tuscaloosa – Cole's Gameday Blog

Week 10 2015: College Gameday review! #cfb #BamavsLSU

Posted on November 7, 2015 by gamedaycole

Welcome back football fans to our way-too-late edition of the week 10 College Gameday review. Today’s edition of College Gameday was comin’ to your citaaay live from Tuscaloosa, Alabama for the matchup between #2 LSU and #4 Alabama. Given the fact that this was the third Alabama game of the year featuring Alabama, I feel that the show may be better titled Alabama Gameday presented by ESPN. The crowd was pretty small this morning at Gameday, which can be attributed to the rain, or more likely the fact that Alabama fans don’t care to show up anymore when they get Gameday once a month.

Since we are already in the middle of bagging on this morning’s crowd in Tuscaloosa, let’s go ahead and get signs over with. The signs this morning were probably the weakest of the season so far. We had a lot of corn dog discussion, a “We want Memphis!” sign, and “Les Miles likes being the little spoon”. Since the signs from this morning sucked, I am going to rule no winner this week and instead feature the following:

Speaking of Comin’ to your Citaaaay, I still get a lot of traffic from people wondering who the woman is in the latest edition of the College Gameday intro. For those who need to know, she is Lzzy Hale from the band Halestorm.

An odd discussion broke out early in today’s show when Kirk Herbstreit informed us that Chris Fallica is a savant when it comes to 1980s professional wrestling talent. Fallica admitted this is “one of many” problems he has. Now, I’m not going to sit here and pretend that in 8th grade my plan for life wasn’t to become a professional wrestler, but there was probably a little more discussion of 1980s WWF talent than one would hope for on College Gameday.

Alright now that I’ve bagged on this morning’s show a little bit, let’s turn this review around. The show got back on track this morning with the WEEK 10 SAMANTHA PONDER OUTFIT OF THE WEEK REVIEW BY @GAMEDAYJEN!!!! Jennifer was a big fan of the look today, stating “I really liked the sweater and the rain boots, and I also liked her hair today!” Follow @GamedayJen for all of your college football fashion-related news and opinions.

Sam Ponder had her usual Cheeze-It Real Fan of the Week segment mid-show today, and it was one of the more bizarre Cheeze-It related segments in recent memory. Sam was interviewing some girl who won this week’s contest, and spent about two full minutes interviewing this girl as she proceeded to explain how she painted the letter A on her own face. I haven’t ever painted an A on my face, but I can’t imagine there is THAT much to it.

George Whitfield joined Rece Davis for this week’s casual walking segment while they break down quarterback play in college football. They put on rain boots because the ground was a big mess of mud and puddles, and the highlight of this segment was George Whitfield making a joke referencing Gameday producer Lee Fitting by saying the boots were “Air Fittings”. He was pretty impressed with his joke, as I am sure you are too.

Now let’s stop down because it is time for VIDEOS!!!!

-The story of Clemson Co-Offensive Coordinator Tony Elliott can be found HERE. It details the story of how he lost his mother in a tragic car accident at age 9, went on to become a standout football player, earned a scholarship to Clemson, and in 2002 reunited with Dabo Swinney to join the Clemson staff. I give this segment an A.
-Sam Ponder and David Pollack were back for another zany week of #YouHadOneJob. This has gone from a highlight reel of epic fails to a highlight video of the week’s funny happenings, but I still support it and so should you. SUPPORT IT HERE!!!
-The story of the day was without a doubt Tom Rinaldi’s piece on Sid Ortis. Sid was a youngster who grew up in Alabama as a die-hard LSU fan. Rinaldi has been up and down this year with his emotionally targeted stories, but this one is an A+++. Words can’t really do it justice, so just go WATCH IT HERE!!! Les Miles is featured in it heavily and he is a true orator for the ages. Once upon a time around 2007, a youthful, angry, and possibly inebriated Gameday Cole was the biggest detractor of Les Miles you could find. I didn’t like how he handled all of the Michigan head coaching opening speculation among other things, but this man has grown on me in a big way over the last few years.

As we neared the end of the show, we found out the day’s guest celebrity picker was going to be none other than rap music mogul Rick Ross. They had teased this yesterday as “going to be huge with the kids” and “like no other picker before”. But before we get to the Corso and Ross’ antics, let’s stop down for some Nana Puddin’.

Ok that was yummy. Back to Gameday. When it came time for Rick Ross to disembark the Gameday bus, there is a slight chance that the cameraman was just told that Rick Ross was a big black guy, because the focus was stuck on Rick Ross’ bodyguard for an unusual amount of time before Ross debuted.

“Rick Ross joins us for picks” -Rece Davis

Rick Ross? Close enough I guess... — Rick Ross? Close enough I guess…

Upon joining the Gameday desk, Rick Ross was presented with a gift of pears by Lee Corso as a reference to the following:

If you told me Lee Corso, wearing a fake beard/sunglasses/gold jewelry, would be gifting pears to Rick Ross because of a popular Vine post this year on Gameday, I am not sure I would have believed you before today.

Shoutout to all my pears. pic.twitter.com/mQ7NIRgb46

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) November 7, 2015

When it came time to get down to the business of picking games, Rick Ross had some fantastic input on the games of the day. He was dropping QB names right and left, but also let us know that he picked TCU because “Boykin is bossin’ up” (whatever that means, since I’m white), and that he really liked Memphis in today’s game because he owns a few of Wingstops in Memphis (and I like wings). As the final pick approached, we can review the Bama/LSU picks so far. David Pollack and Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica both picked Alabama. Desmond and Kirk both went with LSU in today’s game, and to nobody’s surprise Rick Ross took Alabama. As we all know, Corso is in love with the Alabama headgear. It is surely amongst his favorites, which include the Oregon Duck, Notre Dame Leprechaun, and the FSU headdress. He got the crowd riled up with Sweet Home Alabama, before issuing a ROLL TIGERS and popping on the Bayeux Bengals headgear, which had been modified with a Leonard Fournette beard and Leonard Fournette mouthgear. A really fun end to a show which got off to a rough start this morning. Enjoy your day and have a happy football!

Corso goes for the Tigers, Leonard Fournette beard and braces included, in the @ChevyTrucks #SaturdaySelections. pic.twitter.com/JIkpYg6CCG

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) November 7, 2015

Week 3 2015: College Gameday review! #cfb

Posted on September 19, 2015 by gamedaycole

After a hiatus last week due to some extracurricular activities last Saturday, the Officially Unofficial College Gameday Review is back for week 3! Today’s College Gameday was broadcasting to your television live in color from Tuscaloosa, Alabama for the big matchup between Alabama and Ole Miss.

Let’s dive right into this week’s sign game. The SEC has historically been a strong conference for Gameday signage, and today was no letdown. Highlights this week include “WE WANT JACKSONVILLE STATE”, “Chad Kelly shaves his arms”, and “Make sure you’re on the potty before you go hotty toddy”. My favorites this week were the following:

FullSizeRender (1) — This guy has it going on

The Sam Ponder outfit of the week was a unique one for sure. She said she was already reconsidering her choice about fifteen minutes into the show today because a fan yelled out “NICE SCRUBS SAM!” Jennifer said its a good color on her, but not her favorite.

George Whitfield was back this week to break down some QBs for us. The only takeaways I had from this were his dedication to wearing tiny rosettes on his suits, and not understanding why every one of these segments is now done while walking the Gameday site. I guess they just want you to know how casual they are during this segment. NOTICE THE CASUALNESS!

Kirk, David and Desmond in particular engaged in a somewhat controversial discussion about Florida head coach Jim McElwain’s sideline behavior last week with Kelvin Taylor. While all agreed that it was excessive, David was the the reasonable voice saying that he was yelled at plenty during his career and didn’t think it was deserving of suspension or discipline. Desmond Howard was highly criticized on the internets for seemingly trying to work up a situation where both himself and ESPN can take a strong moral stand against this type of behavior. I may have not played a down of football past the 8th grade, but I find it hard to believe that Desmond never took a tongue lashing from a coach. While most of the heat was targeted at Desmond in particular, I have a bone to pick with Kirk Herbstreit over his comments on the topic. During his own lecture, he said that coaches like Bear Bryant, Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes would never have gone as far as Jim McElwain did last week. I’m no expert on Woody Hayes (or any other subject for that matter), but I would think if you are trying to contrast Jim McElwain with a legendary level-headed coach, you might not choose one that ended his own career by punching a student athlete during a game.

.There was a segment highlighting the quick rise of BYU quarterback Tanner Mangum. This is a 22 year old true freshman who was the MVP of the Elite 11 QB camp (over one Jameis Winston), but went on his Mormon Mission spending two years away from his family, friends, and game of football before returning to pull out two miracles this year at the end of games. Will he make it three in a row? We certainly hope so.

Tom Rinaldi did a Tom Rinaldi piece on former Nebraska running back and current Kern Valley State Prison inmate Lawrence Phillips. I know Rinaldi loves putting together stories to touch your heart, whether it is a tragic fall from grace or a story of overcoming adversity. I felt this one fell a little flat, considering it was pretty much the story of a truly great athlete who had a hobbies including domestic violence, assault, vandalism, and most recently being charged with murder while incarcerated. Normally Rinaldi’s stories of falls from grace have a redeeming quality at the end, but I wasn’t feeling it for this one. Sorry Tom.

On the other hand, we had a more inspiring story of Laquon Treadwell’s return after disaster last season. You may remember him as the Ole Miss wide receiver who seemingly scored the winning touchdown in a showdown between #3 Ole Miss and #4 Auburn last season. Upon further review, it couldn’t have been farther from the truth. It was ruled he fumbled at the 1-yard-line while being taken down into the endzone, while simultaneously dislocating his ankle and breaking his leg, which also brought an end to a magical Ole Miss undefeated season. He is back after a tough rehab regimen. Check out the full piece here.

Our new favorite segment on Gameday is called #YOUHADONEJOB and it features Sam Ponder and David Pollack playing the most ridiculous clips from the football week along with said hashtag. Really funny stuff, so just watch the video here.

Nick Saban visited the set for an interview at the Gameday desk. He talked about generic coaching things in vague terms, so the highlight was his response to which coach he would want to team up with during a tag team brawl. He said Urban Meyer due to his success in coaching, but Kirk said Charlie Strong would be his leading contender. Anyways…

When it came time to get down to business and start picking some games, this week’s “Bear’s Bank” picks were Purdue+6.5, UCLA-16.5 and Ole Miss+7. Go call your bookie and then come back to finish this. This week’s special celebrity guest picker was country music bro Eric Church. While I have no knowledge of his music or talent, he was one of the most well-informed guest pickers we’ve ever seen on Gameday. He was dropping so much knowledge on the Gameday boys that Corso eventually had to quit explaining his picks and just give us the winner. As they went into a no-huddle-offense to finish on time, Herbie broke down the game since he is calling it and can’t pick the game, while Desmond and Eric both took Alabama. Corso asked if he could borrow Church’s acoustic guitar, which Church handed over, and he started “playing” Sweet Home Alabama before donning the Alabama headgear once again. Charley the Cat took Ole Miss in an upset, so this is quite a showdown we will see between Coach Corso and our cat tonight. Enjoy your day folks.

Week 12 2014: College Gameday review! #cfb #saturdayselections #bamavsmissst

Posted on November 15, 2014 by gamedaycole

The afternoon games are in full swing, so its time to do this thing. Your week 12 College Gameday review has arrived. Today’s show was broadcasting live from Tuscaloosa, Alabama for the huge matchup between the undefeated Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide.

As of the show start time, I believe it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 26 degrees in Tuscaloosa, but that didn’t stop one brave fan from proving his toughness/insanity by showing up at least shirtless, while holding the “I’M NAKED” sign. We never saw his lower body, but this reporter will speculate that he surely had at least a pair of tidy-whities on.

Other notable signs included “Jameis Winston’s Lawyer for Heisman” and “Auburn fumbled my other sign”, but this week’s undisputed winner was the following:

While we are talking about the above screenshot, everyone will be excited to know that Herbie was back with the “KIRK HERBSTREIT LAPEL ROSETTE OF THE WEEK”. There is still a lot of speculation going on about this, and while I am sure it is nothing more than an extra little bit of flair for his suit, I assure you our crack investigation team will get to the bottom of this.

The audience at our house was incredibly excited (or not) to see the return of one Babi Mac, who was wowing the crowd in Tuscaloosa with tunes. I still don’t get how she got added to this cast of characters on Gameday, and I find it strange.

There was a duo of touching segments today featuring emotional stories from Tom Rinaldi and Gene W. The first was the tragic story of former Auburn tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen who had his life cut short at the age of 23. Philip holds the record at Auburn for the most touchdowns by a tight end, was described as an incredibly funny guy, and won the 2010 national championship before his career was ended two years later by a hip injury. Philip’s dad then took over telling the story of how he got a phone call from the police one night telling him that his son was killed in a car wreck. After further investigation, it was found that Philip and his passenger were both legally intoxicated and not wearing seat belts. Philip’s father now tours the country speaking about his son, stressing the importance of making good decisions in life as well as the point that life is a privilege; not a right. Check out the full video here: http://t.co/wykbONfGbd

The second touching story was that of Mississippi State running back Josh Robinson. Josh grew up in Bogalusa, Louisiana, and was raised by his grandmother after his father disappeared from his life and his mother was in prison. Sadly, his grandmother died of a heart attack getting ready for church one morning in 2004, leaving Robinson without his caretaker. He bounced around between relatives’ and friends’ households before eventually living out of his car behind his high school football stadium. He said it seemed easy to fall into trouble in life, but he didn’t want to be a bad kid. After being offered a scholarship by Dan Mullen, he has now become a part of the Mississippi State family, and is incredibly close with the Mullen family. He now leads the SEC in rushing touchdowns. The full video can be found here: http://goo.gl/cVaJ7e

Sam Ponder made an appearance this week to interview Nick Saban. The highlight of this was video of Nick Saban dancing with his wife at an event. It is quite surreal to see him in such a human setting. Dancing was brought up because they previously aired a segment about coaches dancing in the locker room. I would describe it in detail here, but it just can’t be properly explained with words. I urge you to watch the video which can be found here: http://goo.gl/VGRYR2

Sam Ponder’s outfit of the week can be found below. Jennifer fell in love with the boots and vest. Around our house, this is not winter or the holiday season. It is “Samantha Ponder Winter Wear” season.

Quarterback guru George Whitfield was back this week, and continues to improve on his style (no doubt thanks to this blog). This week he was wearing a reasonably matching suit and tie, as well as “those damn brown shoes” as we call them around here. The main improvement this week was a slightly bigger jacket which allowed him increased range of movement when goofing off with Tom Rinaldi and Gene W. for a segment.

When it came time for this week’s big pick segment, our special guest picker was noted Sam Houston State alumnus Marcus Luttrell. I think he also wrote a book called “Lone Survivor” and it got turned in to a movie too. David Pollack started off the Gameday site picks by going with Alabama over the Bulldogs. During the finale, Luttrell played to the crowd by picking Alabama as well. Kirk and Desmond both went with the Tide as well. Corso took over at this point, reminding us that he lost his last two Alabama headgear picks. It seemed like he was going to pull the trigger and go with Mississippi State, but he faked us out and went with Alabama to win the big game. Charley the cat picked Alabama as well, so it is 100% unanimous from the panel that Alabama will be victorious. Enjoy the rest of your football evening.