A look at games that might pique your interest
We enter Week 11 with the Wolfpack needing one more victory to secure bowl eligibility for the fifth straight year and the tenth time in a dozen years under Dave Doeren. Standing in their way is a Duke team that has taken three of the last four meetings in the series, with nary a close game amongst the losses.
Before we get to that, though, we have a couple weeknight games, including a pair of Thursday night tilts with some local flair. East Carolina will try to move to 2-0 under interim coach Blake Harrell and inch themselves closer to bowl eligibility as they host FAU. The Owls are led by former Texas coach Tom Herman and have been nothing short of a hot mess this year. Interim coach versus a program that hasn’t been relevant since Lane Kiffin left town. Can’t you feel the excitement?!
The other Thursday night game features two Sun Belt teams who were competing for that conference title annually just a few short years ago, but are amongst the also-rans this year. Both App State and Coastal are 4-4 overall with losing conference records. App needs the win more since their regular season will consist of just 11 games due to the cancelled Liberty game earlier this year.
Friday night has an ACC game thrown in with Cal making the cross-country trip to Winston-Salem to take on Wake. The Deacs have won three of four while Cal has lost four of their last five, but the Bears are the better team. It should still be an entertaining game.
And then there are some other games Friday night, but nothing to concern yourself with too much unless you feel like watching Iowa try and play offense.
In the noon Saturday slot, we’ll see if Miami can remain unbeaten at Georgia Tech. As mentioned in the power rankings this week, GT’s entire offense hinges on the health of QB Haynes King. If he’s healthy, this is a team capable of knocking off the Hurricanes. If he’s not, this one will be over by halftime.
Also in the noon slot, Florida takes on Texas. This is the second of four straight games for the Gators against teams ranked in the top 12 of SP+, with both last week’s opponent (Georgia) and this week’s (Texas) being in the top 3. Tough sledding for Billy Napier.
Syracuse versus a rested Boston College should be a good game. The Eagles really need that one to keep bowl hopes alive.
In the midday slot, all Wolfpack eyes will be focused on Carter-Finley and the Wolfpack’s game against the Blue Devils. If NC State can carry forward the offense displayed in last week’s romp over Stanford, then this one should be easy. However, if Duke continues their wizardry in the turnover department, this one could go either way. Welcome back to Raleigh, by the way, to Manny Diaz!
The big national game in the midday slot is Georgia at Ole Miss. The Rebels’ slim SEC title hopes – and their full CFP hopes – are on the line in this one. Texas A&M’s loss last week vaulted Georgia back into the pole position in the SEC race. This should be a must-watch, so get it on another screen if you’re watching from home.
Also keep an eye on that Michigan-Indiana game. The Wolverines are a far cry from the team they were last year, but the defense is still good and the pressure if fully on the Hoosiers. If Indiana can come out on top in this one, it’ll set up a monster showdown with Ohio State next week. Hopefully they’re not looking ahead.
Virginia Tech has played a lot of close games this year and ended up on the wrong end of those close games more times than not. Hosting Clemson – especially a Tigers team coming off a loss – is probably not a great situation to get over that hump. Should Clemson falter, it might mean the first back-to-back seasons with less than 10 wins since 2009-2010.
The big primetime game is clearly FSU at Notre Dame… Or at least it would have been looking at the schedule back in August. Instead, that game will be a laugher while all eyes will be on Alabama-LSU, and rightfully so. A loss will officially end Alabama’s bid for a CFP spot while an LSU win would put the Tigers right back into the SEC title – and CFP – hunt.
Don’t sleep on that Oklahoma-Missouri game, even if both teams have fallen significantly from their early season form.
And then for your late night viewing pleasure, there’s the battle of the Mormons over on ESPN. Utah is having a really really bad year (the advanced metrics haven’t quite caught up to them yet) while BYU is on a magical run mostly thanks to a tissue-soft schedule. Kalani Sitake has the Cougars on pace to post their third double-digit win total in the last five years, but their eyes are clearly on higher stakes right now as they sit undefeated and atop the Big XII standings.
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
125/132 Florida Atlantic @ 100/102 East Carolina – 8:00pm – ESPN2
103/93 Appalachian State @ 97/112 Coastal Carolina – 8:00pm – ESPN
Friday
36/35 California @ 77/91 Wake Forest – 8:00pm – ACC Network
17/16 Iowa @ 78/59 UCLA – 9:00pm – FOX
113/100 Rice @ 55/65 Memphis – 9:00pm – ESPN2
140/127 New Mexico @ 119/113 San Diego State – 10:30pm – FS1
Saturday
7/8 Miami @ 57/56 Georgia Tech – 12:00pm – ESPN
26/24 Florida @ 2/4 Texas – 12:00pm – ABC
58/57 Syracuse @ 65/68 Boston College – 12:00pm – CW
59/49 West Virginia @ 49/33 Cincinnati – 12:00pm – FS1
47/61 Duke @ 50/62 NC State – 3:30pm – ACC Network
3/1 Georgia @ 4/6 Ole Miss – 3:30pm – ABC
30/40 Michigan @ 11/12 Indiana – 3:30pm – CBS
15/20 Clemson @ 27/29 Virginia Tech – 3:30pm – ESPN
34/60 Army @ 89/87 North Texas – 3:30pm – ESPN2
37/23 Colorado @ 60/39 Texas Tech – 4:00pm – FOX
19/13 South Carolina @ 56/52 Vanderbilt – 4:15pm – SEC Network
62/67 Maryland @ 5/3 Oregon – 7:00pm – Big Ten Network
79/84 Mississippi State @ 10/9 Tennessee – 7:00pm – ESPN
44/32 UCF @ 46/36 Arizona State – 7:00pm – ESPN2
75/73 Florida State @ 8/7 Notre Dame – 7:30pm – NBC
6/5 Alabama @ 12/11 LSU – 7:30pm – ABC
25/25 Oklahoma @ 16/30 Missouri – 7:45pm – SEC Network
31/43 Washington @ 9/10 Penn State – 8:00pm – Peacock
70/76 Virginia @ 29/31 Pittsburgh – 8:00pm – ACC Network
54/38 UNLV @ 110/105 Hawaii – 9:00pm – CBSSN
81/82 Fresno State @ 147/135 Air Force – 9:45pm – FOX
22/21 BYU @ 38/44 Utah – 10:15pm – ESPN
141/124 Utah State @ 53/46 Washington State – 10:30pm – CW