Introducing the new “This Week in College Football”. With the proliferation of conferences desperate for ESPN’s money and exposure, we now have college ball on practically every day of the week. So each week, I’ll write up a short post about this week’s weekday games in the same vein as my weekend column.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Tuesday
8:00: Arkansas State @ Louisiana-Monroe (ESPN2): Ordinarily, I’d look at this and say, “Pschaw, 1-3 (1-0) Arkansas State at 3-2 (2-0) Monroe? This one’s a gimme.” Au contraire! Consider that Monroe’s wins are over I-AA Texas Southern and the F_U pick’em. Sure, Arknsas State’s win is over a I-AA team, but their losses are to Nebraska, Iowa, and Sun Belt powerhouse (note: that’s a purely relative statement) Troy. That said, and I can’t believe I’m going to say this, UL-Monroe should still win.

Wednesday
8:00: Boise State @ Tulsa (ESPN): In their last action, Tulsa only put up 27 points on a very bad Rice team. In their last action, Boise only put up 34 points on UC-Davis, which, for those you keeping score at home, is not in Division I-A. That said, it’s tough to argue against Boise here – against a decidedly vulnerable Oklahoma Tulsa scored zero points and was generally not very. Should still be fun to watch, though.

Thursday
7:30: Cincinnati @ South Florida (ESPN): Battle of the undefeated Big East teams! That’s right folks. That said, the portion of USF’s schedule that isn’t DI-AA or from the Sun Belt consists of Florida State and Syracuse, and Matt Groethe is still out for the season. Cincy, meanwhile, has taken care of business, with a solid win over Oregon State. (Rutgers may be 4-1, but considering they haven’t played other than Maryland since makes me dubious about that record.) Cincy is definitely the better team here, but can they go on the road and execute? I think so, but we’ll see.

Friday
8:00: Pittsburgh @ Rutgers (ESPN): Hey, more Big East teams! Each of these already has a loss, though (NC State and USF, respectively). I see nothing to suggest either of these teams is terribly good, so I’m going to cautiously go with the side that’s at least beaten more DI-A teams (Pitt).

Introducing the new “This Week in College Football”. With the proliferation of conferences desperate for ESPN’s money and exposure, we now have college ball on practically everyday of the week. So each week, I’ll write up a short post about this week’s weekday games in the same vein as my weekend column.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Tuesday
8:00: Middle Tennessee State @ Troy (ESPN2): SUN BELT GRUDGE MATCH. I don’t know if ESPN is bringing back Interactive Tuesday (let’s hope not), but this game features two potential Sun Belt front runners, and Troy won the conference last year (and should’ve two years ago). I think this may actually be a rivalry, but my perception is slightly colored because I know folks who went to both schools. MTSU has had a strong season so far, so I’ll have to pick again the reigning champs. (Sorry Rob.)

Thursday
9:00: Nebraska @ Missouri (ESPN): It’s “bad mojo week” at Mizzou, as yesterday was the 19th anniversary of the infamous “5th down” that cost Missouri a victory over Colorado and GT an undisputed national title. 11 years ago was also the “das boot” game against Nebraska. Back in the present day, both these teams are undefeated and poised (along with Kansas) to challenge for the Big 12 North title. Missouri hasn’t done much since running Illinois off the field in Week 1, which as we know isn’t really that impressive. Nebraska has been putting up tons of points against teams that aren’t Virginia Tech, but on the flip side all those other teams were from the Sun Belt. Nonetheless, I expect the usual Big 12 North defensive presence, which is to say none. I think Nebraska will ultimately come out on top, though.

Friday
9:00: Louisiana Tech @ Nevada (ESPN): You’ve probably read by now about how Nevada absolutely exploded on UNLV last Saturday. If not, consider these facts. 772 total yards. (Note, this is just Nevada.) 559 yards rushing. Of course, this was a tight game through the end of the 3rd quarter, when Nevada went up 35-28. Then they proceeded to score 28 unanswered points. Talk about letting off some steam after an 0-3 start. LaTech held a tired Hawaii team to no touchdowns and “only” 300 or so yards last weekend in a 27-6 win. Honestly, I like Nevada here, provided they average out a bit.

Introducing the new “This Week in College Football”. With the profileration of conferences desperate for ESPN’s money and exposure, we now have college ball on practically everyday of the week. So each week, I’ll write up a short post about this week’s weekday games in the same vein as my weekend column.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Wednesday

8:00: Hawaii @ Louisiana Tech (ESPN2): Hawaii’s crazy mainland adventure continues, as they make a stop at the WAC’s easternmost outpost. To put it mildly, LaTech has been bad, sporting the expected beatdown from Auburn and a 32-14 beatdown from Navy. Hawaii, meanwhile, beat Wazzou and only lost to UNLV on a touchdown in the final minute. I’ll take the Warriors here.

Thursday

7:30: Colorado @ West Virginia (ESPN): WVU’s not great or anything, but I do think they can beat an extremely hapless CU squad. Dan Hawkins is pretty much just hoping to keep his job at this point, I’d imagine, despite last week’s easy win over Wyoming.

8:00: Southern Mississippi @ Alabama-Birmingham (CBSCS): Things looked promising for UAB, as they started off the season with a 20 point win over Rice. As it turns out, though, Rice and UAB are probably the two worst teams in C-USA this year. The key for USM will be shaking off the disappointment of being a touchdown away from their second BCS skin of the year and taking care of business.

Friday

8:00: Pittsburgh @ Louisville (ESPN2): The fact that I will probably watch at least a portion of this game on Friday is extremely sad, in my opinion. Pitt joined a spate of teams last week that couldn’t run two minute drills to save their lives or otherwise screwed up in the red zone (looking at you, Wake Forest and Texas Tech, among others). Don’t let the records fool you: UL’s schedule has been much tougher than Pitt’s to this point and there’s not really any reason right now to think Pitt is better than UL. Will the Wannstache prevail in another Krag-tastic loss? Eh, probably not.

Tune in later this week, or early this weekend, for my full set of picks for Saturday!