Introducing the new “This Week in College Football”. With the proliferation of conferences desperate for ESPN’s money and exposure, we now have college ball on practically every day of the week. So each week, I’ll write up a short post about this week’s weekday games in the same vein as my weekend column.
As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.
Tuesday
8:00: Arkansas State @ Louisiana-Monroe (ESPN2): Ordinarily, I’d look at this and say, “Pschaw, 1-3 (1-0) Arkansas State at 3-2 (2-0) Monroe? This one’s a gimme.” Au contraire! Consider that Monroe’s wins are over I-AA Texas Southern and the F_U pick’em. Sure, Arknsas State’s win is over a I-AA team, but their losses are to Nebraska, Iowa, and Sun Belt powerhouse (note: that’s a purely relative statement) Troy. That said, and I can’t believe I’m going to say this, UL-Monroe should still win.
Wednesday
8:00: Boise State @ Tulsa (ESPN): In their last action, Tulsa only put up 27 points on a very bad Rice team. In their last action, Boise only put up 34 points on UC-Davis, which, for those you keeping score at home, is not in Division I-A. That said, it’s tough to argue against Boise here – against a decidedly vulnerable Oklahoma Tulsa scored zero points and was generally not very. Should still be fun to watch, though.
Thursday
7:30: Cincinnati @ South Florida (ESPN): Battle of the undefeated Big East teams! That’s right folks. That said, the portion of USF’s schedule that isn’t DI-AA or from the Sun Belt consists of Florida State and Syracuse, and Matt Groethe is still out for the season. Cincy, meanwhile, has taken care of business, with a solid win over Oregon State. (Rutgers may be 4-1, but considering they haven’t played other than Maryland since makes me dubious about that record.) Cincy is definitely the better team here, but can they go on the road and execute? I think so, but we’ll see.
Friday
8:00: Pittsburgh @ Rutgers (ESPN): Hey, more Big East teams! Each of these already has a loss, though (NC State and USF, respectively). I see nothing to suggest either of these teams is terribly good, so I’m going to cautiously go with the side that’s at least beaten more DI-A teams (Pitt).