As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Oklahoma vs. Texas (@Dallas, TX; FOX): It’s that Red River Shootout Rivalry Showdown. Whatever you call it, it’s incredibly important for both these teams, but only the Sooners figure to figure in the national discussion two months from now. I like Oklahoma here, but this is one of those games that has a deserved reputation for chaos.
• Michigan @ Illinois (ABC): Michigan’s offense is bad, but not bad enough to lose to Illinois, presumably.
• South Carolina @ Georgia (ESPN): You could watch Georgia pummel this extremely mediocre South Carolina team, but I wouldn’t.
• Memphis @ Temple (ESPN2): Hey y’all, watch this G5 game. I like Temple here.
• Miami @ Western Michigan (ESPNU): Some last bits of Saturday MACtion as the weeknight games kick into gear. This matchup figure to be relatively even, so I’ll go with the Broncos.
• Mississippi State @ Tennessee (SEC): I’m going with Miss State all the way here.
• Maryland @ Purdue (BTN): Maryland isn’t good, but Purdue is worse.
• Rutgers @ Indiana (BTN): Do we have any material evidence that Rutgers actually helped get the Big Ten Network on in New York City-area televisions? I mean, seriously.
• Toledo @ Bowling Green (CBSS): Hey, this is a rivalry! Unfortunately BGSU is terrible.

12:30: Georgia Tech @ Duke (ACC/RSN): The rebuilding figured to be bad enough, but the injuries, especially on the offensive line, have made this year so much worse than it figured to be. I don’t think we’ll go winless in the ACC, but I have no idea who we’ll beat.

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

3:30:

• Florida State @ Clemson (ABC): Remember the Bowdenbowl? Yeah, me neither. Clemson figures to wake up any week now.
• Alabama @ Texas A&M (CBS): Alabama faces something they haven’t seen all year: a team with enough talent to actually stay within three scores. In case you’re wondering, Bama-LSU is on November 9th.
• Cincinnati @ Houston (ESPN2): The shine is off Houston a bit, racked by injuries and other issues. Cincy seems to have found its groove a bit after beating UCF last weekend, but they also got a little lucky. I don’t think they’ll need luck against a talented but deflated Houston.
• Michigan State @ Wisconsin (BTN): Michigan State will try to keep it close, but nothing figure to be able to stop Wisky from rolling at the moment.
• Brigham Young @ South Florida (CBSS): No issues for BYU here.
• Washington State @ Arizona State (Pac12): I have no idea what will happen in this game, which generally bodes well for Wazzu.
• Northern Illinois @ Ohio (ESPN+)

3:45: Connecticut @ Tulane (ESPNU): UConn: why? Like, just, philosophically.

4:00:

• Iowa State @ West Virginia (ESPN): The middle of the Big 12 is all about the same, yes, but WVU is pretty much outside the middle right now.
• Texas Tech @ Baylor (FS1): This game is a good example of how similar the middle of the Big 12. Baylor is 5-0, having won most of their coin flips so far, but I think TTU will finally cause them to miss the call.
• Nevada-Las Vegas @ Vanderbilt (SEC): In a statement I probably won’t make too often this year, Vandy’s got this one.
• Middle Tennessee State @ Florida Atlantic (ESPN+)

5:00: Georgia State @ Coastal Carolina (ESPN+)

6:00: Alabama-Birmingham @ Texas-San Antonio (ESPN+)

7:00:

• Mississippi @ Missouri (ESPN2): Ole Miss has two SEC wins, yes, but they are against Arkansas and Vandy. Mizzou won’t be the best team they’ve played, but Mizzou is a step above where Ole Miss right now.
• Fresno State @ Air Force (CBSS): Fresno has two one-score losses to P5 teams and two wins over less opponents as they start Mountain West play 2-2. I’m not sure I have them losing to anyone remaining on their schedule.
• Army @ Western Kentucky (Stadium)
• Charlotte @ Florida International (ESPN+)

7:30:

• Southern California @ Notre Dame (NBC): I have no idea what to make of USC, but I’m not sure they’re good. Considering what else is on tap for this timeslot, I think this will be one I keep an eye but probably only watch it if it’s close late. I’m not figuring on that.
• Pennsylvania State @ Iowa (ABC): Penn State is 5-0, but they haven’t played noanybody, with their best win being that… 17-10 win over Pitt, I guess? Suffice it to say, Iowa figures to be their stiffest test so far. I think if Penn State’s offense can be even half as good as they’ve been so far against lesser opposition, they won’t have any trouble at all here. But then again, who knows what will happen in Iowa at night?
• Nebraska @ Minnesota (FS1): Minnesota’s rolling now, and that doesn’t figure tou change until… November 9th when they wrap up their season with Penn State, at Iowa, at Northwestern, and Wisconsin. Yeah, they could easily go 1-3 in that stretch. But maybe not! That’s why we play the games. But, yeah, as for this game, Nebraska will probably make a bowl this year, but I don’t like them here.
• Navy @ Tulsa (ESPNU): Navy’s looking a little better this year, which is not a statement one could make about Tulsa.
• Arkansas @ Kentucky (SEC): It seems like a long time ago that Kentucky was right there in that game against Florida. Since then they’ve lose 28-13 to Miss State (okay) and 24-7 to South Carolina (ugh). Lucky for them, Arkansas is real, real bad.
• Louisville @ Wake Forest (ACCN): Back in the Jim Grobe era at Wake Forest, about once every 3-4 years they’d have a team full of redshirt juniors and seniors that would punch way above their weight and terrorize the middle-tier of the ACC (and, yeah, that one time they made the worst ACC Championship Game ever). This appears to be one of those Wake Forest teams. I mean, they could arguably be favored in every game they play this season except at Clemson on the 16th. They’re certainly going to favored here.

8:00:

• Florida @ Louisiana State (ESPN): I think Florida will win this game. Death Valley? At night? Yes, I’m crazy. But I ain’t got nothin’ to lose.
• Utah @ Oregon State (Pac12): Oregon State: improving, but likely not improved enough.

10:15: Hawaii @ Boise State (ESPN2): Okay, we’ve got three late games, but they should all be watchable for those of you on the late shift, on the West Coast, or if you’re like, both. I like Boise here, but I think this may be most fun of the three. Well that or the Broncos are just going to sit on them, I dunno. We’ll see!

10:30: Wyoming @ San Diego State (CBSS): Wyoming will roll into San Diego at 4-1, but SDSU’s defense seems to be as functional as ever. I don’t think the Cowboys will be able to put enough together to beat the Aztecs.

11:00: Washington @ Arizona (FS1): Back in August, the Wildcats went to Hawaii and left with a one touchdown loss. Since then, all they’ve done is beat, well, at least one decent team and win four in a row. Meanwhile, UDub suffered an understandable loss to Cal (that defense!) and a completely inexplicable loss to Stanford. Well, I’m sure it’s explicable, but I didn’t see a single minute of it because I was at a wedding. So yeah, I dunno, Arizona’s not a San Francisco Bay Area-based football team, so I like Washington’s chances here.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Oklahoma @ Kansas (ABC): Hey folks, once again, this whole writeup is probably going to be LIGHTNING ROUND time. I was pretty busy this past week and this weekend. Things should be pretty normal from next week on out. So in that spirit: Oklahoma.
• Iowa @ Michigan (FOX): I probably wouldn’t recommend watching this. I have Iowa.
• Purdue @ Pennsylvania State (ESPN): Penn State: are they actually good? This game probably won’t tell us much, but I have the Nittany Lions all the way here.
• Texas Christian @ Iowa State (ESPN2): This game seems like a coin flip, but I’ll give a slight edge to the Cyclones at home.
• Oklahoma State @ Texas Tech (FS1): See above, but I guess I’ll take Oklahoma State on the road.
• Kent State @ Wisconsin (ESPNU): Wisky.
• Utah State @ Louisiana State (SEC): LSU.
• Maryland @ Rutgers (BTN): I’ll assume that possible jokes about Rutgers’s new head coach have been made. UMD all the way here.
• Tulane @ Army (CBSS): Tulane is favored, but I like Army here.

12:30: Boston College @ Louisville (RSN): BC.

3:30:

• Auburn @ Florida (CBS): For whatever reason, most of the college football internet is Florida fans, and according to them, they have no shot in the game. Naturally, I like the Gators here, but I have concerns about whether or not they’ll be able to move the ball. However, I have those same concerns about Auburn, so I think that evens out, leaving me with the Gators in the Swamp.
• Texas @ West Virginia (ABC): Texas.
• Bowling Green @ Notre Dame (NBC): Notre Dame.
• Virginia Tech @ Miami (ESPN): Miami.
• Baylor @ Kansas State (ESPN2): K-State is sneaky good, apparently?
• Air Force @ Navy (CBSS): Navy?
• Illinois @ Minnesota (BTN): Minnesota.
• Western Michigan @ Toledo (ESPN+)
• Ohio @ Buffalo (ESPN+)
• Arkansas State @ Georgia State (ESPN+)

3:45: Memphis @ Louisiana-Monroe (ESPNU): Memphis.

4:00:

• Northwestern @ Nebraska (FOX): Nebraska.
• Troy @ Missouri (SEC): Mizzou.
• North Carolina @ Georgia Tech (ACCN): So it turns out our defense isn’t really that good either, but the offense remains my chief concern. Naturally, the play calling against Temple last week was actually less conservative, but regardless they failed to score a touchdown. Injuries on the offensive line and to our top receiver hard to make it easy to forecast any sort of relief, though. I think it’s going to be a long season, unfortunately.

4:30: Arizona @ Colorado (Pac12): Colorado?

6:00: Western Kentucky @ Old Dominion (ESPN+)

7:00:

• Georgia @ Tennessee (ESPN): Georgia.
• South Florida @ Connecticut (CBSS): Eeesh. Uh, man, both these are real bad. But USF is so bad that people are actively wondering if the team has quit on Charlie Strong, so I guess I’ll take UConn?
• Rice @ Alabama-Birmingham (ESPN+)

7:30:

• Michigan State @ Ohio State (ABC): No idea why you would watch this. Ohio State.
• Tulsa @ Southern Methodist (ESPNU): Southern Miss.
• Vanderbilt @ Mississippi (SEC): Vandy?

8:00:

• California @ Oregon (FOX): Take the under in this one, and also Oregon.
• Pittsburgh @ Duke (ACCN): Duke?
• Texas-San Antonio @ Texas-El Paso (ESPN+)

9:00: Oregon State @ California-Los Angeles (Pac12): Oregon State is improving, but I still like UCLA here.

10:00: San Diego State @ Colorado State (ESPN2): I really have no idea in this one. I’ll take the Aztecs on the road.

10:30:

• Washington @ Stanford (ESPN): UDub.
• Boise State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (CBSS): And, last but not least, I like Boise here. Seriously, with a two-loss UCF now, it’ll be interesting to see what other G5’s step up. Boise has the cachet, but there’s other candidates (like SMU), so it will be up to the Broncos to keep the pressure.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Texas Tech @ Oklahoma (FOX): It’s week 5 already? It’s the end of September already? How in the world did this happen? I feel like I was just rushing to get Week 1 out before PAX. Anyway, OU status: still rolling!
• Northwestern @ Wisconsin (ABC): This may well be a replay of last week’s demolition of Michigan for the Badgers, as they’re facing another Big Ten team with serious issues on offense.
• Texas A&M vs. Arkansas (@Arlington, TX; ESPN): Arkansas didn’t just lose to San Jose State last week. They got demolished by San Jose State. Suffice it to say, I don’t like their chances here!
• Middle Tennessee State @ Iowa (ESPN2): The Blue Raiders are fun and all, but I can’t take them over Iowa here.
• Kansas @ Texas Christian (FS1): TCU got a little unlucky in losing the Iron Skillet last week, but KU doesn’t figure to put up as much of a fight as SMU did.
• Buffalo @ Miami (ESPNU): Buffalo is at least decent, probably? To be clear, this is some Saturday Maction here, not a team from Buffalo, NY venturing to south Florida.
• Northern Illinois @ Vanderbilt (SEC): Vandy gets some relief from the Georgias and LSUs of the world with a chance to catch its breath here.
• Rutgers @ Michigan (BTN): Well, presumably the Michigan offense will look like it has some semblance of idea of how to play football against Rutgers… right?
• Central Michigan @ Western Michigan (CBSS): The spread here is WMU by 17.5, but don’t be fooled, the Directional Michigan Rivalries are the toughest in the sport. Okay, well, maybe not, but there is a trophy on the line.
• Brigham Young @ Toledo (ESPN+)

3:30:

• Clemson @ North Carolina (ABC): Apparently on this Saturday “ABC” stands for “All Blowout Coverage” because, seriously, go ahead and peek at what the prime time game is. It’s cool, I’ll wait here.
• Virginia @ Notre Dame (NBC): Notre Dame actually managed to earn a smidgen of respect for hanging with Georgia. Now they need to show they’re closer to that tier by holding serve at home against a good UVA team.
• Southern California @ Washington (FOX): What to make of the Pac-12? I seriously don’t know. UDub is a solid favorite here, but USC is a little hotter right now and may actually have a clue on what its doing on offense. We’re certainly farther away than ever than all the half-joking 0-6 starts predicted for USC. I like them here, straight-up.
• Mississippi @ Alabama (CBS): Ole Miss is bad, y’all.
• Iowa State @ Baylor (ESPN): Iowa State is one of the few Big 12 teams that purports to play defense, and they’ll need that to pick up a win in Waco.
• Minnesota @ Purdue (ESPN2): Here’s another mid-tier matchup in a conference that’s “Big” followed by a number. That said, I don’t know what’s really up with Purdue at this point, so I’m also taking the road team again.
• Wake Forest @ Boston College (ACCN): Y’all, anyone who gives up 40+ to Kansas (in football) is bad. Wake all the way here.
• Florida Atlantic @ Charlotte (NFL): Hey, it’s on TV, so I gotta talk about it. I think Charlotte is starting to be okay now? And it sure seems like Lane is going to be stuck in Boca forever, eh?
• Indiana @ Michigan State (BTN): You could watch this, but then you’d have to watch a game involving both Indiana and Michigan State on purpose, and I just in good conscience can’t recommend that. Uh, I’ll take Sparty here?
• Georgia Tech @ Temple (CBSS): Sigh
  Maybe it would be more bearable here in Year 0 if two of the most visible problems with this team weren’t almost diametrically opposed to how the previous regime handled things. Let’s start with the deep handoff on 3rd/4th and short, which may be the one of the most crazy things to the average football fan. I guess my point of view is that if Tom Brady, who is approximately 500 years old and in his 300th NFL season, can get under center and run a QB sneak, then just about anyone should be able to.
  The other thing is that while we did run the ball about 80% of the time, Paul Johnson did not call a conservative offense. If we were on the other side of the opponent’s 40, we were going for it. I’m pretty sure we’ve already punted from that area three games into this season more than the previous regime did in several seasons put together. It’s ridiculous. Personally, I think that if you really trust your defense, that if you’re willing to live and die with your defense, then you should be okay with turning it over on downs at the opponent’s 35. Maybe that’s just me, though.
  Either way, look, it really is Year Zero. That term was coined for a reason. Arguably the previous regime probably should’ve lost to a FCS team in their first season. Not all is lost, and it’s not time to hit the panic button yet.
  At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.
• Coastal Carolina @ Appalachian State (ESPN+)

4:00: Southern Methodist @ South Florida (ESPNU): SMU is good. USF, uh, not so much.

5:00: Cincinnati @ Marshall (Facebook): I have no idea how to watch this game, but I may need to figure it out. Marshall’s only blemish so far is a tight loss to Boise, and while I don’t think Cincy will still be reeling from getting destroyed by Ohio State, they’re still a bit of a step down from where most of us thought they would be in this season. But hey, the season is long and they can still go beat UCF and Memphis, so not all is lost of the Bearcats. And I still like them in this game.

6:00:

• Louisiana-Lafayette @ Georgia Southern (ESPN+)
• Arkansas State @ Troy (ESPN+)
• East Carolina @ Old Dominion (ESPN+)
• New Mexico @ Liberty (ESPN+)

7:00:

• Mississippi State @ Auburn (ESPN): Auburn’s defensive line will likely just be too good for the Bulldogs.
• Connecticut @ Central Florida (ESPN2): UCF took a direct hit from the Pitt Superweapon, but they still get to also play the UConns of the world and regroup.
• Stanford @ Oregon State (Pac12): These might be the two worst teams in the Pac-12, ugh. I’m picking the Beavers just because I can’t pick Stanford anymore.
• Texas-El Paso @ Southern Mississippi (ESPN+)
• Alabama-Birmingham @ Western Kentucky (ESPN+)
• South Alabama @ Louisiana-Monroe (ESPN+)

7:30:

• Ohio State @ Nebraska (ABC): So, yeah, like I said, nothin’ but blowouts in ABC today. Eesh.
• Kentucky @ South Carolina (SEC): I’d almost say that this is a mid-tier SEC game, but South Carolina is just kinda really bad on offense. I like Kentucky here.
• North Carolina State @ Florida State (ACCN): NC State was thought to be solidly in the middle of the ACC, and then they took a surprising a surprising blowout from a rebuilding West Virginia team a couple weeks ago. Of course, it’s basically impossible to predict what FSU will do at this point, so this may be interesting in a trainwreck sort of way. I’m going with FSU here.
• Colorado State @ Utah State (CBSS): I like the Aggies here.

8:00: Nevada-Las Vegas @ Wyoming (ESPNU): Well, Wyoming is no longer America’s luckiest team after losing to Tulsa, but they’re still good enough to beat UNLV.

10:00: Washington State @ Utah (FS1): Wazzu had a game for the ages last weekend, which is a statement that as equally true now as it was at halftime of that game when they had a 35-17 lead that didn’t even feel that close. 78(!) second half points later, they lost to UCLA. I’m not comfortable predicting a win for them here, as Utah shouldn’t be able to keep pace, but that’s what anyone would’ve said last week too.

10:30:

• California-Los Angeles @ Arizona (ESPN): For now, I’m not going to get too high off that crazy comeback and predict a UCLA victory here. But you may wanna watch this one.
• Hawaii @ Nevada (ESPN2): You may wanna watch this too. I like Hawaii but it should be fun, and who knows what can happen as the midnight hour approaches in Reno?

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Michigan @ Wisconsin (FOX): Well, FOX’s attempts to revitalize the noon slot gives us the most Big Ten game possible. I think Michigan is a favorite here, but with the caveat that they need to absolutely figure out their offensive playcalling.
• Michigan State @ Northwestern (ABC): We know how this is going to go. Let’s go ahead and resign ourselves to Sparty 10, Northwestern 7 or some crap.
• Tennessee @ Florida (ESPN): For whatever reason, a large portion of the college football writing talent I follow online is Florida fans, who for whatever reason seem to be especially neurotic about their team. So expect to read a bunch of tweets, wonder if Florida even won the game, and realize they won like 30-14 or something like that.
• Southern Mississippi @ Alabama (ESPN2): On September 16, 2000, Southern Miss shut out Alabama 21-0 in Tuscaloosa, somewhat marking the nadir of Alabama football. Just take that one occurrence and remember that not all dynasties are permanent, and someday Bama will be terrible again.
• Louisiana-Monroe @ Iowa State (FS1): If Iowa State can return some punts tomorrow, they should be okay.
• California @ Mississippi (ESPNU): Ah, to be a fly in the Grove on this game day; well, provided any Cal fans actually travel to Oxford. Either way, this may give the East Coast the first look at Cal’s new-look defense. I like the Bears here.
• Louisiana State @ Vanderbilt (SEC): Now that LSU seems to have a functional offense, well, good luck Vandy.
• Western Michigan @ Syracuse (ACCN): What happened to Syracuse? I don’t think they’ll have any issues with WMU, but we may see a lot of inconsistency from the mid-to-bottom tier of the ACC this year.
• Boston College @ Rutgers (BTN): So… who could have possibly seen BC getting waxed by Kansas coming? And if you did, can I ask you for some other predictions of the future? Because you are apparently omniscient? I mean, despite that happening there’s just no way you can say Rutgers is going to win, right?
• Connecticut @ Indiana (BTN): This sure is a football game that will happen. Indiana, I guess.

2:00: Louisiana-Lafayette @ Ohio (ESPN+)

3:00: Troy @ Akron (ESPN+)

3:30:

• Auburn @ Texas A&M (CBS): Given the overall trajectories of these two programs and the attitude of their fans, I fully expect Auburn to win this game, because no one is expecting it and that is generally how Auburn operates.
• Washington @ Brigham Young (ABC/ESPN2): Since losing the Holy War, BYU has since made up some ground by beating Tennessee and USC. I don’t think they’ll be able to pull off that trick a third time, but they’ve got a chance.
• Central Florida @ Pittsburgh (ABC/ESPN2): The Pitt Superweapon misfired against Penn State, so UCF should cruise.
• Louisville @ Florida State (ESPN): FSU.
• Southern Methodist @ Texas Christian (FS1): It’s the Battle for the Iron Skillet! And also probably an easy TCU win.
• Temple @ Buffalo (ESPNU): Buffalo just lost to Liberty, so going with Temple here.
• South Alabama @ Alabama-Birmingham (NFL): The Battle of I-65! Well, if that didn’t already kinda refer to UAB-MTSU. If that does refer to UAB-MTSU. Look, I’m not going to look that up, but I’m from Alabama, so just trust me on this. Also, UAB is real bad this year, but I’ll still take them here.
• Miami @ Ohio State (BTN): OSU.
• Wyoming @ Tulsa (CBSS): Wyoming is one of the luckiest teams in football right now, but fortunately for them Tulsa is bad enough to allow them to go to 4-0 to succeed just on talent.
• Appalachian State @ North Carolina (RSN): I wasn’t really prepared for Year 1 Mack Brown Back At UNC to be good enough that we’d be kind of shocked that they lost to Wake Forest, but here we are. They’re still going to be App State, though.

4:00:

• Kentucky @ Mississippi State (SEC): This is a battle of mid-tier SEC teams that I think are probably about evenly matched, which another way of saying that I don’t know who will win. As is my usual crutch, I’ll go with the home team.
• South Carolina @ Missouri (SECA): Gamecocks, probably.
• Central Michigan @ Miami (ACCN): Canes should roll.

4:30: West Virginia @ Kansas (ESPN+): Speaking of odd victories from last week, WVU also waxed NC State. Now the teams that were predicted to be two of the worst P5 teams in the country face off. Who will win? I have no idea! Let’s, uh, go with history and WVU because it still feels weird to pick Kansas to win anything.

7:00:

• Oregon @ Stanford (ESPN): Stanford is not good this year, Ducks roll.
• Old Dominion @ Virginia (ESPN2): UVA holds serve and their bid to emerge from the chaos to be the second-best team in the ACC.
• Ball State @ North Carolina State (ESPNU): NC State presumably will get over the shock of losing to WVU long enough to take care of business here.
• Baylor @ Rice (CBSS): Baylor shouldn’t have any issues at the Rice Bowl.
• Georgia State @ Texas State (ESPN+)

7:30:

• Oklahoma State @ Texas (ABC): Texas fans will quickly let you know that Texas hasn’t beat Oklahoma State at home since 2008, but look, that’s just a weird quirk more than anything else. I’m taking Texas.
• San Jose State @ Arkansas (SEC): Even Arkansas can win this game!
• Charlotte @ Clemson (ACCN): Clemson.

8:00:

• Notre Dame @ Georgia (CBS): I’ll watch this game with a scowl on my face. At least this should knock Notre Dame thoroughly out of the playoff picture.
• Nebraska @ Illinois (BTN): Illinois is kind of okay this year? Yeah, I don’t know either. I’ll take Nebraska.

10:00: Colorado @ Arizona State (Pac12): Arizona State, just, I don’t get you. To continue to ensure that I don’t understand you, I’ve got Colorado here.

10:15: Toledo @ Colorado State (ESPN2): Rams?

10:30:

• California-Los Angeles @ Washington State (ESPN): Hey, it turns out Mike Leach isn’t woke! Yeah, uh, no one who pays attention is surprised. They’ll still win this game.
• Utah State @ San Diego State (CBSS): Here’s a witching hour game that might actually be interesting! Don’t forget where CBS Sports Network is on your dial and get some solid late-night West Coast football. I’ll take the Aztecs.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Ohio State @ Indiana (FOX): Both teams are undefeated going in, but it’ll be the home team going out with a loss in this one.
• Pittsburgh @ Pennsylvania State (ABC): This might be worth watching to see a rivalry dusted off, but it’s likely going to be a Nittany Lion romp.
• Kansas State @ Mississippi State (ESPN): I’m bullish on Miss State, but then I read that their QB got hurt last week. Even though Tommy Stevens should play, I think this might be closer than it initially appeared.
• Arkansas State @ Georgia (ESPN2): Georgia should have no trouble here (unfortunately).
• North Carolina State @ West Virginia (FS1): WVU is a tire fire this year, NC State should have no issues.
• Miami @ Cincinnati (ESPNU): Cincinnati gets to take a breath after getting absolutely clobbered by Ohio State last week.
• Eastern Michigan @ Illinois (BTN): Illinois is bad, but not “lose to EMU at home” bad. Well, probably.
• Maryland @ Temple (CBSS): Considering the respective performances of the Maryland and Michigan offenses so far, I guess that settles the off-season dispute of “who called the plays for ‘Bama last year?” Temple is feisty, but after demolishing Syracuse I have to go with the Terps here.

12:30: The Citadel @ Georgia Tech (RSN): Naturally, GT will face two blasts from its past in consecutive weeks here. First, they’ll face some good ol’ flexbone offense. Next week, Geoff Collins will get to play against his old charges. As far as this game goes, for once I hope all that negative recruiting about the defense being bad because they practiced against the option was actually the case. Also I’d prefer not to see a repeat of that Gardner-Webb game from 2008.

1:00: Air Force @ Colorado (Pac12): There may be slightly more Colorado fans in attendance for this one, after a mass of Cornhuskers left Boulder shocked last week. The Buffs don’t figure to be in trouble with Air Force.

2:00: Florida Atlantic @ Ball State (ESPN+): I’m going to not provide commentary on most of these ESPN+ games, but I will continue to list them.

2:30: New Mexico @ Notre Dame (NBC): Hey, it’s ND on NBC for the first time this year! Against a dreadful Lobos squad! Don’t want this!

3:00: Akron @ Central Michigan (ESPN+)

3:30:

• Alabama @ South Carolina (CBS): Yeah, look, as far as Bama goes, wake me up when they play Texas A&M, Auburn, Georgia, or let’s face the inevitable, Clemson.
• Southern California @ Brigham Young (ABC): So…. in the college football offseason it was only kind of a joke that a lot of folks thought USC would start 0-5. Well, here we are, with an undefeated USC that seems to have an idea of what they’re doing on offense for the first time years. Utah handled the Stormin’ Mormons pretty handily, so should USC.
• Stanford @ Central Florida (ESPN): UCF, if you want anyone to take you seriously, you have to win this game. Sure, you may not actually get a lot of credit for beating what looks like a down-year Stanford team, but you can’t lose.
• Oklahoma State @ Tulsa (ESPN2): No problem for the ‘Pokes here.
• Memphis @ South Alabama (ESPNU): No problem for the Tigers here.
• Army @ Texas-San Antonio (NFL): No problem for, uh, the Army here? (Apparently one of the Michigan radio announces last week kept referring to Army as “the Army”, as if the actual military was rolling tanks up and down Michigan Stadium.)
• Nevada-Las Vegas @ Northwestern (BTN): UNLV is bad, to put it charitably.
• Georgia Southern @ Minnesota (BTN): Minnesota should win, but man it doesn’t feel like a guarantee, does it?
• East Carolina @ Navy (CBSS): It’s starting to feel like it’s getting further away from Navy being good, but they should still be good enough to beat ECU.

4:00:

• Arizona State @ Michigan State (FOX): Sparty is well and truly favored here, but it’s still such a weird matchup that it feels hard to predict.
• Iowa @ Iowa State (FS1): ¡EL ASSICO! is back! The thing is, the name may have been given in jest, but let’s face it, it’s somewhat unironically the best early season P5 rivalry now, right? Heck, they even got Gameday to go to Ames for a game that’s not even on ESPN. (Just don’t, uh, look too hard at the alternatives.) This should be fun, and let’s just say the Cyclones win, what the heck.
• Colorado State @ Arkansas (SEC): Colorado State could win this game. I won’t say that they will, but they could. You may definitely find yourself flipping to this a coupe of times.
• Louisville vs. Western Kentucky (@Nashville, TN; Stadium): Well, Louisville is bad, but fortunately for them and this bizarre neutral site matchup, this isn’t cool, fun Western Kentucky anymore.

4:15: North Texas @ California (Pac12): Cal needs to avoid the letdown after escaping a bizarre, delay-ridden game in Seattle last weekend that lasted after midnight Pacific time. They should be able to navigate past North Texas .

5:00: Louisiana Tech @ Bowling Green (ESPN+)

6:00:

• Southern Mississippi @ Troy (ESPN+)
• Buffalo @ Liberty (ESPN+)

7:00:

• Florida @ Kentucky (ESPN): Kentucky isn’t bad or anything (I think), but it figures that after finally getting past that ridiculous streak last year means that we have Good Florida again, which bodes poorly for the Wildcats looking to avoid the start of another streak.
• Kent State @ Auburn (ESPN2): Auburn should be fine.
• Georgia State @ Western Michigan (ESPN+)

7:30:

• Clemson @ Syracuse (ABC): Well, Syracuse picked a bad time to get knocked around by Maryland last week, because it only figures to get worse here.
• Florida State @ Virginia (ACCN): If UVA wants to prove they’ve moved up a tier in the ACC, then they really need to beat a battered FSU at home.
• Texas Christian @ Purdue (BTN): It’s unfortunate this game got relegated to the Big Ten Network, it could be fun, provided it’s not a TCU rout.
• Hawaii @ Washington (Pac12): UDub tries to get back on the horse and avoid giving Hawaii their third(!) Pac-12 win of the season. They should be able to do it, but it could be tricky.

8:00:

• Oklahoma @ California-Los Angeles (FOX): Fun intersectional matchups aside (it’s in the Rose Bowl!), this looks like a Sooner rout.
• Northern Illinois @ Nebraska (FS1): Nebraska figures to be able to hold on against the Huskies.
• Texas vs. Rice (@Houston, TX; CBSS): “Why does Rice play Texas?” indeed. Texas should be able to get back on the beam with a win over Rice.

10:30: Texas Tech @ Arizona (ESPN): Should a run the triple, Khalil Tate. I’ll take TTU here.