A look at games that might pique your interest
I gotta say, Thursday night games are amazing. I know, the general caveat of “only if you win” applies, but it’s still great.
NC State gets the Thursday night treatment this week, and while the atmosphere in Atlanta won’t come near the level of what a Thursday night in Raleigh can achieve, it’ll still be a special event. Hopefully the Wolfpack can overcome the offensive woes which have plagued it all year to mount the upset against Georgia Tech. Nobody outside the GT program could have guessed this Yellow Jackets team would be this strong, but it’s also been an imperfect team with flaws which can prove back-breaking. State will look to exploit one of those flaws this week and come away with the victory.
There’s a Big Ten matchup on Friday night, but the best game is going to be a Mountain West showdown between UNLV and SJSU. Honestly, none of the Friday games are that good. Go support your local high school team in their state playoffs.
Almost all of the best games on Saturday are in the noon slate, so clear your calendar and then do junk during the rest of the day. Especially between 4:00pm and 7:00pm. That’s your golden time to do anything else that needs to be done.
Kicking off at noon we have Indiana at Ohio State. The miracle ride the Hoosiers has been on is either going to come to a screeching halt or it’s going to hit an even higher euphoric state. Indiana enters as close to two touchdown dogs, but I’m pulling for them in this one. The Buckeyes spent $20M in NIL money on this year’s roster, so watching them get beat by a team that has more former James Madison players than former 4-star recruits would be absolutely amazing. Go Hoosiers!
Miami will also look to get back on track to an ACC title game and potential CFP appearance against Wake Forest. This one shouldn’t even be close, really.
If Ole Miss can get by Florida in the swamp – and then not trip up against an awful Mississippi State squad in the Egg Bowl next week – then they’ll be well positioned for a CFP appearance. The Rebels two losses are a 3-point road loss to LSU and a head-scratching 3-point loss at home to Kentucky (the Wildcat’s only SEC win of the year). The schedule is pretty weak outside of the win over Georgia, but that may be enough to get them into the expanded playoff.
If SMU can get by Virginia – that shouldn’t really be an issue – they’ll lock up an ACC title spot opposite either Miami or Clemson. We may well know our ACC title game before the sun starts to set on Saturday.
UConn-Syracuse features a pair of 7-3 teams. Nobody saw that coming before the season started.
Go BC!
If you’re looking for a game with intriguing conference title implications on Saturday, the Conference USA matchup between Sam Houston State and Jacksonville State will fill that need. JSU currently sits atop the CUSA standings at 6-0, with SHSU and Western Kentucky tied for second at 5-1. WKU owns the head-to-head with SHSU, so an SHSU win would put a three-way tie into place atop the standings. The wildcard there is Liberty, currently in fourth place in the conference standings at 4-2. The Flames play WKU this weekend and SHSU next weekend. Should they win both of those, they could play their way into the CUSA title game. I know Steven would love that.
Florida State goes for their elusive second win of the season in their 11th game of the season as they take on 1-10 Charleston Southern from the FCS ranks. If the Noles lose this game, Mike Norvell will be fired before his feet can get off the grass.
The midday slate is pretty rough. Your best game is likely BYU at Arizona State, technically a matchup of two Top 25 teams in the polls, but let’s not act like any of us actually believe that. Seriously, go run some errands or look online for your wife’s Christmas gift.
Well, I guess there is the Pitt-Louisville game at 4:00pm, but both those teams have disappointed. Pitt is currently on a 3-game losing streak and Louisville just plays to their opponent more times than not… So… actually, scrap the earlier idea. Watch this game.
Cal-Stanford is on the ACC Network. That’s humorous.
Army vs Notre Dame in Yankee Stadium is – as it should be – the national focus of the primetime games. The Black Knights are 9-0 and having a phenomenal year. Notre Dame is 9-1 with that one setback being an early season WTF effort in South Bend against Northern Illinois. Should Army win, they’ll catapult up and be well positioned for a CFP appearance, should they be able to win out from there (not an easy task with Tulane in the AAC title game and Navy in the class rivalry game). A Notre Dame loss likely drops them out of the CFP, although they do technically have three Top 25 wins on their resume (just don’t look to see if those teams are currently still ranked).
Who’s ready for the Pac 12 Championship Game?! Did you know it’s also the first and only Pac 12 game of the year?! Realignment is awesome!
Oklahoma has topped 23 points against an SEC opponent just once this year, and that was a 27 point “outburst” against an Auburn team that is also sitting at 1-5 in conference play. Basically, Oklahoma’s about to get run the heck over by Alabama. Speaking of Auburn, they’re about to get run over by Texas A&M, although the advanced metrics think much highly of the Tigers than any of your bodily senses would tell you.
Looking at the advanced metrics makes you question of the 7.5-point spread in the Vandy-LSU game. How that one is being relegated to the SEC Network amongst all the junk games this weekend is questionable. Then again, it’s a couple 3-3 teams, so I get it.
Will Brent Pry survive the year in Blacksburg? Manny Diaz has a chance to push him another step out of the door, but that team is so much improved I’m not sure it’s warranted unless the Hokies lose both of their remaining games.
USC-UCLA seems like such an afterthought after the most recent wave of realignment. It doesn’t help that neither team has a winning record. By the way, not to steal any thunder from Steven’s Dungeon column (I love that feature, by the way), but USC at -4.5? I’m taking that in a heartbeat.
One last late night game for you to watch is Colorado State at Fresno State. According to the advanced metrics, these are two very evenly matched teams. A Rams win puts them one win away from a MWC title game appearance opposite Boise State (currently the top ranked G5 team, thus with the inside track at the automatic CFP bid). UNLV, though, is right there should CSU slip up.
Go State!
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
59/71 NC State @ 55/45 Georgia Tech – 7:30pm – ESPN
Friday
165/152 Temple @ 92/82 UTSA – 7:00pm – ESPN2
125/116 Purdue @ 95/79 Michigan State – 8:00pm – FOX
46/50 UNLV @ 90/103 San Jose State – 10:00pm – FS1
Saturday
11/12 Indiana @ 1/3 Ohio State – 12:00pm – FOX
86/86 Wake Forest @ 9/10 Miami – 12:00pm – ESPN
4/5 Ole Miss @ 31/26 Florida – 12:00pm – ABC
13/16 SMU @ 77/69 Virginia – 12:00pm – ESPN2
54/44 Illinois @ 60/57 Rutgers – 12:00pm – Peacock
81/97 UConn @ 56/54 Syracuse – 12:00pm – ACC Network
30/55 North Carolina @ 68/67 Boston College – 12:00pm – CW
101/110 Sam Houston State @ 83/93 Jacksonville State – 12:00pm – CBSSN
64/88 Western Kentucky @ 65/100 Liberty – 1:00pm – ESPN+
[FCS] 291/233 Charleston Southern @ 96/81 Florida State – 1:30pm – ESPN+
34/64 James Madison @ 106/101 Appalachian State – 2:30pm – ESPN+
82/96 East Carolina @ 93/98 North Texas – 3:30pm – ESPN+
39/52 Kentucky @ 3/2 Texas – 3:30pm – ABC
7/8 Penn State @ 37/38 Minnesota – 3:30pm – CBS
26/22 BYU @ 44/30 Arizona State – 3:30pm – ESPN
27/13 Colorado @ 42/27 Kansas – 3:30pm – FOX
[FCS] 222/209 The Citadel @ 14/14 Clemson – 3:30pm – CW
109/104 Stanford @ 36/53 California – 3:30pm – ACC Network
41/43 Pittsburgh @ 22/29 Louisville – 4:00pm – ESPN2
32/56 Army vs 8/6 Notre Dame – 7:00pm – NBC
58/59 Washington State @ 105/107 Oregon State – 7:00pm – CW
2/1 Alabama @ 28/28 Oklahoma – 7:30pm – ABC
12/15 Texas A&M @ 20/37 Auburn – 7:30pm – ESPN
24/17 Iowa State @ 49/47 Utah – 7:30pm – FOX
61/58 Vanderbilt @ 19/18 LSU – 7:45pm – SEC Network
29/34 Virginia Tech @ 43/60 Duke – 8:00pm – ACC Network
21/24 USC @ 84/61 UCLA – 10:30pm – NBC
124/109 Air Force @ 122/119 Nevada– 10:30pm – FS1
89/83 Colorado State @ 80/92 Fresno State – 10:30pm – CBSSN