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The Way We Watch: An irrefutable weekly ranking of the B1G’s best games
Published:
Every Saturday from now until the week after Thanksgiving is a precious entity into itself. Amid obligations to family and friends our time is at a premium with others who prefer to elongate parties by throwing them on Saturday. Now’s not the time for me to defend my dissertation on “Other People’s Weddings On Tuesday: For the Sake of the Guests,” so it’s important to prioritize games for one of television’s longest-running serials.
Specific to the Big Ten, games stretch all the way from Thursday through Saturday in Week One. Conference enthusiasts might be a touch confused about where to start in consuming the action, especially if they want to enjoy the game as a fan and not a financial contributor to a lost cause. How do we go about prioritizing the games? First we have to put ourselves in a position to maximize the day’s enjoyment.
Each week we will cover an integral part of the game-viewing experience. Let’s dive into the power of the remote.
Week One can be overwhelming. We don’t live in a TGI Friday’s or Phil Steele’s office so most of us operate with a one or two television/screen set up. We’re out of the routine and have forgotten the channel numbers for stations we last visited in November of 2018. The flashback button is your best friend for those with cable. Clear the deck Saturday morning before the games start.
The work comes with a little bit of necessary research but Rome was not built in a day. Spot-on comparison, I know.
Use espn.com or cbssports.com. Both sites give you the option to view games by conference on the schedule page. I prefer espn.com because the logo of the network shows in the network column, though just for their network. Let’s not be too particular and complain to the management. Line up all the channels in a row on your flashback feature. My provider allows me to go six deep. Silence your claims of bragging, I have the wrinkles of financial ruin written all over my face as collateral damage for such a luxury.
Assign channels their spot on flashback row in accordance to the game’s start time and the general level of interest you have in the each. Don’t trust your recall of numbers. Outside of my safe-crackers in the reading audience, who among you has more than two telephone numbers memorized? If you do, go ahead and pick up an Elmore Leonard book to replace some of that airy data in your head space.
Done? Good.
Brimming with optimum football viewing wisdom, here are the three most watchable Big Ten games between Friday night and Saturday. I trust you maxed out your Thursday viewing already.
Note: I’ll detail my top three choices each week based on a metric that includes watchability of said team, and personalities involved in the game. My tolerance of broadcast crews does not dip until Week 3 in the late afternoon games so that component does not figure into my decision-making.
Game #3: Florida Atlantic University at Ohio State, Saturday, 11 AM CST, Fox
So much to chew on here: Justin Fields, Ryan Day, Lane Kiffin, Charlie Weis Jr., a revamped Ohio State defense. All focus will be on Fields and Day as the two, linked unfairly or not, will be under a constant evaluation process from Ohio State fans who know not what they want from either except good marks for wins and bad marks for losses. Also figured into the evaluation process in the gray area of grit and gumption column is the amount of in-game cutaways of Urban Meyer at the Fox studios.
Staring back at them will be the football prodigy of the early 2000’s and the football prodigy of the now. Sure we can try to see how Ohio State’s defense dominates FAU but we’re in it more for Kiffin’s perplexed feelings as told by his arm movements and his flowing white windbreaker along with the shots of Weis Jr., on the sidelines to see if resting coach face skips a generation.
Game #2: Purdue vs. Nevada Friday, 8:30 CST CBSSN
The ranking is an appreciation to Rondale Moore and the sort of work Jeff Brohm does to get him the ball. We aren’t here for the potential improvement for Purdue’s defense.
Game #1: Wisconsin vs. South Florida (at Orlando) Friday, 6 PM, ESPN
Lit only by the glow of his android phone (even Wisconsin transfers are not allowed Apple products. Android feels distinctly Wisconsin) former quarterback Alex Hornibrook might be in for a sulk session as he watches the score reach higher and higher Friday night. Wisconsin is stacked at the skills, most recently with the reinstatement of wide receiver Quintez Cephus.
No one knows if South Florida is back or if they ever left, the reemergence is more of a Texas thing than a Charlie Strong thing, but the addition of offensive coordinator Kerwin Bell to the USF coaching staff calls for high-flying good times in the name of an up-tempo offense. As the head coach at Division II Valdosta State, Bell’s teams averaged 52 points per game last season on the way to a 2018 Division II title. Let’s hope the weather does not rain on the para…. No I won’t do it. Let’s hope the weather doesn’t suck.
Nick is a writer for saturdaytradition.com. Your overuse of GIFs forced him away from Twitter. He removed himself from consideration in the Vanderbilt heading coaching search.