Category Archives: On TV This Week

This Week in College Football: Week 1

Leave a reply

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Thursday

7:00:

  • Kent State @ Central Florida (FS1): It’s UCF’s first week in the Big 12, and they start with what will probably not be a very good MAC team.
  • Elon @ Wake Forest (ACCN)
  • St. Francis @ Western Michigan (ESPN+)
  • Rhode Island @ Georgia State (ESPN+)

7:30: North Carolina State @ Connecticut (CBSS): One of the more delightful aspects of college football is a relatively high number of live mascots, and while both of these teams feature canines as mascots, only one of them has two living examples of some actual good dogs. Unfortunately, the Jonathans cannot win UConn this game.

8:00:

  • Nebraska @ Minnesota (FOX): It’s the first game in the Rhule-era at Nebraska, and while they should look better, the Gophers are just a better team at this point.
  • Florida @ Utah (ESPN): As I noted in the non-con preview, the Utes have the schedule to be a darkhorse playoff team. That starts here, which was a major missed opportunity for them in Gainesville last year. This time, it’s in Salt Lake an they should continue being able to shut down this still very-much-a-project Gator squad.
  • South Dakota @ Missouri (SEC)
  • Arkansas-Pine Bluff @ Tulsa (ESPN+)
  • North Carolina A&T @ Alabama-Birmingham (ESPN+)

10:00: Southern Utah @ Arizona State (Pac12)

Friday

6:30: Howard @ Eastern Michigan (ESPN+)

7:00:

  • Central Michigan @ Michigan State (FS1): The Spartans should have no problems here.
  • Miami @ Miami (ACCN): Y’all. Y’all! This hasn’t happened nearly often enough. The reason why these teams are usually suffixed is because they’re both, well, Miami, and yet they have only played 3 times and none since 1987! That said, well, it’s at Miami and there’s basically no reason to think the Canes will fall to 3-1 against this particular Miami team.

7:30: Louisville vs. Georgia Tech (@Atlanta, GA; ESPN): It begins. At last, we are freed from possibly the dumbest era of Georgia Tech football. One where any momentum was squandered and the shortcomings of the regime blamed on the previous one. While I’m not especially crazy that we still went with a coach from the previous staff, in his interim stint one couldn’t help but notice that we just basically looked like a football team for the first time since 2018. I’m not entirely sure how it’ll go in this battle of new coaches. The Cardinals finally brought Jeff Brohm home and expect to have an exciting, high-flying offense for the first time since Lamar Jackson was slinging passes for them. We have some concerns on defense, but I also expect the offense to show a basic level of appearing to have any what they’re doing for the first time in a while, so hopefully those things even out.

8:00: Missouri State @ Kansas (ESPN+)

11:00: Stanford @ Hawaii (CBSS): While the Pac-12 burns around them, the Cardinal go on vacation. That said, this Hawaii team is game as they just gave what’s supposed to be a solid Vanderbilt team all they wanted in Nashville last weekend. While I can’t really predict the Rainbow Warriors to win, I will say that if they can move the ball on Stanford this one could get very interesting.

 

This Week in College Football: Week 8

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Thursday

7:30:

  • Virginia @ Georgia Tech (ESPN): So, two in a row. It feels weird to even be kind of excited about my own college football team again. That creeping feeling… is that hope? At any rate, I’m trying not to get too far ahead of my skis and keeping in mind that this team still has several issues a new coach and a bye week probably can’t fix. But, at least so far it’s been more fun.
  • Troy @ South Alabama (ESPNU): We’re going south of I-85 for this one. These two in-state rivals are a bit apart right now, as USA appears to be a bit ahead this year. It’s a situation that could change next year, or even sooner however.

Friday

7:30: Tulsa @ Temple (EPSN2): Temple got knocked around pretty good last weekend, so I’m taking Tulsa.

8:00: Alabama-Birmingham @ Western Kentucky (CBSS): The Blazers are off to a decent start, but I think this might go either way.

This Week in College Football: Week 1

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Thursday

7:00:

  • West Virginia @ Pittsburgh (“The Backyard Brawl”; ESPN): We are starting the weekend in the most appropriate manner possible: the return of the Backyard Brawl. Two teams from Appalachia face off in a battle of the city boys versus country roads. If you wanna read up on your history, you’d do well to read probably the most definitive retrospective on the game. Okay, done? Yeah, so the renewal of the rivalry features two programs at a bit of a crossroads. West Virginia has never really gotten it going in the Big 12, while Pitt is coming off its best season in a very long time while losing their starting quarterback (to the NFL) and best wide receiver (to Southern Cal). I’m taking Pitt here as the favorite at home, but I don’t feel great about it.
  • Central Michigan @ Oklahoma State (FS1): The Pokes should have this one wrapped up around halftime.
  • Ball State @ Tennessee (SEC): Same for the Vols. Possibly even earlier.
  • Bryant @ Florida International (espn3.com)
  • Long Island @ Toledo (espn3.com)
  • South Carolina State @ Central Florida (ESPN+)

7:30: Virginia Military @ Wake Forest (ACCN)

8:00:

  • Pennsylvania State @ Purdue (FOX): While many eyes will be on the happenings in Pittsburgh, this game, well… okay, you’ll probably want to keep your eyes there. But still, this is an interesting start for the Nittany Lions, as they’ve sort of… not been that good the past few years? It is possible for that to catch up to James Franklin? Well, if they drop this one, and they probably won’t, we may start to find out.
  • Louisiana Tech @ Missouri (ESPNU): Unless LaTech finds some magic from those years when it was competent, this won’t be much of a watch.
  • Alabama A&M @ Alabama-Birmingham (CBSS)
  • Eastern Illinois @ Northern Illinois (ESPN+)

9:00: New Mexico State @ Minnesota (BTN): There’s a lot of offseason anxiety about whether PJ Fleck schtick is getting tired in Minneapolis, but I don’t think you can take anything from this. Well, other than whether the apparent beef between former head coach Jerry Kill and Fleck boils over in the pre- or post-game handshake.

10:00: Northern Arizona @ Arizona State (Pac12)

10:30: Cal Poly @ Fresno State (FS1)

Friday

7:00:

  • Western Michigan @ Michigan State (ESPN): Yeah, again, there’s the downside of Week 1: Sparty should have this wrapped up by halftime.
  • Virginia Tech @ Old Dominion (ESPNU): Then again, you sometimes get weird stuff like this. There’s no reason for VPI to travel to their up-and-coming in-state rival, and nothing good could happen here. I’m not saying it will, but I won’t be shocked either.
  • Eastern Kentucky @ Eastern Michigan (espn3.com)
  • William & Mary @ Charlotte (espn3.com)

7:30: Temple @ Duke (ACCN): I… um… I’m going to pick Temple here? It’s going to be a long season for all 12 Duke football fans out there.

8:00:

  • Illinois @ Indiana (FS1): Last year was a huge disappointment for the quest for #9WIndiana, but I feel okay that the kickoff this season in Bloomington won’t be.
  • Tennessee Tech @ Kansas (ESPN+)

10:00: Texas Christian @ Colorado (ESPN): For the first time since 1999, someone else will coach TCU other than Gary Patterson, who if he had his way, would probably still be there. Instead, he decided to flip the bird while walking out the door by getting a job at Texas, and Sonny Dykes heads back to his home turf. Meanwhile, as noted previously, Colorado has a hell of a schedule to start the season (this game, at Air Force next week, and then at Minnesota) that certainly doesn’t help their chances of getting back to 6-6. I suspect the pain will start right here.

This Week in College Football: Week 14

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Friday

7:00:

  • Western Kentucky @ Texas-San Antonio (Conference USA Championship; CBSS): As previously mentioned, the Hilltoppers essentially took 4 players and a coordinator from a successful FCS offense and imported it. Now, they’re getting a chance to challenge a UTSA team that lost their first game to North Texas last weekend. I like their chances.
  • Holy Cross @ Villanova (NCAA Division I Playoffs Second Round; ESPN+)

8:00: Oregon vs. Utah (Pac-12 Championship @ Paradise, NV; ABC): So the main the mystery in this game is whether history will repeat itself. A few weeks ago in Salt Lake City, the Utes absolutely obliterated the Ducks.  I mean, they definitely did things that would require many synonyms for “obliterated” to really fully give you the scope of the slobberknocking they got. At any rate, can the Utes do it again? I’m not sure there’s a whole bunch of precedent for this, but this is on a neutral field, which I think is going to favor the Ducks. And if I’m wrong, well, my response is already at the top of this post.

9:00: Eastern Washington @ Montana (NCAA Division I Playoffs Second Round; ESPN+)

 

This Week in College Football: Week 13

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Tuesday

7:00:

  • Western Michigan @ Northern Illinois (ESPNU): NIU is possibly the luckiest team in FBS football this season. Of their 11 games played, they have won or lost 9 of them by 7 points or less (and often the latter). Western, by all rights, is not good enough to beat them, but even if they were, it wouldn’t matter because NIU is apparently just some sort of team of destiny this season.
  • Buffalo @ Ball State (ESPN+)

Thursday

3:30: Fresno State @ San Jose State (FS1): In the annual battle of the Central Valley vs. Silicon Valley, well, this year the Bulldogs appear to have the upper hand. Fresno has been a tough out all year, and meanwhile the Spartans haven’t quite lived up to their magical seasons from the past couple of years.

7:30: Mississippi @ Mississippi State (“Egg Bowl”; ESPN): Ole Miss should win, but this is truly a rivalry series of late where should doesn’t matter. The butterfly effect of a player pretending to pee like a dog after scoring a late touchdown in 2019 continues to reverberate around the sport of college football. Since 2012, Ole Miss is 5-4 in the series, and no team has won three in aroud over the other. You could watch some boring NFL game while trying to power through the tryptophan, or you could watch to see what happens in Starkville. I know where I’ll be.

Friday

Noon:

  • Kansas State @ Texas (FOX): I figure K-State will go ahead and put the Longhorns out of their misery. Should K-State win this game? Well, no, Texas is a lot better than them, But that hasn’t seemed to matter since sometime in the 4th quarter of Red River.
  • Boise State @ San Diego State (CBS): Since a 24-17 loss to Air Force back in mid-October, the Broncos have won four straight. That said, why in the world is this kicking off at 9:00 AM local time? I mean, I know why, but the fact of the matter is that what should be a great game of the Broncos trying to score and San Diego State’s punter singlehandedly trying to thwart those efforts will probably be a near-literal sleepwalk. In that case, I like the Aztec’s chances.
  • Eastern Michigan @ Central Michigan (ESPNU): Both of these teams have beaten Western Michigan, so this is the fight for Directional Michigan Superiority. I like the Chippewas here just as the better team over the course of the season so far, plus they won comfortably against WMU while Eastern had to stage a comeback.
  • Ohio @ Bowling Green (CBSS): It’s been a long season for both of these 3-8 teams. At least the Bobcats have reeled off a couple more MAC wins, so I’ll take them.

1:00: Utah State @ New Mexico (FS1): While not as bad as their compatriots in Las Cruces, the Lobos aren’t actually good or anything. I’ll take Utah State here.

1:30: Iowa @ Nebraska (BTN): Nebraska is on track to possibly be the best 3-win team in the history of major college football over the course of a full season. My prediction is that they’ll play this tough and close, but make a few key mistakes and ultimately lose by a single score in the end. How do I know this? Because this practically how all of their games have gone this year, regardless of the opponent. I’m not sure Iowa even needs to show up, frankly.

2:00: Texas-El Paso @ Alabama-Birmingham (ESPN+)

3:30:

  • Missouri @ Arkansas (“Battle Line Rivalry”; CBS): Mizzou beat Florida last weekend and got Dan Mullen fired, but that figures to be the high point of their season.
  • Cincinnati @ East Carolina (ABC): As I suspected last week, playing an opponent with a pulse was enough to wake up the slumbering beast that is the Bearcats and they drubbed SMU 48-14. ECU is 7-4 and after a couple early losses has put together a nice little season for themselves, especially considering that they’re usually one of the more, shall we say, downtrodden of the AAC teams. While they’re not as good as Houston, they should serve to have the same effect in terms of getting Cincy’s blood up.
  • South Florida @ Central Florida (“War on I-4”; ESPN): This is a rivalry with some beef. Unfortunately, except for that glorious 2017 contest these two teams have mostly never been on the same wavelength, and as of late UCF seems to have left USF behind. While the first season on the Gus-bus has been a bit uneven for the Knights, they shouldn’t really have any trouble here.
  • Nevada-Las Vegas @ Air Force (CBSS): UNLV has won two games this year, which is probably a prop bet a lot of people lost (as it’s more than ‘0’ or ‘1’). So while this season’s probably exceeded expectations for the Rebels, it’ll likely stop at 2 to this wrecking ball of an Air Force team.
  • Costal Carolina @ South Alabama (ESPN+)

4:00: Colorado @ Utah (“Rumble in the Rockies”; FOX): It’ll be a rumble, all right – the rumble of Utah’s players blocking, tackling, and ramblin’ past Colorado’s.

4:30: Texas Christian @ Iowa State (FS1): As I mentioned in my bowl post, I suspect there won’t be enough bowl eligible teams. TCU is 5-6 and, well, I can’t see how this team beats even what’s been a bit of a down year for the Cyclones.

7:00: North Carolina @ North Carolina State (ESPN): I think almost everyone, except maybe Mack Brown, agrees that this isn’t the kind of season the Tar Heels expected to have. Meanwhile, NC State continues to do NC State things: win most of their games and look competent doing it. I suspect they’ll do the same in this rivalry game.

8:00: Washington State @ Washington (“Apple Cup”; FS1): This is a particularly weird edition of the Apple Cup, and y’all that’s really saying something. Both teams will be rolling in with interim head coaches after Jimmy Lake was dismissed a couple weeks ago, and of course Wazzu’s head man has been gone for a while. But a funny thing happened for the Cougs while they’ve been searching for a new coach: they’ve mostly won. Since losing to Utah, they’ve won 5 out of 7, which the losses coming to a pretty good BYU team this year and the other to Oregon. For the Dubs, it’s just been a spiral: a 26-16 loss to Oregon that wasn’t really that close, a 5 point loss to Arizona State (where hey, they scored 30 for the only time this season), and then a 3 point loss last week to a… not good Colorado team. But nonetheless this game is in Seattle, and it’ll be cold and drizzly. Who knows what will happen? (I’ll still take the Cougs, though.)