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Week 6 2013: College Gameday review!

Posted on October 5, 2013 by gamedaycole

It may be late, and it may be brief, but don’t worry, the weekly College Gameday review is here. Today’s edition of Colege Gameday was broadcasting live from Evanston, Illinois for the big matchup between Ohio State and Northwestern. This is the first time Gameday has been at Northwestern since 1995, so it is a rare occasion that Northwestern is good at football, and even rarer for Gameday to make an appearance.

The first thing we noticed this morning, and if you are as obsessed with Gameday as we are maybe you noticed too, was that noted country rapping sensation Cowboy Troy’s rap solo was cut from this morning’s Gameday intro. What’s up with that? How am I supposed to get jacked up without a black guy in a cowboy hat rapping football lyrics at me?

Anyways, we got an early dose of Samantha Ponder, and I can’t help but notice her role has been reduced in recent weeks. I wonder what the deal is with that. The people demand more Samantha Ponder and Cowboy Troy. Mrs. Ponder’s outfit this week was better than last week’s but still questionable. The jacket was not well received by those polled this morning (Jennifer).

Tom Rinaldi had an early piece this morning. One was about all of the geniuses attending Northwestern who also play football. It is pretty impressive, but even more impressive was how incredibly moving Tom Rinaldi makes it to watch someone sharpen a pencil by hand up close in slow motion while soft-talking. We didn’t get any beatnik poetry from him so that makes me sad. I NEED INSPIRATION!!!

We got a great dose of TODD MCSHAY LOOKIN’ AT THE TAPE!!! He was hanging out with Urban Meyer and Braxton Miller in the film room talking about mechanics. Todd McShay is impressed with both his natural athleticism (which netted him the Big 10 Offensive Player of the Year last year) as well as his improved mechanics. I wish just once we’d get a piece where Todd McShay sits with an athlete to look at the tape, and then rip the kid a new one about sloppy mechanics or a lack of effort. I like to imagine that is what he is like leading up to the NFL draft where he is locked in a dark room ranting and raving 22 hours a day about mechanics, effort, heart and intangibles.

We had a return from QB Guru George Whitfield again. At least this week we got to see more training film with him and Braxton Miller where they were having Miller throw a football while sitting in a chair against a defender with a broom or something. The unusual training footage is pretty interesting. The generic positive assessment of Whitfield about his paying clients? Not so much.

The most exciting piece today was a callback to last week’s piece about the history of Gameday signs. Last week they talked about how the first guy to bring a sign to Gameday was some unknown guy with a sign nobody could read. Well believe it or not, they dug up this guy named Bob Merced and had him recreate the sign and flew his ass out to Gameday this morning which was really cool.

Speaking of signs, here is the sign of the day!

So let’s review. No Cowboy Troy. Less Samantha Ponder. No Bald Man on Campus. No David Pollack using the internet. No Tom Rinaldi beatnik poetry. Sign creativity was lacking aside from the one pictured above. It was all-in-all a pretty mediocre episode. Who could possibly save it as a guest celebrity picker? How about the ORIGINAL football picker, one Mr. Brent Musberger. He was so excited to be there at Gameday being a Northwestern alum. I haven’t confirmed this, but I am fairly confident he was going no-pants behind the desk, and was all too happy to share his picks for who was going to win, who was going to cover the spread, and which totals to bet. Of course, ESPN, Brent Musberger, and Cole’s Gameday blog in no way endorse any form of gambling. As Colin Cowherd would say, “this isn’t for making money; that’s called a job”. Anyways, the guys picked a ton of games today, which excited me. Brent and Herbie couldn’t pick the big game tonight since they are calling it, but I have a feeling which way Brent was leaning. Billy the Cat picked Ohio State over Northwestern, and Lee Corso went with the Buckeyes too! Either way, Corso and our cat will be tied going into next week, when we will hopefully see more exciting picks to determine who can pick the headgear game better between the two of them. Goodnight folks.

Week 5 2013: College Gameday review!

Posted on September 28, 2013 by gamedaycole

Well here we are again folks. Another edition of College Gameday is in the books. Today’s edition was broadcasting live from Athens, Ga for the matchup between #6 LSU and #9 Georgia. Last week’s edition was going to be hard to top after visiting Fargo, ND but Athens has a reputation as one of the rowdiest of locations for Gameday. It was made clear up front that Georgia does not have good luck with Gameday is in town: they are 3-12 all time with Gameday on-site. Could they turn this thing around put up a win? I guess we will find out.

For starters, the crowd was incredibly loud today. They bring serious entusiasm in the SEC when Gameday is in town (possibly enthusiasm brought in bottles). Early on, there were some technical difficulties. I don’t know how to describe it other than it sounded like David Pollack’s mic was being broadcast from the moon, streaming via broadcast.com in 1998 on dialup. Anyways, after we got that sorted out college football hall of famer Herschel Walker joined David Pollack on the stairs outside of a building for an interview. Hopefully this is going to be a new regular feature entitled “OVERLY CASUAL FOOTBALL INTERVIEWS WITH DAVID POLLACK!!!!” Pollack removed his suit jacket and they sat down to very casually discuss Georgia football.

We were then treated to another segment of “QB Guru George Whitfield Talking About QBs”. You couldn’t hear him over the rowdy crowd for the first half of this segment. In the second half he talked about Aaron Murray’s mechanics. Pretty impressive stuff that we haven’t heard for four weeks prior to this. At all.

There was a distinct lack of Samantha Ponder for the first hour or so of today’s show. When she finally showed up, we weren’t sure exactly what she was wearing or why she was wearing it. It appeared to be a nice pair of riding pants sans boots, which looked very strange. Jennifer questioned the choice of these pants, the shoes, and said the jacket made her look boxy. You can be the judge.

Speaking of Sam Ponder, she interviewed Georgia coach Mark Richt. The biggest takeaway of this interview was that Richt’s wife is one of the water girls on the team. Today’s piece from Gene W. was about Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze. Apparently he was portrayed as a complete goober in the movie Blind Side, and he even auditioned for his own part but failed because he couldn’t get his one line right. The funniest part of this was when he told us that if things aren’t working at halftime he likes making changes, including making his offensive coordinator change clothes completely at halftime to turn around the mojo.

Perhaps the high point of today’s show was Tom Rinaldi’s piece about Gameday signs. Apparently the first Gameday sign was on location back in 1994, and nobody knows who the guy was or what his sign said because it was blurry. Since then, things have exploded and as you know, signs are everywhere. This was a really cool segment about the history of Gameday, and I wish they would do more history segments about Gameday. The best part was afterwards when Rinaldi showed up wearing jorts, in reference to a recent sign about Jeff Driskel going for it on “4th and jort”. Classic.

Speaking of Gameday signs, today was a pretty poor effort by the Georgia crowd. I don’t know if they lack the writing skills or what, but today’s sign could barely be made out, and it reads “Mettenberger? More like Mettenbooger”. Come on Georgia, you can do better.

A few more highlights from today’s show include Paul Finebaum declaring that Lane Kiffin is the Miley Cyrus of college football: no talent, but we can’t stop watching. He said “maybe next year they will hire an adult to coach the team”, echoing my sentiment that Lane Kiffin has accomplished absolutely nothing in his career, yet continues to get promoted to better and better jobs. Also, Paul Finebaum loves the SEC and wants you to get off his lawn.

We also had a historical moment today. Chris Fowler’s hundred dollar question was FINALLY won. I hope you remember where you were, so you can tell your children about the time that Kirk Herbstreit won the Chris Fowler hundred dollar bill. Today’s question? What college has the most NFL starting QBs today? Of course the answer is NC State. Russell Wilson, Mike Glennon, and Phillip Rivers. Well done Herbie.

But let’s get down to the business at hand, which is the picks. Today’s guest celebrities (yes multiple) were Willie Robertson (from Duck Dynasty) and Bubba Watson (from golf). They were a fun group today, with lots of jawing back and forth. Robertson seemed to know very little about football for someone so southern and with such a questionable beard. Watson seemed pretty knowledgeable. Billy the Cat went with Georgia over LSU, bringing his record to 2-3 for the year.

Would Corso go with Georgia for the second time this year? Or would he go with the visiting team in LSU? His headgear picks were 2-2 going into this week, and he put on the Tiger head, going with LSU. He happened to put it on backwards, which was both hilarious, and foreshadowed the LSU loss. Billy the Cat and Lee Corso are tied at 2-3 on headgear picks this year. Boy, what a race! Enjoy your evening folks.

Week 3 2013: Gameday review

Posted on September 14, 2013 by gamedaycole

Good evening folks. Sorry for the delay on this week’s official Unofficial College Gameday review. We got a last minute invite to go do some gigging with the A&M crowd during today’s big game between Bama and Texas A&M, so we decided to join in the festivities. Speaking of which, today’s episode of College Gameday was coming at you live from College Station, Tx for this matchup between the Crimson Tide and those Aggies. This crowd was more lively than last week, and perhaps the most organized fanbase in Gameday history. Whether you love or hate Texas A&M, they have a group of fans that know yells and chants down to the most minute details, and it made for a good show today. While we are on the subject of the fans today, let us take a moment to rejoice in a few of the signs spotted today. “Even Forrest Gump got into Bama” was a strong contender, but this week’s official sign of the week is pictured below. I salute you sir; this is good work you are doing.

The guys talked a little football, and then this happened, and I don’t really have much to say about it.

Bald Man on Campus returned with your host Scott Van Pelt, and this week it was an interview with Alabama linebacker CJ Mosley. There wasn’t really much schtick from SVP this week; it was pretty much a regular interview. This segment determined that CJ Mosley is pretty good at football.

Quarterback guru George Whitfield returned to talk about Johnny Manziel leading up to today’s game. If I can take a minute to editorialize here, I’d like to say that this segment either needs more substance or needs to go. Week 1 was really cool when we saw his training methods, but his interview was incredibly generic. Week 2 he came on for analysis and it was incredibly generic. Week 3 came and went, and it was once again incredibly generic. The high point of this segment was Whitfield telling us Manziel is emotionally at a 5, which is right where he needs to be leading up to a big game. That’s right; this segment’s high point was Georgie Whitfield telling us Manziel is emotionally neutral leading up to this game. End rant.

We saw the return of Beatnik Poetry with Tom Rinaldi, and this week’s piece was dedicated to Bear Bryant. Since Bryant coached at both A&M and Bama, and this week would have been his 100th birthday, this game was even more special. Rinaldi brought up food for thought such as what Bryant would think of his teams today. He said Bryant’s influence is both timeless and present in today’s game, and that this game would be a gift to him on his 100th birthday. Very deep stuff.

Other things we learned today is that Texas A&M still hates Dennis Franchione, since they hissed and booed every time his name was brought up. We also learned that *PERHAPS* the visiting locker room at A&M has been *ACCIDENTALLY* out of order this entire season, so Bama brought their own portable AC units just in case they were needed. We also learned that Paul Finebaum thinks the SEC is pretty great, and he also wants you to get off his lawn.

A big part of today’s show was a roundtable discussion with Fowler, Corso, Herbie, Desmond, Pollack and Paul Finebaum about players getting paid and the scandals coming out in recent weeks about Oklahoma State and Bama. Maybe it is just me, but I feel like every time one of these stories surfaces, Desmond Howard is suspiciously very vocal about supporting the players and proclaiming them innocent until proven guilty at the same time he advocates players getting compensated for their likenesses. Of course, Mr. Howard would NEVER pick up a nickel off the street if it fell from a booster’s pocket at Michigan back in the day. However this devolved into a discussion of civil rights with Desmond Howard apparently fighting for the lower class, and letting us know that this is just another example of the underprivileged being taken advantage of by the wealthy. I half expected him to dive into a speech such as “I HAVE A DREAM… THAT ONE DAY… COLLEGE PLAYERS CAN BE PAID LARGE SUMS OF CASH… DELIVERED IN BRIEFCASES… BY COLLEGE RECRUITERS… AND SHADY AUTOGRAPH DEALERS… AND SEEDY BOOSTERS…” and so on. This discussion got very heated between the guys, and Desmond Howard got somewhat hammered on Twitter by a lot of users who accused him of vaguely getting race involved in this discussion. At the end of the segment, Desmond reminded us that he has no good solution to the problem, but wants you to know it is a problem. Fair enough.

We got a quick mention of Rutgers retiring Eric Legrand’s number at today’s game. If for some reason you don’t know Eric Legrand, just Google his name. His story is inspirational, and it was really cool to see it happen today.

There was a segment from Gene Wojciechowski about the mother of Thad Randall from Nebraska who apparently plays center for the Houston Energy women’s football team. Thad said he could take on his mom and wouldn’t cut her any slack. She also apparently had three toes amputated from some accident and continues to play. She seems tough.

Chris Fowler returned with the Hundred Dollar Bill Question, and this week was actually one the rest of the crew almost got right. Who was the last QB to beat Saban in back to back starts? Drew Brees at Purdue. The guys were all pretty close guessing Big 10 QBs from back in the day, but missed Brees. Also, Desmond said that this question should only be worth $50 since it was so late in the show.

I felt like today’s show lacked some of the pizzazz of other weeks. We didn’t get any Tom Rinaldi-Tim Tebow Memorial segments featuring heartbreaking and emotional stories related to football programs. Bald Man on Campus was pretty straight forward. We didn’t get to see EVERYONE’S FAVORITE SEGMENT OF THE DAY DAVID POLLACK USING THE INTERNET. And we only got about 25 seconds of Samantha Ponder today as she introduced a single segment. I wonder what that is about. Anyways, here was her outfit today. Jennifer said the top was great, and liked that her hair was back to being parted on the side. She didn’t like the skirt’s color or shape, so Mrs. Ponder please take note.

But now its time for the business you all came here for. Today’s guest celebrity picker was musician Lyle Lovett. Last year Lee Corso might have been the only one who gave Texas A&M a shot against Bama, and he picked them to win the game. Corso is off to an 0-2 start picking headgear games this year, and so is Billy the Cat. Billy the Cat went with Texas A&M (the clear bowl being A&M, the red bowl being Bama). Corso threw on the Alabama headgear (which meant no live animals this week to Herbie’s relief), and that means after today’s game Lee Corso leads Billy the Cat 1-0 in headgear picks for the year. Enjoy your evening and see you next week.