Weekend Viewing Guide 9/14/12

No tennis, no golf, no soccer...no worries.  There is still a glutton of sports to watch this weekend.  I'm not even going to highlight the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears I'm watching as I type that was played last night or the mouth-watering Monday Night Football game between my MVP choice, Matt Ryan and the expected Comeback Player of the Year, Peyton Manning.  If you're a betting person...take the over.  Either of those games would have cracked my top 3 of the weekend, but I push on, there are still enough main courses to satisfy even the Burgerdays crew.

Let's roll our sleeves up and get right into it:

10. James Madison University vs. West Virginia University (FedEx Field)

Okay don't stop reading, I haven't gone crazy.  I went to JMU and I know some guys who went to West Virginia so there's a little more at stake if JMU can keep it close.  If you remember, JMU went down to Virginia Tech just two years ago and won so be careful Mountaineer fans.  In all actuality this will be a 60-17 type score, but you have two schools that have a ton of alumni in the DC/Maryland area and a 90,000 seat stadium to fill.  With a 4:30pm start, the only real question is how many fans will be sober enough to remember to go into the stadium?  Let's go Dukes!

9. St. Louis Cardinals at Los Angeles Dodgers

What the hell is going on with the National League Wild Card standings?  The Cardinals suck, the Dodgers stink and the Pirates are terrible.  The only teams that seem to want to play Atlanta in the one game playoff are the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers who have each shaved about 10 games in the standings in the last month.  This four game series that started (right about now) Thursday has the chance to make a gruesome mess of everything.  By Monday there could be five teams within two games of the second Wild Card.  When St. Louis and Los Angeles split these four games they will be at 77 and 76 wins respectively.  The Pirates play the crappy Cubs, the Phillies will crush the abysmal Astros and the Brewers should manhandle the Mets.  This puts all three of them at 75 wins with sweeps.  All five will have either 70-72 losses as well with just over two weeks to go...just how we want it.

8. New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers

Neither team expected to be facing an 0-2 start.  Both teams were given a tasty cupcake of an opening week game by the NFL and yet both lost.  In a division that I expect the Atlanta Falcons to win easily both of these teams are playing for a Wild Card spot in my opinion.  This elevates a rather middling week 2 game into a pretty tasty pressure test.  I'm sure if I had the Elias Sports Bureau working for me I could tell you what the chances are for 0-2 teams to make the playoffs, but I can promise you it's not that good.  Dammit, I'm calling it...the loser of this game does not make the playoffs.  Done.  Final Score:  Saints 31 Panthers 23

7. Florida Gators at Tennessee Volunteers

Welcome back from obscurity Tennessee.  This game used to be the highlight of the SEC schedule.  Then Tennessee disappeared into oblivion while Florida had up and down seasons (with some Tim Tebow greatness as well) and everyone forgot about these teams.  Now even though they are relegated to a Week 3 meeting in mid-September, its good to see both schools getting good again at the same time.  Both teams are ranked, ESPN is headed to Knoxville and they made my exclusive list of things to watch!  Yes rivalry games in college football are exciting and this one has been ignored for far too long.  Final Score Tennessee 31 Florida 21

6. Baltimore Ravens at Philadelphia Eagles

Did you see how good the Ravens looked on Monday?  Did you see how bad the Eagles looked on Sunday?  All that and Philadelphia is still a 2 point favorite at home this week.  A short week and having to play on the road might have a bit to do with that for Baltimore.  Something tell me each team will regress to the mean this weekend even if the Eagles are without Jeremy Maclin or DeSean Jackson or both.  Michael Vick can't throw 4 more interceptions can he?  Joe Flacco isn't going to be an MVP candidate is he?  No I don't think either of these will be true.  I still have the Ravens squeaking out a 23-20 win.

5. Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Michigan St. Spartans

This is a perfect September game.  Two really good September teams that real fans of college football understand have no frickin' shot at being relevant come mid-November.  The fans can only hope for another memorable finish like in 2010:

 That highlight was made even better with the Star Wars cameo.  Notre Dame has not been in the championship picture since the late 80's and the Big Ten is only good when not playing teams from real conferences like the SEC.  That makes this game a perfect match up...for September. Final Score Michigan St. 30 Notre Dame 24
4. Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees

I don't understand Tampa Bay.  Well I take that back, they can't hit worth a damn.  Even though they resemble the Oakland Athletics both on the mound and at the plate and how bad their stadium is, something is missing.  There is no magic spark.  Time is now beginning to run out on the Rays and unless they walk into New York and win this series, they could be missing the playoffs this year.  Things are not looking much better in New York.  The age of their core players is starting to become an issue as the injuries continue to mount.  Mark Teixeira is injured, Derek Jeter narrowly avoided a bad ankle injury, C.C. Sabathia is hurting and the team just looks sluggish.  This starts a 9 game home stand with both the Rays and the Athletics coming to town and we should know the fate of New York by the end of that.

3.  USC Trojans at Stanford Cardinal

I bet you didn't realize that senior quarterback Matt Barkley has yet to defeat Stanford.  He's 0-3 thanks to Andrew Luck, but unlike Luck, Barkley stayed in school to party, hang out with co-eds, be the big man on campus win a BCS Championship.  This is the game that USC has to have had circled on its calendar ever since Barkley decided to return.  They owe the Cardinal some payback for the recent domination that they have had on their neighbors to the south.  The cupboard isn't completely bare for Stanford as Junior quarterback Josh Nunes has filed in quite admirably, albeit against lesser competition (yup I'm talking about you Duke).  I've got the over/under on Barkley touchdown passes at 4.5...anyone dare to take the under? Final Score USC 45 Stanford 27

2. Detroit Lions at San Francisco 49ers

Ooooooh I remember how this one ended last year.  The two head coaches jawing at each other while racing off the field and a little shove fest.  Last week the Lions didn't look like the fun 'n gun offensive video game that was 2011.  The 49ers did, on the other hand, resemble their 2011 model of being the best defensive unit in the NFL.  They also added a better passing game and currently have a healthy Frank Gore.  No matter how much I want this to be a good game, I have a feeling this is where the Lions start to crack a bit and the 49ers surge into Super Bowl contenders.  Final Score San Francisco 27 Detroit 13

1. Baltimore Orioles at Oakland Athletics

The two best stories in the American League and possibly the Majors meet in the dump that is the O.co Stadium.  If the Orioles allowed the Athletics to be the home team, I'd petition Bud Selig to move the series to Camden Yards.  Not only would I be able to attend, but it'd be a setting befitting the importance of this series.  I know of nobody who thought this series would receive any national media attention, but with the two darlings of baseball playing in mid-September it will be beat reporters dream for its multitude of story lines.  Each team is playing for a fallen teammate, Nick Markakis of the Orioles lost for the regular season with a broken hand and Brandon McCarthy of the Athletics lost for the season with a fractured skull.  Both teams are currently in the playoffs and have split the season series 3-3 to date so I expect a low scoring series where the team scoring first will win all three games.  The bullpens are just too good and the stadium too big for many comebacks to occur.

*Editor's note* After watching 3 quarters of the Packers/Bears game, I change my mind about it being considered for the Top 10 list.  Yaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwnnnnnnn!  If your best highlight is a punter pitching a ball to a backup tight end, you have not been entertaining.