Worst unmatched game this year.. this wknd on ESPN

[sgrizzle]

Best ranked offense in college football versus the worst ranked offense in college football.

Will TU spank them all the way to 100 points?
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_bianchi/2008/10/should-tulsa-tr.html

[Gold]

UCF has the 50th ranked defense and has played some name teams close . . . of course, those offenses were ranked around 100, from what I've read.

UCF kicked the crap out of TU last year.  There really isn't a nicer way to put it.  TU was better in the second game, but still not very good.  Graham didn't have the guts to pull Paul Smith, who was clearly hurt and had no zip on his throws.

They match up well with TU.  They have a secondary that can slow down TU's receivers -- who usually run rampant on everyone -- and that allows them to play TU straight up, meaning they can pass rush without leaving any TU player too open.  Smith threw seven picks against them last year.  That's awful.  I think their D also takes away a lot of the bells and whistles TU uses, like the Wildcat that NFL teams are starting to copy.

UCF is also deadly in special teams, though TU is MUCH better in that area than last year.  Bill Blankenship deserves a special award for his work there.

That said, UCF lost their best player from last year, a running back, to the NFL and no one has replaced him.  They lost 3/5 of their o-line starters from the first game this year and are playing a couple of freshmen there.

TU's defense is -- cough, cough -- a work in progress.  They have been better this year, but they sort of remind of the year the Cardinals won the World Series with starters with over 5.00 ERAs.  The staff has made some adjustments in how the overall game plan works and that has helped.  TU plays several freshmen on defense at the same time quite a bit.

I think TU wins by double digits; I think the running game will get to UCF and force them to move safeties up, in turn getting some guys open who weren't open last year.  But I could see it being a little closer.  UCF isn't a bad team, even with their mediocre offense.

[sgrizzle]

Mediocre offense? They are ranked dead last.

[Gold]

After what they did to us last year, I'm scared of them.  No one else played us like that.  We lost to UTEP because of bad clock management, officiating, and conditioning; OU just had better players; but UCF had the right plan all along.

In fairness, they have been missing their QB, Greco, for the last couple of games and he is supposed to start Sunday.  He's not good, but he's better than the other guy.

Also, the OS pretty much hates O'Leary and UCF.  That's a whole other long, sad story.  After talking to UCF fans about it, I kind of sympathize with their side.

[TUalum0982]

I will be there.  Looking forward to seeing TU's new stadium.  Why is it that TU always plays at weird times and days?

[Gold]

TU has played every game this year on Saturday up until this week's game.

It is on Sunday in order to get on ESPN.  Schools would play on Christmas or during the Super Bowl if it meant they could get on tv.  This will be TU's only real nationally televised game (CBS college sports network only reaches a fraction of households with cable) this season, so they better win with some style.

[cannon_fodder]

quote:Originally posted by TUalum0982

I will be there.  Looking forward to seeing TU's new stadium.  Why is it that TU always plays at weird times and days?

Saturday is a weird day?

We play mostly evening games because it allows more fans to come.  We know many casual fans will stay at home to watch the OU or OSU game, or even Arkansas or whomever.  Evening games maximize our ability to showcase our product.  But evenings really are not a strange time.

This one is a strange day because ESPN says it will be.  Even major teams play on odd days to get on ESPN (see, e.g., Auburn v. West Virginia last night).  Tulsa is no exception.

BUT, I'm glad we got away from the Kragthorpe habit of many non-Saturday games.  We maximized TV coverage for sure, but it never felt right.

[TUalum0982]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

quote:Originally posted by TUalum0982

I will be there.  Looking forward to seeing TU's new stadium.  Why is it that TU always plays at weird times and days?

Saturday is a weird day?

We play mostly evening games because it allows more fans to come.  We know many casual fans will stay at home to watch the OU or OSU game, or even Arkansas or whomever.  Evening games maximize our ability to showcase our product.  But evenings really are not a strange time.

This one is a strange day because ESPN says it will be.  Even major teams play on odd days to get on ESPN (see, e.g., Auburn v. West Virginia last night).  Tulsa is no exception.

BUT, I'm glad we got away from the Kragthorpe habit of many non-Saturday games.  We maximized TV coverage for sure, but it never felt right.

No Saturday is not a weird day, but the past couple of years, they had a few Thur night games, and most sat games would start at 6.  That is not a normal start time per se for teams in the central time zone.  Most games will start at 230, or 7pm, not 6.

Look at last year, they opened the season on a Thur (Aug 30th), off for 2.5 weeks, played on a saturday (Sept 15th),then played on a friday (sept 21st) the week after that.

In 2006, they opened the season Aug 31st which was a Thur, then in Oct played on Tue, Oct 3 and then played again on Fri Oct 27th and again on Fri nov 24th.  I know some of these games were nationally televised, but I just find it odd they play so many games on traditionally "non football" days

[Gold]

Lots of schools do that to get on ESPN.  Louisville seems to play most of their games on Thursdays.  

You mention the Aug 30 game last year -- that was the first game played in the entire country.  That was a great deal for TU.  It was on ESPN. Same thing with the Friday game -- the OU game.  Schools want to be on tv.

[TUalum0982]

I am not complaining as it usually benefits our schedule, just most of the powerhouses rarely schedule their games like TU has done in the past.  I don't blame them at all though, especially for the TV exposure.  I was at the at UCF game, so I did not get a chance to watch it on TV, but from what people have told me, the announcers talked very highly of TU and Tulsa in general.