The final actual week of the regular season is here!

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Thursday
8:00: Arizona State @ Arizona (ESPN): Even with a win, ASU won’t be granted an exception to count both of their wins against DI-AA teams, meaning they would finish with a 5-6 record for bowl purposes. So all that’s left to play for is pride. That’s a pretty good motivator, but the Bearcats should still take the Territorial Cup.

Friday
7:00: Northern Illinois vs. Miami (MAC Championship @ Detroit, MI; ESPN2): FRIDAY NIGHT MEGA-MACTION. Yes, that’s right kids, it’s some heavy duty MACtion up in the land of Michigan. Honestly, on paper this isn’t really even close. NIU rampaged through MAC competition, scoring 382 points while only allowing 127 on their way to an 8-0 MAC record. The only MAC team that even came within one score of beating the Huskies was Western Michigan, the second most prolific offense in the conference. Miami University, meanwhile, needed an inexplicable Ohio loss for them to even get into the title game, though their only conference loss was to that same Ohio team. Suffice it to say, though, I’ll take NIU here.

10:15: Illinois @ Fresno State (ESPN2): You’re 5-3 and 3-2 overall in the Big Ten after destroying the two Indiana teams, and you’re feeling pretty good. Okay, you just lost to Michigan in a barn burner triple overtime game. Fine, but life is still good. And then you go and lose to Minnesota, at home. Whoops. But then you recover by beating your rival in a baseball stadium and you don’t really know what to make of yourself. So you take a break to eat some turkey and prepare for a roadtrip to the nothingness of the Central Valley and Fresno, CA, home of the team that beat you in Champaign last year. All that said, this year hasn’t really gone that great for Fresno, with a major conference scalp (a first-week win over Cincy) but a lackluster WAC showing, with a loss to all the teams above you in the standings and barely speaking by teams like Louisiana Tech and Idaho. I guess what I’m getting at here is that this game could probably still go either way, mostly depending on which Illinois team shows up. If it’s the one that showed up at Wrigley Field, they’ll probably win. If it’s the one that lost to the Golden Gophers, they probably won’t. But that said, tradition says I have to make a pick here, so I’ll take the safe way out and take the Illini.

Stay tuned for bowl predictions and this weekend’s forecast…

Lots of football this week, especially with a jam packed Black Friday slate. So why get up before dawn to sit in the cold only to discover that you weren’t one of the first three people in line for that 55″ TV? Your existing 42″ one is probably good enough to watch the following games anyway.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Tuesday
7:00: Temple @ Miami (ESPN): Okay, this game already kicked off, so I’m a bit late to the party here. So I won’t predict anything.

Thursday
8:00: Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Texas (ESPN): What a terrible year for Texas, eh? They join the miser zone for two other BCS teams last year (Florida and Georgia Tech) whose 2010 seasons are not quite living up to the hype. With that said, I don’t think they really stand a chance again TAMU.

Friday
11:00:

• Louisville @ Rutgers (ESPN2): Who wants to win the Big East? Okay, it probably won’t be one of these two teams, but you never know. Especially about the Big East. I think Rutgers can win this one.
• Ohio @ Kent State (ESPNU): Ohio should wrap up the MAC East in this early Friday MACtion.

12:00: West Virginia @ Pittsburgh (ABC): It’s the Backyard Brawl, with a special helping of “Who Wants to Win the Big East?” Pitt is in pretty good shape, but if they lose, then Connecticut controls their own destiny in the Big east. Yup. That said, Pitt should win, for whatever that means in the context of the Big East.

2:00: Southern Methodist @ East Carolina (CBSCS): SMU clinches a C-USA West title here with a win, a win that would also help Southern Miss in the East. ECU just got torched by a very moribund Rice squad as they posses one of the worst defenses in the country, so I actually like SMU here.

2:30: Auburn @ Alabama (CBS): Well, here it is. Alabama is a slight favorite right now, and as I’ve discovered now that I’m starting to check the news for the bowl projections, that a lot of people think Auburn will lose. Okay, yeah, this is not a lights out Auburn defense. But this isn’t last year’s Alabama defense either. They got passed all over by Arkansas, and then they lost to South Carolina and LSU. While I generally don’t adhere to the transitive property when it comes to college football, I can’t help but note that Auburn has beaten both of those teams, and, in fact, has no losses. (I think it is fair, though, to point out this is only Auburn’s fourth home game all year.) That said, I will take Auburn straight up. Well, unless something happens between now and Friday re: Cam Newton, which I doubt.

3:30:

• Colorado @ Nebraska (ABC): Yeah, cool, Colorado won last weekend against K-State and Nebraska probably got jobbed in College Station. Huskers should still win this one and wrap up the Big 12 North.
• California-Los Angeles @ Arizona State (FSN): Since I haven’t posted this week’s bowl predictions this week, did you know that the Pac-10 could only have four bowl eligible teams. Which sucks that’s considered “a thing” because I favor a round-robin conference schedule. ASU is already ineligible because with two DI-AA teams and six losses they can’t qualify. UCLA can if they run the table starting here, but I don’t think they will.

6:30: Southern Mississippi @ Tulsa (CBSCS): That said, USM’s remote C-USA East hopes lie on an extremely unlikely UCF loss to Memphis. That said, USM played well last weekend despite everything, and I think that trend continues.

7:00: Arizona @ Oregon (ESPN): While Cal defended Oregon about as well as you can, they’ve had a week to think about it. While Arizona is a good team, the Ducks should take care of business back home in Eugene.

10:15: Boise State @ Nevada (ESPN): I will like this game a whole bunch if Nevada can figure out a way to not get blown out. While Nevada is solid, I’m not sure how they can defend Boise. The best case scenario for Nevada is to hope the game turns into something a track meet, but Boise has crushed all their other WAC opposition, and I don’t think that there’s anything about Nevada’s defense that won’t prevent that happening to them.

For the last month of the season, in addition to the usual weekly column we’ll also examine the Tuesday through Friday action as well.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Tuesday

8:00: Ohio @ Temple (ESPN2): There’s a 3-way tie for the MAC East right now, so once again your Tuesday MACtion has championship implications. Ohio has already beaten the other team in the tie (Miami) so a win here would be huge for them with only beatable Kent State to go. Meanwhile, a Temple win here and a Miami win against Akron on Wednesday sets up a season ending showdown a week from Friday. As for this game? Honestly, I like the Owls here. They’ve just been dominant against almost all of their MAC foes and it’s at home.

Wednesday

6:00: Miami @ Akron (ESPNU): As I said above, Miami is the other team in the tie. Akron… is not. Akron is probably the worst team in major college football this season due to be 0-10 on the year. I think the predicted winner here is obvious.

8:00: Bowling Green @ Toledo (ESPN2): Going with the decent team (Toledo) over the 2-8 team (Bowling Green).

Thursday

7:30: Georgia State @ Alabama (ESPNU): Ordinarily, I don’t list DI-AA vs. DI-A competition on here. This game won’t be any less lopsided than the ones I usually list. In fact, it will probably be even more lopsided because it’s first-year Georgia State going into Tuscaloosa. (It may still be less painful for former Alabama (and Georgia Tech) coach Bill Curry than the time an Alabama fan threw a brick threw his window.) At any rate, this is the conclusion of ESPN’s documentary of Georgia State football, a series I’ve been fascinated with as it talks about the trials and travails of a team that’s just getting its feet. But unlike a lot of other teams of this sort, at least they’re staying within their means and not trying to jump into I-A in two years. So watch the beginning out of respect, and then look away out of respect, because no one likes rubberneckers.

8:00: California-Los Angeles @ Washington (ESPN): Yeah… they schedule these Thursday night games at the beginning of the year. Sometimes they’re right about which ones will be good. Sometimes, they’re, um, not and you end up with two Pac-10 teams with losing records. U-Dub just finished the murder’s row portion of their schedule (Arizona, Stanford, Oregon) and now settles back into games they have a chance to win, needing to win their next two over UCLA and Cal to go into the Apple Cup with a shot at a bowl. All that said, I think UCLA will win.

10:00: Air Force @ Nevada-Las Vegas (CBSCS): No one in the Mountain West that isn’t TCU, Utah, BYU, SDSU, or Air Force has more than 3 wins. I’ll take Air Force here.

Friday

9:30: Fresno State @ Boise State (ESPN2): This Fresno team is pretty okay. But I’ve seen nothing this year (including watching Fresno last week against Nevada) that thinks they’ll get anything other than blown out by Boise. I was going to write that it’ll be an upset if Fresno covers but I just looked up the line and it’s Boise by 30.5. Okay, so they might actually cover, but that’s the sort of respect Boise is getting from Vegas, at least.

For the last month of the season, in addition to the usual weekly column we’ll also examine the Tuesday through Friday action as well.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Tuesday

7:00: Toledo @ Northern Illinois (ESPN2): Are you ready for some MACtion? This game will determine the winner of the MAC West! If that’s not going to get you excited about MAC football then I’m not sure what will. Anyway, I like NIU here.

Wednesday

8:00: Miami @ Bowling Green (ESPN2): This game is not for similar stakes, unfortunately. After getting creamed in out-of-conference play, Miami (the one in Ohio) has recovered to run it up to 4-1 in the MAC, which ties them in the loss column with the other MAC East frontrunners. Bowling Green, however, is not so hot, at 2-7 on the year. I like Miami here.

Thursday

7:30: Pittsburgh @ Connecticut (ESPN): Anyone have any idea of what’s going in the Big East? I sure don’t. Pitt is the only undefeated team in conference play but they’ve also only played three conference games. For the sake of my sanity, I’m taking Pitt.

8:00: East Carolina @ Alabama-Birmingham (CBSCS): Of UAB’s three wins this year, two of them have been by one point. ECU has taken care of most of their C-USA brethren by larger margins than that, but, well, they did lose 76-35 last week to Navy. (Fun fact: Navy had only 32 yards more total offense, for a total of 596 yards, but Navy finished with a +3 turnover ratio.) Nonetheless, I’ll still taking the Pirates.

Friday

6:00: Ball State @ Buffalo (ESPNU): Yes, that’s right kids, more MACtion! This time, though, the teams involved are a combined 5-14 on the year. So, um, I can’t really recommend this one. Total guess: Buffalo.

9:00: Boise State @ Idaho (ESPN2): Hey, anyone remember this whole thing from back in July? So you can bet they’ll be especially “nasty and inebriated” up in the Kibbie Dome this year. (Also known as the Cowan Spectrum if there’s a basketball court in it.) Idaho’s unique dome may be the single best reason to tune into this, other than to witness Boise’s impending demolition of them in the same manner you’re not supposed to rubberneck when driving by a car accident.

As usual, the weekend column will probably go up at some absurd hour on Saturday. Until then, enjoy the MACtion!

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Tuesday
7:00: Ball State @ Western Michigan (ESPN2): This game has already started, so I’ll just say I was going to pick Western Michigan anyway.

Thursday
8:00: Texas @ Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (ESPN): Even with their improved play as of late, it’s not really working out terribly well for TAMU (though they will, improbably, make a bowl). Texas should win by at least a few scores.

Friday
11:00:

• Rutgers @ Louisville (ESPN2): So Rutgers inexplicably lost to Syracuse last week. That may faze some people but not me! Rutgers should still win.
• Temple @ Ohio (ESPNU): This is for all the MAC East marbles! Fear the Owl, I say.

12:00: Illinois @ Cincinnati (ABC): I think Cincy can safely handle the Illini, despite them going 2-1 the last three weeks.

2:30: Alabama @ Auburn (CBS): Can you imagine the chaos if Auburn can pull this off? Because I can’t – it’s hard to imagine Bama or Florida even losing a game at this point would make any difference at all, so big are their leads in the BCS. Do I want Auburn to win though? Of course. Will they? Probably not.

3:30:

• Nebraska @ Colorado (ABC): How fired is Dan Hawkins? So fired. They should also probably lose to Nebraska, but it’s the Big 12 North, so you never know.
• Memphis @ Tulsa (CBSCS): Man, what happened to Tulsa? After a 4-1 start it looked like an average year in the C-USA East for them, but since they’ve lost six straight. They haven’t exactly gotten beatdown, either, including close losses to Boise State, UTEP, and that wacky 1-point loss to Houston. Well, okay, they got blown out by ECU, but still. It’s hard to say which team is more moribund, but I’ll take the one that hasn’t fired their coach (hint: Tulsa).

7:00: Pittsburgh @ West Virginia (ESPN2): It’s the backyards brawl! Considering the coaches involved, except rare moments of brilliance with bad clock management and nonsensical trick plays in attempt to break out of their conservative norms. I’ll take the Wannastache.

10:15: Nevada @ Boise State (ESPN2): STAY UP FOR THIS GAME, unless it quickly becomes a blowout in favor of one of the teams. Nevada features not one, not two, but three 1000-yard rushers on the year and Boise has yet to face a significant obstacle in their tear through the WAC. Will a competent opponent faze them? Perhaps, but I’m still taking the Broncos.