This Weekend in College Football: Week 14

As usual, all times Eastern and predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Ohio State @ Michigan (ABC): Michigan isn’t disaster at this point simply because Florida still makes them look good. Ohio State should win easily.
  • Florida State @ Florida (ESPN): Whoops!

    So … Georgia Southern’s passing downs success rate was higher than Florida’s. GS didn’t complete a pass.
    — Bill Connelly (@SBN_BillC) November 26, 2013

    So yeah, not feeling good about UF’s chances here.

  • Duke @ North Carolina (ESPN2): I hate Duke so much. I also hate all the teams that managed to lose to Duke for no apparent reason after Georgia Tech went and dismantled them. I don’t have a very good idea who is going to win this game because I don’t think Duke is that good, but Carolina has been pretty not… great this year. I’m begrudgingly picking Duke.
  • Kansas State @ Kansas (FS1): Kansas is still awful, K-State rolls.
  • Temple @ Memphis (ESPNEWS): I’ll take Memphis’s three wins over Temple’s one.
  • Rutgers @ Connecticut (ESPNU): Again, I’ll take the five win team (Rutgers) over the one win team.
  • Minnesota @ Michigan State (BTN): It’s hard to see how things get any easier for Minnesota’s 70th-ranked offense against Michigan State’s defense of death.
  • Wake Forest @ Vanderbilt (SEC): Vandy is the superior team here.

12:30: Maryland @ North Carolina State (ACC): Maryland isn’t very good, but NC State is worse, so…

2:00: Colorado @ Utah (Pac12): Utah has lost five straight games since beating Stanford, making that game even more inexplicable. Despite this, they still appear to be more solid than Colorado.

2:30: North Texas @ Tulsa (FSN): North Texas should put an end to one of college football’s most disappointing outfits this season.

3:00: Brigham Young @ Nevada (CBSS): Nevada struggled much of the year before their upset last week over San Jose State. BYU had a wrenching loss to Notre Dame, but despite these factors, BYU is the better team.

3:30:

  • Georgia @ Georgia Tech (ABC): Once again, we need play basically flawlessly. Everything has to go right for us and bad for them. But, above all: To Hell With Georgia.
  • Alabama @ Auburn (CBS): This should be a great time, for a time. Alabama, though, is just too good, too efficient. Auburn’s strides since last season are nearly amazing, but I think this game will show how far they still have to go.
  • Pennsylvania State @ Wisconsin (ESPN): Wisconsin should roll as per usual.
  • Baylor @ Texas Christian (ESPN2): Baylor should be able to regain their mojo against a struggling TCU team.
  • Virginia Tech @ Virginia (ESPNU): UVA is awful, but that hasn’t stopped VPI from taking bad losses so far this season. That said, UVA is one of the few teams with a worse offense statistically than VPI’s, so they should be okay in this one.
  • Purdue @ Indiana (BTN): Once again, I’ll take Indiana’s four wins against Purdue’s single win.
  • Boston College @ Syracuse (ACC/FSN): Syracuse needs this win for bowl eligibility, but I just don’t think they’ll get it.

4:00: Iowa State @ West Virginia (FS1): These teams are evenly matched. That’s not really a good thing for WVU, who probably did not hire Dana Holgersen to run the nation’s 90th ranked scoring offense. Does Holgo still have the mojo to beat Iowa State? It’s probably going to be closer than many WVU fans would like.

7:00:

  • Notre Dame @ Stanford (FOX): The nation’s 75th ranked offense will be getting no favors from Stanford’s defense. The Tree should roll, much like a log rolling downhill.
  • Clemson @ South Carolina (ESPN2): I think Clemson is the better team here. However, that doesn’t mean I feel great about their chances. The ACC will almost certainly get two teams into the BCS first for the time ever if Clemson and Florida State win. More importantly for Clemson fans, they’ve lost four straight in this one. This is their best chance to overturn it so far.
  • Tennessee @ Kentucky (ESPNU): Tennessee’s motto at this point could well be “well, at least we’re not Kentucky”.

7:45: Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Missouri (ESPN): TAMU has lost three games this year, and I think it’s about to become four, and it’s almost entirely because of their awful defense.

8:00: California-Los Angeles @ Southern California (ABC): Call me crazy, but I’m actually calling this for USC. Southern Cal and DACOACHO have started to play like, well, Southern Cal. Meanwhile, after failing to upset either of the Pac-12’s top two teams, losing to Arizona State last week killed any chance for the preseason Pac-12 South favorites.

9:30: Arizona @ Arizona State (Pac12): Arizona’s out-of-nowhere upset followed losses to UCLA and Wazzou. I like the Sun Devils, but these teams actually look pretty evenly matched. This one could be interesting.

10:15: New Mexico @ Boise State (ESPN2): This one, less so. Boise should roll.

10:30: San Diego State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (ESPNU): And finally, a day that is bound to be gut-wrenching for many wraps up with a little affair out in Vegas. At stake in this Mountain West clash? Not much, due to the Aztech’s overtime loss to Fresno back in October. This should be close, at least for a bit, but SDSU should prevail.