I've taken all the games listed on the adidas College Soccer Scoreboard and listed only ranked teams in action opening weekend. The home team is listed first and the rankings are provided by the NSCAA. I don't have any crazy prizes to give away... nor will I be putting together a spread sheet of everyone's predictions - I just thought we could have some fun making a few picks. I've bolded my choices. And as usual, I don't predict too many upsets for the opening weekend. I think West Virginia has to be careful with both Ohio State and Penn State - there could be an upset or two there. I think Sunday there will be two upsets in Bloomington as the Hoosiers knock off UCLA and Notre Dame defeats Maryland. Man, what a lineup for that tournament! I wish I could be there (Damon... send me a poster!). So soccertom, will the Bills take care of SMU? I think it might be possible at a neutral site or in St. Louis, but SMU at home is tough. Best of luck. Friday, August 31st Stanford vs. (01) UC Santa Barbara (02) UCLA vs. (10) Notre Dame (03) Wake Forest vs. (21) Old Dominion (04) Duke vs. Delaware (05) Virginia vs. Columbia (06) Santa Clara vs. Alabama A&M (09) Maryland vs. (07) Indiana (08) SMU vs. (22) Saint Louis San Diego vs. (11) California (12) Clemson vs. South Carolina Ohio State vs. (13) West Virginia (14) Northwestern vs. Colgate (15) New Mexico vs. Akron (16) North Carolina vs. Monmouth U (17) St. John's vs. Fairleigh Dickenson (18) Washington vs. New Hampshire (23) UNC Greensboro vs. Georgetown (25) Connecticut vs. Canisius Saturday, September 1st (19) Lehigh vs. Drexel (20) Towson vs. Mount St. Mary (24) Harvard vs. Rhode Island Sunday, September 2nd (01) UC Santa Barbara vs. Gonzaga (02) UCLA vs. (07) Indiana (03) Wake Forest vs. Monmouth U (04) Duke vs. Valparaiso (05) Virginia vs. Richmond (06) Santa Clara vs. Vermont (09) Maryland vs. (10) Notre Dame (12) Clemson vs. Gardner Webb (13) West Virginia vs. Penn State (14) Northwestern vs. Bucknell (15) New Mexico vs. Hartwick (21) Old Dominion vs. (16) North Carolina (17) St. John's vs. Fairfield (18) Washington vs. Cal St- Bakersfield (25) Connecticut vs. Stony Brook Pick away...
Friday, August 31st: Stanford vs. (01) UC Santa Barbara (02) UCLA vs. (10) Notre Dame (03) Wake Forest vs. (21) Old Dominion (04) Duke vs. Delaware (05) Virginia vs. Columbia (06) Santa Clara vs. Alabama A&M (09) Maryland vs. (07) Indiana (08) SMU vs. (22) Saint Louis Tie San Diego vs. (11) California (12) Clemson vs. South Carolina Ohio State vs. (13) West Virginia (14) Northwestern vs. Colgate (15) New Mexico vs. Akron (16) North Carolina vs. Monmouth U (17) St. John's vs. Fairleigh Dickenson (18) Washington vs. New Hampshire (23) UNC Greensboro vs. Georgetown (25) Connecticut vs. Canisius Saturday, September 1st: (19) Lehigh vs. Drexel (20) Towson vs. Mount St. Mary (24) Harvard vs. Rhode Island Sunday, September 2nd: (01) UC Santa Barbara vs. Gonzaga (02) UCLA vs. (07) Indiana (03) Wake Forest vs. Monmouth U (04) Duke vs. Valparaiso (05) Virginia vs. Richmond (06) Santa Clara vs. Vermont (09) Maryland vs. (10) Notre Dame (12) Clemson vs. Gardner Webb (13) West Virginia vs. Penn State (14) Northwestern vs. Bucknell (15) New Mexico vs. Hartwick (21) Old Dominion vs. (16) North Carolina (17) St. John's vs. Fairfield (18) Washington vs. Cal St- Bakersfield (25) Connecticut vs. Stony Brook
I really think IU will struggle this weekend and perhaps the entire season. For one IU struggled up top last year with Tudela, Robson, Hayden and Yeagle. Without question those four players pulled the strings for Indiana especially Tudela and Hayden along with Yeagle's ability to get in behind the defense. Now all four are gone from the line-up and I don't see any particular IU player or players picking up the slack. Make no mistake Adlard and Roach are going to be great forwards but who will get them the ball?
Fair enough... you're entitled to your opinion. I think this is the year that Ring will finally come out of his shell. I also think Alexander can be a very special player if he wants to be. IU may very well drop both matches, but I'm a hopeless romantic. I guess we'll know in a few days how this particular brand of Hoosier soccer measures up. No problem! That's because it's Maryland... and I don't like them... they win too many freakin' games! Plus... I will NEVER fear any turtle!
Okay... so now you know a portion of my disdain! And in my defense... I still ain't skeerd of 'em. Because as far as soccer is concerned... 3-0-1
I really think IU will struggle this weekend and perhaps the entire season. For one IU struggled up top last year with Tudela, Robson, Hayden and Yeagle. Without question those four players pulled the strings for Indiana especially Tudela and Hayden along with Yeagle's ability to get in behind the defense. Now all four are gone from the line-up and I don't see any particular IU player or players picking up the slack. Make no mistake Adlard and Roach are going to be great forwards but who will get them the ball? Agreed for the most part. However, Alexander is an able replacement for midfield generalship. Plus, Yeagle will be able to practice in about 2-3 weeks. BRF
So I'm heading to the beach with the family this weekend and was setting the TiVo to record MLS games and was wondering if any of the opening weekend of college games is gonna be televised on CSTV or ESPNU or any regional outlet so I could record those, too. Anyone know?
I am not sure if Oliver catches all the college matches, but it's always worth looking here if you are searching for college ball: http://soccertv.com/college.cfm
I know for sure there are games on CSTV just don't know which ones. EDIT: Just checked...only games to be shown will be next Tuesday on http://www.cstv.com/cgi-bin/tvsched.cgi?sport=&series=&school=&conference=&game=SOCCER+-+MEN'S
Here's where you can find the CSTV Men's Soccer schedule. It confirms the soccertv listing: http://www.cstv.com/cgi-bin/tvsched.cgi?sport=SOCCER+-+MEN'S&series=&school=&conference=&game= Above is for the next 10 days or so. Here is the men's soccer season schedule for CSTV-- pretty lame for a channel that is supposed to focus on college sports, if you ask me: http://www.cstv.com/cgi-bin/tvsched.cgi?game=SOCCER+-+MEN'S
The Indiana vs. UCLA match is apparently being shown live on the BigTen Network if you have that available. The network goes live tomorrow - so I guess I'll know for sure then. Have fun on the Beach!
There is no schedule available on the Big Ten Network website yet. Any word on whether Dish will carry BTN?
I don't know the entire story, (and keep in mind this was reported on my local sports talk radio), but apparently some big-wig at the BigTen Network is also a big-wig at DirecTV. For any provider (satellite or cable) to use BTN, there's a cost attached. The cost for DirecTV was offered at near nothing - therefore, they bought it and everybody's happy. However, they made the cost for Dish to purchase the network outrageously high and it won't be happening any time soon.
The schedule is up for this weekend. The network launched tonight at 8:00pm. The first Big Ten live event will be West Virginia vs Ohio State tomorrow at 5:00PM. Sunday will be IU vs UCLA at 2:00PM. All on channel 220 of Directv
Friday, August 31st: Stanford vs. (01) UC Santa Barbara (02) UCLA vs. (10) Notre Dame (03) Wake Forest vs. (21) Old Dominion (04) Duke vs. Delaware (05) Virginia vs. Columbia (06) Santa Clara vs. Alabama A&M (09) Maryland vs. (07) Indiana (08) SMU vs. (22) Saint Louis San Diego vs. (11) California (12) Clemson vs. South Carolina tie Ohio State vs. (13) West Virginia (14) Northwestern vs. Colgate (15) New Mexico vs. Akron (16) North Carolina vs. Monmouth U (17) St. John's vs. Fairleigh Dickenson (18) Washington vs. New Hampshire (23) UNC Greensboro vs. Georgetown (25) Connecticut vs. Canisius Saturday, September 1st: (19) Lehigh vs. Drexel (20) Towson vs. Mount St. Mary (24) Harvard vs.Rhode Island Sunday, September 2nd: (01) UC Santa Barbara vs. Gonzaga (02) UCLA vs. (07) Indiana (03) Wake Forest vs. Monmouth U (04) Duke vs. Valparaiso (05) Virginia vs. Richmond (06) Santa Clara vs. Vermont (09) Maryland vs. (10) Notre Dame (12) Clemson vs. Gardner Webb (13) West Virginia vs. Penn State (14) Northwestern vs. Bucknell (15) New Mexico vs. Hartwick (21) Old Dominion vs. (16) North Carolina (17) St. John's vs. Fairfield (18) Washington vs. Cal St- Bakersfield (25) Connecticut vs. Stony Brook
Friday, August 31st Stanford vs. (01) UC Santa Barbara (02) UCLA vs. (10) Notre Dame (03) Wake Forest vs. (21) Old Dominion (04) Duke vs. Delaware (05) Virginia vs. Columbia (06) Santa Clara vs. Alabama A&M (09) Maryland vs. (07) Indiana (08) SMU vs. (22) Saint Louis San Diego vs. (11) California (12) Clemson vs. South Carolina Ohio State vs. (13) West Virginia (14) Northwestern vs. Colgate (15) New Mexico vs. Akron (16) North Carolina vs. Monmouth U (17) St. John's vs. Fairleigh Dickenson (18) Washington vs. New Hampshire (23) UNC Greensboro vs. Georgetown (25) Connecticut vs. Canisius Saturday, September 1st (19) Lehigh vs. Drexel (20) Towson vs. Mount St. Mary (24) Harvard vs. Rhode Island Sunday, September 2nd (01) UC Santa Barbara vs. Gonzaga (02) UCLA vs. (07) Indiana (03) Wake Forest vs. Monmouth U (04) Duke vs. Valparaiso (05) Virginia vs. Richmond (06) Santa Clara vs. Vermont (09) Maryland vs. (10) Notre Dame (12) Clemson vs. Gardner Webb (13) West Virginia vs. Penn State (14) Northwestern vs. Bucknell (15) New Mexico vs. Hartwick (21) Old Dominion vs. (16) North Carolina (17) St. John's vs. Fairfield (18) Washington vs. Cal St- Bakersfield (25) Connecticut vs. Stony Brook EDIT: If you register on one of the college soccer sites run by cstv for the all-access thing(I did it through Stanford's site, it's free), you can watch a number of games that are being streamed free tonight, although there's not a lot of good games: Tonight UConn - Canisius New Hampshire - Wahington St. John's - Fairleigh Dickinson Sunday Cal State Bakersfield - Washington St. John's - Fairfield Those are probably the best available.
"Aye, fight and you may die, run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM! "