"The Stack" 9-1-17
The Stack is back on this Friday and starting next week we’ll be doing the normal Football Friday preview of the upcoming week’s NFL games. Today though, thanks to college football starting, we’re taking a look at the college football weekend forecast. There were almost some stormy conditions in Bloomington, Indiana, last night, but the Ohio State Buckeyes were able to take control in the third quarter and beat the Indiana Hoosiers 49-21. Things weren’t so great in Atlanta though where Georgia State was upset by Tennessee State 17-10. UConn also nearly got upset by Holy Cross, but beat them 27-20. Otherwise it was a fairly uneventful Thursday night. P.J. Fleck got his first win with Minnesota Golden Gophers with a 17-7 win over the Buffalo Bulls, but they weren’t all that impressive. Now let’s get to the rest of the college football weekend forecast and see what else is in “the stack” for today, Friday, September 1st:
College football weekend forecast
This may be the best opening week of college football we have ever seen. IT seems hyperbole considering we were how great last year looked with LSU against Wisconsin, USC against Alabama and Ole Miss against Florida State. This year may top it if nothing more than because of the big game Saturday night between #3 Florida State and #1 Alabama at 8 PM ET on ABC. A lot of people have one if not both of these teams in the College Football Playoff. That seems pretty accurate, but the loser is going to find themselves in a bit of a hole at 0-1 and almost in must win territory the rest of the way through.
#11 Michigan against #17 Florida (3:30 PM ET ABC) is going to be a good game and it would be even better if Florida didn’t have ten guys suspended. What in the heck is going on? There are definitely a few teams that should be on upset alert this weekend including Ole Miss against South Alabama, but I am looking at #15 Georgia and Iowa in particular. Georgia hosts Appalachian State. Appalachian State was so close to beating Tennessee last year before ultimately falling short. Not saying they will win, but they have beat Michigan before. Georgia better watch out. Iowa also better watch out against Josh Allen and the Wyoming Cowboys. I may just say it right now that I think Wyoming will beat Iowa. I’ll probably be wrong.
Sunday there are just two games and that is definitely a missed opportunity for college football since they don’t have to worry about the NFL on the opening weekend. The two games that are on though should be good. Texas A&M takes on Josh Rosen and UCLA at 7:30 PM ET on FOX and #22 West Virginia takes on #21 Virginia Tech (7:30 PM ET ABC) at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland. I of course will be very tuned into the Virginia Tech game. I think UCLA will beat A&M and I think Va Tech will just be too much for West Virginia. Monday night it’s the up-and-down Tennessee Volunteers against Georgia Tech. It should be a great weekend of college football. College football is back everyone. Get excited!
Angels make two big trades
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County (we know, we know!) have been a pleasant surprise this year and they are bolstering their chances of making the playoffs with a couple of big trades on Thursday. They first acquired Detroit Tigers slugger Justin Upton for minor league pitcher Grayson Long and either another player or cash. They weren’t done there though. They also are acquiring shortstop Brandon Phillips from the Atlanta Braves for minor league catcher Tony Sanchez. These are big moves by the Angels as both Upton and Phillips will be good at the plate. They can help in the field as well. The Angels are still on the outside looking in at the playoffs, but these moves have been made specifically to get them into the playoffs this season. They may also be moves to try and appease Mike Trout. Just saying.
Texans, Astros return to Houston
The Houston Texans’ preseason game Thursday night with the Dallas Cowboys was cancelled a couple of days ago and the Texans finally arrived home late Wednesday. J.J. Watt and his campaign has raised over $10 million dollars to help out victims of Hurricane Harvey. If you can, donate a few bucks. The dollars are already hard at work getting trucks full of supplies down to the people who need it most. Watt is a good guy and will not let any donation go to waste.
After playing a “home” series in Tampa Bay against the Texas Rangers, the Houston Astros return home to face the New York Mets. There will be a doubleheader on Saturday and the Astros say they are willing to run through a wall for the city. That should hopefully be an electric scene. Good luck to both teams as the Texans kick off their season next week against the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Astros finish their season (hopefully strong) and make a deep postseason run.
Finally before we go, the Los Angeles Lakers were fined five hundred thousand dollars ($500K) for “tampering” regarding Paul George. That is barely a slap on the wrist. And the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics finally finalized the trade that sends Kyrie Irving to Boston and Isaiah Thomas to Cleveland. All it took was the Boston Celtics providing an additional second round pick in 2020.
Coming up Tuesday: Reaction to big stories from week one of college football and more.
Listen to this week’s “The Sports Block” podcast here.
