A look at games that might pique your interest
NC State is on a bye this week before heading to Atlanta for a Thursday night game on the 21st, so we’ll all just need to live vicariously through other teams this week. Especially Wake. Let’s go Deacs!
Wednesday night there’s a trio of MACtion games. Check in on NC State’s opponent from earlier this year, Northern Illinois, to see how they’re doing on the year (not great). Also check in on former NC State player Delbert Mimms as his Eastern Michigan squad look to pull the upset on MAC leader Ohio. Former Wolfpack WR Porter Rooks is also on the Eastern Michigan roster but has yet to play this year. A quick and lazy search didn’t return any results as to why that is.
Hope you enjoyed watching ECU last Thursday night because the Pirates get the Thursday night treatment again this week, only this time moving up from ESPN2 to the network flagship.
There’s a four-pack of games on Friday, although none are really going to tickle your fancy. A bunch of pillow fights, really, but at least a few have some evenly matched teams according to the advanced metrics. Verdict: go watch some first round NCHSAA football action at your local high school.
The Saturday noon slate is also underwhelming. That Clemson-Pitt game had a lot more hype a couple weeks ago before Clemson lost to Louisville and Pitt forgot how to play football. Utah-Colorado could be good, but the Utes haven’t topped 22 points in game since September and they’re unsurprisingly riding a five-game losing streak. The Buffs Charmin-soft schedule continues.
Tulane-Navy will determine who faces Army for the AAC championship game, so that one should be intense. If Navy wins – and assuming they don’t lose to ECU the following week to then lose that title game appearance – we’ll end up with back-to-back Army-Navy games.
There are more games of interest in the midday slate, but still not a ton of great options. Syacuse-Cal and BC-SMU are the ACC games of note. LSU-Florida will get the national attention, but the Tigers should win that one easily.
Nebraska-USC and Baylor-WVU are probably two of the best games of that group, but the best is somehow relegated to the SEC Network: Mizzou-Sakerlina. Neither team is going to play for the SEC title, but South Carolina is surging and Missouri still has an outside shot at the playoffs if they can finish 10-2, although that SOS is going to work hard against them.
There are two big games in the Saturday primetime slot: Oregon-Wisconsin and Tennessee-Georgia. Oregon is undefeated and a win puts them into the Big Ten title game. A Wisky win puts the Badgers into… a bowl game.
Tennessee-Georgia is the big game, and rightfully so. Both teams have their flaws and haven’t been playing as well lately as they were to start the year, but both are really strong, as you can tell from the advanced metrics. A Vols win puts them in great position for an SEC title game appearance, and keeps them especially in the CFP picture. A Georgia win keeps the Bulldogs hopes of an SEC title game appearance alive and also keeps their hopes of a CFP appearance.
Arizona State vs Kansas State is also worthy of your attention.
The late night games aren’t great, but they’re football and a nice way to wind down the evening.
Go Football!
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.
Wednesday
223/222 Kent State @ 89/81 Miami (OH) – 7:00pm – ESPNU
181/168 Akron @ 93/101 Northern Illinois – 7:00pm – CBSSN
121/132 Eastern Michigan @ 100/94 Ohio – 7:00pm – ESPN2
Thursday
88/93 East Carolina @ 150/172 Tulsa – 7:30pm – ESPN
Friday
136/118 Wyoming @ 96/87 Colorado State – 8:00pm – CBSSN
85/89 North Texas @ 96/96 UTSA – 8:00pm – ESPN2
76/54 UCLA @ 46/52 Washington – 9:00pm – FOX
90/65 Houston @ 80/78 Arizona – 10:15pm – FS1
Saturday
2/2 Texas @ 35/42 Arkansas – 12:00pm – ABC
14/15 Clemson @ 37/46 Pittsburgh – 12:00pm – ESPN
36/39 Utah @ 32/20 Colorado – 12:00pm – FOX
34/25 Tulane @ 65/74 Navy – 12:00pm – ESPN2
60/62 Syracuse @ 30/41 California – 3:30pm – CW
70/70 Virginia @ 7/5 Notre Dame – 3:30pm – NBC
68/67 Boston College @ 12/16 SMU – 3:30pm – ESPN
15/14 LSU @ 39/29 Florida – 3:30pm – ABC
20/18 Louisville @ 114/112 Stanford – 3:30pm – ACC Network
45/48 Nebraska @ 23/24 USC – 4:00pm – FOX
51/32 Baylor @ 56/40 West Virginia – 4:00pm – ESPN
31/60 James Madison @ 102/85 Old Dominion – 4:00pm – ESPNU
17/26 Missouri @ 16/10 South Carolina – 4:15pm – SEC Network
24/23 Boise State @ 86/102 San Jose State – 7:00pm – CBSSN
49/33 Arizona State @ 18/17 Kansas State – 7:00pm – ESPN
3/7 Oregon @ 44/35 Wisconsin – 7:30pm – NBC
9/9 Tennessee @ 6/6 Georgia – 7:30pm – ABC
52/44 Cincinnati @ 21/22 Iowa State – 8:00pm – FOX
81/88 Wake Forest @ 27/51 North Carolina – 8:00pm – ACC Network
53/47 Washington State @ 130/120 New Mexico – 9:30pm – FS1
42/28 Kansas @ 22/19 BYU – 10:15pm – ESPN
119/115 San Diego State @ 54/49 UNLV – 10:30pm – CBSSN