Welcome back, college sports fans, to episode 686, a combination of football and a recognition of that awful day 25 years ago. JoJo wasn’t born yet, but G and his new wife were both working that Tuesday morning. We had just returned from our honeymoon six weeks prior. She was working in Nashville when the planes hit the towers and the Pentagon (let’s not forget the Pennsylvania countryside). She had to drive her rental car back to Atlanta. The next day we drove to the airport (busiest in the world) to pick up her car left in the parking lot and the airport was…silent. I traveled for a living for a very long time (over 25 years) and regardless of the time of day or night, airplanes are taking off or landing, traffic is intense with horns blaring, and people are everywhere. Not that day. Other than a security guy who asked why we were there, there was nothing. No sounds. No cars. No planes. No people. Thousands of people lost their lives in horrific ways that day, but to us, the eeriest thing was a silent ATL. On 9/11 itself, after GE told everyone to go home, a group of us went to a sports bar in which we often had lunch. Again, what was normally a loud environment was silent except for the television announcers trying to make sense of chaos.
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Of course, sporting events were cancelled that day and for a while following. For those who aren’t old enough to remember, we didn’t know if there would be more attacks in the following days and large crowds at a game would be a target. But sports played a big part in returning to as much normalcy as we could get. The WWE aired a match on 9/13 as the first nationally broadcast sporting event after the attacks. The first college football game following was on 9/20 between South Carolina and Mississippi St. In baseball, the Mets and Pirates in Pittsburgh on 9/17 was the first game, but the big one was 9/21 when the Braves played the Mets at Shea Stadium. The NFL returned on 9/23 in games that featured the Jets at the Patriots. All of these games were less raucous than they were before (or are now), but people showed up. The players played through it. As Chumbawamba said, “[we got] knocked down, but [we] got up again.”
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We had one game last night that perhaps should give rise to a mercy rule. Miami FL (2-0/1) was up 49-0 at the half over FCS Florida A&M (1-2/240) and 77-0 after 3 quarters. There is no doubt in our mind that the Hurricanes could have put 100 points on the Rattlers if they wanted to. Instead, the teams agreed to a 10:00 4th which was scoreless except for a 73-yard fumble return to end the shutout – just about the only MIAF mistake. Miami FL was favored -57.5 and the GCR calculated -73.0, so we predicted the win and the cover. By the way, combining this home win to the road win against Stanford (1-1/97), the Hurricanes have outscored their opponents 122-13 in two games.
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For those just joining GCR readership or are not used to this season’s approach to gameday, let’s take a moment to explain. In previous years, we would have posted all 131 games this weekend yesterday, the first game day of the week. Many games (especially games involving FCS schools) would not have Vegas picks yet. Odds would change between the first game and Saturday (especially when we have Tuesday games), occasionally flipping the Vegas favorite from one team to the other. But we had already published. This season, we decided to post “today’s” games only. Behind the scenes, the GCR is updated and all records/GCR ranks are current through all games completed.
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We do have football today: three Core 4/FCS matchups and two Core 4/Core 4 games. Will Rutgers (0-1/144) bounce back against Boston College (0-1/121) after an unexpected home loss to UMASS (1-0/6)? Vegas has BC -3.5 and the GCR agrees the Eagles will win and cover. Will the Border War between Kansas (1-0/55) and Missouri (1-0/42) be a remembrance of their Big 8 past? Vegas has MIZZ-5.5, but the GCR calculates an upset: KAN to win and cover. Could we see an FCS upset? Watch Richmond (2-0/114) and NC St (0-1/135) despite Vegas calling for State-33.5. Here are all the games tonight.
| Time (ET) | Games of September 11th | Conference | Vegas | GCR | Cover | TV |
| 7:00 | Villanova (1-1/170) at Louisville (0-1/103) | PAT/ACC | LOU -36.5 | LOU | VILL | ACC Network |
| 7:00 | Norfolk St (1-1/225) at Virginia (1-0/4) | MEAC/ACC | VIR -45.5 | VIR | VIR | ACC Extra |
| 7:00 | Richmond (2-0/114) at NC St (0-1/135) | PAT/ACC | NCST -33.5 | RICH | RICH | ESPNU |
| 7:30 | Rutgers (0-1/144) at Boston College (0-1/121) | B10/ACC | BC -3.5 | BC | BC | ESPN2 |
| 8:00 | Missouri (1-0/42) at Kansas (1-0/55) | SEC/B12 | MIZZ -5.5 | KAN | KAN | FOX |
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The caveat to all of this is that the GCR is for entertainment purposes only. We do not, nor do we suggest our readers, bet on sports.
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That’s it for today. Tune in tomorrow for the 125 games and a quick recap from today. Thank you for reading, commenting, and sharing with others. Until tomorrow, JoJo and G.
