Week 2 has come and gone and all I learned was that I’m very bad at betting on college football! LSU beat Texas in an exciting game that didn’t really tell us anything about Texas or LSU. Maryland scored 3,000 points against Syracuse, Army flirted with Michigan, Nebraska and Colorado put on an absolute show, and Cal and Washington played until roughly 4 in the morning due to lightning. That’s the speedy recap. Now it’s time to get into Week 3!
Natural Light Seltzers
The morning set of games isn’t super intriguing but there’s a chance for some fireworks. Ohio State heads over to take on Indiana. In all reality, the Buckeyes are gonna roll in this one and should maybe leave the starters at home. But Indiana has a quarterback with the name Penix, so tune in for childlike jokes! Pittsburgh takes on Penn State for the first in-state showdown of the day. Again, PSU should roll, but Pitt always has a sneaky good game in them and look to play spoiler. Temple hosts Maryland and hopes to slow down the offensive wrecking ball Maryland woke up as last week.
If I’ve gone a little out of order for this week, there’s good reason. I was convinced over the weekend to try the Catalina Lime Mixer based on very high compliments from The Tailgate Society’s own Jared Smith. The best comparison for these Natty Light Seltzers are probably a slightly fizzy fruit punch. There’s more cherry flavor than a White Claw or some of the other seltzers, and it also doesn’t carry quite as much carbonation. Of course, that means you can slam them down without hesitation. And you should.
Excitabull
About the only thing to look forward to Saturday afternoon is USC at BYU. The rest is just painful. New Mexico State visits South Bend to take on Notre Dame, and if you bet $300 on ND to win straight up you can win a whole 85 cents! Alabama has an SEC game against South Carolina and are only favored by about 4 touchdowns, so keep an eye on that one. That’s about it, though. What a boring ol’ Saturday afternoon
WAIT JUST A SECOND! It’s also Cy-Hawk week! How on Earth could I forget. It’s the week that every twitter user in the State of Iowa loves to hate. We’ve thrown our quirky jabs, shared our incredibly recycled memes, bounced ridiculous amounts of numbers, stats, trends, and predictions off of our friends and our enemies.
College Gameday is headed to Ames to highlight the rivalry which will be a huge win for either team. So let’s raise a glass and enjoy what should be an absolutely amazing game. Be passionate, be competitive, be a little off-standish but please, I’m begging you, just don’t be a dick.
What You’ll Need: Vodka, Peach Schnapps, cranberry juice, Red Bull
This drink will help keep you awake while maintaining that buzz, especially for you wild ones lining up for College Gameday at 3:30 in the morning. Since I know that tailgating the Cy-Hawk game can get pretty blurry pretty early, let’s keep this simple. Mix equal parts vodka and peach schnapps into your glass. Fill the rest almost full with Red Bull, leaving room for a healthy dose of cranberry juice for some extra flavor and a beautiful cardinal and gold cocktail.
Beer Can Chicken
Guess who forgot to take a picture of his own food for the second straight week? This guy. Anyway, this is a phenomenal tailgating treat that everyone will love. Yielding a full chicken worth of meat means you can feed yourself and a couple friends, or you can simply down an entire chicken after a few beers. Either way you’re gonna love it.
What You’ll Need: whole chicken, olive oil, seasoning salt
This one does take some time, but the pay off is worth it. Lay out a whole chicken, making sure to remove any little package of innards, and dab it dry with paper towels. Next, give it a nice coat of olive oil. Then sprinkle seasoning salt over the entire thing making sure to get it rubbed in. This will all help keep the flavors in and give you that wonderful crispy skin.
The next step is to insert a beer can (about half full of beer) into the lovely rear cavity of the chicken as shown above. Now we grill! You can balance the chicken on the grill like a tripod via the can and two legs, but there’s plenty of cheap tools out there to help like this one I used! Simply put it on the grill at medium-high heat for an hour, maybe a little more. You want the grill to stay around 350 degrees, although it’s ok if it drifts higher. Check the breast with a meat thermometer at about an hour into cooking. When you’re at 165 internal temperature, it’s time to cut it up and start eating! While moist and tasty on it’s own, don’t be afraid to try out your own rubs and sauces with it. I’m probably going to try the Deadeye Magnum seasoning on it next week.
That’s what I’ve got on the docket for everyone this Saturday! To all my friends going to Ames: have a fantastic time, drink a beer for me, and someone please win a game of flip cup for me. If you’re staying at home, I extend the same challenges to you. Until next week, I hope all of your favorite teams win, unless you cheer for Iowa.