Category Archives: On TV This Weekend

This Weekend in College Football: Week 2

Noon:

  • Georgia Tech @ South Florida (ABC/ESPN2): Right at the top, eh? Well, we didn’t find out much about either team in their tune-ups last weekend. I especially didn’t because I didn’t see basically any games from the entire weekend. That said, Tech will need to ramp up quickly against a quarterback who can throw and a Bulls team that has been game for the past few seasons and is looking to avoid any drop-off under new coach Carlie Strong.
  • Arizona @ Houston (ABC/ESPN2): Speaking of unknowns, how about this one? Arizona really needs to get back on track after losing to BYU at home last weekend, which really makes this seem like Houston’s to lose.
  • Mississippi State @ Kansas State (ESPN): This is a major test for a Miss State team that’s supposed to be pretty good, because weird stuff can happen in the Little Apple. On talent alone I have to stick with the Bulldogs though.
  • Western Michigan @ Michigan (FS1): Angst aside, the Wolverines got this one.
  • Duke @ Northwestern (ESPNU): This game will be… surprisingly watchable? Yeah, that’s the ticket. Going with Northwestern.
  • Nevada @ Vanderbilt (SEC): Vandy can probably win this one?
  • New Mexico @ Wisconsin (BTN): Wisky.

12:30: Georgia State @ North Carolina State (ACC/RSN): Wolfpack.

1:00: California-Los Angeles @ Oklahoma (FOX): UCLA’s got a long way to go.

3:30:

  • Colorado @ Nebraska (ABC): CU @ NU! Classic Big 8 action! Nebraska got lightninged-out last weekend, so this will be the first game for the Huskers under Scott Frost. Will they be any good? Uh, let’s go with TBD, but I’ll take them over the Buffs.
  • Ball State @ Notre Dame (NBC): Domers.
  • Georgia @ South Carolina (CBS): South Carolina might be the second best team in the SEC East this year, and this game will likely show how much that isn’t going matter.
  • Arkansas State @ Alabama (ESPN2): To quote Steven Godfrey on this week’s Podcast Ain’ Played Nobody: “Do you like snuff films?”
  • North Carolina @ East Carolina (ESPNU): I think the Tarheels might win themselves at least one game this year!
  • Rutgers @ Ohio State (BTN): Well, Rutgers is slightly better than Arkansas State, but… yeesh. Yeah, probably good to just get this one out of the way early.
  • Memphis @ Navy (CBSS): Navy looks to get its season back on track after losing at Hawaii last weekend. For now, I’ll stick with the Midshipmen, but losing at home to a good Memphis team might not be a good sign for them.

5:00: Iowa State @ Iowa (FOX): While El Assico is still funny, last year’s instance of everyone’s favorite Week 2 rivalry was… actually really good? Let’s hope for more of the same, though on paper the Hawkeyes are the better team.

7:00:

  • Clemson @ Texas A&M (ESPN): “Well, that’s a good offer, and while the SEC West is tough, at least I won’t have to play Clemson anymore.” “should we tell him?” “nah”
  • Wyoming @ Missouri (ESPNU): Hey, Mizzou, are you going to be good this year? Because you should win this.

7:30:

  • Fresno State @ Minnesota (FS1): I don’t pick enough upsets, and Fresno is kinda good, and Minnesota kinda isn’t, so what the heck, I’ll take the Bulldogs here.
  • Utah @ Northern Illinois (ESPNEWS): Uh, Utah? Probably.
  • Kentucky @ Florida (SEC): November 16, 1986. Kentucky defeats Florida 10-3. Would anyone in Commonwealth stadium that day believe you if you told them that over the next three decades, Kentucky would not have beaten Florida again? That’s a lot of seasons, and this ain’t exactly Navy and Notre Dame. Sure, there’s been more bad years than good for Kentucky in the interim, but this is just plain bad luck. Luck that doesn’t look like it’ll change again this year.
  • Virginia @ Indiana (BTN): Indiana? Sure.
  • Arkansas @ Colorado State (CBSS): Arkansas? Probably.
  • Florida International @ Old Dominion (beIN): ODU?

8:00: Pennsylvania State @ Pittsburgh (ABC): This is one of the nastiest rivalries out there, but it’s way too early in the season for Pitt to Pitt things up just yet.

8:30: Southern California @ Stanford (FOX): Hey, here’s an important Pac-12 South game in week 2. You should watch this! I probably give the Cardinal a slight edge.

10:15:

  • California @ Brigham Young (ESPN2): BYU has already defeated one Pac-12 team this year, but I don’t trust them quite enough to say they’re going to make it two.
  • Connecticut @ Boise State (ESPNU): After this, UConn will have played both UCF and Boise this year. Kingmakers!

10:45: Michigan State @ Arizona State (ESPN): Arizona State was college football’s biggest offseason joke. After firing their coach and hiring the mother of all retreads in Herm Edwards, they claimed the dubious hire was so they could keep their coordinators. Less than a week later, both bolted for other jobs, leaving the Sun Devils with… Herm Edwards. So, probably Sparty here?

11:00: San Jose State @ Washington State (Pac12): Wazzu.

 

This Weekend in College Football: Week 1

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Thursday
7:00:

  • Central Florida @ Connecticut (ESPNU): The Defending National Champions look to hold their own in the Civil Conflict, which is totally an actual rivalry that people care about. Seriously, UCF should roll.
  • New Mexico State @ Minnesota (BTN): Yeah, after getting demolished in Week 0 last week it looks like the shine is off the Aggies after being one of college football’s major feel-good stories last year. Alas.

8:00:

  • Northwestern @ Purdue (ESPN): A Week 1 weekday Big Ten game at night?!?!? Surely monocles across the Midwest are being dropped as we speak. But hey, this could well be the game of the day. The Wildcats are more consistent than most remember and Purdue should be that much better this year. This could be, dare I say, fun?
  • Wake Forest @ Tulane (CBSS): Wake Forest is good. Tulane, less so.

Friday
6:00: Syracuse @ Western Michigan (CBSS): Syracuse really needs this one, mostly because this is the year Dino Babers needs to start showing signs of improvement. They should get it, but still, this could be dicey.

7:00:

  • Army @ Duke (ESPNU): If Duke loses to a service academy and then beats us again this year I am going to be so mad. For the time being, I’m not worried about that scenario.
  • Utah State @ Michigan State (BTN): I’ll still list Big Ten Network games even though, as far as I know at the time of writing, this game will likely not be on your TV unless you live in the Midwest. That said, you shouldn’t need to watch this to know Sparty should roll.

9:00:

  • Western Kentucky @ Wisconsin (ESPN): I don’t know much about WKU going into this, and I know Wisconsin should be good. Nonetheless, I feel like this could be better than many expect.
  • San Diego State @ Stanford (FS1): If you like watching large men grinding each other into dust, amazingly it won’t be any of the Big Ten games, but a game involving a team from the Pac-12 and another from San Diego. Stanford should win, but yeah, this is where you want to be if you want to watch teams good at running the ball.

9:30: Colorado vs. Colorado State (@Denver, CO; CBSS): Colorado: you may want to investigate the shovel pass. If the Hawaiis of the world can use to run all over the Rams defense, well, the tape is there. Just sayin’.

Saturday
Noon

  • Florida Atlantic @ Oklahoma (FOX): Come for the potential hilarity of Lane Kiffin threatening Oklahoma at all, stay for the chance that it might actually be closer in the third quarter than anyone actually expected. (The Sooners will rally to win comfortably in the end, though. Probably.)
  • Oregon State @ Ohio State (ABC): Ohio State.
  • Mississippi vs. Texas Tech (@Houston, TX; ESPN): Well, this is definitely a football game in a sterile NFL dome in Houston for some reason. Uh, Ole Miss?
  • Texas vs. Maryland (@Landover, MD; FS1): Speaking of sterile NFL environments… Texas can’t lose to Maryland again, can they? Not in year 2? Surely?
  • Coastal Carolina @ South Carolina (SEC): Your annual reminder that Coastal Carolina is now in the FBS.
  • Texas State @ Rutgers (BTN): As is Texas State. Also, Rutgers isn’t quite bad enough to lose this. I think.
  • Kent State @ Illinois (BTN): Illinois will win at least one game this year. I think.
  • Houston @ Rice (CBSS): I wonder if Houston has enough cachet to fill Rice Stadium these days. It’d be nice to see a few tens of thousands of people there. Also apparently this game is known as the “Bayou Bucket Classic“.

12:30: Alcorn State @ Georgia Tech (ACC/RSN): This will hopefully be significantly less stressful for me than last year’s opener. Nonetheless, I will probably be killing my phone battery while I’m at PAX because of this game.

3:30:

  • Washington vs. Auburn (@Atlanta, GA; ABC): This game is the Game of the Week for Week 1, and I’d hope that it’s obvious why. Two potential playoff teams, which could still be true for either after this game. It’s also a solid West Coast-South matchup, with one of the Pac-12’s more physical teams versus one of the SEC’s consistently best offenses. I’m also having a hard time seeing which way this one will go myself. Flipping a coin, I’m going to go with… UDub.
  • West Virginia vs. Tennessee (@Charlotte, NC; CBS): Going into the season no one seems to have a read on either of these teams, so I’m going to go with the relatively more consistent Mountaineers.
  • Central Michigan @ Kentucky (ESPNU): Kentucky… probably?
  • Northern Illinois @ Iowa (BTN): Iowa.
  • Appalachian State @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): Penn State.
  • Washington State @ Wyoming (CBSS): I would be so unsurprised that Wyoming wins this game that I’m actually just going to straight-up pick them.

4:00:

  • North Carolina @ California (FOX): The Tarheels venture west for an early afternoon kickoff in Berkeley. Just by body clock logic along, I’m going with Cal.
  • Nevada-Las Vegas @ Southern California (Pac12): USC.

6:00: Boise State @ Troy (ESPNEWS): This could well be the game to find on your TV dial after Washington-Auburn is over. In someways, it’s that game writ small: a team from the Northwest versus a team from Alabama along with New Year’s Day bowl game implications. The winner here could very well set themselves up to be the G5 rep. I like Boise here.

7:00:

  • Cincinnati @ California-Los Angeles (ESPN): We may find out very quickly if Chip Kelly learned anything from his NFL experience and whether he can adapt to the changes in the college game since he left. I’m going to go with UCLA, but yeah.
  • Indiana @ Florida International (CBSS): Indiana…. probably.

7:30:

  • Michigan @ Notre Dame (NBC): It’s almost too obvious that this will the game of NATIONAL IMPORTANCE here in the first weekend of September that won’t be relevant at all by the time November rolls around, right? That said, if one of these teams actually could break out, I think it’s actually Michigan. They have to do better than third at some point, right? Going with the Wolverines here.
  • Middle Tennessee State @ Vanderbilt (SECA): Screw it, MTSU.
  • Southern Methodist @ North Texas (Stadium): SMU?

8:00:

  • Louisville vs. Alabama (@Orlando, FL): I don’t think I would’ve liked Louisville’s odds with Lamar Jackson here, so… yeah.
  • Akron @ Nebraska (FOX): Nebraska.
  • Bowling Green @ Oregon (Pac12): Oregon.

10:30: Texas-San Antonio @ Arizona State (FS1): HERM jokes aside, Arizona State. (Probably.)

10:45: Brigham Young @ Arizona (ESPN): What in the world has happened to BYU? Right now it’s hard to see anything other than ‘Zona rolling here.

11:00: Navy @ Hawaii (CBSS): This could well be an offensive explosion, which, let’s face it, is EXACTLY what you want out of the late game out of Hawaii. I still like the Midshipmen though.

Sunday

7:30: Miami vs. Louisiana State (@Arlington, TX; ABC): I think LSU is more talented and that Miami got supremely lucky last year. Going with LSU.

Monday

8:00: Virginia Tech @ Florida State (ESPN): And finally, five solid days of football ends with an ACC matchup on Monday night. And it figures to be a good one too, except that, well, VPI may not be able to field a defense. Whoops. Going with the ‘Noles.

 

This Weekend in College Football: Week 0

We interrupt our out-of-conference football schedule series to bring you ACTUAL FOOTBALL.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

7:00: North Carolina Agricultural and Technical vs. Jacksonville State (@Montgomery, AL; ESPN): This might actually be the best game of the day. Jax State is one of the best teams in FCS and NC A&T was the best HBCU last year. It is also ACTUAL FOOTBALL.

7:30: Hawaii @ Colorado State (CBSSN): Hell yeah mountains actual FBS vs. FBS football, though the Rams should roll through the Rainbow Warriors.

10:00: Wyoming @ New Mexico State (ESPN2): All of your college football nerd friends who listen to podcasts are going to be watching this one. That said, while NMSU’s run last year was inspiring, Wyoming should be be the better team. Nonetheless, this might be the only time NMSU has a home game on actual TV this year, so… watch it!

This Weekend in College Football: Week 15

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon: Wofford @ North Dakota State (NCAA Division I Quaterfinal, ESPN2): Honestly, I don’t have many thoughts on this other than I think it’d generally be more interesting if the Bison (pronounced ‘Bizon’) won, so let’s go with them.

3:00: Army vs. Navy (@ Philadelphia, PA; CBS): This is the game of the day, obviously, with the requisite lead-in to the Hiesman ceremony. Look, the main reason to watch here is that it should be a close game, but that I actually like Army to win in the first time since… well, the first time that I can ever recall. Maybe I need to go back through this site’s archives, but that’s besides the point. Last year’s game was a massive upset, this year’s won’t be.

This Weekend in College Football: Week 14

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Friday
8:00: Southern California vs. Stanford (Pac-12 Conference Championship @ Santa Clara, CA; ESPN): I’ll be at this game! At any rate, it’s hard to know what to make of this rematch. USC beat Stanford 42-24 but that was literally back in September. Suffice it to say, things have changed, including the part where USC later got shallacked by a Notre Dame team that the Cardinal just easily beat. USC has since struggled in conference play as well, so I’m going to pick the mild upset and go with Stanford here.

Saturday
Noon:

  • Memphis @ Central Florida (American Conference Championship; ABC): Memphis is solid and all, but UCF is pretty dang good. Going with the Knights here.
  • Akron vs. Toledo (Mid-American Conference Championship @ Detroit, MI; ESPN): Saturday early afternoon MACtion? Sure, why not! That said, Toledo is a huge favorite, and for good reason. That’s never stopped underdogs in the MAC title game before, but still, this should be a straightforward Toledo win.
  • North Texas @ Florida Atlantic (Conference USA Championship; ESPN2): Roll Owls.

12:30: Oklahoma vs. Texas Christian (Big 12 Conference Championship @ Arlington, TX; FOX): Everyone is saying that Gary Patterson and TCU will have Oklahoma’s number in this rematch and ruin Oklahoma’s chances at the playoff to prove how dumb the Big 12 having a title game is. Therefore, I’m going against the grain and thinking the Sooners win easily.

4:00: Georgia vs. Auburn (Southeastern Conference Championship @ Atlanta, GA; CBS): It’s hard to beat at team twice in the same season, but Auburn is actually pretty good? They’ve already shutdown Georgia and just shut down Kirby Smart’s master in the worst performance anyone has seen out of the Tide in years. It’s hard for me to pick against the Tigers here.

7:30: Troy @ Arkansas State (ESPN2): Neal Brown just’s sitting here waiting, Tennessee. I mean, he beat LSU! (And will probably beat Arkansas State.)

7:45: Fresno State @ Boise State (Mountain West Conference Championship; ESPN): Fresno won round one down in Fresno, but given home field advantage I like Boise in the rematch.

8:00:

  • Wisconsin vs. Ohio State (Big Ten Conference Championship @ Indianapolis, IN; FOX): I like Ohio State is going to win. There I said it. Now it’s time to hedge. For starters, it depends on which version of Ohio State, and more specifically, J.T. Barrett shows up. If it’s Good Ohio State/JT then I think they’ll win. Otherwise, this Wisconsin team is a pretty dang good version of Wisconsin (I mean, they’re undefeated!) and will win if Ohio State is anything less than 100%.
  • Clemson vs. Miami (Atlantic Coast Conference Championship @ Charlotte, NC; ABC): I don’t think Miami is that good and that Clemson will win easily.