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Week 4 2014: College Gameday review #getup4gameday

Posted on September 20, 2014 by gamedaycole

Hey hey there, welcome back to our College Gameday review for week 4 of this season. This week’s edition of College Gameday was coming at you live from Tallahassee, Florida for the big matchup between the Florida State Seminoles and the Clemson Tigers. Surprisingly, the combined crowd at FSU/Clemson seemed to be smaller than the NDSU crowd in Fargo last week. We opened the show with Lee, Kirk, Chris and David as usual, and one member of the team was adamant that he would not be caught wearing the same suit as Chris Fowler after the fashion debacle of two weeks ago. You may have noticed Desmond Howard wearing something like this:

Noted fashion critic and Gameday enthusiast Jennifer pointed out that he is not, in fact, summering in Nantucket this weekend. There has been a disturbing trend of plaid suits and jackets this year, so let’s keep an eye on this and make sure this doesn’t go too far. After opening the show, the first hour or so was dedicated to the latest Jameis Winston news. Unless you were living under a rock for the last week, you surely know that Winston has been in a bit of hot water due to some recent actions on campus. When discussing the suspension for tonight’s game, the crowd got a nice “bullshit” chant going. At one point they kicked it over to Sam Ponder, who had been sidelined this week after coach Jimbo Fisher pulled out of her interview segment. She went on a nice two minute rant about how people, and women especially, are getting fed up with this recent trend of shady situations in the football world. It was a good rant, but only provided us with a glimpse of the Sam Ponder Outfit of the Week. Jennifer liked it, although we couldn’t see much of it, saying it was a nice color and she likes the sleeves.

Signs this week were pretty lacking. Lots of repeats from the past taking shots at Jameis Winston. Highlights include “Samantha Ponder will you go to homecoming with me?”, “Clemson likes global warming”, “Dabo Swinney has a crush on Manti T’eo’s girlfriend”, “Sunshine Scooter for first half QB”, “Even Sarah McLachlan can’t save these cats”, but our winners are this combination next to each other featuring Paul Finebaum as the 60 Year Old Virgin, and Kim Jong Un wearing FSU facepaint.

This was our runner up this week:

As the crew started breaking down the rest of today’s games, they took a moment to cover the Arkansas/NIU game today. Kirk picked Arkansas over NIU to nobody’s surprised, and I am sure that will get NIU all stirred up again. In case you forgot:

There was a touching tribute to close the first hour to the father of Rece Davis, who passed away this week. Shortly after, we had an inspiring piece by Gene W. about Tyson London, daughter of Virginia head coach Mike London. She was born premature and suffered from a blood disorder which lead to cancer. She required a bone marrow transplant at the age of 7, and after a lengthy search, the only match in the country was her dad Mike. He donated the marrow which saved her life, and she is now 11 years cancer free. This has led to many players signing up for the bone marrow registry, and they always need more.

Back to game previews. The crew was previewing today’s game between BYU and Virginia, and after giving his take on the game, Desmond Howard stopped short of picking. Lee Corso must have not been paying attention, because he came flying in with a HUGE “NOT SO FAST!!!!” to which the rest of the crew started cracking up at, since Desmond never picked the game. Desmond then went on to pick BYU along with Corso. Desmond sure thought it was funny!

There was a feature about Oklahoma linebacker Eric Striker with lots of menacing rock music and special effects to highlight the fact that he is a good linebacker. It was a tad bit overproduced for my refined tastes. Other notes include this week’s hundred dollar question presented by Chris Fowler: Who was the QB the last time Miami and Nebraska met in the regular season? Vince Ferragamo obviously. The hundred dollar bill remained unclaimed, but we got a whimsical note that Lee Corso lost as coach of Indiana in 1976 to Vince Ferragamo’s Nebraska team 55-13. We also learned that FSU (now) starting quarterback Sean Maguire’s family had already given their tickets away to this game because they did not expect to see any playing time. Apparently something happened with Jameis Winston this week and Sean will be starting, so the family is coming in. I’m guessing they might be able to scalp a few singles and get into this game. Tom Rinaldi had a piece on perfection with FSU kicker Roberto Aguayo, who is 27/28 on field goal attempts, and 102/102 on extra points. That is 99.2% accuracy for all of you math majors out there.

We talked a little more Jameis Winston for a while, and showed some highlights of his (most recent) apology press conference. I don’t know why, but I am just as concerned about this gold chain he is wearing as I am the events which got him in trouble this week.

Jameis Winston's gold chain — Jameis Winston’s gold chain

We were then joined by QB Guru George Whitfield to talk about his interaction with quarterbacks and how he tries to coach them in their off-the-field lives as well. He remembered warning John “Football” Manziel about his actions. Johnny was more concerned about missing the college experience, to which George replied “Your current path is not going to get you to the ultimate destination”. This applied equally to Winston. Speaking of Whitfield, he was back with another crazy QB Guru suit this week!

George Whitfield: Qb guru, not fashion guru

After three hours of Jameis Winston talk, it was time to get down to the REAL business at hand: picking games. This week’s special guest picker was FSU volleyball legend Gabrielle Reece. She came on and appeared to be reading notes prepared for her on most of her picks, and I think Lee Corso had a little crush on her. He was overly polite to her, even on his incredibly subdued “not so fast” whispers. After picking all of the games, we got down to the main event. Desmond went with the upset of Clemson over FSU. Reece took FSU to nobody’s surprise. Lee Corso called Jimbo Fisher’s young son out to help make the pick, and they ripped off their suit jackets to reveal FSU gear. They then donned shakos and began conducting the FSU band’s war chant as the show closed. Charley the cat picked Clemson, so this will be a showdown week between Charley and Coach Corso, and we will see who really knows how to pick the big games: Lee Corso, or our cat. Enjoy your day folks, and have a happy football.

Week 3 2014: College Gameday review! #getup4gameday

Posted on September 13, 2014 by gamedaycole

Ladies and gentlemen; boys and girls; children of all ages: Welcome back to our weekly College Gameday review! The show was broadcasting to you live from Fargo, North Dakota, where today we will see the matchup between 3-time FCS defending national champions North Dakota State and something called the University of the Incarnate Word! This was the same location as their FCS visit last year, which was one of the best Gameday editions ever, and this year was no slouch either. The crowd was HUGE again just like last year.

It looked like a chilly edition (if you’re not from North Dakota), and Chris Fowler reminded us that the AVERAGE temperature in Fargo last winter was 4 degrees. In order to make sure that Coach Corso did not freeze to death, he donned a bison-fur coat which was a thing of beauty.

After opening the show in such fashion, Coach Corso went back to the bus and we were joined by David Pollack and Samantha Ponder. She interviewed new NDSU head coach Chris Klieman and they discussed how he can continue the legacy after winning 3 national championships before taking over. This brings us to this week’s SAMANTHA PONDER OUTFIT OF THE WEEK FEATURING OUTFIT REVIEW BY @GAMEDAYJEN!!! Jennifer said she likes this week’s outfit. She said “I like the boots, the jacket has unique details, and I like the pop of the blue with the scarf”.

While we are on the topic of outfits, since we are giving this week’s style award to Sam Ponder, we need to discuss a significant setback in men’s fashion this week. No no, it wasn’t Desmond Howard and Chris Fowler wearing matching suits again this week. This week we need to discuss QB guru George Whitfield’s outfit. Now I may have absolutely terrible fashion sense, and have worn some questionable outfits during my day, I am not a television personality or guru of any kind. I asked Jennifer for an opinion, and all she could say was “There is such a thing as too many patterns, and George Whitfield has exceeded that limit”. We saw brown shoes with grey pants on a plaid navy jacket with powder blue plaid shirt and a heavily patterned orange tie. You may be a guru of quarterbacking but you are not a guru of men’s fashion I’m afraid.

And since we’re on the topic of questionable looks, let’s see this sign featuring vintage Kirk Herbstreit! I’m sure I never looked like this in the 90s.

Other signs featured this week included “Who is FICA and why are they taking my money?”, “Chicken fries are back!”, and “Big 10: Bad Math, Bad Football”. Another great sign was the following:

This week’s sign winner had to be this gentlemen who was incredibly proud of his mullet, and equally proud to have Sam Ponder touch it

But let’s not forget last year’s top sign from Fargo, and one of the greatest moments in Gameday history!

Other quick topics include the fact that deer archery season opens Monday in North Dakota, the panel debated whether NDSU should make the jump to FBS (consensus was no), the Washington State flag made its 150th straight appearance today, and someone or something called “Babi Mac” made a second appearance on Gameday this season. I’m sure I am not down with today’s pop culture, but I have no idea who Babi Mac is.

George Whitfield broke down Everett Golson’s improvement as one of his paying clients (yes he thinks Golson improved greatly under his tutelage). We then reached two segments in which we saw Desmond Howard get FIRED UP big time. Gene W. had a nice piece on Everett Golson’s fall and triumphant return to Notre Dame and how he spent 14 weeks working with George Whitfield to improve his pocket presence. Golson said he was motivated to do do this because it finally hit him when he was watching Notre Dame play Michigan last year without him that the world does not stop because he was kicked off the team. Now back to Desmond’s opinion. He had the opinion that spending 14 weeks in San Diego working on your craft with the world’s best QB guru is hardly punishment for the offenses committed. They finally had to cut him off because the conversation was going nowhere.

Desmond also got FIRED UP when discussing the Penn State sanctions being lifted. He said he is tired of seeing sanctions against schools for financial or academic reasons, but then turning around and lifting the sanctions for the Sandusky scandal. Kirk disagreed strongly, citing the fact that everyone involved in the program is now gone from Penn State. I thought this would come to blows.

If you don’t mind, I’d like to stop down for an editorial here (as opposed to whatever the rest of this nonsense is). Our panel of Gameday hosts got into a discussion about LSU’s Leonard Fournette doing the Heisman pose after scoring a touchdown against Sam Houston State University last week. Comparisons were made to Desmond Howard’s legendary pose, and they felt the need to kick SHSU in the crotch for about three minutes. I like to think of myself as the Paul Finebaum of the Southland Conference (is that weird?), so that hurt. However, my beef here is with Leonard Fournette’s Heisman pose. Is there nobody who can do the Heisman pose properly in this world? Has anyone actually looked at the statue before? The Heisman trophy has two feet on the ground.

THIS

IS NOT THIS

Whatever. Now that I’ve wasted 45 seconds more of your life, let’s get back to Gameday. Today’s chef of the day was Dr. David Newman. Doctor of meat I guess? He was making kabobs of some sort with yellow squash and green peppers for a NDSU colored meal.

This week’s overly casual roundtable segment where they leave the desk and go sit in chairs ten feet away was pretty much a segment to kick the Big 10 in the crotch for last week’s performance. Desmond was suspiciously silent. They looked at Big 10 point spreads this week, and it became clear that Herbie and Des don’t really know how point spreads work. Has anyone else noticed how much ESPN has pushed gambling lines this year? They have an entire ESPNU show on Fridays dedicated to it, and highlight the spread when breaking down all the matchups this year. Weird.

Tom Rinaldi had a lovely piece on Marshall QB Rakeem Cato. He came from the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami, and lived in public housing with 9 other children under the same roof. His mother died when he was 13, and he lived through high school staying at football teammate’s houses. He was determined to make it out of such a setting, and was able to be the first in his family to go to college by attending Marshall and leading the Thundering Herd to a bowl win last year. His coach, Doc Holliday, said that he is an example for any kid who thinks there is no hope. Inspiring stuff.

Bald Man on Campus was back, and SVP chilled with Todd Gurly. They discussed his comparisons to Herschel Walker and other greats. Really hip and casual segment.

The Gameday crew discussed Steve Spurrier’s comments about how he has a rule for his teams: if you hit a girl then you’re gone. The consensus was that they all agree. #hotsportsopinions

Chris Fowler didn’t have a hundred dollar question this week, but did have the guys pick the Secretary’s Cup game. In case you are one of the few who didn’t know, that is the game between the Coast Guard Academy and the Merchant Marine Academy. Coast Guard was the consensus pick.

But let’s get down to the business at hand. This week’s special guest picker was former NDSU QB and three time national champion Brock Jensen. He had his championship rings on, and all I can say is BLING BLING. Apparently the only Gameday guest picker with more rings is Magic Johnson. File that fun fact away!

Brock had some good picks, and to nobody’s surprise picked NDSU to win big today. In fact, everyone including Charley the Cat picked NDSU to win today. Lee Corso jumped in a trailer containing Corso the Bison and put on the headgear to match for his headgear pick this week. I think we were near a disaster, with a combination of Lee Corso hanging onto the back of a trailer, a mask I’m sure he couldn’t see through, a live bison in with him, and the trailer taking off down the street. However, everyone survived and we will live to see you next week!

Week 2 2014: College Gameday Review! #getup4gameday

Posted on September 6, 2014 by gamedaycole

I’m proud to announce that the weekly College Gameday review is returning again this year (only a week late). Week 1 did not have a review due to the holiday weekend, but I’ll get around to writing one up for posterity soon. Anyways, let’s get this thing going.

Today’s edition of Gameday came to us live from Eugene, Oregon for the big matchup between the Oregon Ducks and the Michigan State Spartans. It started early out there in Oregon, where they are broadcasting at 6AM local time to a rowdy crowd of true fans and/or drunkards (please note the bars close down at 4AM, just enough time for a burrito run after the bar closes on your way to Gameday). This marks the 6th year in a row of Gameday broadcasting from Eugene, and the 9th time overall. Apparently classes don’t start at Oregon until September 29th. I don’t get it.

I’d like to stop down at this point and discuss something from week 1. I’m sure you noticed there is a newly revamped Gameday intro song and video featuring Big & Rich with Cowboy Troy singing “Comin’ to Your Citaaayyy”. This new edition features poor audio levels on the vocals, mediocre new lyrics, some random woman fronting the band, and a hipster rapping after Cowboy Troy. I don’t know who this random woman is or the rapping hipster (I gave up after Googling for no less than 15 seconds), but they are unnecessary. Please write your congressman to let them know we need the previous Gameday intro back. End rant.

After Chris Fowler opened up the show by introducing everyone, it was noted that Desmond and Chris were matching-suit-buddies. They stopped down for a cute suit-buddies photo.

As for today’s game, the forecast calls for a 40-degree swing in temperature from morning to night, with gametime temperature in the mid-to-upper 90s. Who does this favor? Who knows. Other early statistical note: As ESPN continues to pimp their new Football Power Index (FPI) system HARD, they project LSU has a 99.8% chance of beating Sam Houston State today.

Anyways…. Today’s crowd was a wild and rowdy crowd as always in Eugene, but signage was somewhat lacking in genius. Highlights include “At least Oregon doesn’t have Detroit”, “At least the Pac12 can count”, “Uh oh, Michigan State needs another bailout”, Reddit user garguinchona sporting the upside-down “Go Cougs!” sign all morning, but we will give this week’s best sign to this fellow.

Onward we go to the SAM PONDER OUTFIT OF THE WEEK featuring REVIEW BY @GAMEDAYJEN. Jennifer called is “Simple, elegant, slimming, and pretty. Not weird like some things she wears”.

There was a great segment highlight the walk-on player at various colleges. It was a really cool segment as they showed video of various walk-ons being surprised after earning a scholarship for their hard work. Really touching stuff. Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich said that if you own a business, you should go hire some walk-on football players, because they are the ones who have the work ethic and dedication to earn their spot wherever they end up.

Apparently this year they are bringing on a local celebrity chef to do some grilling on-set at each stop, and this week’s Gameday chef of the week was Michael Swartz, who is the head chef at some place I don’t know and is no doubt very talented at making things. There were some GREAT Desmond Howard over-laughs during this segment as they exchanged banter about food.

Week 2 also saw the return of BEATNIK POETRY WITH TOM RINALDI!!! This week’s piece was entitled “Green”. It included such deep, thought provoking statements such as “Nature. Youth. Currency. Envy. Let the royals have their purple; the sky its blue. This field has one color: Green. And we all know what green stands for… go”. Just pure gold from Tom Rinaldi.

This week’s Chris Fowler hundred dollar trivia challenge was asking what the first college football game on ESPN was back in the day: Oregon vs. ????? The answer was Colorado. I thought ESPN got their start broadcasting football from D2 playoffs back in the day, but maybe I’m wrong.

We also got a nice Gene W. piece on JT Barrett; QB from Ohio State. Basically he has moved from backup to true leader in a matter of weeks. Then we got a piece from Tom Rinaldi about Marcus Mariota, who is one of many in a long line of famous Hawaiian quarterbacks such as the great Timmy Chang. As much as I thoroughly enjoy bagging on Tom Rinaldi, he really does some fine work.

Following Tom Rinaldi’s piece, we got another exclusive segment with QB guru Georgie Whitfield. Amongst all of his quarterback clients is none other than Marcus Mariota. Now I’m sure you’ll be shocked, but George is pleased with the improvement he has provided to his paying client. Lots of good generic quarterback mechanics being discussed here. I’m truly thrilled.

As we returned to our Gameday crew breaking down games, there was a random Jesse Palmer chant which broke out from the crowd. I don’t get it but I was totally stoked because Jesse Palmer is awesome. How can you not love this man?

During this segment, you might have noticed that Desmond was no longer matching Chris Fowler’s outfit. He went and changed into a darker blue jacket for this segment, before mysteriously going back to his original in the next segment. Quite whimsical if you ask me. During this discussion, Desmond managed to predict a Michigan win over Notre Dame in order to fulfill his contractual obligation with Michigan that he remain their #1 cheerleader in the world.

This week’s inspiring “Tim Tebow Memorial Segment” was about Michigan fan Stephen Loszewski. After one year of freshman highschool football, Stephen became weak and started losing weight, before being diagnosed with ALL (a type of leukemia). Due to his treatment he could never play again, but he continues to coach youth football and root for Michigan. During the segment at his home, he was delivered a letter from Brady Hoke inviting him for a campus visit as a real blue-chip recruit. Then GIGANTIC HUMAN BEING Jake Long showed up to give him a stack of hand-written letters from the Michigan staff. He was taken to the Michigan campus where he met with Coach Hoke before being led into team meetings and practice by Devin Gardner. He got to fulfill his dream of running out of the tunnel with the team during a practice, leading a warm-up chant, and catching a pass in the endzone. To top it all off, Desmond Howard showed up to meet him. Really cool segment.

At this point, it was time to get down to the business at hand: picking games. David Pollack was the first up to make his prediction for the big game, and although he said “Mariota is gonna ball”, he went with Michigan State to pull the upset. Our special guest celebrity for the day was the Oregon Duck “Puddles”. This segment quickly fell into chaos, with Puddles using props for all of his picks. There was a toy elephant (Bama), a toy rocket being launched (Toledo), a blender being run through half of the segment (?), and fruit loops being spilled all over the table. This pick segment was tiring to say the least. However, the grand finale was top notch. After Desmond picked Oregon and Kirk picked Michigan State, Puddles put on a poorly-assembled fake Puddles headgear made out of a cardboard box to signify picking his own team. He then presented a wrapped up present to Coach Corso, and to our surprise it contained his own Puddles headgear to keep! Charley the Cat also chose Oregon after going 1-0 last week, so Charley and Corso will remain tied for another week. Enjoy your Saturday, and have a happy football!

Week 2 Headgear courtesy of Gameday Twitter