Into the heart of the season with teams jockeying for conference and top 25 rankings. Lot’s of good games this week.
Last week we got to see Ohio State rip the heart out of Notre Dame on the last play, Florida State prevailed over Clemson in double overtime and LSU escaped an upset bid by Arkansas.
There were also some bad games as always. We got to see Michigan run over Rutgers unbeaten record and saw Miami roll up the score against an FCS level defense. Oops skip the last one, that was an NFL game.
This week’s Thursday games aren’t worth noting. Probably the best of a bad lot is Temple (2-2) at Tulsa (2-2.)
Friday is much better and worth staying home for.
The early game is an explosive Louisville (4-0) averaging over 43 points per game at North Carolina State (3-1.) A win here and a couple upsets could move them into the top 25.
The late game could be one of the best of the week with (19) Oregon State hosting (10) Utah.
If you want to record something for later while the Buffs are on Saturday, the best choice might be (22) Florida at Kentucky (4-0) with the Gators trying to stay in the rankings and the Wildcats likely going in with a win.
Best other early game is likely Texas A&M (3-1) at Arkansas (2-2) with both teams looking to salvage their seasons this early on.
The 1:30 games look interesting as well. (1) Georgia goes to Auburn (3-1) who is looking for a signature upset. At the same time also looking for a program signature upset (24) Kansas is at (3) Texas. The oddsmakers don’t give Kansas much chance but if any team can blow a high ranking it is Texas.
The funnest game in that time slot though could be (2) Michigan visiting trailer park land at Nebraska (2-2) who will be waving goodbye to being at .500. Coach Matt Drool has a team that has scored 25 points total this year against P5 competition, Michigan may have that in the first quarter. Michigan’s RB Blake Corum has 8 TD runs this year, a figure he is certain to add on to. Meanwhile the Husker fans may have the runs from eating too many greasy meat pocket sandwiches before watching the Wolverines light up the scoreboard.
Later in the day in a big SEC battle (13) LSU is at (20) Ole Miss. LSU barely escaped Arkansas last week and Ole Miss lost at Bama so both are looking to rebound.
Highest stakes evening game should be (11) Notre Dame at (17) Duke. The Irish lost on the last play of the game last week potentially taking them out of the playoff. Duke is 4-0 and seeking respect.
Michigan State (2-2) is at Iowa (3-1.) Coach Mel is busy beating himself as the Spartans go on without him. In their last two games they have been outscored 72-16. The score will probably look better for them this week because Iowa who lost 31-0 last week would have a hard time scoring 30 points in a game against a walk-on squad.
PAC12 games of note have (7) Washington at Arizona (3-1) with one of the nations weakest one loss records.
(9) Oregon won’t need any motivational speeches to easily handle hapless Stanford (1-3.)
Blowout of the week is likely to be Nevada (0-4) at Fresno State (4-0.) Hope the cheerleaders don’t ruin their lungs doing pushups in that Fresno air.
I was tempted to give the garbage game of the week honors to Pittsburgh (1-3) at Virginia Tech (1-3) but alas despite their only wins being against woeful Wofford and dumpy Old Dominion these schools aren’t good enough at being bad to beat out ACC conference mates Virginia (0-4) visiting Boston College (1-3) who’s only win was was against Holy Crud, oops Holy Cross.
Closer to home the Sheep should have an easy one. CSU (1-2) plays FCS Utah Tech (1-3) in front of a “crowd” in Fort Collins.
New Mexico (2-2) is at Wyoming (3-1) in a game that shouldn’t be as close as the records would indicate. Wyoming’s only loss was at Texas and already beat P5 Texas Tech. New Mexico is only 2-2 because of playing a winless FCS team and barely getting past UMess.
The situation is different in Colorado Springs where Air Force (4-0) is undefeated but hasn’t played anyone with a pulse hosts San Diego State (1-3) who has lost to ranked Oregon State, UCLA which has been ranked, and a Boise team that is struggling some but still talented. This game should tell us how good the Falcons actually are.
Northern Colorado (0-4) hasn’t come close to winning yet this year and probably won’t this week either with Weber State (2-2) discovering that the football team isn’t the only thing that stinks in Greeley.
Slightly easier week for the local small schools.
Colorado Mines (4-0,2-0) brings in Chadron (1-3,0-2.)
Mesa (2-2,1-1) is at Western (4-0,2-0)
Pueblo (1-3,0-2) has struggled this season but shouldn’t at Fort Lewis (Fort Lousy) State (0-4,0-2.)
Last week we got to see Ohio State rip the heart out of Notre Dame on the last play, Florida State prevailed over Clemson in double overtime and LSU escaped an upset bid by Arkansas.
There were also some bad games as always. We got to see Michigan run over Rutgers unbeaten record and saw Miami roll up the score against an FCS level defense. Oops skip the last one, that was an NFL game.
This week’s Thursday games aren’t worth noting. Probably the best of a bad lot is Temple (2-2) at Tulsa (2-2.)
Friday is much better and worth staying home for.
The early game is an explosive Louisville (4-0) averaging over 43 points per game at North Carolina State (3-1.) A win here and a couple upsets could move them into the top 25.
The late game could be one of the best of the week with (19) Oregon State hosting (10) Utah.
If you want to record something for later while the Buffs are on Saturday, the best choice might be (22) Florida at Kentucky (4-0) with the Gators trying to stay in the rankings and the Wildcats likely going in with a win.
Best other early game is likely Texas A&M (3-1) at Arkansas (2-2) with both teams looking to salvage their seasons this early on.
The 1:30 games look interesting as well. (1) Georgia goes to Auburn (3-1) who is looking for a signature upset. At the same time also looking for a program signature upset (24) Kansas is at (3) Texas. The oddsmakers don’t give Kansas much chance but if any team can blow a high ranking it is Texas.
The funnest game in that time slot though could be (2) Michigan visiting trailer park land at Nebraska (2-2) who will be waving goodbye to being at .500. Coach Matt Drool has a team that has scored 25 points total this year against P5 competition, Michigan may have that in the first quarter. Michigan’s RB Blake Corum has 8 TD runs this year, a figure he is certain to add on to. Meanwhile the Husker fans may have the runs from eating too many greasy meat pocket sandwiches before watching the Wolverines light up the scoreboard.
Later in the day in a big SEC battle (13) LSU is at (20) Ole Miss. LSU barely escaped Arkansas last week and Ole Miss lost at Bama so both are looking to rebound.
Highest stakes evening game should be (11) Notre Dame at (17) Duke. The Irish lost on the last play of the game last week potentially taking them out of the playoff. Duke is 4-0 and seeking respect.
Michigan State (2-2) is at Iowa (3-1.) Coach Mel is busy beating himself as the Spartans go on without him. In their last two games they have been outscored 72-16. The score will probably look better for them this week because Iowa who lost 31-0 last week would have a hard time scoring 30 points in a game against a walk-on squad.
PAC12 games of note have (7) Washington at Arizona (3-1) with one of the nations weakest one loss records.
(9) Oregon won’t need any motivational speeches to easily handle hapless Stanford (1-3.)
Blowout of the week is likely to be Nevada (0-4) at Fresno State (4-0.) Hope the cheerleaders don’t ruin their lungs doing pushups in that Fresno air.
I was tempted to give the garbage game of the week honors to Pittsburgh (1-3) at Virginia Tech (1-3) but alas despite their only wins being against woeful Wofford and dumpy Old Dominion these schools aren’t good enough at being bad to beat out ACC conference mates Virginia (0-4) visiting Boston College (1-3) who’s only win was was against Holy Crud, oops Holy Cross.
Closer to home the Sheep should have an easy one. CSU (1-2) plays FCS Utah Tech (1-3) in front of a “crowd” in Fort Collins.
New Mexico (2-2) is at Wyoming (3-1) in a game that shouldn’t be as close as the records would indicate. Wyoming’s only loss was at Texas and already beat P5 Texas Tech. New Mexico is only 2-2 because of playing a winless FCS team and barely getting past UMess.
The situation is different in Colorado Springs where Air Force (4-0) is undefeated but hasn’t played anyone with a pulse hosts San Diego State (1-3) who has lost to ranked Oregon State, UCLA which has been ranked, and a Boise team that is struggling some but still talented. This game should tell us how good the Falcons actually are.
Northern Colorado (0-4) hasn’t come close to winning yet this year and probably won’t this week either with Weber State (2-2) discovering that the football team isn’t the only thing that stinks in Greeley.
Slightly easier week for the local small schools.
Colorado Mines (4-0,2-0) brings in Chadron (1-3,0-2.)
Mesa (2-2,1-1) is at Western (4-0,2-0)
Pueblo (1-3,0-2) has struggled this season but shouldn’t at Fort Lewis (Fort Lousy) State (0-4,0-2.)
Last edited: