A look at games that might pique your interest
It’s not a deep group of games this week, but there are some high quality matchups. Thursday is weak with just a single FBS game – and it should be a blowout – although there is a pretty big MEAC game that evening, too. The real good midweek games were on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I didn’t get this out in time.
Friday’s “marquee” game, if you want to go so far as to call it that, is SDSU at Boise State, which features a pair if teams that currently sit undefeated in MWC play. These two teams are very far apart in quality, though, so I wouldn’t expect a close one here.
Saturday kicks off with NC State hosting Stanford for the first meeting between the two programs on the gridiron. The Cardinal are very dependent on QB Ashton Daniels. When he’s healthy, they can hang. When he’s not, well… they don’t. The Wolfpack are coming off a bye week and look to carry some momentum into the final four games of the year while a bowl game hangs in the balance.
The big noon game on Saturday – and, really, the biggest game of the day – is Ohio State’s trip to Penn State. The Buckeyes are 3-point favorites despite being the road team, which the advanced metrics are more in line with despite the human poll rankings for the two teams. The Nittany Lions could use a huge win under James Franklin, and this would certainly qualify as that. Win this one, and it’s clear sailing to a Big Ten title game appearance for PSU while also all but eliminating Ohio State from any such conference title hopes. A win for Ohio State puts them right back square in those talks, especially with a home game still to go against (checks notes) Big Ten leading and undefeated Indiana.
The Manny Diaz Bowl also kicks off at noon with Duke heading to Miami. I wouldn’t expect a Blue Devils win, but the defense may keep them in it for a bit. Also in the ACC, VT and Cuse get the CW treatment at noon in a game that should be a lot closer than that Duke-Miami affair.
Getting to the midday games, Oregon-Michigan is the headliner although the Wolverines have been far from impressive this year with an offense that has hit 30 points just once this year, and that was with help from the defense.
The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party (or whatever they’re calling it these days) is also in that midday slate, although Georgia is likely to handle Florida easily. A Gators win could save Billy Napier’s job in Gainesville, although this is the first of four straight games against ranked teams for Florida, so… yikes. They do finish the season against Florida State, but that may not matter if he goes 0-for in the next four.
Speaking of the Noles… Go FSU this week!
Getting into the night games, SEC-leading Texas A&M heads to South Carolina. The Gamecocks have vacillated between looking amazingly good this year and absolutely garbage. Their defense can create some havoc, though, and that will be necessary in this one.
Still in the Palmetto State, Louisville-Clemson has ACC title implications, although likely not for the Cardinals. With Miami, SMU, and Pitt all still undefeated along with the Tigers, there’s not much – if any – room for error, especially with Miami having a pretty weak remaining schedule.
Speaking of SMU and Pitt, the two square off on Saturday night in the biggest game of the week for the conference. SMU played about as poorly as they could last week but still came through with the win in Durham. Pitt, on the other hand, throttled Syracuse. Not to steal any of Steven’s degeneracy dungeon thunder, but I’m taking Pitt in this one to cover that 7.5-point spread.
Sadly, there are no late night games this week, so we all lose in that regard. But, hey, a good week of football, so enjoy!
Go Pack!
Rankings for SP+ Ratings (here’s the SP+ ranking for all college football teams) and Sagarin Ratings listed, respectively, ahead of each team’s name.
Thursday
59/38 Tulane @ 143/117 Charlotte – 7:30pm – ESPN
(FCS) 151/166 North Carolina Central @ (FCS) 189/194 South Carolina State – 7:30pm – ESPN2
Friday
133/123 Georgia State @ 79/96 UConn – 7:00pm – CBSSN
109/95 South Florida @ 114/125 Florida Atlantic – 7:30pm – ESPN2
111/108 San Diego State @ 36/19 Boise State – 8:00pm – FS1
Saturday
103/104 Stanford @ 51/74 NC State – 12:00pm – ACC Network
2/2 Ohio State @ 8/9 Penn State – 12:00pm – FOX
43/60 Duke @ 9/10 Miami – 12:00pm – ABC
3/7 Ole Miss @ 29/30 Arkansas – 12:00pm – ESPN
35/34 Minnesota @ 57/49 Illinois – 12:00pm – FS1
24/25 Virginia Tech @ 61/61 Syracuse – 12:00pm – CW
4/3 Oregon @ 27/35 Michigan – 3:30pm – CBS
21/24 Florida @ 6/1 Georgia – 3:30pm – ABC
62/50 Texas Tech @ 20/15 Iowa State – 3:30pm – ESPN
40/59 North Carolina @ 69/63 Florida State – 3:30pm – ACC Network
11/11 Texas A&M @ 28/21 South Carolina – 7:30pm – ABC
22/28 Louisville @ 14/14 Clemson – 7:30pm – ESPN
30/27 Wisconsin @ 18/23 Iowa – 7:30pm – NBC
23/26 Pittsburgh @ 17/18 SMU – 8:00pm – ACC Network
38/48 TCU @ 47/32 Baylor – 8:00pm – ESPN2
101/94 Colorado State @ 123/118 Nevada – 8:00pm – CBSSN