Mike
STOCK DOWN: Internet connectivity inside Williams-Brice Stadium. Apologies to those of you expecting posts and tweets from the game. I had it all planned out, honest. Plenty of plans, but no bars. My sightline wasn’t quite as good as Adam’s, anyway.
STOCK UP: Most other things about the place. South Carolina puts on a good show. The southern phenomenon of girls dressing up to go to football games is one of the very few things that make me question my own choice in colleges.
STOCK UP: Army. I didn’t think they could beat Northwestern. I was wrong. This wasn’t a fluke, either. Army dominated possession, 40:19-19:41, while rushing for 381 yards. This is the biggest win of Rich Ellerson’s short tenure, and the biggest win of any service academy so far this year. An 0-3 start would have been tough to recover from. At 1-2, with a win over a pretty good Big Ten team under their belt, the rest of the season looks a lot better.
STOCK DOWN: WKU. Dude.
STOCK UP: Georgia Tech. Dude.
(If you had to guess how Kansas lined up on defense, what would you think? Here’s a hint).
STOCK UP: Notre Dame. You didn’t think they were going to turn the ball over in every game the way they did in their first two, did you?
STOCK MARKET CRASH: The Big East. The conference might be able to survive in name if it can pick up what remains of the Big 12, but it won’t survive in spirit without Pitt and Syracuse. The days of the Eastern Independent were already long gone, but the Big East preserved our legacy as best it could. Now, as the game continues to evolve, what were once inter-sectional matchups are becoming conference games. The tradition of Eastern college football is officially dead.
STOCK DOWN: Thinking this means that the ACC is now immune from being pillaged by the Big Ten or SEC. It doesn’t.
STOCK UP: FIU. With all the big games in Florida over the weekend, Florida International’s 17-10 win over defending Conference-USA champion UCF should not be overlooked. The Panthers are 3-0 and have a real shot at going undefeated, with a home game against Duke probably being the toughest test they have left. Bonus points for beating George O’Leary, because I hate George O’Leary.
Adam
STOCK UP: Duke’s future bowl hopes. Well, the ACC is at it again. You can talk all you want about how great a basketball conference it’s going to be, but when you look at the football side of things, there’s just no getting around how the most underachieving AQ conference just added two shining examples of underachieving football programs in Pittsburgh and Syracuse. Heck, they’re only the addition of Connecticut and Rutgers away from giving Duke all the conference wins it needs for bowl eligibility.
STOCK DOWN: Karl Benson’s Master Plan. I’ve yet to find an administrator in college athletics who seems as genuine and as good of a guy as Karl, but even I’m starting to lose faith in his plan for the WAC. We keep hearing that the conference is going to target schools with football in their futures, but with the latest additions of Dallas Baptist and Cal State-Bakersfield being made for baseball, is it time to concede that the WAC’s football programs are doomed to sink below Sun Belt status? What’s next? Targeting competitive golf programs?
STOCK UP: Zaxby’s. I found many things overrated on my trip to cover Navy play South Carolina. The football IQ of SEC beat writers left a lot to be desired, as did the apparent scrambling ability of Stephen Garcia. But one thing which was not overrated is the southeast-based fast casual concept. Get you some chicken fingerz and crinkle fries, son.
STOCK DOWN: Western Kentucky. Really, losing to Indiana State? And getting blown out too? Sometimes, I think an actual Sycamore tree might put up more of a fight than the perennial FCS bottom feeder.
STOCK UP: The other McCoy boy. Just in case you didn’t get the memo, they apparently cloned Colt and named the slightly younger version of him Case. Not only did he hit two touchdown passes in Texas’ win at UCLA, he also managed to NOT screw up, something his predecessor, Garret Gilbert, tended to struggle with. With the Red River Rivalry looming in a few weeks and an undefeated Iowa State team on the docket for Saturday, he’s got his work cut out for him.
STOCK DOWN: Luke Kuechly’s long-term health. 25 straight games with double-digit tackles. That cannot be healthy.
The Birddog 
Zaxby’s is pretty tasty… If you like your wings at maximum heat level (like me) nothing beats their Insane sauce. Non of the other wing joints in my neck of the woods even come close.
STOCK DOWN: Ohio State. The King is dead. Long live the King.
Great win at Michie Stadium for Army. The stadium was packed for a change (and most of those rooting for Army). Two fumbles and only one of those lost. QED.
Listened to Navy game driving from Target Hill Field to Washington Gate. Tough losing to a stellar performance by a single man.
STOCK UP: AAPL. All time closing high of $411.63. Up 2.78% on a day where the DJIA was down .94%. :)
Shouldn’t you be building a computer Michael? Seriously, your stock has been crap since 2000.
Glad you found Zaxby’s. One of the things I miss about the South now that I’m up north for grad. school.
Good game from your guys this weekend, BTW.
Actually, once you are here for a while you will learn that it is “down” north!
:-)
Where in grad school?
Agree with Army Stock Up, Mike. Good to see them win a game they would have lost previously. I caught some of the game on CBSCS – Army played fast and hard hitting on D; Steelman ran very tough, but honestly Northwestern did not look very sharp. Their win at BC seems less impressive given BC is now 0-3. BL: credit to Army. I hope they continue to do win until 10 Dec.
I”m interested in the groups gut feel on Craig Jame’s stock as an announcer. He attended my high school where he was a star on Stratford’s 1978 Texas class 4A championship football team, setting the single-season Texas 4A rushing record with 2,411 yards gained in 15 games. He “walked on” to the track team at the end of the season, and ran one race, the district championship in the 100 yard dash.
His stock went down when his son ratted out Mike Leach at Texas Tech!
I wish Mike Leach would make Craig James sit in a dark closet anytime he broadcasts a game I’d like to watch.
I watched the Army-NW game until it was time to hoist the battle ensign and shove off for Navy-SC command center. Army looked much improved. NW’s backup QB seemed to be struggling and the team looked flat. Still, good win for Army over a quality program. May they run the table from here until they lose to us in December.
Stock up – M. Lattimore. Classy guy had a banner day against Navy. His post-game comments will make Navy fans feel good.
lol i’m going to call you double down from now on mike :)
wat
you’re doubling down on your ACC stance after the whole Big East thing didn’t go quite how you thought it would
The only thing I thought was that the Big East would reach out to the ugly ducklings of the Big 12, which they have. I don’t have an “ACC stance” other than not thinking it’s the rock of stability your homer ass seems to think it is.