tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7379708413001221282024-02-20T08:29:06.201-05:00the freshman 15Your weekly 15lbs of college footballJason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-53260383899774254262011-11-25T22:21:00.000-05:002011-11-25T22:21:30.201-05:00We AreWe are Penn State.
More than a mere rallying cry, this mantra reflects a near universal truth in college athletics: fans and alumni are more intertwined with the team here than in any other sport. This is mostly due to the fact that we have given tens of thousands of dollars to a particular school and rightly can claim at least a slice of ownership. I lived out the four most influential years ofJason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-57522046999435300382011-10-01T07:20:00.000-04:002011-10-01T07:20:15.495-04:00Week 5: One Sentence PicksNo time for a full post this week, so we'll go with one sentence selections instead. And for the preview sentence...
I'm convinced the lack of media coverage caused by living in Australia has actually increased my accuracy; I'm having my best year yet.
1. Nebraska at Wisconsin
Big Red gets rudely welcomed to the Big Ten.
Wisconsin 38, Nebraska 24
2. Alabama at Florida
Gators much better than Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-55368016635541699732011-09-22T09:10:00.000-04:002011-09-22T09:10:02.877-04:00Week 4: A Must ReadWow. It's difficult to keep up with everything going on in college sports right now, especially if you're in Australia. If it's not scandals or impending scandals, it's conference realignment or realignment speculation. I'm not sure about you, but my head is spinning.
But we need to stop the madness for a second and look beyond the chaos to a glaring underlying problem: the tremendous greed Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-18117540540772789552011-09-17T11:29:00.000-04:002011-09-17T11:29:30.725-04:00Week 3: I Have An Idea...A look at this week's list of games reveals one of the ugly truths of early season college football: there are way too many games involving Division 1-AA teams. There are some juicy matchups out there, but they're like finding Rolex watches in a scrap heap. Most of what we see are top programs taking a week off, or suffering the embarrassment of being felled by a dull knife.
The reason this Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-7251906535497256102011-09-11T10:20:00.000-04:002011-09-11T10:20:41.023-04:00I Remember Where I WasThe day dawned clear and bright, one of the most beautiful of the year. Fall was sending hints of its impending presence and the humidity marking August was nowhere to be found. I woke early, joining a small group of friends for prayer in the Student Union. Afterward my future wife and I sat quietly in a study lounge reading the Bible. Such a peaceful start to what would be anything but a Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-9576036284826498772011-09-08T09:51:00.000-04:002011-09-08T09:51:36.114-04:00What Did We Learn Last Week?The short answer to that question is: absolutely nothing. One game does not a season make, and we have a loooong way to go in this dance party. Overreaction is at an all-time high after week one, and we shouldn't take anything being said about any team's seriously. Wait for the end of the month before you make a fair assessment. That's a bit of good news for Oregon fans and a downer for those of Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-73638835055987240522011-09-03T11:03:00.000-04:002011-09-03T11:03:30.625-04:00Fifteen Fearless Forecasts for the 2011 SeasonWe're on the verge of springtime in Australia, which in this upside-down world means that college football season is upon us. It also means that I'm trying to stay awake until College Gameday begins at midnight, and my Nittany Lions kick off at 2am. Writing this might provide an extra 2 hours of energy to help me make it through.
I just read my last post, a bowl season preview from December, in Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-42818072688468046192010-12-18T00:50:00.001-05:002010-12-18T00:51:42.658-05:00Bowl "Week": A Long Countdown to a TitleYou're not going to believe this, but I took two nights to write an epically long, 35-pick bowl preview extravaganza. Then 3 minutes ago when I pushed the "publish post" button, it disappeared. Gone, apparently, for all eternity. A stream of bits and bytes floating somewhere in the ionosphere, never to be commingled again. Tragic.
So instead of the multi-thousand word epic, all you get is this Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-23610350379953492092010-12-01T23:45:00.001-05:002010-12-01T23:45:46.042-05:00Week 14: End of the LineWell, here we are. Championship Saturday. Everything that's happened this season has culminated in this - by Saturday evening we'll be down to 2 teams who'll play for all the marbles, and a few left reaching for an unmet goal.
Speaking strictly as a fan, I'd LOVE to see either Oregon or Auburn fall, opening the door for TCU to glide into an unexpected championship game appearance (except Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-35295383573273028462010-11-24T23:36:00.002-05:002010-11-24T23:37:36.750-05:00Week 13: The Most Wonderful Time of the YearNo, I'm not talking about Christmas season. Certainly the celebration of the birth of the Messiah is the most wonderful time of year, but I'm speaking in the college football context. And in this realm, rivalry week is the very best it gets. It's only fitting that most major rivalries are played around Thanksgiving - I, for one, am thankful for these titanic, traditional grudgematches.
Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-15748515677385254302010-11-17T23:40:00.000-05:002010-11-17T23:40:15.161-05:00Week 12: A Dud FireworkThe college football season could easily be likened to a fireworks display: lots of loud noises, sparkling sights, unexpected surprises that draw 'oohs' and 'aahs', and a rousing finale that often leaves you breathless and rattled. But like many fireworks displays, there can be a few duds that make it off the launch pad. You know the ones. You hear the cannon shot pump the rocket into the air, Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-91600481659557199022010-11-11T00:27:00.000-05:002010-11-11T00:27:55.942-05:00Week 11: Rise of the ExcludedsI can't figure out a good way to refer to the schools who play in the conferences without automatic BCS qualification. The common reference is "non-AQ's", but that sounds bulky and weird, like you're referring to an outdated Army acronym. I've defaulted to "Non-BCS", but that's not even accurate. These teams can make the BCS, they're just given an intricate obstacle course to navigate first. Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-73781995315933605862010-11-05T00:08:00.000-04:002010-11-05T00:08:17.364-04:00Week 10: Making Good on a PromiseIn the "About Me" section at the bottom of this page I built in a fail-safe phrase for a time like this. I just don't have time to do a full post this week, just as my profile indicates might occasionally happen. So this is the first week I have to fully invoke that "just in case" phrase. More important and more pressing things have gobbled up my time, and I'm left with a few minutes to throw Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-77829973577530980122010-10-28T09:12:00.000-04:002010-10-28T09:12:20.037-04:00Week 9: Tecmo Bowl and the College Football Playoffs
I’m old enough to remember when the original Nintendo made its debut, permanently etching video games into popular culture and changing the lives of 30-35 year old single men forever. The rudimentary technology made it nearly impossible to design playable sports games, and the video game landscape was dominated by the the two-dimensional, scrolling screen titles, like Super Mario Brothers or theJason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-41662538891524664362010-10-21T00:16:00.000-04:002010-10-21T00:16:42.453-04:00Week 8: Midseason ObservationsAnother wild week proves that college football delivers the goods on a weekly basis, and now we're knee deep in what could be a 2007 retread - a year that's gone down as the zaniest, most upset filled in recent memory. This season hasn't come near that level, but it's starting to tread the same path. Here are my brief observations, taken from across the wild world of college football as we cross Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-46294736840189559232010-10-12T22:18:00.001-04:002010-10-12T22:22:23.100-04:00Week 7: TwitPicksAn early, abbreviated post this week - I've got to condense things for the sake of time. Sometimes there just aren't 2 hours to bang out a full post. We'll see if I can cram this baby into a half-hour!
I'll do so by making my picks in the form of tweets - which, if you're over 40 or have spent the last 3 years under a heavy dose of Hibernol, are 140 character limit, brief, often pithy Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-16554639620262538662010-10-07T00:07:00.000-04:002010-10-07T00:07:47.652-04:00Week 6: A Look At The UnbeatensThis weekend we move into mid-October, the rich, chocolatey nougat center of the college football candy bar. It's that time of season where teams have pretty much sorted themselves out, allowing us to see who are contenders and who are posing as such. Last weekend exposed former unbeatens USC, Florida, and Wisconsin (among others) as fraudulent contenders, and more can be expected to be outed in Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-57747955140804129152010-09-30T00:17:00.000-04:002010-09-30T00:17:46.667-04:00Week 5: The Misinterpretation of David and GoliathOne of the most cliched cliches in all of sports is that of calling a particular matchup a "David vs. Goliath" encounter. You can find it in almost any sport, whenever a no-chance underdog faces the daunting odds of trying to take down an apparently all-powerful behemoth. In the college football realm, I'd be remiss not to mention the most memorable of all David vs. Goliath takedowns - Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-44657058617379682562010-09-23T00:12:00.000-04:002010-09-23T00:12:27.971-04:00Week 4: The Mighty Mighty Pac TenI'm not one who typically buys into the whole "East Coast Bias" thing, but I believe when we're looking at the latest top 25 rankings, we're starting straight into a blatant case of it. The Pac Ten, arguably the strongest conference in the country (outside of the SEC, of course) has Oregon (AP #5, ESPN #6), Arizona (AP #14, ESPN #16), Stanford (AP #16, ESPN #17), USC (AP #20, ESPN N/A), and Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-53432326920052558772010-09-15T22:49:00.000-04:002010-09-15T22:49:49.795-04:00Week 3: Top Ten TestersThis weekend could be the most telling of the young season-to-date. A quick glance at the schedule shows 5 top ten teams, all national title contenders, facing challenging road tests. Boise State at Wyoming. Texas at Texas Tech. Nebraska at Washington. Iowa at Arizona. Florida at Tennessee. Some of those, in all honesty, don't appear to be more than speed bumps, but early season road games - the Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-29502544656609192402010-09-07T23:40:00.000-04:002010-09-07T23:40:13.750-04:00Week 2: Back to the FutureFrom the early 80's to the mid 90's the college football landscape was dominated by a few high-profile national programs. Eight of these lock horns this weekend in what could be the greatest weekend slate of major intersectional games in college football history. Not even New Year's Day could rival this platter of college football goodies. Penn State-Alabama. Florida State-Oklahoma. Miami-Ohio Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-85478474019001609432010-09-02T00:29:00.000-04:002010-09-02T00:29:11.165-04:00Week 1: The Journey BeginsI love the eclectic mix of games that dot the landscape during the first week of the season. You have the occasional matchup of major conference powers (LSU - UNC), minnows without even the faintest hope being offered up to a hungry swarm of sharks (North Texas - Clemson, LA-Lafayette - Georgia), Division-1AA sheep being led to the slaughterhouse of 90,000+ seat palaces, for the promise of a coolJason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-53187579953321031952010-08-28T01:19:00.001-04:002010-08-28T01:22:00.021-04:00Fifteen Fearless Forecasts for 2010Well, well, here we are, about to turn talk to action on the 2010 season. There's been more upheaval and chaos this offseason than any in recent memory. I'm not going to reproduce the 15,000 words needed to recap all the movement, threatened movement, allegations of impropriety, and off-field naughtiness. I will say one thing, though, before moving on to my season preview: the conference movementJason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-83566770635140695832010-06-24T10:50:00.002-04:002010-06-24T10:54:30.040-04:00Spiritual Truth in the Other FootballLike most of the nation right now, I’m fully immersed in World Cup fever. It’s hard not to be after the breathless affair the Americans had yesterday against Algeria. I’ve watched replay after replay, pondered the goal’s historic significance, and reveled in what a glorious sporting moment it was. Last night, after seeing it for about the thirtieth time, I recognized that Landon Donovan’s Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737970841300122128.post-67088423496818411992010-06-10T20:54:00.004-04:002010-06-10T22:21:27.215-04:00The Shot Heard Round The (College Athletics) WorldIn the pre-dawn hours of April 19, 1775, a motley group of militiamen from Massachusetts formed ranks in the town of Lexington, awaiting the march of the British Army. Paul Revere's midnight ride had stirred them from their beds, and what had long been talked about, theorized, even feared, was inevitable. As day broke, the Redcoats arrived, vastly outnumbering the colonists, and the two lines Jason Weimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15002350984457588489noreply@blogger.com0