As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.
11:30: Army vs. Air Force (@Arlignton, TX; CBS): So if this is 11:30 AM Eastern, then it’s 10:30 Central. That’s pretty early, but I would imagine that if there’s any group of college students that can deal with waking up early, it’s academy students. That said, I think Army is till the best of the academies this year and I’ll take them here.
Noon:
- Ohio State @ Nebraska (FOX): Nebraska could well still surprise here, but they’ll still lose here.
- Wake Forest @ North Carolina (ABC): This is a non-conference game! Okay, with that out of the way Wake should roll.
- Missouri @ Georgia (ESPN): Speaking of rolling… I think UGA’s best chances to lose now are Auburn and whoever they play in the SEC championship?
- Illinois @ Minnesota (ESPN2): The Golden Gophers are surprisingly decent this year, and Illinois shouldn’t be able to do much to disabuse that notion.
- Kansas State @ Kansas (“Sunflower Showdown”; FS1): It’s a rivalry game, but… K-State should obliterate this edition to the Jayhawks.
- Southern Methodist @ Memphis (ESPNU): Oh, if Memphis was good this year as they’ve been in the past few… but they’re not.
- Liberty @ Mississippi (SEC): Ole Miss by… a lot.
- Louisiana Tech @ Alabama-Birmingham (CBSS): Go Blazers.
- Pittsburgh @ Duke (ACCN): Pitt should be able to take advantage of this opportunity.
12:30: Georgia Tech @ Miami (ACC/RSN): I’ve written a lot about hope this year. I mean, a fair bit of that came during the Braves’s playoff run, which I obviously greatly enjoyed. Regardless, this doesn’t seem like a team that’s getting better, and that’s extremely concerning at this point. I don’t think Tech would make any moves during the season, but this something that will definitely need to some hard questions asked during the offseason.
3:00:
- California @ Arizona (Pac12): It’s late and I’m tired. LIGHTNING ROUND (unless I have something particularly insightful to say). Cal? Big “oof” from noted Cal alum Aaron Rodgers the past few days though, eh? Maybe it turns out that the rest of the Rodgerses were avoiding Aaron instead of the other way around like we all thought.
- Louisiana-Monroe @ Texas State (ESPN+)
- Temple @ East Carolina (ESPN+)
3:30:
- Michigan State @ Purdue (ABC): Sparty? It definitely seems about right that they’d beat Michigan and then drop one to Purdue, but the Boilermakers kinda did that already this year, so could they do it again? Probably not, but it may be worth watching to see.
- Navy @ Notre Dame (NBC): Domers.
- Baylor @ Texas Christian (FOX): Gary Patterson just pulled the “you can’t fire me, I quit!” at TCU, so I’ll take the Bears.
- Auburn @ Texas A&M (CBS): My heart says Auburn’s gonna win this, but my brain says TAMU. Should be worth watching though!
- Oklahoma State @ West Virginia (ESPN): Okie State, probably?
- Tulsa @ Cincinnati (ESPN2): Cincy!
- Pennsylvania State @ Maryland (FS1): Penn State!
- Wisconsin @ Rutgers (BTN): Wisky!
- Colorado State @ Wyoming (CBSS): Wyoming?
- Middle Tennessee State @ Western Kentucky (Stadium)
- Rice @ Charlotte (ESPN+)
- South Alabama @ Troy (ESPN+)
4:00:
- Tulane @ Central Florida (ESPNU): UCF?
- Mississippi State @ Arkansas (SEC): Miss State?
- North Carolina State @ Florida State (ACCN): Wolfpack!
6:00:
- Marshall @ Florida Atlantic (Facebook)
- Coastal Carolina @ Georgia Southern (ESPN+)
7:00:
- Iowa @ Northwestern (BTN): Iowa!
- Louisiana State @ Alabama (ESPN): Bama!
- Tennessee @ Kentucky (ESPN2): This is actually pretty hard. Logic says Kentucky, but keep an eye on this one.
- Boise State @ Fresno State (CBSS): Fresno. This should be more fun but Boise’s just down this year.
- Oregon State @ Colorado (Pac12): Beavers!
- Nevada-Las Vegas @ New Mexico (Stadium)
- Old Dominion @ Florida International (espn3.com)
7:30:
- Indiana @ Michigan (FOX): Michigan should be able to use this as a salve.
- Oregon @ Washington (ABC): Ducks, provided they figure out how to not mess around and just win this thing.
- Texas @ Iowa State (FS1): Texas?
- Houston @ South Florida (ESPNU): Cougars!
- Florida @ South Carolina (SEC): Gators!
- Clemson @ Louisville (ACCN): Clemson?
10:00: San Jose State @ Nevada (FS2): Wolf Pack!
10:15: Texas-San Antonio @ Texas-El Paso (ESPN2): Y’all, this is the hipster game of the week, but for good reason. Sure, UTEP took a loss that week, but still the Roadrunners have to go all the way out to El Paso for game that will start at 8:15 local time. I. Am. Here. For. This. I hope the Sun Bowl is too. I’ll still pick the Roadrunners though.
10:30: Southern California @ Arizona State (ESPN): Uh, Sun Devils, I guess?
11:00: San Diego State @ Hawaii (FS1): Aztecs, but a good wind down either way.