As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Friday

7:00: Georgia Tech @ Louisville (ESPN): So we’re here to cover the Friday games this weekend as well, where in a down-on-their-luck squad of Yellow Jackets seek to turn their season around. And, well, we could certainly do worse than Louisville, but we’ve been bad on the road as of late and I’m still worried about the defense.

7:30: Middle Tennessee State @ Marshall (CBSS): MTSU is lucky to be 2-2, having been outscored by 45 points through four games. Marshall looks a lot better, and they’re at home.

9:00: Utah State @ Brigham Young (ESPN2): BYU’s upset over Wisconsin will continue to look weird, as they’re probably going to lose to the Aggies here.

Saturday

Noon:

• Maryland @ Michigan (ABC): Maryland and Rutgers’s addition to the Big Ten has been embarrassing to the conference, the former off the field, the latter on it. Not that prior Big Ten members have necessarily looked better, but when the TV money disappears one wonders if they might find themselves chopped off like a gangrenous limb. Taking Michigan here.
• Texas vs. Oklahoma (@Dallas, TX; FOX): The Red River Thing is back, and probably as weird as ever! As though it matters, I’m picking Oklahoma.
• Alabama @ Arkansas (ESPN): Let’s see, when will we finally get a game this season where I have a reason to write something here’s other than “Bama” or “Tide” and also not a meta-commentary on what I write here… Mizzou at home, probably not… at Neyland, hah… ah, here we go, mark your calendars for the next time the Crimson Tide will play a game that has a chance to be interesting: November 3rd at LSU.
• Kansas @ West Virginia (ESPN2): All you need to know about KU football is that they probably won’t win another game for the rest of the season but their two wins are a relative success anyway. (In other words, they should schedule Rutgers more often.)
• Northwestern @ Michigan State (FS1): The Big Ten West is on fire right now, and not in a good way. Going with Sparty here.
• Tulane @ Cincinnati (ESPNU): If The Red River Whatchamacallit gets lopsided, flip over to ESPNU, ’cause this one could be good. However, it could also be a Cincy blowout. Either way, I like the Bearcats.
• East Carolina @ Temple (ESPNEWS): Temple? Yeah, let’s say Temple.
• Missouri @ South Carolina (SEC): If the Gamecocks can score points, they can keep this one close, but I’m going with Mizzou.
• Illinois @ Rutgers (BTN): Suddenly glad I don’t get Big Ten Network anymore. As pointed on the Shutdown Fullcast (the Internet’s only college football podcast!), everything you need to know about how awful Rutgers is that they are five point underdogs. At home. To Illinois.
• Buffalo @ Central Michigan (CBSS): Everything you need to know about how awful Rutgers is, transitive property edition: Buffalo beat Rutgers 42-13 (again, at Rutgers) and then turned around and got Army’d at home. That said, CMU is awful and the Bulls should remain undefeated in the MAC.

12:20: Syracuse @ Pittsburgh (Raycom): Just to ensure that you’re not too confused when the ACC Network finally launches next year, it’s Raycom. Anyway, I’m agreement with College Football Twitter (at least, the version of it I follow): Pitt football is a superweapon that has to charge and can only be fired once per season. Therefore, they will beat Notre Dame and lose to everyone else.

12:30: Boston College @ North Carolina State (ACC/RSN): This is arguably NC State’s biggest test yet (having missed West Virginia due to the hurricane), and while they should test, BC can sneak up on you, in a manner of speaking.

3:30:

• Louisiana State @ Florida (CBS): This is usually the year’s most entertaining 9-6 game, and this one promises not to disappoint. How far along is Florida? Why is LSU ranked fifth? Answers to these questions, and… maybe more! I like LSU, though.
• Florida State @ Miami (ABC): Provided Miami actually does have the FSU thing out of their heads now, this year’s version of the ‘Noles shouldn’t present a lot of trouble for them.
• Clemson @ Wake Forest (ESPN): Yes, of course Clemson has a propensity to suffer one random ACC loss per year, but I don’t think this is going to be it.
• Iowa State @ Oklahoma State (ESPN2): It looks like the bad ol’ days for the Cyclones again.
• Kansas State @ Baylor (FS1): All you need to know about how K-State’s season is going is that, by most metrics, Kansas is better than them. It might really be the beginning of the end for Bill Synder this time.
• San Diego State @ Boise State (ESPNU): This is the best team Boise has played since they went to Stillwater. They still figure to win, but I think the Aztecs will make a game of it.
• Iowa @ Minnesota (BTN): Minnesota looked better this year, but then came a 42-13 faceplant at the hands of Maryland.
• Navy @ Air Force (CBSS): Navy’s having a bit of a down year, but I still like them over Air Force in the first leg of the battle for the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.

4:00:

• Indiana @ Ohio State (FOX): Buckeyes.
• Louisiana-Monroe @ Mississippi (SEC): Rebels/Bears/Landsharks.
• Arizona State @ Colorado (Pac12): HERM has shown that he doesn’t understand how college football works (see his recent comments about not understanding that the players are generally in class when they’re not at practice), but despite this the Sun Devils are 3-2. That said, the Buffs this weekend and Stanford next weekend figure to deliver a bracing dose of reality.

5:00: Old Dominion @ Florida Atlantic (Stadium): Owls.

7:00:

• Kentucky @ Texas A&M (ESPN): Is Kentucky… good? I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this possibly, but I’d be even less comfortable with picking the Aggies to win.
• Southern Methodist @ Central Florida (ESPNU): LIGHTNING ROUND! UCF.
• Connecticut @ Memphis (CBSS): Memphis.

7:30:

• Washington @ California-Los Angeles (FOX): UDub.
• Auburn @ Mississippi State (ESPN2): So it’s the 10 year anniversary of the (in)famous 3-2 game. I’ve been doing this for a long time, let’s flash back and see what I said about it:
  

  7:00: Auburn @ Mississippi State (ESPN2): I’d say there’s about a 20% chance of Auburn getting Croom’d here. Maybe lower. Nonetheless, Tigers prevail.

  Well, unlike with many of my picks on this site, I was correct. The next week, Miss State played us and scored 5 whole more points and lost badly, and Auburn lost to LSU. However, for a certain segment of the Internet college football populace, that game is known as the Baby I’m Burnin’ Game:
  
  Anyway, Auburn figures to prevail again, and probably score more than 3 points in the process.

• Vanderbilt @ Georgia (SEC): At this point, I’m just fervently hoping the national title game isn’t a rematch.
• Nebraska @ Wisconsin (BTN): I may have already used this joke, but at this point it looks more like Year -1 for Scott Frost at Nebraska.
• North Texas @ Texas-El Paso (beIN): UNT.

8:00: Notre Dame @ Virginia Tech (ABC): When I figure out how I’m supposed to pick VPI to beat anyone after they lost to Old Dominion, I’ll let you know.

9:00: Washington State @ Oregon State (Pac12): Wazzu.

10:00: California @ Arizona (FS1): This figures to be more fun than the late stages of ND-VPI, at least, so maybe get ready to check out the first half. I like the Bears here.

10:30:

• Utah @ Stanford (ESPN): Stanford seems just good enough to give UDub a shot to play Auburn again in the first round of the playoff.
• Fresno State @ Nevada (ESPNU): Fresno.
• Colorado State @ San Jose State (CBSS): Yeah, maybe stick to the Pac-12 games on this night. I like the Rams.