As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Marshall @ Ohio State (FOX): Unlike last week, there’s no real bangers here in the early window. This might be a good Saturday to sleep in, for those of us out west. At any rate, the Buckeyes will easily dispatch the Herd. Next!
• North Carolina State @ Clemson (ABC): Okay, this one requires some thought. These are teams both at the risk of seeing what should have been a promising season begin to careen off the tracks. Clemson, especially, continues to be on the lookout for signs of progress back toward the sport’s elite after a sluggish start. I like the Tigers at home, mostly because I still think they have more at their disposal than NCSU.
• Florida @ Mississippi State (ESPN): No one is making you watch this game. Seriously. The Gators are bad, yeah, but Miss State just got absolutely trucked by a MAC team last week. (Toledo is good, but seriously, there’s no reason for any SEC team to lose 41-17 to a team from the MAC.) So I’m reluctantly taking Florida here.
• Kansas @ West Virginia (ESPN2): Kansas’s hopes for a really good season came crashing down with their loss to UNLV last weekend, which also makes it seem like their chances against WVU aren’t great.
• Houston @ Cincinnati (FS1): Meanwhile, there’s some signs of life for the Cougars after their opening week loss to UNLV. I’ll take them here.
• Charlotte @ Indiana (BTN): #9Windiana
• Villanova @ Maryland (BTN)
• Tulane @ Louisiana (ESPNU): Tulane has two straight losses going in to this… to ranked P4 competition. I’ll take them on the road against the Cajuns.
• James Madison @ North Carolina (ACCN): We still don’t know anything about UNC, and we still won’t after this one.
• Rice @ Army (CBSS): Rice doesn’t currently have any wins over FBS competition, and they still won’t after their trip to West Point.

12:45: Ohio @ Kentucky (SEC): Kentucky all the way here.

1:00: Ball State @ Central Michigan (ESPN+)

2:00:

• Saint Francis @ Eastern Michigan (ESPN+)
• Virginia @ Coastal Carolina (ESPN+)
• Utah State @ Temple (ESPN+)
• Arkansas State @ Iowa State (ESPN+)

3:00: Southern Mississippi @ Jacksonville State (ESPN+)

3:30:

• Miami @ Notre Dame (NBC): Notre Dame visited their frustrations at losing to a MAC team by pounding Purdue 66-7 last weekend. Expect more of the same here.
• California-Los Angeles @ Louisiana State (ABC): A west coast school going to Baton Rouge should be more interesting than this, but unfortunately UCLA just has no juice right now.
• Southern California @ Michigan (CBS): A west coast coast school going to Ann Arbor should be more interesting than this, but unfortunately Michigan just has no juice right now.
• Arkansas @ Auburn (ESPN): Several observers noted that Arkansas’s collapse against Oklahoma State last week was so bad that it was almost like the assistants and the team were trying to get Sam Pittman fired. On the Plains, meanwhile, Hugh Freeze did manage to beat a team from New Mexico, but spirits are still down. This figures to be about as unwatchable as Miss State-Florida. I’ll pick the Hogs, I guess.
• Georgia Tech @ Louisville (ESPN2): Okay, so we had ourselves a bit of a romp against VMI. Honestly, after the Geoff years I still don’t take it for granted we’re going to dispose of bad FCS team the way we’re supposed to, so it was still enjoyable to see. Louisville is yet another team that has looked great against less-than-great competition. I hope we can do our part to give them their first real test. For our part, we still haven’t really been able to run the ball consistently since the FSU game. It’ll be key to get that back on track.
• Arizona State @ Texas Tech (FS1): Unlike some of the other games this week that feature two teams that probably aren’t very good, this one figures to the fun kind of not very good. There figures be plenty of points. In the end, I probably like TTU slightly better, but this is a toss up in my mind.
• Kent State @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): We need Penn State to get into conference play ASAP, because this will again tell us basically nothing about that.
• Memphis @ Navy (CBSS): This Memphis team might be pretty good, y’all. Naturally, going into Annapolis is not always a guarantee of success, but suffice it to say Memphis has enough talent to overcome the option.
• Rutgers @ Virginia Tech (ACCN): I’ll take VPI in this one, but you could tell me basically anything about it afterward and I’d probably believe you.
• Youngstown State @ Pittsburgh (ACCNX)
• Central Connecticut @ Massachusetts (ESPN+)
• Houston Christian @ Texas-San Antonio (ESPN+)
• Buffalo @ Norther Illinois (ESPN+)

4:00:

• Utah @ Oklahoma State (FOX): Now we’re getting some where. Utah’s starting QB might actually play, which is a fairly novel concept for Cam Rising. The Pokes have been rolling, but if the Utes can bring in a functional offense to go with their punch-you-in-the-mouth defense, then I like their chances. A lot.
• Duke @ Middle Tennessee (ESPNU): This is a weird road game for the Blue Devils, but they shouldn’t really have any issues due to it.

4:15: Vanderbilt @ Missouri (SEC): I still don’t think Mizzou is, like, that good, but Vandy has no chance here.

5:00:

• Texas Christian @ Southern Methodist (The CW): So the Battle for the Iron Skillet is endangered. The folks over in Fort Worth need to make this happen. Also, this game figures to be pretty close. I’ll give the Ponies a slight edge here.
• Texas-El Paso @ Colorado State (truTV): These teams are both pretty bad. I guess I’ll take the Rams, but this is another in the unwatchable pile.

6:00:

• Monmouth @ Florida International (ESPN+)
• East Carolina @ Liberty (ESPN+)

7:00:

• Miami @ South Florida (ESPN): So USF did the thing against Bama… for a bit, and then it got away from them. I’d say the best case for the Bulls here is to do about the same thing.
• California @ Florida State (ESPN2): So now that’s is plainly obvious that FSU just does not have a quarterback (otherwise why is DJ still starting?), I suspect everyone and their brother will be picking Cal here. Including me. Which is probably why FSU will win, but I’m going down with the ship here.
• Northwestern @ Washington (FS1): I doubt it’ll help much, but the Huskies should get back in the win column after some truly bizarre play calling to wrap up an Apple Cup loss.
• Florida Atlantic @ Connecticut (CBSS): Well, FAU has technically beat an FBS team, which is more than the Huskies can say.
• Wyoming @ North Texas (ESPN+)
• Florida A&M @ Troy (ESPN+)
• Tulsa @ Louisiana Tech (ESPN+)
• New Mexico State @ Sam Houston State (ESPN+)
• Toledo @ Western Kentucky (ESPN+)

7:30:

• Tennessee @ Oklahoma (ABC): And this is your game of the day, folks. You have points versus a coach in Brent Venables who very much does not want to allow points. Unfortunately for him, my suspicion is the Vols offense will just be too much to overcome.
• Iowa @ Minnesota (NBC): About the best thing going for this game is that there’s a bronze pig on the line. Otherwise, this figures to be a typical Iowa win.
• Akron @ South Carolina (ESPNU): Well, South Carolina probably won’t have any blown calls to complain about in this one.
• Bowling Green @ Texas A&M (ESPN+)

7:45: Georgia Southern @ Mississippi (SEC): Next weekend we may finally learn something about Ole Miss, or at least they’ll play a team capable of scoring 10 points on them.

8:00:

• Baylor @ Colorado (FOX): Well Buffs, you beat your rival. Congrats! Your reward is now you get to play a team that has clearly better line talent than you again, and the Bears especially will be trying to hit Shaddeur every chance they get. I’m sure they’ll score a couple of times, but it figures to be a long, painful night in Boulder.
• Michigan State @ Boston College (ACCN): I’m still adjusting to this idea that BC is good, but that’s the scenario here, whereas the Spartans are still kind of untested. Cautiously taking BC here.
• Louisiana-Monroe @ Texas (ESPN+)

8:30:

• Purdue @ Oregon State (The CW): It got sort of out of hand for the Beavers in the second half against Oregon last week, but fortunately for them Purdue is not anything like Oregon. I like State here.
• Fresno State @ New Mexico (truTV): Fresno may be going for the New Mexico sweep. They beat NMSU 48-0 last week, and I’m not sure I’d expect the Lobos to do any better.

9:45: Portland State @ Boise State (FS1)

10:30: Kansas State @ Brigham Young (ESPN): This figures to be physical and close for the first half, and it will definitely be “Big 12 After Dark” as hell. But the thing is that K-State can actually move the ball, which will doom BYU in the second half

Midnight: Northern Iowa @ Hawaii (Team1Sports)