As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Nebraska @ Ohio State (FOX): I’ll pre-emptively applaud Nebraska’s effort while also assuming the Buckeyes will absolute paste them.
• Notre Dame vs. Navy (@East Rutherford, NJ; ABC): It’s hard to see Notre Dame losing this, but… Navy is back, y’all. They’re going into the game undefeated and having one of the best seasons so far in history. They have an outside, but non-zero, shot at getting into the playoff by winning the AAC. The Irish also have Army on the schedule, in what figures to be the one time they’ll ever regret having both service academies on the schedule at the same time. Also, the Irish may be a tad nervous as a second loss to a non-Power 4 team will definitely torpedo their playoff hopes. (Pun somewhat intended.) This could be one to watch.
• Oklahoma @ Mississippi (ESPN): Oklahoma’s defense isn’t that good and their offense is terrible. It’s a lost season for Brent Venebles and company. Ole Miss will roll.
• Tulane @ North Texas (ESPN2): This one could be good, but I think the Wave are just a notch of talent above UNT.
• North Carolina @ Virginia (“The South’s Oldest Rivalry”; The CW): With the game in Charlottesville and the Hoos on a season that has, so far, exceeded all expectations, I like them to roll.
• Washington @ Indiana (BTN): Well, suffice it to say that every game out for 7-0 Indiana will be one of the important in the history of Hoosier football. (That is not an exaggeration.) UDub is for sure not what they were last year, especially on offense, but this will be one of Indiana’s bigger tests until the Big One against Ohio State.
• Charlotte @ Memphis (ESPNU): Tigers roll.
• Buffalo @ Ohio (CBSS): Bulls roll?
• Georgia Tech @ Virginia Tech (“Techmo Bowl”; ACCN): Well, that sucked. Turns out making your offense completely one-dimensional is a bad way to try to win a football game. This team really needs Haynes King back, but there’s not really any reason to think that’ll happen in time for this game. About the only upside here is that the Hokies are not the Irish.

12:45: Arkansas @ Mississippi State (SEC): The “Sam Pittman somehow saves his job!” tour (aka the Neal Brown Award for Self-Preservation) figure to roll on in Starkville.

1:00: Georgia State @ Appalachian State (ESPN+)

2:00:

• Temple @ East Carolina (ESPN+)
• Central Michigan @ Miami (ESPN+)

3:30:

• Missouri @ Alabama (ABC): Okay, Bama probably just doesn’t have this year. The vibes going in this game are horrific. But… Mizzou isn’t really that good, you know? I think the Tide might surprise everyone and win this thing by 20.
• Illinois @ Oregon (CBS): The Illini are pretty good, but pretty good isn’t going to be enough to cut it against the Ducks this year.
• Texas Tech @ Texas Christian (FOX): I’ll pick Texas Tech here so I don’t have to think about this game a moment longer than I have to.
• Brigham Young @ Central Florida (ESPN): This has all the potential to be an interesting game. It’s for effective control of the AAC, and UCF is definitely not a terrible team. The problem is that BYU is just so physical, which, well, is always their reputation, but the Stormin’ Mormons are definitely following through with it this year.
• Maryland @ Minnesota (FS1): Minnesota, I guess?
• Northwestern @ Iowa (BTN): Y’all, this is running long and my team plays in less than 6 hours. So… LIGHTNING ROUND! Iowa!
• Rice @ Connecticut (CBSS): UConn?
• Wake Forest @ Stanford (ACCN): Stanford?
• Texas-San Antonio @ Tulsa (ESPN+)
• Northern Illinois @ Ball State (ESPN+)
• Bowling Green @ Toledo (ESPN+)
• Kent State @ Western Michigan (ESPN+)
• Wagner @ Massachusetts (ESPN+)
• Eastern Michigan @ Akron (ESPN+)
• Oklahoma State @ Baylor (ESPN+)
• Southern Mississippi @ James Madison (ESPN+)

4:00: Oregon State @ California (ESPN2): Cal, now that they don’t have to play an ACC game?

4:15: Texas @ Vanderbilt (SEC): This is possibly the most consequential Vandy home game ever. But, there’s not a lot of reason to think they’ll be able to pull of a stunning upset twice. Taking the Horns here.

5:00: Louisiana-Monroe @ South Alabama (ESPN+)

7:00:

• Florida State @ Miami (ESPN): The Canes definitely have a bit of a reputation for inflating this game way beyond its actual importance and letting it define their season in a negative way. Fortunately for them, FSU is so bad this year it doesn’t really matter.
• West Virginia @ Arizona (FS1): Neers?
• Utah State @ Wyoming (“Bridger’s Battle”; CBSS): Wyoming.
• Troy @ Arkansas State (ESPN+)
• Utah @ Houston (ESPN+)

7:30:

• Pennsylvania State @ Wisconsin (NBC): Penn State, as it remains the official position of this here website that James Franklin’s destiny is to be the first head coach to lose a home playoff game.
• Louisiana State @ Texas A&M (ABC): This non-rivalry rivalry promises to be fireworks again this year. I like LSU, but I’m not entirely sure why.
• Michigan State @ Michigan (BTN): This like should be the year where I feel like I can safely take Sparty, but I just… can’t. Even though Michigan is sort of like Worse Iowa this season.
• South Dakota @ South Dakota State (ESPNU)

7:45: Auburn @ Kentucky (SEC): Cayuts. Next!

8:00:

• Kansas @ Kansas State (“Sunflower Showdown”; ESPN2): K-State!
• San Jose State @ Fresno State (truTV): Y’all, this might be a legit good game here in the late window. Give it a look-see for sure! But I do have SJSU here.
• Southern Methodist @ Duke (ACCN): ACC After Dark from… Durham, North Carolina is sure a choice. Ponies?

10:15: Cincinnati @ Colorado (ESPN): So, I guess Colorado is good now, so I can finally start picking against them again?

10:30: Washington State @ San Diego State (CBSS): Wazzu.

Midnight: Nevada @ Hawaii (Team1Sports)

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Miami @ Louisville (ABC): The Cardinals figure to be one of the stiffest tests of the season as of yet for these Canes, but I don’t think they’ll really have much trouble here.
• Nebraska @ Indiana (FOX): Speaking of stiff tests, you’ve got 5-1 Nebraska at 6-0 Indiana. Say what? Okay, the schedules have been pretty manageable so far, but we’re talking about the Hoosiers here, one of the least successful power conference programs in general. And these aren’t exactly your dad’s Cornhuskers, either. So which way is this one going to go? I think I like the home team.
• Auburn @ Missouri (ESPN): It’s Tigers on Tigers in Columbia, but yeah, there’s not really any reason to think Auburn stands a chance here.
• East Carolina @ Army (ESPN2): Army and Navy are ranked for the first time since 1945, so that’s a thing. And given who they’re playing this week, that should remain the case.
• California-Los Angeles @ Rutgers (FS1): Rutgers suffered a pretty disappointing loss last week, but UCLA is so woebegone right now that I can’t imagine they’re feeling excited about a 9am body clock kickoff in Piscataway.
• Wisconsin @ Northwestern (BTN): This will be the last game hosted this season in Northwestern’s temporary lakefront home, as the remaining two home games against Ohio State and Illinois will be at Wrigley. They’ll return to the windy confines next season, for now, the Wildcats figure to be competitive against a Wisconsin team that’s still trying to find its footing a little bit.
• Louisiana @ Coastal Carolina (ESPNU): They Cajuns, they figure to be a-ragin’ in this one.
• Virginia @ Clemson (ACCN): Nice little season you have there, Virginia. Be a shame if something happened to it. Something like a Clemson squad that is increasingly making that Georgia game look like an outlier, for instance.
• Wake Forest @ Connecticut (CBSS): There’s a very real chance UConn is going to make a bowl game two years in a row, and they absolutely stand a chance against a diminished Wake Forest.
• Arizona State @ Cincinnati (ESPN+)

12:45: South Carolina @ Oklahoma (SEC): Naturally, now that we were all wise to the Red River thing, Oklahoma went out and laid an absolute egg. Turns out, the offense is kind of broken! Probably not something you want when perennially feisty South Carolina rolls into town. I kind of like the Gamecocks here, as a matter of fact.

2:00:

• Central Michigan @ Eastern Michigan (ESPN+)
• Tulsa @ Temple (ESPN+)

3:30:

• Michigan @ Illinois (CBS): Michigan’s offense is very limited, but the thing is that shouldn’t be a problem against Illinois. Especially an Illinois team that got taken to overtime by… Purdue. I like the Wolverines here.
• Alabama @ Tennessee (“The Third Saturday in October”; ABC): It’s not a night game in Neyland, and both teams have a loss, but that doesn’t really diminish the stakes in what could well be a playoff-elimination game (it’s my deep hope that at least one of the Big Ten or SEC fails to get four teams in). Unfortunately, I like the Tide because there’s still plenty of talent there, especially the kind of talent that can follow the blueprint used to stifle the Vols a few times already this season.
• Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech (@Atlanta, GA; ESPN): So, yeah, it’s been in the news this week that we took $10 million to move the Georgia game next season to Mercedes-Benz. Well, guess what, this game is part of that series too. The thing is, the season is still going well. We’re up to 5 wins and have a real shot at making a bowl for the second year in a row. The problem entering this game is two-fold. First, it’s the opponent. The Irish have seemingly recovered from their loss to NIU, most recently absolutely shellacking Stanford. Second, it’s injuries. Haynes King, the engine that makes our offense work, may miss this game. It’s going to be a tough one, most likely.
• Hawaii @ Washington State (The CW): While Boise’s win over this Wazzu team gives them the inside track to a playoff bid, Wazzu is still putting together a fine season themselves. This game won’t do anything to diminish that.
• North Carolina State @ California (ACCN): NC State feels like Cal’s best chance to get an ACC win so far, after losing their three other attempts by a combined eight points.
• Charlotte @ Navy (CBSS): (see the notes for the ECU at Army game above)
• Alabama-Birmingham @ South Florida (ESPN+)
• Florida Atlantic @ Texas-San Antonio (ESPN+)
• Rice @ Tulane (ESPN+)
• Houston vs. Kansas (@Kansas City, MO; ESPN+)
• Western Michigan @ Buffalo (ESPN+)
• Ohio @ Miami (“Battle of the Bricks”; ESPN+)
• Kent State @ Bowling Green (ESPN+)
• Toledo @ Northern Illinois (ESPN+)
• Texas State @ Old Dominion (ESPN+)

4:00:

• Colorado @ Arizona (FOX): The Buffs lost to K-State week, but it was still a useful data point. They were definitely in the game, until a late defensive lapse showed how much they missed Travis Hunter. Arizona can definitely get them as well, especially if he’s not playing. But the days of easily calling for Buffs losses appears to be over. I like Zona in this one, but I’ll no longer be surprised about a Colorado performance.
• Baylor @ Texas Tech (ESPN2): Baylor is terrible.
• Southern California @ Maryland (FS1): Maryland has the chance to do something funny, but the Terps are so disheveled this year that it’s hard to see them winning this one.
• New Mexico @ Utah State (truTV): Uh, Lobos, I guess?
• Wyoming @ San Jose State (NBCSBA/MWN)

4:15: Texas A&M @ Mississippi State (SEC): With Vandy reeling off two conference wins, Miss State is definitely the SEC’s basement dwelling team this season.

7:00:

• Louisiana State @ Arkansas (ESPN): The Battle for the Golden Boot (which is easily one of college football’s most unwieldy trophies) resumes in Fayetteville. Arkansas is better than anyone expected, and LSU is just… chaotic. But I think that chaos may help them, as I think LSU is capable of just outscoring the Hawgs.
• Ball State @ Vanderbilt (ESPN+)
• Arkansas State @ Southern Mississippi (ESPN+)

7:30:

• Georgia @ Texas (ABC): It’s another Game of the Century of the Week in the newfangled SEC. It sure would be something for Texas to fumble the bag after completely taking care of business in Red River, but it’s very hard to predict from over here. Georgia has never been about slingin’ the ball, and this season that especially means I think a team that can outscore them and then hold them off (like what Alabama did) can beat them. And I think these Longhorns can do that.
• Iowa @ Michigan State (NBC): Iowa is scoring 40 points in normal games, yeah, uh, Sparty doesn’t stand a chance here.
• Kansas State @ West Virginia (FOX): WVU isn’t bad or anything, but it just figures K-State is going to be able to handle business here.
• Central Florida @ Iowa State (FS1): I’m going to go ahead and say I’ll be surprised if Iowa State isn’t undefeated going into Farmageddon during Rivalry Week.
• North Texas @ Memphis (ESPNU): Memphis will be fine in this one.

7:45: Kentucky @ Florida (SEC): Who knows about the Gators this year, because they’re certainly not good. The thing is, neither is Kentucky. What does that add up to in a usually chippy game? I have no idea. I’ll pick the Cayuts because I figure the Gators will figure out some way to actively lose this.

8:00:

• Southern Methodist @ Stanford (ACCN): SMU? Sure, let’s go with that.
• Colorado State @ Air Force (CBSS): Colorado State is bad, but man, this is not Air Force’s year. Not at all.
• South Dakota State @ North Dakota State (ESPN2)

10:00: Nevada-Las Vegas @ Oregon State (The CW): This one will probably some real Pac-12 After Dark vibes, and I’m here for it. It’s been a tougher road to hoe for the Beavers, but they certainly should be able to hang with UNLV. The Rebels have an overtime loss to Syracuse as their only blemish, and they’ve otherwise been putting up oodles of points. This could be fun, and with it back in Corvallis I’ll lean slightly toward the Beavers.

10:30: Texas Christian @ Utah (ESPN): It’s a bit of a lost season for both of these teams. Utah is just so limited offensively without Cam Rising, but on the flip side TCU is a going to be a bit easier on them. I’ll somewhat reluctantly take the Utes here.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Washington @ Iowa (FOX): Okay, we’re going to try to do a proper post this week. Starting with this doesn’t exactly fill me with excitement. UDub did beat Better Iowa (read: Michigan) last week, but with this game in Iowa I’m less sure about it. I’ll still take the Huskies though.
• South Carolina @ Alabama (ABC): Bama’s loss to Vandy was shocking, which is sort of an understatement. Vandy hadn’t won that game in my entire life, and I’m getting old! At any rate, in the Saban years this game would not even remotely well for South Carolina, and suffice it to say I’m going to guess that’ll be the case here.
• Clemson @ Wake Forest (ESPN): Clemson has seemed more-or-less fine-to-good since week one, and Wake is… kind of bad!
• Missouri @ Massachusetts (ESPN2): This is a bizarre road game, to say the least, but Mizzou will presumably get back on track.
• Georgia Tech @ North Carolina (The CW): It is kind of funny we play both Carolina and Duke in consecutive weeks. At any rate, this is kind of… a big deal for us? We definitely saw some positive signs in the Duke game, and if there’s a team we should really be able to get the rushing attack going again against it’s the UNC defense. Naturally, as a Georgia Tech fan I want to see us put 100 up on that Geoff Collins defense.
• Wisconsin @ Rutgers (BTN): Rutgers, I guess? It feels weird to favor them in a Big Ten game, but here we are.
• Toledo @ Buffalo (ESPNU): Toledo should roll.
• Alabama-Birmingham @ Army (CBSS): Army will be 6-0 after this.
• Ball State @ Kent State (ESPN+)

3:30:

• Pennsylvania State @ Southern California (CBS): It feels like USC should turn a corner any week now, but Penn State and company probably are not the optimal team to do that against.
• Purdue @ Illinois (FS1): Illinois rolls.
• Texas vs. Oklahoma (“Red River Shootout” @ Dallas, TX; ABC): It’s Red River time, y’all. This game is more or less impossible to predict. I mean, I may be cursing myself by calling this out instead of just saying that Texas should roll here, but this is one of the few rivalries were you really can throw out the records. (And it’s not like either of these teams is really ever terrible.) So who will I predict here? Texas, obviously. Who do I actually think will win? Who knows!
• Stanford @ Notre Dame (NBC): Stanford is turbo-bad.
• California @ Pittsburgh (ESPN): Like almost everyone else outside of south Florida, I was bummed that Cal couldn’t see it out last weekend after an actually awesome gameday atmosphere in Berkeley. Suffice it to say there’s a lot Cal fans in my life and I have never heard that many of them actually talking about Cal football this week, and that was despite the fact they lost! Either way, they’ll have Pitt’s… offense? to worry about this week. I still kind of like Cal here.
• Cincinnati @ Central Florida (ESPN2): Neither of the teams really has the juice, but UCF is just a little better.
• San Jose State @ Colorado State (truTV): Despite everything, I still like Colorado State is turbo-bad.
• Louisville @ Virginia (ACCN): Did you know Virginia is 4-1? Because I didn’t! The Cardinals have suffered two straight losses that definitely took their pre-season hopes down a few notches. I think UVA will be a decent get-right game for them.
• San Diego State @ Wyoming (CBSS): Wyoming won their first game of the season last week by beating a bad Air Force team. SDSU has underachieved a bit, but they’ll probably be fine here.
• Akron @ Western Michigan (ESPN+)
• Old Dominion @ Georgia State (ESPN+)
• Northern Illinois @ Bowling Green (ESPN+)
• Memphis vs. South Florida (@Orlando, FL; ESPN+)

4:00:

• Ohio @ Central Michigan (ESPNU): Call it a hunch, but I like CMU here.
• Arizona @ Brigham Young (FOX): Don’t look, but BYU is 5-0 and has their ranking up in the mid-teens. Arizona’s having a decent year, but there’s not a lot to suggest they’re going to be able to prevail in Provo.

4:15: Mississippi State @ Georgia (SEC): If you’re looking for two consecutive weeks of crazy SEC upsets… well, this probably isn’t the place to look.

5:00: Southern Mississippi @ Louisiana-Monroe (ESPN+)

7:00:

• Washington State @ Fresno State (FS1): It’s a bit of a bummer that Wazzu took the loss to Boise, but Ashton Jeanty might just be that good. That said, the Cougs should be able to handle a somewhat mediocre (by their own standards!) Fresno team.
• Florida @ Tennessee (ESPN): Look, Florida shouldn’t win this game, but Arkansas definitely put a blueprint out there for teams to be able to handle Tennessee’s offense with their freshman QB.
• North Texas @ Florida Atlantic (ESPN2): UNT has been feasting on terrible AAC teams all season, and I don’t see any reason for that to stop here.
• Air Force @ New Mexico (truTV): I can’t say I’d recommend watching this one. New Mexico at least (technically) has a FBS win, so I’ll take them.
• Arkansas State @ Texas State (ESPN+)
• Texas-San Antonio @ Rice (ESPN+)

7:30:

• Mississippi @ Louisiana State (“Magnolia Bowl”; ABC): I think LSU’s defense is just too suspect to keep up with the Rebels.
• Ohio State @ Oregon (NBC): The proverbial Game of the Century of the Week, this game will have it all. Oregon’s offense, after taking the first two weeks off, is alive and well with three consecutive multi-score victories. Ohio State has been so good this season that I’ve really had no reason to watch them to this point. So far the only team that has multiple scores on them is Marshall, and the Herd were still on the wrong side of a 49-14 blowout. Suffice it to say, that’ll probably change this week, but it’s still hard to see the Buckeyes losing this one.
• Oregon State @ Nevada (CBSS): The Beavers will be fine in Reno.
• Appalachian State @ Louisiana (ESPN+)

7:45: Vanderbilt @ Kentucky (SEC): Okay, so which Vandy is real: the one that couldn’t get it done against Georgia State or the one that contained, and beat, Alabama? Their QB said it best: “this means nothing if we don’t beat Kentucky”. The Wildcats so far have a pretty mixed resume themselves (though it doesn’t have any loss to Sun Belt teams), but they certainly would be, and are, favored against the Dores.

8:00:

• Iowa State @ West Virginia (FOX): The “get Matt Campbell hired somewhere else, finally” season figures to continue for the Cyclones.
• Marshall @ Georgia Southern (ESPNU): This game is basically a coin flip, but it might be a very fun coin flip. I’d keep an eye on it. I like the Herd here.
• Syracuse @ North Carolina State (ACCN): Syracuse isn’t very good, but they still have one of the two or three best quarterbacks in the ACC in Kyle McCord. They should be fine in Raleigh.

9:00: Minnesota @ California-Los Angeles (BTN): Minnesota isn’t great or anything, but UCLA is kind of straight up bad this year.

10:15: Kansas State @ Colorado (ESPN): Okay Buffs, you’ve thrown off the Haters. But K-State may be the ultimate Haters team, as they’re a very physical, scrappy bunch that will have no issues hitting Shaddeur Sanders over and over again. I’ll predict the Buffs to lose, yet again, but I feel pretty good about this week. If the Buffs win this one, I’m going to need to re-evaluate some things.

11:00: Boise State @ Hawaii (CBSS): Speaking of Ashton Jeanty, the only question in this game is when in the first half he’ll reach 100 yards rushing. My bet? Probably around 10 minutes into the first quarter.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Missouri @ Texas A&M (ABC): Okay, y’all, we’re going to be level with you here. For the first time all season, we’re not going to have time to do the post: sometimes real life just gets in the way. So, with limited exceptions, we’re going to have to lean on our favorite crutch: the LIGHTNING ROUND! Anyway! Mizzou!
• California-Los Angeles @ Pennsylvania State (FOX): Penn State!
• Navy @ Air Force (CBS): Navy!
• Southern Methodist @ Louisville (ESPN): Toothed Birds!
• Pittsburgh @ North Carolina (ESPN2): Provided they don’t get reverse-superweapon’d, Pitt!
• Wake Forest @ North Carolina State (The CW): Wolfpack!
• Purdue @ Wisconsin (BTN): Wisky!
• Army @ Tulsa (ESPNU): Army!
• Boston College @ Virginia (ACCN): BC!
• Massachusetts @ Northern Illinois (CBSS): NIU

2:00: Western Michigan @ Ball State (ESPN+)

3:30:

• Auburn @ Georgia (“The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry”; ABC): Ugh, UGA.
• Iowa @ Ohio State (CBS): Buckeyes!
• Mississippi @ South Carolina (ESPN): Kentucky laid down the blueprint last weekend, so: Gamecocks!
• East Carolina @ Charlotte (ESPNU): ECU.
• Temple @ Connecticut (CBSS): Huskies!
• Virginia Tech @ Stanford (ACCN): Cardinal?
• Miami @ Toledo (ESPN+)
• Bowling Green @ Akron (ESPN+)
• Appalachian State @ Marshall (“The Old Mountain Feud”; ESPN+): Hurricane Helene has left a level of destruction in Appalchia (the home of both of these schools) that we’re still not fully aware of, over a week later. I will update and comment on this post when I have a chance to research appropriate organizations that you can donate to help.
• North Dakota @ North Dakota State (ESPN+)

4:00:

• West Virginia @ Oklahoma State (ESPN2): Pokes!
• Rutgers @ Nebraska (FS1): Huskers!

4:15: Alabama @ Vanderbilt (SEC): Tide.

6:30: Colorado State @ Oregon State (The CW): Chainsaws!

7:00:

• Clemson @ Florida State (ESPN): Tigers.
• Utah State @ Boise State (FS2): Broncos!
• James Madison @ Louisiana-Monroe (ESPNU): Dukes?
• Louisiana @ Southern Mississippi (ESPN+)
• South Alabama @ Arkansas State (ESPN+)
• Old Dominion @ Coastal Carolina (ESPN+)

7:30:

• Tennessee @ Arkansas (ABC): Vols!
• Baylor @ Iowa State (FOX): Clones!
• Michigan @ Washington (NBC): Wolverines?
• Nevada @ San Jose State (truTV): Silicon Valley Spartans, probably.
• Southern California @ Minnesota (BTN): Trojans!

7:45: Central Florida @ Florida (SEC): LOL, er, Gators?

8:00:

• Kansas @ Arizona State (ESPN2): Sun Devils!
• Hawaii @ San Diego State (CBSS): Aztecs?
• Duke @ Georgia Tech (ACCN): For starters, we love the true night game at Bobby Dodd. That said, I like our chances here, but seriously for a team whose coach when viral for saying that the key to their success was to “RUN THE BALL”, they haven’t really been good at it against anyone other than Florida State. We have really got to get someone other than Haynes King going in the ground game to have a chance here.

10:30: Miami @ California (ESPN): Canes.

11:00: Texas Tech @ Arizona (FOX): Cats?