Tag Archives: Notre Dame

Early Title Games for the Big Ten and Big 12?

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Navi Sol 11-8The Fall sports season is reaching its climax as conference races are easy to picture now. Ohio State at Michigan State is virtually the Big Ten title game. Kansas State at TCU could be the same with the Big 12. I like Michigan State and Kansas State for those two. Alabama at LSU is always a big game that could go either way. Arizona State has a chance to stop Notre Dame’s playoff hopes in the afternoon. I’m picking the Sun Devils.

If women’s soccer is your sport than this is your weekend with conference tournaments. The Big Ten, ACC and SEC will have their title matches Sunday afternoon but look for smaller conferences on ESPN3.

What Not to Miss on Labor Day Weekend

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Not a math major but it seems like something is not right here.

Not a math major but it seems like something is not right here.

With all the football going on this weekend here are some events to keep in mind during one of the busiest times on the college sports calendar.

FootballObscurity Report new

Talk is swirling that Hawaii is considering a move to drop its football team. If that is the case then be sure to watch its late night home opener against Washington. Will be interesting to see how the Rainbow Warriors fight a superior team with all the negativity going on. Coming off a 1-11 season doesn’t help either. The marketing department appears desperate as season tickets are less than the price of two single games. Even their promotional video shows plenty of empty seats at the 20 second mark.

A Hawaii upset would be the story of the week in my opinion. Stay up just in case it’s close.

Men’s Soccer

Down in Bloomington, Indiana, the defending champions and No. 1 Notre Dame will be taking on two top 12 teams this weekend in the IU Classic. Today at 5 p.m. will be No. 12 Marquette with No. 9 Georgetown Sunday at 11:30. Both the Golden Eagles and Hoyas lost in the third round of the tournament last season and will test the Fighting Irish.

Women’s Soccer

No. 1 UCLA is also defending its championship and will host the 2012 champion, No. 9 North Carolina Friday night. The Bruins are on 23-game winning streak but the last team who beat them were the Tar Heels . UCLA is 1-9 all-time against UNC but won where it most mattered last season in the NCAA quarterfinals 1-0. In its first two games, UCLA hasn’t even allowed a single shot on goal or corner kick. So good luck against that defense North Carolina. Maybe UCLA can take a break from practice with a win.

Women’s Volleyball

No. 3 Stanford travels to No. 7 Nebraska Sunday as the women’s volleyball season gets underway. This is a big test for Stanford as it will host defending champ and No. 1 overall Penn State next week. Both the Cardinal and the Cornhuskers lost in the quarterfinals last season with Stanford losing to Penn State in five sets. Stanford was the only team to take Penn State to five in the tournament so look for the Cardinal to be confident going into the season. One thing’s for sure, the team knows how to manipulate the camera.

College tennis tries to steal the show

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Spring championship season for the NCAA is here and the sport on deck this weekend is tennis. The men’s and women’s titles will be on Tuesday in Athens, Georgia. Why does the NCAA have all their championships on Mondays (football, men’s basketball) or a Tuesday (women’s basketball)? For an organization that values academics, they sure do put a lot of big events during class time.Obscurity Report new It’s also interesting that out of the top 16 seeds in the field of 64 for the men only two failed to make it to the round of 16. So if you’re looking for upsets in “May Madness” you might need to find a different spring sport. The fact that upsets are rare makes the failures of No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 11 Duke that much more embarrassing though.

The phrase “hard-fought” is PR speak for “we screwed up.” The good news though is that the elite eight of the field will truly be elite. Get your Cinderellas out of here because the big guys need room for the next three days in Athens. USC is the No. 1 seed but it did lose to Ohio State and twice to UCLA. Both are still in the field. On the women’s side parity is even harder to see as 15 of the top 16 seeds made it to the round of 16. Only No. 15 Northwestern faltered as it was edged out 4-3 by Notre Dame.

The attitude on the Northwestern side was just a little bit down in comparison.

There has been some drama though as No. 1 seed Georgia barely survived No. 16 USC 4-3 on Thursday. That would have been a disaster for the Bulldogs to blow their title hopes so quickly on their home court.

Georgia will play 2012 champion Florida on Saturday. The SEC will be going for Georgia vs. No. 2 Alabama championship match. I’m sure Big 10 fans will accuse Alabama of giving cars to their women’s tennis players too.

So check out a sport other than basketball and football for a change this weekend. You might even become a die-hard college tennis fan. Just don’t count on it.

Fighting the media black hole of the Super Bowl

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With the Super Bowl this weekend the majority of college sporting events are trapped in anonymity. Here are some things you might miss.

Men’s basketball: Utah Valley at New Mexico State, Saturday 10 p.m. ESTObscurity Report new

The two best teams in the WAC will meet for the first time this Saturday night at New Mexico State. One of these schools will get an automatic bid come March. The other will be extremely bitter.

I know very little about Utah Valley’s basketball history and it turns out Wikipedia doesn’t know much either.

The Wolverines do have a perfect 7-0 WAC record, but the Aggies have only lost one home game this year (New Mexico No. 30 RPI). New Mexico State is the only WAC school with a Top-100 RPI at No. 71. Utah Valley is a distant 148 and is a bland 4-6 on the road. I’m taking New Mexico State in this one but the WAC Tournament Final is where it will get serious.

Men’s basketball: Toledo at Ohio, 7 p.m. Saturday

Toledo is having an impressive season at 18-2 and a RPI of 36. A win over Boston College and a hard-fought loss at Kansas is impressive but a loss at Ohio may cripple any at-large possibility.

Like the Rockets, the Bobcats have built an impressive record of 15-5 and a Top-100 RPI at No. 81. This is a coin-flip game as Ohio is 8-3 at home. Check out this blackout promo the Bobcats have.

I’m picking Toledo to win and play with urgency as this might the most difficult regular season game it has left. The MAC should be viewed as a multi-bid league with four teams in the RPI Top-100.

Women’s basketball: Notre Dame at Duke, 2 p.m. Sunday

Looking for something to do before the Super Bowl Sunday? Check out this top-3 duel between undefeated and No. 2 Notre Dame at No. 3 Duke. With Notre Dame in the ACC I’m sure No. 1 UConn is happy it no longer has to play this juggernaut in conference any more. The Fighting Irish is your problem now Blue Devils.

Look for these two to play a third time in the ACC Tournament Final. Whoever can take two out of the three meetings will more than likely secure a No. 1 seed in the big dance. I expect for Duke to hold serve at home thanks to $3 tickets.

If Duke wins I hope this player on the right will be a little bit more excited in her press conference.


Men’s Tennis: UCLA vs. Georgia, Sunday, 2 p.m. EST

Yes, we have our first ever men’s tennis mention here at the NC2A Nerd as No. 2 UCLA squares off against No. 3 Georgia.
Technically, this match is at a neutral site because they are playing at USC. Since that’s still in Los Angeles I have to call it a home match for the Bruins.

This match has the prestigious 10 a.m. local start time so it’s fair to question whether UCLA will be awake. I know I wouldn’t be. I’ll pick UCLA because I’m sure it’s a far better recruiting destination for international players. Los Angeles versus Athens is not a fair fight for some European tennis player looking to play in the states.