By virtue of college football kicking off on a Thursday night and going unopposed by the NFL all the way through to Labor Day, fans are getting the opportunity to get their fill of football games that exceed "bowl week" in December. Make sure your TV has Picture in Picture as a lot of the games conflict.
From a Purdue perspective, these are the games I'm most interested in watching (All times PST):
Thursday
5:30pm FoxSports1 - Michigan at Utah - The debut of Khaki-Pants TV. No coach has been hyped more than Harbaugh since Dikta. Utah is a pretty good Pac12 team. I think UM fans come back down to reality tonight.
6:00pm ESPN - TCU at Minnesota - An early opportunity to see how Minnesota is going to respond to some big player losses from last season and perhaps give the B10 some early buzz should they pull off a win.
10:00pm CBS Sports Network - Colorado at Hawai'i - No particular Purdue link here but Hawai'i usually is pretty entertaining to watch and do you really need another reason other than you can watch live college football after midnight?
Friday
4:00pm ESPNU - MSU at Western Michigan - An upcoming opponent (MSU) vs. Purdue's last season opening opponent (WMU) and the game is at Western Michigan. WMU reportedly had the best recruiting class ever in the MAC and a number of those players saw playing time last year. It will be interesting to see how they fare against a Top 5 ranked MSU team.
6:00pm BTN - KSU at Illinois - Coach Hazell's old team vs a conference and division foe to, to put it mildly, is in a state of flux. It wouldn't be good for the B10 for Illinois, aka The Fighting Dumpster-Fires, to lose but it would be entertaining.
Saturday
9:00am BTN - Illinois St. at Iowa - Iowa fans are restless and a poor showing against the Brock Spack led Illinois State team wouldn't help. Iowa's always had trouble with dual-threat QBs and former IU QB, Roberson is the epitome of a dual threat QB.
9:00am ESPN - Stanford at Northwestern - A big underdog, Northwestern should finally be healthy and free of the distractions that plagued them the past two years. Another opportunity for the B10 to make a good early showing and see the new NW quarterback who'll face Purdue later this season.
12:30pm ABC - BYU at Nebraska - Upcoming conference and division foe Nebraska gets to launch the Mike Riley era with a visit from a good BYU squad. Want to see how QB Armstrong fits into Riley's offense.
1:00pm ESPNews - Southern Illinois at IU. Two words: Go Saluki's!
1:00pm SEC Network - Bowling Green at Tennessee - Bowling Green should be good again on offense and looks to be bad again on Defense. Opportunity for the MAC to get a quality win against a SEC opponent (and apparently Purdue's 1st choice for coach before Hazell was hired).
5:00pm ABC - Wisconsin at Alabama - Another early test to see how the B10 can fare against a top team nationally. Paul Chryst's debut as Head Coach for Wisconsin with what should be a good defense but a shaky offensive line.
Sunday
12:00pm FoxSports1 - Purdue at Marshall. See Tale of the Tape
Monday
5:00pm ESPN- OSU at VaTech. Virginia Tech wasn't the usual VaTech last year even though they hung the only loss on OSU. While the outcome of this game probably has no correlation to Purdue's upcoming game with VaTech, it will be interesting to see some of their schemes and personnel.
By Tuesday, my eyes will need a vacation. I love it!
From a Purdue perspective, these are the games I'm most interested in watching (All times PST):
Thursday
5:30pm FoxSports1 - Michigan at Utah - The debut of Khaki-Pants TV. No coach has been hyped more than Harbaugh since Dikta. Utah is a pretty good Pac12 team. I think UM fans come back down to reality tonight.
6:00pm ESPN - TCU at Minnesota - An early opportunity to see how Minnesota is going to respond to some big player losses from last season and perhaps give the B10 some early buzz should they pull off a win.
10:00pm CBS Sports Network - Colorado at Hawai'i - No particular Purdue link here but Hawai'i usually is pretty entertaining to watch and do you really need another reason other than you can watch live college football after midnight?
Friday
4:00pm ESPNU - MSU at Western Michigan - An upcoming opponent (MSU) vs. Purdue's last season opening opponent (WMU) and the game is at Western Michigan. WMU reportedly had the best recruiting class ever in the MAC and a number of those players saw playing time last year. It will be interesting to see how they fare against a Top 5 ranked MSU team.
6:00pm BTN - KSU at Illinois - Coach Hazell's old team vs a conference and division foe to, to put it mildly, is in a state of flux. It wouldn't be good for the B10 for Illinois, aka The Fighting Dumpster-Fires, to lose but it would be entertaining.
Saturday
9:00am BTN - Illinois St. at Iowa - Iowa fans are restless and a poor showing against the Brock Spack led Illinois State team wouldn't help. Iowa's always had trouble with dual-threat QBs and former IU QB, Roberson is the epitome of a dual threat QB.
9:00am ESPN - Stanford at Northwestern - A big underdog, Northwestern should finally be healthy and free of the distractions that plagued them the past two years. Another opportunity for the B10 to make a good early showing and see the new NW quarterback who'll face Purdue later this season.
12:30pm ABC - BYU at Nebraska - Upcoming conference and division foe Nebraska gets to launch the Mike Riley era with a visit from a good BYU squad. Want to see how QB Armstrong fits into Riley's offense.
1:00pm ESPNews - Southern Illinois at IU. Two words: Go Saluki's!
1:00pm SEC Network - Bowling Green at Tennessee - Bowling Green should be good again on offense and looks to be bad again on Defense. Opportunity for the MAC to get a quality win against a SEC opponent (and apparently Purdue's 1st choice for coach before Hazell was hired).
5:00pm ABC - Wisconsin at Alabama - Another early test to see how the B10 can fare against a top team nationally. Paul Chryst's debut as Head Coach for Wisconsin with what should be a good defense but a shaky offensive line.
Sunday
12:00pm FoxSports1 - Purdue at Marshall. See Tale of the Tape
Monday
5:00pm ESPN- OSU at VaTech. Virginia Tech wasn't the usual VaTech last year even though they hung the only loss on OSU. While the outcome of this game probably has no correlation to Purdue's upcoming game with VaTech, it will be interesting to see some of their schemes and personnel.
By Tuesday, my eyes will need a vacation. I love it!
