This Weekend in College Football: Week 10

You may ask yourself “what is that beautiful house?” You may ask yourself “where does that highway go to?”

You may ask yourself “hey where are your bowl predictions?”

Yeah, about that. The bowl schedule is almost totally up-in-the-air at the moment and teams have played a wildly varying number of games. I haven’t had the time to do all the research I need to do, especially given that I suspect there may be games that will be in doubt if they are even played.

Also, I am very incredibly busy. I may have time to look into it around Thanksgiving.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Arizona State @ Southern California (FOX): Naturally, we lead with a Pac-12 game, as is traditional. Wait, what? Yeah, that’s right kids, the Pac-12 will experiment with 9am local time kickoffs to try to get more of that sweet, sweet East Coast exposure. I’m not a Pac-12 fan, but I live on the West Coast and so do most Pac-12 fans, so I’m going to guess they’re not super crazy about this! But as pointed out on Split Zone Duo (like and subscribe, y’all), for the players it’s probably not that weird since they probably wake up at 6:00am for practice normally anyway. Makes sense, since college players have to go to class afterward, which would be main counter the usual thing you hear when West Coast NFL teams play East Coast teams (that is: “body clock”). So anyway, this game. So it turns out Clay Helton is still at USC for some reason? Yeah, that’s weird. I’ll take the Sun Devils.
  • West Virginia @ Texas (ABC): I think writing the beginning of this post is the longest I’ve gone without checking election updates all week, so that’s good. Let’s talk about Texas. If they can play like they can when they’re playing Oklahoma or Oklahoma state, they’re set, so I have them favored. The problem for Texas, and perhaps more specifically for Tom Herman, is that the Longhorns tend to play up or down to their opponent. If they can figure out how to play up to a down opponent, then Texas might actually be “back”.-
  • Michigan State @ Iowa (ESPN): Sparty’s broad shoulders sure shrugged off that loss to Rutgers by beating their biggest rival, so that must feel good. Just like how I still haven’t refreshed the New York Times website again even though it’s now after midnight here. (You never know!) Anyway, Iowa’s 0-2 with losses to Northwestern and Purdue, so yeah let’s roll with Sparty here.
  • North Carolina @ Duke (ESPN2): Carolina all the way in this one.
  • Michigan @ Indiana (FS1): Eh, Indiana, what the hell, let’s do it.
  • Arkansas State @ Louisiana (ESPNU): I’m given to understand that the status of the Cajuns is that they are Ragin’.
  • Nebraska @ Northwestern (BTN): You could watch this game, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Many other games in this time slot have more intrigue than watching Northwestern win this 12-9 or whatever.
  • Liberty @ Virginia Tech (ACCN): VPI, hopefully.
  • Louisiana-Monroe @ Georgia State (espn3.com)
  • Southern Methodist @ Temple (ESPN+)
  • Tulane @ East Carolina (ESPN+)
  • South Florida @ Memphis (ESPN+)

1:00: Troy @ Georgia Southern (espn3.com)

2:00: Boston College @ Syracuse (ACC/RSN): I think BC is good? They seem good. They certainly have Clemson all they wanted last weekend for a half, and unlike Clemson, Syracuse is far less capable of mounting a second half comeback.

2:30: Massachusetts @ Marshall (ESPN+)

3:30:

  • Florida vs. Georgia (“The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” @ Jacksonville, FL; CBS): Apparently Florida plays offense now? I mean, that’s what they were famous for back in the Spurrier (and to a lesser extent, Meyer) days. (They may be the only title-contending SEC school that is generally known for their offenses.) Georgia, well, Georgia doesn’t move the ball any more quickly than they absolutely need to, and I think Florida will be good enough to make them pay for that.
  • Houston @ Cincinnati (ABC): Cincy looks unstoppable, and this version of the Cougars should present little resistance.
  • Kansas @ Oklahoma (ESPN): Speaking of little resistance, boy howdy, name your score Sooners.
  • Texas Tech @ Texas Christian (FS1): I have no idea what to make of this game, and I sort of think that feeling may be shared by many of the participates. TCU I guess?
  • Vanderbilt @ Mississippi State (SEC): Vandy is so bad, y’all.
  • Minnesota @ Illinois (BTN): Minnesota.
  • Maryland @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): Maryland kinda has a pulse this year, but that’s not good enough to stop you from getting rolled by Penn State.
  • Fresno State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (CBSS): Fresno figures come up aces against UNLV.

4:00:

  • Oklahoma State @ Kansas State (FOX): Well, by the metrics, Oklahoma State was the better team against Texas last weekend, but they had a few bad bounces. Well, K-State is going to need more than a few bad bounces.
  • Pittsburgh @ Florida State (ACCN): I don’t think either of these teams is especially good, but it seems like FSU’s loss to us gets weirder by the week. I’ll take the Seminoles.
  • Appalachian State @ Texas State (ESPN+)

6:00: Western Kentucky @ Florida Atlantic (Stadiun/RSN)

7:00:

  • Texas A&M @ South Carolina (ESPN): The Aggies should generally outclass South Carolina, and according to the fans and the people who fund Gamecock football, that shouldn’t be the case. Will Muschamp may not be in Columbia much longer.
  • California-Los Angeles @ Colorado (ESPN2): Did you know Chip Kelly is still at UCLA? And that former UCLA head coach (and alum) Karl Dorrell is now the head man in Boulder? These things are both true. I’ll take the Buffs here.
  • Baylor @ Iowa State (FS1): Go Cyclones.

7:30:

  • Clemson @ Notre Dame (NBC): Well, two of the last three opponents my team has played were these two teams. Even without Trevor Lawrence, Clemson is still a fully operational battle station, especially given they had a week to figure it out last week against Boston College. I will take the Tigers here.
  • Stanford @ Oregon (ABC): Stanford ain’t what it was during the Harbaugh/Luck days, and I don’t think this game will be bringing that back.
  • Tennessee @ Arkansas (SEC): These two teams seem to be about on the same tier so far this season, which is a disappointment for the Vols but an awesome, expectation-exceeding improvement from last year. So I’ll take the Hogs here.
  • Rutgers @ Ohio State (BTN): Rutgers played some 1870’s football last week and it almost worked! (Alas, that pass from #15 was just barely forward.) That said, no amount of laterals will be sufficient for Rutgers to defeat Ohio State.

8:00: South Alabama @ Coastal Carolina (ESPNU): That’s your 15th-ranked Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, thankyouverymuch. They should have no issues with USA.

10:30: Washington State @ Oregon State (FS1): Ah, the first fall day here in the Bay Area today. A little cooler, a crisper. And so what a time for some proper #Pac12AfterDark live from Corvallis. And the Beavers may even be favored! I’m definitely favoring them, at least.

11:00: New Mexico @ Hawaii: You can find this on the internet (and legitimately, I’m given to understand, but maybe it’s only on an app. I dunno, I’ll figure it out when I get there). Trust me, late night Rainbow Warriors football is the salve you need right now.