This Weekend in College Football: Week 4

Yarr, there be spelling and grammar mistake dragons here. But let’s get down to it anyway, and it’ll be ready more than 24 hours in advance, to boot!

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Notre Dame @ Pittsburgh (ABC): I should probably write something about realignment, but I don’t really have the time right now. So I’ll start here: Pitt, you need to start to win some games and not letting Iowa stage a 21-point rally in the last 16:16 of the game. That said, Notre Dame’s demolishing of a superior defense in Michigan State last weekend might show they’re ready now after an unsteady first two games, so I’ll go with the Irish here.
  • North Carolina @ Georgia Tech (ESPN): It’s always fun when your team scores 66 points. I almost hate to say it but the 2nd reminded me of the Stanford-Wake Forest game I went to last year out here, in terms of “dominating offensive performances”. That said, Carolina does have an actual, real defense and some ability to move the ball, while GT’s defensive performance in the first half against Kansas was, shall we say, lackluster. Additionally, I don’t really feel good about the fact we decided to print t-shirts about beating Kansas.
  • Eastern Michigan @ Pennsylvania State (ESPN2): This will be a good recovery after what Alabama did to Penn State. Then again, they probably thought that going into the Temple game last weekend.
  • Southern Methodist @ Memphis (FSN): Memphis is still one of the worst teams in college football, but at least they didn’t lose to Austin Peay. Anyway, Mustangs roll.
  • Central Michigan @ Michigan State (ESPNU): Speaking of recovery games, this might be exactly what Sparty needs after fizzling against Notre Dame.
  • San Diego State @ Michigan (BTN): For Wazzou, nothing had to be more deflating for prospects of “maybe this is the year we aren’t a laughingstock anymore” than losing 42-24 to SDSU. That said, the Aztecs are more than capable of scoring points and may be able to keep this interesting into the second half.
  • Georgia @ Mississippi (SEC): Look, Georgia’s not very good this year, but Ole Miss, well, that is a trainwreck in progress. If you tune into this one, you may be stuck in “horrifying yet can’t look away” mode.

12:30: Temple @ Maryland (ACC): Temple was able to give Penn State a run for its money, but honestly that was probably a fluke. Terps should be able to take care of business.

3:30:

  • Arkansas @ Alabama (CBS): Nick Saban vs. Bobby Petrino. This game is usually pretty fun, even if the Tide winds up winning in the end – which they probably will in this game.
  • Colorado @ Ohio State (ABC/ESPN2): Ohio State may have basically been an offensively non-entity in Miami, but playing the extremely lackluster Colorado defense should help make them look better this time around. And let’s face it, the Buckeye backups are probably still better than Colorado’s starters at this point.
  • Oklahoma State @ Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (ESPN2/ABC): Nothing like having your bye week in the first month of the season to ensure that you get most of the way to October with people still writing “well, we still don’t know much about this team”. I’m talking about TAMU here, as they’ve only played two games against SMU and Idaho. Points were scored, though, which seems a safe bet to carry into this game. I actually stayed up to watch part of that Oklahoma State-Tulsa game, and, well, it was kind of fun once but I won’t exactly be pining for 10:00pm Pacific starts from the Big 12 in the future. Anyway, I think OSU wins in a shootout.
  • Florida State @ Clemson (ESPN): FSU should be able to bounce back against Clemson as long as they’re not too bummed out about losing to Oklahoma. Also, Dabo Swinney is likely easily outfoxed by simple utensils, which gives a slight edge to most opposing coaches.
  • California @ Washington (FSN): Well, Washington got beat pretty bad by Nebraska, but that was expected. Cal is 3-0 but its best victory is an overtime win against Colorado, so at this point it would seem these teams are about evenly matched. In that case, I’ll take Cal, where Jeff Tedford seems to have some of his offensive mojo back.
  • Virginia Tech @ Marshall (CBSS): By all rights, VPI should win this by 50, seeing as how Marshall is coming off a 44-7 loss to Ohio (as in, the university in Athens, Ohio). But seeing as how VPI only managed to beat ECU by 7 and Arkansas State by 19, expect the unexpected and take the under.
  • Kansas State @ Miami (ESNPU): Yeah, I have a feeling this won’t end well for the Wildcats.
  • South Dakota @ Wisconsin (BTN): Wisconsin.
  • Southern Miss @ Virginia (ACC/FSN): I was tempted to pick the upset here, but looking at it, well, Virginia should probably win this one.

7:00:

  • Florida @ Kentucky (ESPN): Kentucky just lost to Louisville, so, well, I feel pretty good about UF in this one.
  • Vanderbilt @ South Carolina (ESPN2): Vandy’s 3-0 folks! Enjoy it while it lasts, Commodore fans.
  • Louisiana Tech @ Mississippi State (ESPNU): With all this realignment talk, I am still baffled by Louisiana Tech’s continued presence in the WAC. Maybe C-USA will get raided and they can join them or something. Anyway, Miss State should be able to get back its offensive footing as long as they don’t have some general aversion to all teams with “Louisiana” in their name.
  • North Dakota State @ Minnesota (BTN): Minnesota. Well, probably.
  • Florida Atlantic @ Auburn (SEC/FSN): Auburn. Definitely.

7:30: Nebraska @ Wyoming (Versus): I’m assuming Wyoming still has their nice brown home unis (well, “nice”, anyway), which may give you a reason to tune into this one.

8:00:

  • Louisiana State @ West Virginia (ABC): Will Morgantown survive the evening? WVU’s got some talented players and an actual coach now, but LSU’s defense should be able to keep them bottled up. But hey, it’s college football’s two rowdiest fanbases meeting up at night in a college town known for obscene t-shirts and a passion for furniture-based arson, which may be worth the price admission alone.
  • Missouri @ Oklahoma (FX): There’ll probably be some points scored in this game, but the Sooners should prevail.
  • Tulsa @ Boise State (CBSS): Tulsa becomes the latest victims of the Boise State Death Machine, hopefully those kids got some sleep before having to travel west though.

10:15:

  • Southern California @ Arizona State (ESPN): Arizona State lost to Illinois? Oof. Um, yeah, going to have to go with the Trojans here.
  • Oregon @ Arizona (ESPN2): Arizona has already given up 37 points each to Oklahoma State and Stanford. Need I say more?