A look at games that might pique your interest
Aaaand we’re back for another week of college football. I’m running late on getting this one out (the Thursday games are kicking off as I’m writing this) so let’s knock this thing out quickly.
Arizona State vs Texas State should be closer than you’d expect. The ASU program has fallen off and G.J. Kinne has turned around Texas State real quick, going 10-5 under him thus far, including whipping a UTSA team that’s won 32 games over the last three years. The Sun Devils, to their credit, have started the season 2-0 including a win over Mississippi State last week.
The spread between the UNLV-Kansas and Arizona-K-State games aren’t that different, but there’s definitely one of those you should be more interested in than the other (hint: it’s the K-State game).
NC State gets the noon kickoff on the ACC Network. The Wolfpack need to show vast improvement against LaTech since the schedule is looking tougher and tougher by the week.
Alabama-Wisconsin is a nice game to see on the schedule. The atmosphere should be rocking for that one.
FSU is a 6.5-point favorite over Mike Norvell’s former team, Memphis, but the advanced metrics say it’ll be closer than that. We’ll see. Meanwhile Boston College has an opportunity to make a statement at Missouri, but I think Eli Drinkwitz and crew will be ready for that one.
In the midday Saturday slot we get the Civil War out in Oregon, which is sure to be extra spicy since the Beavers are now 50% of what remains of the Pac-12. The rest of that midday slot is kinda meh, but we do get another rivalry game with Washington State (the other 50% of the Pac-12) at Washington. That App State vs ECU game should be good, too, especially if ECU’s QB keeps up his current rate of 3.5 INT/game.
The Saturday evening group of games has a lot of should-be lopsided ACC affairs. The one there that’s interesting is Ole Miss travelling to Winston-Salem. If the Deacs pull that off, I’ll be floored. Dave Clawson is a helluva coach, though… but 22.5-point dogs doesn’t put things in their favor, even at home.
The best game of the primetime slot looks like UCF-TCU, so… yay…
Go State!
Rankings for SP+ Ratings and Sagarin Ratings listed, respectively, ahead of each team’s name.
Thursday
62/51 Arizona State @ 73/69 Texas State – 7:30pm – ESPN
FCS/250 Northwestern State @ 104/117 South Alabama – 7:30pm – ESPN+
Friday
61/49 UNLV @ 36/28 Kansas – 7:00pm – ESPN
33/37 Arizona @ 16/15 Kansas State – 8:00pm – FOX
Saturday
110/140 Louisiana Tech @ 56/62 NC State – 12:00pm – ACC Network
3/4 Alabama @ 29/34 Wisconsin – 12:00pm – FOX
17/16 LSU @ 32/31 South Carolina – 12:00pm – ABC
27/39 Memphis @ 34/27 Florida State – 12:00pm – ESPN
55/58 Boston College @ 7/11 Missouri – 12:45pm – SEC Network
9/7 Oregon @ 47/47 Oregon State – 3:30pm – FOX
120/123 Ball State @ 10/18 Miami – 3:30pm – ACC Network
60/54 Tulane @ 19/14 Oklahoma – 3:30pm – ESPN
15/9 Notre Dame @ 58/63 Purdue – 3:30pm – CBS
20/20 Texas A&M @ 31/38 Florida – 3:30pm – ABC
43/35 Washington State @ 24/33 Washington – 3:30pm – Peacock
FCS/231 VMI @ 66/57 Georgia Tech – 3:30pm – ESPN+
41/32 West Virginia @ 63/65 Pittsburgh – 3:30pm – ESPN2
86/76 Appalachian State @ 83/86 East Carolina – 4:00pm – ESPNU
123/130 UConn @ 50/70 Duke – 6:00pm – ESPN+
FCS/195 NC Central @ 46/53 North Carolina – 6:00pm – ESPN+
45/48 Virginia Tech @ 103/102 Old Dominion – 6:00pm – ESPN+
5/5 Ole Miss @ 71/81 Wake Forest – 6:30pm – CW
1/1 Georgia @ 40/40 Kentucky – 7:30pm – ABC
54/56 Indiana @ 53/64 UCLA – 7:30pm – NBC
79/60 Colorado @ 109/108 Colorado State – 7:30pm – CBS
25/23 UCF @ 26/30 TCU – 7:30pm – FOX
42/45 Maryland @ 69/75 Virginia – 8:00pm – ACC Network
59/50 BYU @ 122/107 Wyoming – 9:00pm – CBSSN
97/106 San Diego State @ 48/43 California – 10:30pm – ESPN
108/134 New Mexico State @ 78/80 Fresno State – 10:30pm – truTV