College Football Week 6 TV Schedule
Friday, Oct. 7
9:00 PM
Boise State (5) at Fresno State
ESPN
Boise State is on National Television to showcase why they are a top five team.
Saturday, Oct. 8
12:00 PM
Oklahoma (3) vs. Texas (11)
ABC
The Red River Rivalry from the Cotton Bowl. It’s one of the greatest scenes is College.
Maryland at Georgia Tech (13)
ESPN-U
Georgia Tech is the surprise team in the ACC this year. Maryland has horrible Unis.
Connecticut at West Virginia (16)
ESPN-3.com
WVU opens their Big East Conference play this week against UCONN.
Louisville at North Carolina
ESPN-2
UNC was knocked from their ranking from their loss two weeks ago.
Minnesota at Purdue
ESPN
Two Big Ten teams that are pretty bad. Purdue is the lesser of two evils.
12:21 PM
Kentucky at South Carolina (18)
ESPN-3.com
South Carolina’s Marcus Lattimore should have a huge rebound game against Kentucky.
12:30 PM
Florida State (23) at Wake Forest
ESPN-3.com
Florida State has been on a free fall. Look for them to right the ship this week.
1:00 PM
Army at Miami (OH)
ESPN-3.com
Army 120th in passing 2nd in rushing. How does that happen?
2:00 PM
Bowling Green at Western Michigan
ESPN-3.com
Bowling Green and Western Michigan two 3-2 teams.
2:30 PM
Illinois (19) at Indiana
Big Ten Network
Indiana four losses by seven or less points.
3:30 PM
Florida (17) at LSU (1)
CBS
The SEC game of the week has Florida missing their starting QB.
Missouri at Kansas State (20)
ABC
Kansas State the surprise team of the Big 12 this year.
Air Force at Notre Dame
NBC
Notre Dame is on quite the winning streak winning three straight games.
Central Michigan at North Carolina St
ESPN-3.com
NCST has to be like a jealous lover seeing their former QB Russell Wilson dominating as the Wisconsin QB.
Pittsburgh at Rutgers
ESPN-U
Pittsburgh Ray Graham went into “Beast Mode” last week against USF rushing for 230 yards.
Iowa at Penn State
ABC
Penn State is 4-1 this year but is un-ranked. Will the be the first ever 8-2 un-ranked team?
Ohio at Buffalo
ESPN-3.com
Ohio 4-1 vs. Buffalo 1-4 need a team to cover this week? Take Ohio.
4:05 PM
UNLV at Nevada
ESPN-3.com
It’s the battle of NEVADA!
7:00 PM
Vanderbilt at Alabama (2)
ESPN-U
Alabama is ranked 2 in the AP Poll and 3 in the USA Today Poll. Who knows where they’ll be when the BCS Poll is released?
Auburn (15) at Arkansas (10)
ESPN
Auburn is on the high part of the wave, as this week they went from un-ranked to number 15.
Michigan (12) at Northwestern
Big Ten Network
Another week, another game for Michigan where they will score 45 or more.
Texas A&M (24) at Texas Tech
FX
No lead is safe when Texas A&M is playing.
Troy at Louisiana-Lafayette
ESPN-3.com
The battle of the Sun Belt!
Georgia at Tennessee
ESPN-2
Two SEC East teams jockeying for position in their division. This is a big game in terms of Bowl Game position.
7:30 PM
Colorado at Stanford (7)
Versus
Stanford welcomes Colorado to the Pac 12 this week.
Florida Atlantic at North Texas
ESPN-3.com
You have to be a fan or alumni of these schools to be watching this game.
8:00 PM
Ohio State at Nebraska (14)
ABC
Nebraska has their home opening game in the Big Ten this week.
Wyoming at Utah State
ESPN-3.com
Utah State is coming in this game after a heart breaking loss to BYU last week.
10:15 PM
San Jose State at BYU
ESPN-U
BYU is coming into this game after a heart stopping win against Utah State last week.
With 'deadline' looming, NBA players union must take action
Sam Amick si.com
You would think that these guys would realize that people really don't care right now and if they would strike then the NBA might as well pack it up and head over seas cause it would be dead here! Remember hockey anyone?
It's time for a vote.
Enough with the back-and-forth, the posturing and politicking. Enough with the subjective views coming from every corner of the NBA players' universe. Enough with the idea that the players can't think for themselves.
Come Monday night, National Basketball Players' Association leaders Billy Hunter and Derek Fisher need to take the best offer put forth by the owners and put it to their people. Anything less is a disservice to their constituents and the fans who deserve better.
With Monday so clearly defined as the day by which a deal must be agreed on for the entire season to be saved, the time has come for union officials to let all of the players be heard. Not just defiant Dwyane Wade or collective bargaining "expert" LeBron James or the people's champ Kevin Garnett. And not just the role players, who do such yeoman's work representing their peers, from Fisher to NBPA vice presidents Maurice Evans, Roger Mason and the like.
There should be a democratic element to this process, and the election shouldn't be delayed because they might fear the results. Especially when so much is about to be sacrificed.
A shortened schedule in any form just isn't good enough, not with what we know now about how such seasons go (see 1998-99). The quality of play suffers. The storylines are forever tainted by the way in which it all began, with game recaps every day sure to include the line about how "the (insert team name here) were playing their third game in three nights as a result of the shortened season."
Spare us the asterisk. Or try to, anyway.
After months of competing agendas, mounting pressure on Hunter and an utter lack of clarity on where the players as a whole truly stand, a vote would offer something real and tangible. I can practically see Hunter and Fisher shaking their respective heads as they read this, but even they couldn't convince me that players don't have the right to decide if they want to work again when their shift is just about to start.
If the vote passes, then the players and agents who disagree with the decision will be forced to accept this new reality that would be, in part, a sign of these troubled economic times. Whether that's the 50-50 split of basketball-related income that was informally offered by commissioner David Stern on Tuesday or something altogether different, it should be on the ballot.
If the vote fails? The union -- depending on the nature of the final proposal -- might have the leverage it has so long been looking for. Nothing says "not good enough" like good, old-fashioned rejection. In the absence of a real pulse on the players, we'll be left with the same inefficient system that is making this process so maddening on the players' side.
Whether it's the so-called super agents who have threatened decertification and sent letters of demand or superstar players storming in on negotiations at the 11th hour, there are far too many minority groups claiming the right to speak for the majority. That angle is only there for them to play, of course, because of the mystery that remains about where the masses fall.
But the daily discussions I've had with agents and players on this matter tell a different tale. While the sample size is equally insufficient, there are plenty of signs that a large portion of players just want to play and would be willing to do so with either a 50-50 split or something very close to it. And this is where the job of Hunter and his cadre gets so complicated.
They are charged with the task of protecting the players' interests, in this case acting as the real CBA experts who take both the big picture and immediate future of their constituents into consideration. But the average player's career lasts less than five seasons, meaning the men who don't have eight-figure salaries like James, Wade and Garnett won't necessarily be as willing to take one -- in this case part or all of a season -- for this team. The stars have had their say and imposed their sway, but that doesn't mean the rest of their lesser-known colleagues should be muted.
Two sources who have been briefed on the situation said that while no meetings are scheduled, the two sides are likely to resume talks in some form on Sunday and Monday and make one last push to get a deal done before the deadline. It remains to be seen whether Stern's 50-50 offer is still there for the taking, or whether the players who earned 57 percent of BRI in the old deal are prepared to ignore the advice of the aforementioned agents by going below the 52 percent mark.
But give the agents one thing, if nothing else: Their well-publicized letter included the demand for a full vote, as only 184 players voted the last time there was a lockout and they don't want to see that happen again.
It's time for pass or fail -- end of the lockout or possible leverage for the players. It's only fair.
For Tiger, putter holding him back
espn.com
Let's just face it. Tiger is done!!!!!
SAN MARTIN, Calif. -- As Tiger Woods continues to piece back together his game, so much of the focus is on his golf swing. And understandably so.
The guy who set records at all the major championships, who won tournaments and prize money in record numbers, who hit laser tee shots and towering irons into greens, made his name by doing things to a golf ball that few, if any, have ever done.
But along the way, Woods was always a clutch putter, making an inordinate amount of medium-length putts that were far from gimmes while seemingly always holing the ones he positively had to make.
No longer.
It is no secret that the magic on the greens is missing and has been for some time.
That was evident again Thursday during the first round of the Frys.com Open at CordeValle Golf Club, where Woods walked off most of the slow, rain-soaked greens frustrated and shot a 2-over 73 that left him six strokes back of leaders Briny Baird and Brendan Steele.
It was a disappointing return to competitive golf for Woods, 35, whose year has been derailed by injuries and inactivity and who is going on two years without a victory.
"That's probably one of the worst putting rounds I've ever had,'' he said. "I can't putt the ball any worse than I did today.''
When was the last big putt Woods made?
The one on the 72nd hole of the 2008 U.S. Open comes to mind. And the 72nd hole of the 2009 Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he won his first tournament since major knee surgery. He made a pretty big eagle putt earlier this year on the eighth hole at Augusta National during the final round of the Masters, one that helped him tie for the lead.
But Woods would be the first to point out that it was some big misses on the back nine that day that cost him a shot at his 15th major title. And it's been this way for a while, going back to the scandal that derailed his career in November 2009, one from which his game has yet to recover.
"I haven't practiced [putting] as much as I have in the past,'' Woods admitted. "I've been working on my full game. The hardest part today was I just didn't have the speed. I hadn't putted on greens this speed and I played over at the Institute [a nearby course associated with the tournament] the other day, and they were really quick.
"We played [here] yesterday, and they were probably a little bit faster than they were today. The rain this morning and then the rain we had while we were playing just kept slowing them up.''
No doubt, Woods prefers fast greens. It's one of the reasons he limited his early-season West Coast schedule as he moved into his career, finding that he preferred to hone his putting stroke on quicker greens to be better prepared for Augusta National.
But if his putting problems were difficult to pinpoint, it was clear something was amiss when Woods last year switched putters for the first time in more than 11 years. He had used the same Scotty Cameron model Titleist putter to win 13 of his 14 major championships and more than $60 million.
Then Woods showed up at St. Andrews last year with a Nike Method putter in his bag -- and went on to go back and forth for much of the remainder of the season. This year, when healthy, he's pretty much stayed with the Method, but the results have nonetheless been maddening.
This is just his 11th tournament of the year overall, his first since the PGA Championship in August. Undoubtedly there is some competitive rust, but these putting problems are not new. Woods admits he doesn't put in the work like in the past -- whether it's the long-game struggles, injury issues or simply indifference.
At tournament sites, Woods does not appear to put in much extra time on the greens. His sessions before a tournament round appear to be more of a warm-up than a practice putting session. He rarely sticks around to putt afterward.
It probably didn't help his disposition any that Woods was playing alongside amateur Patrick Cantlay, a 19-year-old sophomore at UCLA who had an excellent summer and beat Woods by four shots Thursday.
Cantlay was the low amateur at the U.S. Open and didn't finish worse than 25th in any of his four previous PGA Tour starts. He shot 60 at the Travelers Championship and generally has folks wondering why he isn't playing for pay.
"He hits the ball reasonably long, very steady, and as we've seen this entire summer, the kid can putt,'' Woods said. "You don't shoot 60 without putting well.''
Putting statistics are always difficult to judge. Woods had just 27 putts Thursday, but the number is skewed because he hit only nine greens in regulation. He lamented several of the birdie chances he made, in addition to lipping out a short par putt on the third hole.
A better gauge perhaps is the new tour statistic that measures a player's putts gained versus the rest of the field. From 2005 to 2009, Woods ranked ninth, 22nd, third, third and second in that category. Last year he was 109th, and this year in limited starts, just 60th.
On Thursday, he ranked 101st out of the 132-man field.
Woods was not perfect in other parts of his game but hit the ball well enough to break par. It's the type of thing he used to do routinely, turning the 73 he shot into a 69 or 70.
But when the putts don't go in, you find yourself well behind a bunch of journeyman golfers in a Fall Series event with just nine of the top 100 players in the world and having to worry about making the cut.
"The rest of my game was not too bad,'' said Woods, who is T-86 after Round 1. "I hit some bad shots, yes. But I also hit some really good ones. And very pleased at the shots I was hitting most of the day.
"But I got nothing out of the round on the greens. And whatever momentum I could have gotten by hitting good shots ... I just missed putts.''
The sun was going down at CordeValle and Woods was headed to the practice putting green for some much-needed work with the flatstick. A Friday early-morning tee time beckons, as does, it appears, more work for Woods to get his game sorted out.
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