This Weekend in College Football: Week 5

Oof, it’s Week 5 already and it’s still September. Anyway, more lightning round!

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Syracuse @ Clemson (ABC): Clemson has a new starting quarterback, and it’s a strangely uncontroversial decision. Syracuse is about to find out why.
  • Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (@Arlington, TX; ESPN): SWC! SWC! Yeah, doesn’t quite roll off the tongue the same way as SEC, I guess. Anyway, taking… uh, wait, both these teams are kind bad. TAMU I guess?
  • West Virginia @ Texas Tech (ESPN2): Sneaky fun game, especially now that a high-ranking spot in the Big 12 hierarchy is now possibly at stake. I’ll take TTU here, since it’s going to be at 11 AM in Lubbock.
  • Central Michigan @ Michigan State (FS1): Sparty.
  • Temple @ Boston College (ESPNU): BC, provided their offense is working again.
  • Oklahoma State @ Kansas (FS/RSN): Oklahoma State recovers and reminds us that Kansas is probably still kinda bad.
  • Louisiana-Lafayette @ Alabama (SEC): Tide rolls.
  • Indiana @ Rutgers (BTN): Indiana.
  • Army @ Buffalo (CBSS): Army.
  • Bowling Green @ Georgia Tech (ACC/RSN): I sighed deeply when I got to this line in the post. Look, I had zero expectations going into the Clemson game, but even those were barely met. It was bad, and a good reminder just how far ahead of the rest of the the ACC Clemson is. In another fun fact, did you know that this is the first time we’ve ever played a MAC team? Yeah, I didn’t either!

12:20: Virginia @ North Carolina State (Raycom): NC state.

3:30:

  • Baylor @ Oklahoma (ABC): OU.
  • Tennessee @ Georgia (CBS): UGA.
  • Florida State @ Louisville (ESPN2): Ugh. FSU?
  • Pittsburgh @ Central Florida (ESPNU): While UCF’s national champion status does make them vulnerable to Pitt’s wiles, I like their chances.
  • Texas @ Kansas State (FS1): All right Texas, you need to beat the Maryland of the Big 12 now. I think they can do it, but it’s still hard to trust the Longhorns.
  • Purdue @ Nebraska (BTN): This game looked fun at one point in time, but boy howdy… Nebraska?
  • Cincinnati @ Connecticut (CBSS): Cincy.
  • Rice @ Wake Forest (ACC/RSN): Wake.

4:00:

  • Nevada @ Air Force (ESPNEWS): AFA?
  • Southern Mississippi @ Auburn (SEC): AU.

4:30: Michigan @ Northwestern (FOX): M00N! But yeah, Michigan will probably have more than zero points at the half in this one.

6:00:

  • Florida @ Mississippi State (ESPN): Mullen heads back into Starkville as basically the most successful coach in the history of Miss State. Will he be appreciated for that? Probably not. Will he win with the Gators in tow? Probably.
  • Utah @ Washington State (Pac12): Is Wazzu good? Is Utah good? Perhaps by playing each other, we can find out. I like Wazzu.

7:00:

  • Virginia Tech @ Duke (ESPN2): I’m picking Duke because they didn’t lose to an 0-3 Old Dominion team last weekend.
  • Iowa State @ Texas Christian (ESPNU): TCU.
  • Boise State @ Wyoming (CBSS): Boise.

7:30:

  • Ohio State @ Pennsylvania State (ABC): The Game of the Week that everyone’s vaguely (or not so vaguely) uncomfortable to talk about. That said, I think the Nittany Lions will suffer their first loss of the year.
  • Stanford @ Notre Dame (NBC): How does Stanford win games? Who knows, really. But woe be to anyone who picks against the Tree.
  • South Carolina @ Kentucky (SEC): Kentucky is the second best team in the SEC East this year, for reals, probably.
  • Marshall @ Western Kentucky (Stadium): WKU?
  • Louisiana Tech @ North Texas (beIN): LTU?

8:30: Brigham Young @ Washington (FOX): UDub.

9:15: Mississippi @ Louisiana State (ESPN): LSU.

10:30:

  • Southern California @ Arizona (ESPN2): USC? Ugh.
  • Oregon @ California (FS1): Oregon?
  • Toledo @ Fresno State (ESPNU): Fresno!
  • Oregon State @ Arizona State (Pac12): HERM.