on the sidelines this year to cheer on the team, and he made it. He spoke to the team before their first game this year, and the best moment of the whole segment was when they presented him with his own Tulane jersey to wear. His face absolutely lit up as they put the jersey on him. Nobody likes to give Tom Rinaldi a hard time more than he for how he tries to make stories overly emotional, but this one was absolutely fantastic, and if it can be found on Youtube or elsewhere, I highly recommend it.

Moving along, that story was followed by a piece by Gene Wojciechowski about Jadaveon Clowney from South Carolina. He went to Athens to find out how he could stop Clowney in today’s game. He polled the students on campus, and they seemed incredibly educated on football (especially the ones who said he is not a threat in this game tonight). He went around the town finding out more information about how to stop Clowney, including some possibly drunk guy tackling a cardboard cutout of Clowney. Then he interviewed some local Pop Warner players about how to stop Clowney, and they probably had the best insight of anyone interviewed. The end was pretty cute when about ten of them tackled the Clowney cutout. This segment also featured a cameo by David Pollack, who had a thing or two to say when one student said linebackers were nothing to be feared.

At this point, let’s take a moment to highlight the sign of the day. It was a slow day for signs, so the following sign is presented without comment:

There was a new segment featuring Samantha Ponder interviewing Devin Gardner including her own new snazzy animated intro. Apparently Gardner likes cartoons, Brady Hoke looks like Fred Flintstone, and they talked about some other stuff. Other notes from today’s show include David Pollack shocking the world by picking AGAINST Georgia in today’s big game against South Carolina. Somewhere the REAL David Pollack is tied up in a closet and this look-alike is soiling the good name of a noted Georgia homer. Also, Michigan still hates Rich Rodriguez judging by the boos every time Arizona was mentioned today. Michigan also hates Herbie, and loves Desmond Howard.

But now, for the real reason you came here. It came time to pick the games. Today’s special guest celebrity picker (incredibly hyped on Twitter) was Mark Harmon from NCIS. His father, Tom Harmon, is a former Michigan Heisman winner from 1940, and Mark spent some time playing at UCLA himself. This sounded like a great segment in the making, and quickly turned into the most boring celebrity guest picker in the history of College Gameday. Mark Harmon picked six games, and said six words. Indiana. Florida. Georgia. Texas. Arizona. Michigan. End segment. No analysis. No jokes. No humor. End segment. Onto the headgear pick. I predicted this year Corso would have live animals on set at least four times this year, and thought this week was going to be a loser. How on earth would be bring a live animal on set today? A wolverine would be dangerous, and a drunk Irishman doesn’t count. Corso started poking the crowd with a stick hyping up Michigan, and before you knew it, he put in a leprechaun hat and proceeded to fill the desk with live chickens (in reference to Notre Dame chickening out in this series). Herbie looked terrified as usual, and it was a really funny way to end today’s episode. Enjoy the rest of your day folks.

Week 1 2013: Gameday review!

Posted on August 31, 2013 by gamedaycole

It is a glorious time to be alive when College Gameday returns to Saturday mornings. The guys were broadcasting live from the site of today’s matchup where we will see #5 Georgia visiting at #8 Clemson. Today’s episode was special for two reasons: they started the real show an hour early (as opposed to last year on ESPNU with the B-team), and they went an extra hour today for a total of FOUR hours of coverage. This was amazing, since we were able to touch all of the bases with all of their regular contributors. They opened the show with Chris Fowler taking a quick moment to remember the great Beano Cook, who passed away last season.

The crowd today had some good signs, and the competition for sign of the day included such classics as “Murray has a mangina”, “I’m tied with Clowney for sacks this year”, and “I bought this sign from Manziel”. But today’s sign of the day was undisputed, and we saw it VERY briefly during the first two or three minutes of the show. I present it below without comment or attempting to explain it:

As they began analyzing today’s action, Desmond Howard was discussing today’s matchup between LSU and TCU in Arlington, Tx at the Cowboys’ Classic. He mentioned several times today that he had questions about how well TCU would function at QB after Casey Pachall “took some time off last year to get his head right”. As someone who happens to live in the DFW area, I can accurately translate that as “was kicked off the team for drug use and forced into rehab”.

The guys were joined early in the show by David Pollack who would be answering your questions on Twitter, as we saw the return of everyone’s favorite segment, DAVID POLLACK USING THE INTERNET!!!! He tweeted a couple weeks ago a nasty photo of his ankle which he severely injured, so to celebrate it he had his feet kicked up with shoes off on their dining table in the Gameday bus. I’m sure the guys all appreciated that. Lee Corso attempted to remind the Clemson crowd that Pollack played at Georgia, but they seemed confused and instead of booing him they cheered him. Maybe they were partaking in the pregame libations a tad early. David Pollack also let us know that of all the new coaches in the FBS, Gus Malzahn of Auburn would have the most success. Maybe its because he was the brains of the operation during their championship run to begin with. We will see I guess.

As our main crew started discussing the individual games today, Herbie came out of nowhere with MONSTER upset picks today, calling for 3-touchdown-underdog Toledo to beat Florida IN THE SWAMP, and UL-Lafayette to take down Arkansas . Maybe he had been partaking in the drinks with the Clemson crowd early this morning as well. He also came out with a huge prediction by saying UL-Monroe would HANG AROUND against Oklahoma, so OU BETTER CIRCLE THE WAGONS! HOT SPORTS OPINION!

Soon after, the gang was joined by Samantha (Steele) Ponder. She had a nice blue dress on with a pink belt and a necklace that appeared to be made out of chain-links. Jennifer gave it two thumbs up saying the colors were great, the belt was great, and the necklace was the highlight of it all. We will let you, the reader decide.

Other random segments included Dabo Swinney running an indoor practice this week, where he was playing Tina Turner over the loud speakers and his players had no idea who it was. Their guesses included Journey and KISS. Kids these days. Paul Finebaum came on to troll everyone outside the SEC, and also gave an unsolicited opinion that Gene Chizik is the worst coach to ever win a national championship.

We got two pieces of beatnik poetry from Tom Rinaldi today. The first, entitled “Huddle”, was basically Tom Rinaldi narrating a slow motion huddle. The players circle up. They look to their leader. The play is called. They join hands. They raise their voices. They yell break. The play begins. Fascinating. His second piece was entitled “Howard’s Rock” and after plastering his name on the screen for 15 of his 30 seconds, he glorified the tradition of Howard’s Rock.

Gene Wojciechowski had a great piece on Brad “Spider” Caldwell, who has been the Penn State equipment manager for the last 30 years or so. He is the longest tenured member of the program after the downfall of Joe Paterno. Spider met with Bill O’brien upon his hire, and was immediately seen as having a unique relationship with the players, as the upper classmen all had one question when O’brien took over: Are you keeping Spider? What is more fascinating is that Mr. Spider was born with a deformity which gave him a spine curvature of 54 degrees, and he is missing half of a shoulder blade and several ribs. He still owns the shoes that Joe Paterno was wearing when he busted ass in the 1986 national championship game. His wife sews the names on the back of each jersey by hand. Pretty cool segment. After the segment, Corso predicted another 8 win season for the Nittany Lions.

As they segued into TAMU/Johnny Manziel talk, Chris Fowler said today’s game against Rice should be an easy win, and next week’s game against Sam Houston State should be a “virtual scrimmage”. YOU HAVE MADE A POWERFUL ENEMY TODAY FOWLER! THAT IS THE FCS RUNNER UP THE LAST TWO YEARS YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! EAT EM UP KATS! Anyways, the boys all agreed that Johnny Manziel and TAMU did a great job of sweeping this under the rug, and that the NCAA looks completely foolish after this scandal. Agreed. Corso also thinks no kid should ever be paid for an autograph until their eligibility is gone. I agree, but this is another rant for another day.

The gang then took a minute to discuss AJ McCarron’s toe. He had surgery this week to remove an ingrown toenail, and should be fine for today’s game even after wearing a walking boot this week. Jennifer found this suspicious, and declared that SOMETHING ELSE IS GOING ON WITH MCCARRON’S TOE! *Insert ominous tone*

Bald Man on Campus returned with Scott Van Pelt. It was a really funny segment that started off with SVP pumping up the crowd by yelling “DO YOU BELIEVE IN CLEMSON?” before declaring that he does not believe in Clemson. His video clip started with him sitting on a dock at a lake at sunset pondering his beliefs in life while reading Clemson media guides. He was seeking a sign to believe in Clemson. After going around town and seeing signs pointing towards Clemson all over (Frosted Flake’s w/ Tony the Tiger, a Clemson glee club singing the school song wherever he went, and so on) he interviewed Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins and they convinced him that Clemson is a team to believe in this year. Good segment.

There was another really cool segment today about George Whitfield, the QB guru to the stars. He has worked with almost 30 FBS QBs this year alone including Tajh Boyd, AJ McCarron, and Johnny Manziel, as well as names from the past such as Cam Newton and Ben Roethlisberger. He takes a unique approach by including unusual drills in teaching mobility and conditioning in addition to working on mechanics. He has his students go to the beach where he has them do QB drills in sand and in the ocean water to master moving on uneven and rough surfaces. He chases them with brooms and tennis rackets to try and block their passes. He has them dodge beanbags he throws at them. He says that you must go outside of your own industry to find ways to expand the players’ skillsets in these unique ways, which is how his students are so successful. He may charge big bucks for the pros, but its only a hundred bucks an hour for student athletes to work with him. That’s still pretty pricey for some of us, but pretty cool that he makes himself affordable to student athletes.

The last major segment was a Tom Rinaldi special (AKA the Tim Tebow memorial feelgood story of the week). He told the story of how AJ McCarron met a young girl named Starla Chapman, and the bond they share. McCarron was in a waverunner accident when he was young, and suffered severe head trauma. His parents were told he would likely not survive, and if he did he would be a vegetable for the rest of his life. He survived after many surgeries, recovered, and turned into the studly Alabama QB we all now know. In December 2011, in the same hospital, he met Starla who was diagnosed with AML at age 3. She gave him a “Just Trust” bracelet, which he wore during the championship game against LSU that year, and he continues to wear it to this day during games. Starla went into cardiac arrest 6 days before that championship game, and her family watched from the hospital while doctors said she would likely not make it. She however made a full recovery and has been cancer free for two years, and AJ has recently agreed to be her godfather. Great story and a good segment.

But let’s get down to business. You came here for picks, and they made some picks. Today’s special guest picker was Eric Stonestreet from Modern Family, who we have seen before. Eric’s previous appearance as a guest picker in 2011 didn’t go too well, as he ended up 2-7 on the week. Good luck Eric, maybe this time will be better. They took a minute to highlight NDSU upsetting KState since he is a huge KState fan, but he wasn’t here to discuss that. They picked games and you can find all of that in this morning’s post. When it came time for the headgear pick, Corso baited the crowd by saying that he went 0-2 last year picking live dogs on the set, so he was done with dogs. Instead, he put on the Georgia headgear and had some live puppies brought to the desk as he confirmed that Georgia will be beating Clemson tonight. Enjoy your day.