Game Day Thoughts

Football Sundays.

I probably bitch about this much too much but I'm really not fond of NFL games on days other than Sundays. Mondays are a slight exception as I grew up with the event that was created for the final game of the NFL week. Thanksgiving Thursday games are a definite exception. Thanksgiving and football has been a holiday tradition dating back to the days before the NFL was even born. I love football. But I love it most on Sundays.

Football Sundays.

This is the first complete Football Sunday for me of the 2015 NFL Season. The Minnesota Vikings played their first game last Monday. That left the first Sunday of the season a little hollow. The good thing about the Vikings on Monday was that I was able to attend the game in San Francisco. The bad thing about the game was that it was played at all. The Vikings were terrible. Hopefully they can rebound today. They host the Detroit Lions in their home opener.

This is the Vikings first game of their second, and final, season at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium. This has been their temporary home as their beautiful new home is built on the site that used to hold the Metrodome. A dump from the day that it was built.

It's been fun to see the Vikings play outdoor home games again.

The Lions-Vikings headline this Football Sunday. Of course.

If you can pull your attention away from the Vikings-Lions game, Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots probably highlights the morning games. A Rex Ryan-coached team playing the Patriots is always must-see football. Ryan always finds a way to challenge Tom Brady. And Bill Belichick. If Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor can continue to make plays this has the makings of a great game. This is one of only two morning games that matches teams undefeated after a single game.

San Diego Chargers at Cincinnati Bengals is the other game. The Chargers came back after a big, early deficit against the Lions last week. The Bengals crushed the Raiders in week one. The Bengals and Chargers are two talented teams that are often struggling to be considered among the elite. No matter what they do in the regular season the Bengals never will be considered elite until they win a playoff game.

Other morning games:
Houston Texans at Carolina Panthers
Arizona Cardinals at Chicago Bears
Tennessee Titans at Cleveland Browns
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints
Atlanta Falcons at New York Giants
San Francisco 49ers at Pittsburgh Steelers
St. Louis Rams at Washington Redskins

Any football game with J.J. Watt is an entertaining football game.

Marcus Mariota's record-setting rookie debut last week has a lot of people glancing the Titans way. He's made them relevant again. He still has to show that he can he duplicate that magic against an NFL-caliber defense. The Buccaneers didn't put up much resistance last week. The Browns should pose a little more difficult challenge. Johnny Manziel throwing for the Browns might give Mariota a lot of opportunities. Manziel and Mariota were kinda close to being college teammates at Oregon.

The afternoon games provides this terrific rivalry:
Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles lost a close one to the Falcons last Monday. The Giants handed the Cowboys a win last Sunday night. These two teams are considered by many to be the favorites to win the NFC East. So, this is a big, early season game.

Miami Dolphins at Jacksonville Jaguars
Baltimore Ravens at Oakland Raiders

Those two round out the afternoon slate.

The night cap should be a keeper.
Seattle Seahawks at Green Bay Packers
A rematch of the NFC Championship game. Let's see if the Packers can play an entire game this time.

This is a great Football Sunday.

Some college stuff:

California and Texas played an entertaining game in Austin. Cal won the game 45-44. It took a Texas missed extra point with 1:11 to play for the one-point margin.

A dropped pass by wide-open Cal tight end Stephen Anderson with about two minutes to play opened the door for Texas' desperate drive. A catch there by one of Cal's most sure-handed pass catchers would have given the Bears a first down and allowed them to run out the clock. Texas would've never seen the ball again.

The difference in the game was the third quarter. Cal outscored Texas 21-0 in the quarter. From about a minute to go in the first half through the third quarter Cal scored 31 unanswered points. Texas answered in the fourth quarter with 20 unanswered points of their own.

It would've been nice if Cal had scored in the fourth quarter. Then it wouldn't have come down to a missed extra point to decide the game. It was a combination of Cal taking their foot off the gas and the Texas defense making some plays. Anderson's drop didn't help Cal.

It should be noted that Anderson did recover one of the Longhorns onside kick attempts.

Longhorns redshirt freshman quarterback Jerrod Heard was a one-man show. 364 yards passing. 164 yards rushing. Some of his plays were ridiculous. Texas might have something special with their young quarterback. He puts a lot of stress on a defense.

Speaking of defense. Cal might have a little bit of defense this year. For the past two years they've had no defense. The 2015 version of the Bears has actually made some stops through three games. They still have a tendency to give up big plays a little too often but they really do make some stops. They get a few turnovers. Their tackling is much improved. That alone is a huge change from the last two years.

Stanford is showing some life after a horrible opener. They slept through that opener against Northwestern. They handled Central Florida last week. They took #6 USC to task last night. They also took a 10-point win. 41-31.

Ohio State sure had their hands full with Northern Illinois. They were a 34.5-point favorite. They won 20-13. The game was 10-10 at the half with Cardale Jones throwing the football for the Buckeyes. Ohio State controlled the second half with J.T. Barrett at quarterback but still only managed another 10 points. I think that this game said far more about Northern Illinois than it did about Ohio State.

It's still early but the 2015 Notre Dame football team looks better than the one that played for the National Championship a few years go. Theis one has more offense. The #8 Irish beat #14 Georgia Tech 30-22. It wasn't that close. The Yellow Jackets scored 15 of their 22 points in the last minute of the game.

#13 LSU took apart #18 Auburn by a score of 45-21. It appears that Auburn might have started the season ranked a little too high. They needed overtime to beat Jacksonville State last week. They didn't put up much resistance against an LSU ground game that racked up 411 yards on 48 carries.

LSU back Leonard Fournette was fantastic. 228 yards on 19 carries and three touchdowns. He took the first play from scrimmage 71 yards to the Auburn 4-yard line. Not scoring on that run was about the only thing that Fournette didn't do on the day.

Alabama shut out Mississippi 25-0 in 2013. In the two games since Mississippi has been a serious thorn in Alabama's title hopes. The Rebels beat #2 Alabama 43-37 yesterday for their second consecutive win over the SEC bully.

BYU couldn't pull out another win at the end. 24-23 UCLA.

Football Sunday!

Go Vikings!