I’m out of town this weekend and will probably miss many, if not most, of these games! Despite that, let’s do our thing, though with a pretty heavy dose of LIGHTNING ROUND.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Nebraska @ Ohio State (FOX): Well, Scott Frost day came and went, which is good because this figures to put the Cornhuskers back on the schnide.
• Louisville @ Clemson (ABC): Louisville’s defense is… really, really bad. This will get ugly.
• Texas A&M @ Auburn (ESPN): The Internet angst regarding Gus Malzahn is really something, which will be really confusing when the Tigers win. Well, provided they can figure something, anything on offense.
• Michigan State @ Maryland (ESPN2): Sparty.
• Oklahoma State @ Baylor (FS1): Pokes.
• Memphis @ East Carolina (ESPNU): Tigers.
• South Carolina @ Mississippi (SEC): Gamecocks.
• Iowa State @ Kansas (FSN): Cyclones.
• Rutgers @ Wisconsin (BTN): Do I really even need to specify for this one?
• Air Force @ Army (CBSS): Army begins its Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy run with this game, which at the rate they’ve been going this year they should handle easily.
• Syracuse @ Wake Forest (ACC/RSN): One of the great current mysteries of this college football season is: “Is Syracuse actually good? And why are they ranked?” So suffice it to say, they need to be Wake so we can keep asking ourselves that question.

12:15: Georgia Tech @ North Carolina (Raycom): After beating VPI last week, there’s an uptick in optimism surrounding Georgia Tech. The maddening thing about this season, though, has been the inconsistency. Even in the Virginia Tech game it looked like it was going to be a track meet before they muffed that punt. The main thing I will be watching here is the defense, and whether or not we can consistently get stops. The offense, of course, bears mentioning. They played lights out with Oliver in and while I think Marshall is a superior all-around QB, Oliver’s lack of hesitancy (in fairness, this is due to a simplified playbook with less reads) has made a lot of difference. If we want to have any hope of going bowling this season, this game is a must-win, full stop. It is hard to see how we will get in otherwise, and even then…

3:30:

• Florida State @ North Carolina State (ABC): It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the Wolfpack, and while FSU has looked better I don’t think they’ve looked that much better.
• Georgia @ Kentucky (CBS): Georgia looked a little bit more like themselves against Florida, and all they need to do is sustain that against a pesky Kentucky team. If they can get their offense rolling at all, Kentucky won’t be able to keep up with them.
• West Virginia @ Texas (FOX): So Texas got everyone back in and re-invested, and then they went out and lost to Oklahoma State. Whoops! And now you have a pain-in-the-neck Mountaineer team that could definitely still make their way to the Big 12 title game (which, yes, is a thing again for some reason) and all sorts of problems. I’ll go with the Horns here, but sheesh nothing is easy with those guys.
• Iowa @ Purdue (ESPN2): Iowa?
• Kansas State @ Texas Christian (FS1): This looks to be it for Bill Synder, but the problem with a coach like that is that he very much wants to go out on his own terms.
• Navy @ Cincinnati (ESPNU): Cincy was probably smoke-and-mirrors, running out to that undefeated start, but Navy has just been not good this year.
• Minnesota @ Illinois (BTN): Minnesota?
• Tulane @ South Florida (CBSS): USF.

3:45:

• Pennsylvania State @ Michigan (ESPN): This finally looks like the year Michigan will finish above third in the Big Ten East. All they have to do is not screw this up. Which, well, I don’t blame you for being nervous, but by all rights this year’s Wolverines should beat this year’s Nittany Lions.
• Boston College @ Virginia Tech (Raycom): This game figures to be, uh, low-scoring. And I’m taking BC.

4:00:

• Missouri @ Florida (SEC): Mizzou is 0-4 in the SEC, and by all rights they should be 2-2. Such is life, and probably losing in the Swamp.
• Utah @ Arizona State (Pac12): Arizona State is 4-4 and no one knows what to do, which is a good time for the Utes to swoop in and remind them who really rules the roost in the Pac-12 South these days (since USC continues to be AWOL).

7:00:

• Duke @ Miami (ESPN2): Miami is sort of not good, but I don’t care how good Duke is, I don’t see them out-atheleting Miami.
• Houston @ Southern Methodist (ESPNU): Houston.
• Connecticut @ Tulsa (CBSS): Tulsa?

7:15: Notre Dame @ Northwestern (ESPN): I’m picking Notre Dame here, not because I like the Irish (I certainly don’t), but having a division leader be 5-1 in conference and 5-4 on the year will surely deepen the existential crisis in the Big Ten offices.

7:30:

• California-Los Angeles @ Oregon (FOX): Speaking of the Utes causing crashes back down to Earth, Chip Kelly’s little two-game win streak got a rude awakening by the Utes. And now they head up to Eugene, Chip’s old stomping grounds, and a Ducks team that really themselves will be looking to get back on the ball. This could get ugly.
• Louisiana Tech @ Mississippi State (SEC): Miss State.
• Texas-San Antonio @ Alabama-Birmingham (beIN): Go Blazers!
• Florida Atlantic @ Florida International (Stadium): Yep, welcome to the loathsome universe where it turns out the reason that Lane Kiffin was fun and good at FAU was because Kendall Briles was his offensive coordinator last year. Taking FIU here.

8:00:

• Alabama @ Louisiana State (CBS): This game is nuts. As I said elsewhere, these are the #1 and #3 teams in the country and the spread is Alabama by two touchdowns on the road, in Death Valley, at night. This is nuts. But then again, everything about Alabama’s season so far is nuts. Even more nuts might be to bet against them, but… I’d probably still take LSU to cover. It’s almost inconceivable. Fourteen points!
• Oklahoma @ Texas Tech (ABC): In the meantime, the Red Raiders are having themselves a nice little season, and stranger things have happened in Lubbock but… Oklahoma is real good, y’all.

9:00: Stanford @ Washington (Pac12): Remember when the Pac-10/12 was a fun conference, full of teams that liked to throw it all over the place? Yeah, if that’s what you’re nostalgic for then stay far, far away from this game. Which, in fairness, will probably be pretty easy since you don’t live on the West coast and probably don’t get DirecTV. Anyway, I’ll take UDub.

10:00: Southern California @ Oregon State (FS1): Oregon State did beat Colorado somehow, and the Trojans are reeling, but yeah, I’m going with USC here.

10:15:

• Brigham Young @ Boise State (ESPN2): BYU just lost 7-6 to Northern Illinois, so I will go with Boise here.
• San Diego State @ New Mexico (ESPNU): Aztecs.

10:30: Fresno State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (CBSS): Bulldogs.

10:45: California @ Washington State (ESPN): How in the world did Cal beat UDub? You know what, don’t tell me, I don’t want to know. Going with Wazzu.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Wisconsin @ Northwestern (FOX): In a reminder that, perhaps, the Big Ten West isn’t very good, this is a match of two potential contenders! Okay, sure, most folks expected the Badgers to be here, but nonetheless Northwestern has been arguably just as good. Wisconsin may also be down a quarterback, but it’s not like Alex Hornibrook has been awesome anyway. I’ll stick with the Badgers.
• Clemson @ Florida State (ABC): FSU’s gotten better as the year has gone on, but it’s still hard to see this as anything other than a Clemson rout.
• Purdue @ Michigan State (ESPN): Welcome to Hangover Saturday, Purdue! Arguably, both Purdue and Wazzu will get matchups this weekend that are probably the teams you’d least like to play after scoring a potential program-defining win. In particular, I don’t like the Boilermakers’ odds having to venture up to East Lansing.
• Texas Tech @ Iowa State (ESPN2): For two games in a row, Iowa State has shut down some pretty good offenses, or at least managed to outscore them themselves. I’ll go ahead and favor them here.
• Massachusetts @ Connecticut (ESPNU): You could watch this, but just don’t. UConn I guess?
• Vanderbilt @ Arkansas (SEC): Neither of these teams have been especially competitive in SEC play, but the Razorbacks have arguably looked worse, so I’ll go with the ‘Dores.
• Army @ Eastern Michigan (CBSS): Army all the way.
• Wake Forest @ Louisville (ACC/RSN): Wake all the way.

12:20: North Carolina @ Virginia (Raycom): UVA is good, or at least, improved this season. For Carolina, it’s been disappointing, even considering they weren’t expected to be good to begin with. I’m going with the Cavs here.

3:00:

• Texas Christian @ Kansas (FS1): I guess these two oddly timed games are trying to convince people to tune in during commercial breaks during the later games? I dunno, seems pretty desperate. TCU should be able to get back to .500 here.
• Oregon State @ Colorado (Pac12): Oregon State is a pretty good salve for a team that’s gone from 5-0 to 5-2.

3:30:

• Kansas State @ Oklahoma (FOX): Hard to see this year’s K-State putting up much resistance versus Kyler Murray and company.
• Florida vs. Georgia (@Jacksonville, FL; CBS): Well, here we are. My main take on this game is that predicting either team would be in the position they’re currently would’ve been very difficult as recently as a few weeks ago. Florida has gotten here by guile. They blew out Tennessee, sure, but their other games were nail-biters and they got the win over LSU. Georgia blew out everyone and looked otherwise like they weren’t stoppin’ till the SEC Championship, but they derailed—big time—in Baton Rouge. It wasn’t just that they lose to LSU, it’s that it wasn’t really much of a content. So how do you read this one? Will Georgia’s offense wilt once again against a legitimately good defense? If that does happen, can Florida’s offense hang around long enough to get some breaks and score some points? That’s the scenario I’m going with, but really no outcome in this game would surprise me.
• South Florida @ Houston (ABC/ESPN2): Here’s a somewhat under-the-radar G5 game that could determine the P5 bowl game rep, much less the AAC champion. I’m going against the Internet grain and picking USF here.
• Arizona State @ Southern California (ABC/ESPN2): I have no idea what’s going on with USC, and most people don’t either, but have they considered Arizona State might be just what the Trojans need right now?
• Iowa @ Pennsylvania State (ESPN): With two conference losses, Penn State is probably not a factor in the East anymore, but what they do here could go a long way toward untangling the West. But boy howdy, Iowa’s actually looked… good? It’s weird. These are two teams going different directions right now, and I’m taking Iowa on the road.
• Northern Illinois @ Brigham Young (ESPNU): NIU?
• Illinois @ Maryland (BTN): Maryland.
• Cincinnati @ Southern Methodist (CBSS): Cincy.
• Duke @ Pittsburgh (ACC/RSN): Duke.

4:00: Kentucky @ Missouri (SEC): Here’s your hipster college football pick of the week. Mizzou can score points but doesn’t play a lot of defense, Kentucky does the opposite. Usually this favors the team that’s good at defense, so that’s what I’m going to go with.

6:30: Washington @ California (FS1): UDub.

7:00:

• Texas A&M @ Mississippi State (ESPN): TAMU isn’t exactly striking fear into anyone’s hearts, but Miss State just has so many problems on offense right now it’s hard to go with them.
• North Carolina State @ Syracuse (ESPN2): Speaking of hangover games, NC State sure did get obliterated by Clemson last weekend, eh? And again, Syracuse is probably who you won’t want to play, but I certainly favor the Wolfpack in this situation.
• Tulane @ Tulsa (ESPNU): Tulane?
• Boise State @ Air Force (CBSS): Boise.
• Washington State @ Stanford (Pac12): And here we go. Are you for real, Wazzu? I sure hope so. If you’re hungover, this is like trying to distract from that pounding headache with by taking a brick to the face.

7:30:

• Tennessee @ South Carolina (SEC):  Lightning round! Gamecocks.
• Florida International @ Western Kentucky (beIN): FIU?

8:00:

• Texas @ Oklahoma State (ABC): Hey Texas, you for real? They’ve got a good chance to keep it real and ride all the way to the Big 12 championship, but they’ve got to win games like this.
• Notre Dame vs. Navy (@San Diego, CA; CBS): This isn’t even an especially feisty version of Navy, so yeah, Notre Dame should roll.

10:30:

• Oregon @ Arizona (ESPN): Oregon.
• Hawaii @ Fresno State (ESPN2): Fresno.
• San Diego State @ Nevada (ESPNU): SDSU.

Man, if last week was Blood Week, then this is ugh week.

Okay, look, I’m sorry, come back. It’s been a long week over here at ASimSports HQ and this edition will be quicker than usual. Bowl prediction season is coming up soon, and they will debut either next week or the week after depending on how much time I have.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Oklahoma @ Texas Christian (ABC): The Sooners figure to be able to bounce back against a TCU team that looks kind of mediocre at this point.
• Michigan @ Michigan State (FOX): No one should watch that game, which means… everyone is going to be watching to see what wacky thing goes down in this game. Are the conditions going to be right? Let’s check the forecast for kickoff: 49°F, rain, wind 13mph out of the WNW. Then consider the line is Michigan by 7.5. Take Sparty and the under if you’re putting on this, but I have Michigan straight up, allowing Harbaugh to get to 2-2 against Michigan State.
• Auburn @ Mississippi (ESPN): Auburn still has a decent defense, but their ability to score points is under some doubt. Ole Miss, of course, has the opposite problem. What will happen when they meet? Who knows, but I have Auburn.
• Maryland @ Iowa (ESPN2): I think I have Iowa here.
• Illinois @ Wisconsin (FS1): Badgers.
• Cincinnati @ Temple (ESPNU): Hey, maybe watch this instead! The continuing quest to see who will finish behind UCF in the AAC continues, but Cincy is sneakily undefeated! I mean, it’s because they pretty much haven’t played anyone, but still. I’ll take them to remain so in their first true test.
• Tulsa @ Arkansas (SEC): Arkansas?
• Northwestern @ Rutgers (BTN): I’ve run out of things to say about Rutgers. They will somehow top themselves and go down as the worst major conference team in history.
• Miami @ Army (CBSS): Army appears to be… good? Yeah, I know.

12:20: North Carolina @ Syracuse (Raycom): ‘Cuse.

12:30: Virginia @ Duke (ACC/RSN): I don’t think Duke is good, I just think we might be terrible. I still like them better than Virginia.

3:30:

• Colorado @ Washington (FOX): Huh, are the Buffs still undefeated? Oh, they lost to USC last weekend, that makes sense. Okay, good, because they’re probably about to get pummeled by a mad UDub team.
• Pennsylvania State @ Indiana (ABC): After facing two good defenses, the Hoosiers will be a welcome sight for the Nittany Lions.
• Alabama @ Tennessee (CBS): It is very definitely the Third Saturday in October. However, all you need to know about this Alabama team is that their fans are stressing because they might have to start their backup quarterback. Which, in fairness, is a worry for many teams. But most teams don’t have a quarterback that has won a national championship as their backup, and most teams haven’t been so efficient this season that Jalen Hurts, said backup, has compiled the following stat line as he has played in every game: 37 for 50 passing (74%) for 568 yards (11.36 yards per attempt), 5 TD, 1 INT. This is dumb and everything is pointless.
• North Carolina State @ Clemson (ESPN): “NC State is good this year”, I say. “Who have they played?” you say. Yeah, I’ll take Clemson here.
• Wake Forest @ Florida State (ESPN2): Let’s see, this Wake team is fresh off losing 63-3 to Clemson. FSU just suffered an emotional 28-27 loss to Miami. Which, in fairness, Miami looked like the better team throughout, but still. So this could go several ways, but let’s revel like the heathen kings of old (by which I mean, 10 years ago) and go with Wake.
• Kansas @ Texas Tech (FS1): Kansas: not as bad as Rutgers! Someone should make that a t-shirt. Anyway, Red Raiders all the way here.
• Southern Methodist @ Tulane (ESPNU): A battle of 2-4 teams on an ESPN. Yeah, it’s a week with a lot of byes, all right. Going purely with helmet designs as a measure of quality, I’m going with Tulane.
• Minnesota @ Nebraska (BTN): The Big Ten’s two most hyped coaching hires of the past two seasons face-off with a combined record of 3-9. Oof. But what the heck, I’ll take the Huskers to get on the board. Happy Scott Frost Day, oh, and if you’re feeling chair-itable, then head this way.
• Houston @ Navy (CBSS): While Army is on an upswing this year, Navy isn’t. Going with Houston.

4:00:

• Memphis @ Missouri (SEC): After Bama gets up 35-0 on the Vols after the first quarter, switch to the SEC network and see if Mizzou can hold on against Memphis. My bet is that they probably can, but it figures to be more interesting, at least.
• California @ Oregon State (Pac12): Oregon State is such a nonentity to me right now that I can’t even conceive of what I might say about them, so let’s do at least a tad of research… ah, they’re 1-5 with nary a FBS win. A crappy Arizona team beat them 35-14. Yeah, I’ll take Cal.

7:00:

• Mississippi State @ Louisiana State (ESPN): LSU, just get through this and please only go into that game against Alabama with just 1-loss and secure that 8:00 PM CBS double-header slot. You may be our only hope.
• Central Florida @ East Carolina (ESPN2): UCF.
• Connecticut @ South Florida (CBSS): USF.

7:30:

• Oregon @ Washington State (FOX): You’ve heard about the Gameday thing. You know that Pullman is kind of a weird place anyway, and this time of year it’ll be plenty dark by 7:30. For as potentially boring as all the early games may be today, this one may be completely bonkers and worth it. I have to take Wazzu here.
• Ohio State @ Purdue (ABC): Buckeyes.
• Fresno State @ New Mexico (ESPNU): Fresno.
• Vanderbilt @ Kentucky (SEC): Kentucky?
• North Texas @ Alabama-Birmingham (beIN): Go Blazers.

8:00: Southern California @ Utah (Pac12): If no one has done it already, I should register isuscbackornot.com because, well, I think they might be back?

10:30:

• Arizona @ California-Los Angeles (ESPN2): Hopefully that Oregon-Wazzu game lives up to the billing, because this is all we’ve got for #Pac12AfterDark this week and just, ugh. UCLA I guess?
• San Jose State @ San Diego State (CBSS): Aztecs.