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It won't be an easy weekend for BCS Cinderellas, even though they're all playing at home. Cincinnati faces No. 25 West Virginia, TCU gets the pressure of GameDay and No. 16 Utah, and Boise State deals with a surprising 7-3 Idaho (and a visiting AD who doesn't like to fly on planes with Broncos markings).

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USC fans still have BCS hope, but know their team can't lose again. Boise State, Cincinnati and Iowa fans wonder what more their teams can do, besides pray for a loss by one of the top 3.

Now that Ohio State has two losses SportsNation thinks Ohio State is using Terrelle Pryor incorrectly. Fans, however, still think Sam Bradford is a first-round pick.

Florida State kicked off Week 8 with a needed win, and Alabama, Florida and Texas face opponents they shouldn't overlook.

Beano Cook

Mark Ingram is a good reason for [Alabama's] passing to be less of a factor. Wait until next year for any shot of a Vols upset.

-- Beano Cook
Florida

I pick Florida to win this game, but to be seen as legitimately No. 1, the Gators should win convincingly, even more so than against Arkansas.

-- IdahoanTyke
Iowa

My ranking: 1. Iowa; 2. Florida; 3. Alabama; 4. Texas; 5. Virginia Tech; 6. TCU; 7. Boise State; 8. USC; 9. Oregon; 10. LSU.

-- CheezusCrust

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Blog that kick: Week 3

September 18, 2009
Sep
18

Two topics dominated college football fan blogs this week: resurgence and the Tennessee-Florida jawing.

Just about everybody outside of Knoxville wants the Gators to shut up Lane Kiffin. Just about everybody in Ann Arbor now believes. Just about everybody in the ACC is now afraid of Miami again.

Here are the voices and predictions and reactions of all the college football fans who blogged on ESPN.com this week:

Tennessee

As a Vols fan, I have hope that the Big Orange can somehow win this game: hope and a prayer with a little luck sprinkled in.

-- LANETRAIN09
Florida

The only song Tennessee will be singing is Brahms' Lullaby after the Florida defense knocks them out. Florida 70, Tennessee 14.

-- JoeRevs300

Nebraska-Virginia Tech: "The Hokies have one of the best dual-threat QBs in the nation. ... The Huskers have the difficult task of playing Virginia Tech in Lane Stadium, arguably one of the best home-field advantages in all of college football. FINAL SCORE: Virginia Tech 31, Nebraska 21." -- uclabruin094

Texas Tech-Texas: "Texas 45, Texas Tech 28. Texas is more experienced, has Colt McCoy, and has home field to boot." -- txtechjmacattack

Utah-Oregon: "Oregon's high-flying offense has scored only 47 points the last two games. How will the defense hold up against this Utah offense? Utah 31-18." -- tjroundup

Week 3 predictions: cardon032 | nunyabiz81 | utesfan2 | tjroundup | Sportsguru6 | uclabruin094 | pettyofficerkeller2 | codywin25 | spoofybeme2005
Fan rankings: pnthrsfn1012 | canesinla | sundevil22820 | Slaton_20 | theballguy (SEC) | pigtailedtigerpiccolo (overrated)
Heisman: NYJ111sbp

Michigan

Two weeks ago I was reading posts from Michigan faithful, that made them sound worse than Buckeye fans. ... So to all the posters throughout the country that constantly took shots at Michigan, I guess my question is 'what's up now?'

-- debakes10
Miami

The Miami Hurricanes are relevant again in college football and quite realistically in the BCS picture.

-- SeAGoBLin15
Notre Dame

For Notre Dame and Coach Weis the questions have turned into demands from 'are we there yet?' to 'you better get us there and soon.'

-- NDIrishof84
ACC: SeAGoBLin15 (Miami)
Big 12: AustinBrando (Texas) | katiec_6886 (Texas) | rgadawg (Texas) | txtechjmacattack (Texas Tech) | espnb12s
Big Ten: debakes10 (Michigan) | Lett08 (Michigan) | nunyabiz81 (Michigan) | bsharp0913 (Ohio State) | jahowell29 (Ohio State) | jonesc1906
MAC: Siltjade (Central Michigan)
MWC: GBU_12 (BYU)
Other: NDIrishof84 (Notre Dame) | dbm326 (parity) | JayBird 67 (rivalries) | bigpersian76 | pcbboy2002
Pac-10: Derek from Alabama (USC) | Thunderstruck126265
SEC: ottomason (Tennessee) | LANETRAIN09 (Tennessee) | bsharp0913 (Tennessee) | SeAGoBLin15
WAC: BalleR96734 (Hawaii)
Week 2 looking back: ADEVARTS | espnb12s | nunyabiz81 | afjumpman23

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No Stretch: Pics Of The Week

September 11, 2009
Sep
11

The NFL fans are streaming through the turnstiles, but SportsNation continues to show great reach as demonstrated by Graceyballr21.

These are our favorite photos uploaded this week. If any of the images make you want to get out of your seat and tackle somebody, click them to view a larger picture and to comment. If you have a great picture or saw one you think the world should see, leave a brief description and a link in the Conversation section below.

Catch Barbecued pork Raiders fan Texas Longhorns Packers fans Mets game Fishing Surfing Deer hunter Yankee Stadium Soccer Football player Clemson fan Utah fans Hockey player

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Memories of Steve Young, Jim McMahon and Ty Detmer weren't enough to earn BYU much respect from SportsNation entering the season, but Max Hall may have changed all of that by leading the Cougars to an upset win against Oklahoma.

Voters ranked BYU No. 24 in SportsNation's preseason top 25, behind fellow Mountain West contenders TCU (No. 19) and Utah (No. 17) and WAC power Boise State (No. 15). And when it came to the opening game, just 12 percent of SportsNation picked BYU to beat the Sooners in Dallas, less than half the support Nevada received on the road against Notre Dame.

The road doesn't get that much easier for BYU, which faces Tulane this week on ESPN2 but still has games against Florida State, Colorado State, TCU and Utah. But based on Saturday, we're giving Hall the nod over Courtney Cox as the fall's most successful Cougar.

pucrepeap

Its time to add the MWC into the BCS mix. What is the ACC dooing in there? Didn't they have a bunch of bad losses this week to D1-aa teams? ... I think the MWC may not have the all around talent as the SEC or Big Ten and Big 12, but they are a heck of a lot better than the Big East and ACC.

-- pucrepeap
likeiseeit

BYU hung with OU all game long. They definitely didn't win because Bradford went out. OU was 1st and goal on the 2 yard line after a really bad PI call in the endzone... and they held them to a field goal, which ended up deciding the game! AND they won with 4 turnovers. So by no means did they play the perfect game. They didn't even play a great game.

-- LikeISeeIt

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Columbia, South Carolina, meet Newcastle, England. You probably have some common ancestors. You both have frequently indecipherable, yet highly amusing, accents. And you both love football, if of slightly different varieties. You've also both been relegated. Sorry about that.

Fortunately for fans of the Gamecocks, their relegation is only hypothetical (longtime Premier League mainstay Newcastle's is more alarmingly real for its fans, who will kick off their season Saturday cheering on their lads against West Bromwich Albion in the Championship, English soccer's equivalent of the old I-AA gridiron designation on this side of the Atlantic).

South Carolina ended up on the wrong side of the cut line when SportsNation voted for the 40 teams that should make up Pat Forde's new and improved top flight of college football. Then again, maybe SportsNation mistakenly let its director of operations cast its vote instead. These things have been known to happen.

Things won't become official until Forde, Ivan Maisel and Mark Schlabach conduct a draft for their 40 teams Tuesday, but here's how things look in SportsNation's relegation zone.

Last Five In: Colorado, Pittsburgh, Utah, Illinois, Oregon State
First Five Out: South Carolina, BYU, Louisville, Kansas, North Carolina

orangebloodmike8

Awesome idea, but how about the winner of the lower division gets thrown in the mix of the national championship. America loves an underdog...

-- orangebloodmike8
JRWambach1983

You just hit everything right on the HEAD! You got it right. Absolutely right. Promotion/relegation in college football would be amazingly popular!! The conferences are dated. Most teams in power conferences don't deserve to be there. Conference championships are TERRIBLE!! I have been boycotting bowl games since I realized that true champions are not crowned in this terrible system. My team is the Indiana Hoosiers, and the NCAA should take a lot of stock in the fact that even I am for this set up 100 percent.

-- JRWambach1983

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If Michelle Beadle is wearing the yellow jersey after two days of "SportsNation" TV, co-host Colin Cowherd is second by only tenths of a second.

The race is on to your answers about the the biggest stories of the day.

Check out the show topics, cast your votes and watch on ESPN2 at 4 p.m. ET!.

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Utah Utes

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Complaints and congressional hearings abound for the college football postseason, but what about beefing up the schedule?

LeBron James

Would you rather watch LeBron dunking or being dunked on?
Let's go to the tape to see Xavier University sophomore Jordan Crawford dunking on LeBron James. Wait, maybe not. Nike reportedly confiscated the footage.

Roy Halladay

Would you donate $100 to your team's Roy Halladay fund?
There are plenty of pitching-hungry fans out there (just listen to the screaming by Mets followers). Time to break out the checkbooks.

Utah Utes

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It's obvious after the first few days of the Tour de France that Lance isn't conceding the race to teammate Alberto Contador or any other cyclist.

What is "SportsNation" TV and how do you make your voice heard on the broadcast? Read about the new ESPN show that features fan opinions with calls, tweets, polls, rankers and more.

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CHAT IN PROGRESS

MNF: Titans vs. Texans!
  • Joe (Philly)If you had said in the beginning of the season that Vince Young would be back as Tennessee's starting QB and that he helped turn the team around they would have put you in a straight jacket and placed you in a padded room.
  • BuzzmasterI smell a hail mary.
  • BuzzmasterWhat? That's kind of weak. Halftime.
  • Todd (Louisville)Is Les Miles coaching the Texans tonight?