As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Oklahoma State @ Texas (ABC): This edition is going to be quick and abbreviated, I’m not going to lie. And that also means that while I think Texas has a good defense, I think that the Pokes are going to be too much for them offensively.
• Maryland @ Wisconsin (FOX): Wisconsin is just going to keep doing Wisconsin things, as far as I can tell, though I think this is an improved Maryland team.
• Louisville @ Florida State (ESPN): Boy howdy, this matchup looked a lot better two months ago than it does now, eh? Uh, well, Louisville is as much of a one-man show that has ever existed in college football it seems, since their offensive line is terrible and their defensive seemingly non-existent. FSU is struggling on offense, but I suspect their still excellent defense will allow them to prevail.
• Iowa @ Northwestern (ESPN2): This is a thing you could watch, I guess. Uh, Iowa?
• Iowa State @ Texas Tech (FS1): This one might be interesting. The Cyclones are not terrible, but it seems that Texas Tech is on their way to a pretty good season, and for that to be true, they really need to circle the wagons down in Lubbock. (Which I think they will.)
• Tulsa @ Connecticut (ESPNU): Uh, Tulsa?
• Idaho @ Missouri (SEC): Mizzou is bad this year, but not this bad.
• Purdue @ Rutgers (BTN): Now here’s a chance for the Boilermakers to really Brohm it out, if you will.
• Temple @ Army (CBSS): Army looks decent this year? I like them against Temple, at least.

12:20: Pittsburgh @ Duke (ACC): It still feels weird to pick Duke, but here we are.

12:30: Boston College @ Virginia (ACC/RSN): Speaking of feeling weird picking a team, apparently UVA isn’t terrible this year and will be bowl eligible with this win. Huh.

3:30:

• Tennessee @ Alabama (CBS): It is definitely the Third Saturday in October, all right, and I’m not sure I can think of any time in the recent past where I’ve felt as sorry for the Volunteers coming into this as I do right now.
• Indiana @ Michigan State (ABC): This will be a good barometer for Sparty’s recovery back to the normal steady-state they’ve maintained, and I think they’ll get it.
• Syracuse @ Miami (ESPN): Okay, Miami, please don’t need a last second play to get a win against a feisty Syracuse. Please.
• North Carolina @ Virginia Tech (ESPN2): VPI.
• Arizona State @ Utah (FS1): I, and basically everyone else in the college football universe, was wrong about the Arizona schools. I still like the Utes here.
• Illinois @ Minnesota (BTN): Gophers.

4:00:

• Oklahoma @ Kansas State (FOX): The Bill Synder mojo just does not seem to be in effect for this year.
• Southern Methodist @ Cincinnati (ESPNU): Cincy, I guess?
• Kentucky @ Mississippi State (SEC): Okay, Miss State isn’t the awesome team we all thought a few weeks ago, sure. But… I’ll still take them over Kentucky.
• Oregon @ California-Los Angeles (Pac12): So far in this quick write-up this is the first one where I’ve really had to stop and think. I think UCLA is pretty much a disaster at this point, but I think the Ducks still have a long way to go. I’m taking the Ducks, but just barely.

6:30: Alabama-Birmingham @ Charlotte (beIN): Go Blazers!

7:00:

• South Florida @ Tulane (ESPN2): I could keep posting the date of the USF-UCF game, but… yeah, I think y’all get the idea.
• Brigham Young @ East Carolina (CBSS): BYU sure can’t play offense, but I’m not so sure about ECU playing football, in general.

7:15: Louisiana State @ Mississippi (ESPN): LSU seems to have recovered well from, you know, losing to Troy. I like them here.

7:30:

• Southern California @ Notre Dame (NBC): I listen to two college football related podcasts: Podcast Ain’ Played Nobody and the Shutdown Fullcast. Both, but especially the latter, have noted that Notre Dame is actually kinda good this year? I’m still taking USC, but still…
• Michigan @ Pennsylvania State (ABC): I run a pick-’em elsewhere, and more maximum main I had this game as against the spread (with Penn State favored by 9.5 points). But on here I don’t have to do that, so I can just pick Penn State. Whee!
• Wake Forest @ Georgia Tech (ESPNU): If (one of) the worst nights of my life hadn’t happened to me two weeks ago, then last week’s game against Miami would have hurt a lot more. As it it is, it hurt a lot, but this still feels like a pretty decent version of GT so far this year despite the gut-punch losses? I dunno. What I do know is that we cannot wallow in our misery, as this is a feisty Wake Forest squad in the mold of those Wake teams Jim Grobe used to get every once in a while that was actually good. Also, I just wanted to lament that, as a small, private Baptist school I will probably never get to unironically refer to Wake Forest as “Woke Forest”. Thanks for reading, try the veal, and remember to tip your waitress!
• Auburn @ Arkansas (SEC): Comeback losses to LSU aside, Auburn is probably still good? It’s not Novembert yet, so I like their chances.

8:00:

• Kansas @ Texas Christian (FOX): TCU.
• West Virginia @ Baylor (FS2): WVU.
• Arizona @ California (Pac12): Zona?

10:15: Wyoming @ Boise State (ESPN2): Boise’s back! Well, maybe. But probably at least for this game.

10:30: Fresno State @ San Diego State (CBSS): Still like the Aztecs here.

10:45: Colorado @ Washington State (ESPN): And I still like the Cougars here.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Michigan @ Indiana (ABC): Somehow everyone forgot last weekend as Michigan’s offense looked hapless against Michigan State that this was supposed to be Michigan’s rebuilding year. I suspect now with a more porous Indiana defense they’ll suddenly look a lot more competent.
• South Carolina @ Tennessee (ESPN): The season figures to continue to go off the rails for Butch Jones and company, though in fairness to him he seems to be a pretty earnest guy? I mean, he’s probably going to be an earnest guy without a job soon, but still.
• Florida State @ Duke (ESPN2): FSU should improve from “the best 1-3 team in the country” to “the best 2-3 team in the country” after this.
• Texas Christian @ Kansas State (FS1): Weird stuff can happen when it involves K-State, but I think this version of the Wildcats just lacks the offensive power to keep up.
• Texas Tech @ West Virginia (ESPNU): Here’s a real measuring stick for WVU to figure out the hierarchy of Big 12 teams. The only point of comparison is that TTU beat Kansas worse, which, sure, that seems as reasonable as anything.
• Connecticut @ Temple (ESPNEWS): Temple’s not good or anything, but they’re better than UConn.
• Brigham Young @ Mississippi State (SEC): This version of BYU is just too offensively limited, but they may still get to 6-6 with their schedule after this. The key word being “after”.
• Kansas @ Iowa State (FSN/RSN): Cyclones.
• Rutgers @ Illinois (BTN): AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Also, uh, Illinois?
• Eastern Michigan @ Army (CBSS): I’d say Army is looking pretty good so far on the year, and with a win here they’ll be most of the way to bowl eligibility.
• North Carolina State @ Pittsburgh (ACC/RSN): This Pitt is a long, long way from last year’s memes.

12:20: Boston College @ Louisville (ACC): Lamar Jackson is still one of the best players in college football. Hopefully folks remember in a month or two.

3:30:

• Georgia Tech @ Miami (ABC): And we’re back. An off-week is a little more welcome at this point, lets some people get another week of healing in (in particular, Clinton Lynch has yet to really look like Clinton Lynch). The real interesting part is where Miami is after for. For most of the past 5-6 seasons Miami was good for a two week funk after losing the FSU game. Now that they’ve won, now that they’ve climbed the hill, how well will they come out? Will Year 2 Mark Richt also make a difference in the attitude of the team? Ultimately, I think this one will come down to where Miami is mentally.
• Auburn @ Louisiana State (CBS): Hard to see how Auburn’s offense won’t just run circles around LSU.
• Oklahoma vs. Texas (@Dallas, TX; ESPN): Late kick for the Red River Whatever You Want to Call It. I still like “Shootout”, but I’ll accept any other alternative as long as it’s not “Rivalry” and especially if it’s humorous, like “The Red River Respectful Disagreement”. Anyway, I like Baker Mayfield and company to get their mojo back.
• Northwestern @ Maryland (ESPN2): Goin’ with the Terps here.
• Baylor @ Oklahoma State (FS1): Pokies.
• Vanderbilt @ Mississippi (SEC): Avoid at all costs. Vandy, I guess?
• Purdue @ Wisconsin (BTN): Purdue is back and exciting, but this feels like they’re going to run into a brick wall. Made of beef. Look, it makes sense, okay?
• Akron @ Western Michigan (CBSS): Western Michigan is still actually kinda good.
• Virginia @ North Carolina (ACC/RSN): UNC somehow dodged NCAA sanctions, but I still don’t like them against a rapidly improving Virginia team.

3:45: Navy @ Memphis (ESPNU): This may secretly be one of the most interesting games of the day. I still like Navy here, but the contrast in styles figures to be fun to watch.

4:00:

• Houston @ Tulsa (ESPNEWS): This Tulsa, yeah, no.
• Colorado @ Oregon State (Pac12): Well, one of these teams just had their coach resign essentially because their coach wasn’t feeling it, so, uh, Buffs.

6:30: Middle Tennessee State @ Alabama-Birmingham (beIN): GO BLAZERS! I mean, they probably won’t win, but seriously.

7:00:

• Texas A&M @ Florida (ESPN2): I think this game could result one of the biggest narrative shifts of the day. It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot pressure on Jim McElwain at Florida right now, at least outside of the disgruntled Florida fans I follow. Meanwhile, folks are figuring that Kevin Sumlin is as good at TAMU. I like A&M to win here and shift the narrative.
• East Carolina @ Central Florida (CBSS): UCF looks neigh unstoppable. For reference, they play South Florida on November 24th.

7:15: Arkansas @ Alabama (ESPN): Speaking of narratives and neigh unstoppable… yeah, Bama continues to roll.

7:30:

• Ohio State @ Nebraska (FS1): Hey Urbz, it’s actually a 6:30 kick out in Nebraska, so it’s not that late! Seriously, though, the Buckeyes seem to have their groove back, then again, the schedule got seriously easier after Oklahoma. I figure that trend will continue.
• Cincinnati @ South Florida (ESPNU): USF looks neigh unstoppable. For reference, they play Central Florida on November 24th.
• Missouri @ Georgia (SEC): Mizzou came close against Kentucky last week, but… Georgia is not Kentucky. Unfortunately.

8:00:

• Utah @ Southern California (ABC): USC is not a juggernaut, but they’re better than Utah. Then again, relative talent levels don’t seem to matter a whole much to Utah. I still think the Trojans will win, but it won’t be easy.
• Michigan State @ Minnesota (BTN): Both these teams are improving, but the Gophers figure to remain winless in Big Ten play.

9:00: California-Los Angeles @ Arizona (Pac12): I still don’t, uh, believe in Arizona? If that makes any sense. Not that UCLA inspires any amount of belief, and it’s on the road so, uh, Beardown I guess?

10:15: Nevada @ Colorado State (ESPN2): Not Nevada’s year this year, going with the Rams.

10:30: Boise State @ San Diego State (CBSS): I like the Aztecs to pass their biggest test here.

10:45: Washington @ Arizona State (ESPN): UDub figures out put somewhat more than 3 points in this road contest.

11:00: Oregon @ Stanford (FS1): Oregon is improved, but I don’t see them stopping Bryce Love.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Pennsylvania State @ Northwestern (ABC): These two teams try to play similar styles, except only one of them as Saquon Barkley, so I like Penn State here.
• Iowa State @ Oklahoma (FOX): Sooners.
• Georgia @ Vanderbilt (ESPN): Everyone talking about UGA as the second best team in the SEC means it’s about time for them to, say, lose to Vanderbilt, right? Right? (Probably not, but there’s always hope.)
• Wake Forest @ Clemson (ESPN2): Wake Forest gave a depleted Florida State everything they could handle last week and… still lost. Clemson may toy with them a bit, but this shouldn’t be close.
• Texas Tech @ Kansas (FS1): Well Red Raiders, the Jayhawks should be a good salve for that tough loss to Oklahoma State last week, at least.
• Temple @ East Carolina (ESPNU): Rebuilding Temple, as it turns out, is probably better than “rapidly hitting the low point” ECU.
• Mississippi @ Auburn (SEC): If it’s not already a lost season for Ole Miss, then it will be after this.
• Illinois @ Iowa (BTN): I wouldn’t recommend this one. Hawkeyes roll.
• Eastern Michigan @ Toledo (CBSS): Going with Toledo here.

12:20: Duke @ Virginia (ACC): I still don’t believe in UVA, so I’m going with Duke here.

12:30: Pittsburgh @ Syracuse (ACC/RSN): Pitt just has nothing on offense this year, which, well, that’s definitely not Syracuse’s problem.

3:30:

• Notre Dame @ North Carolina (ABC): Speaking of teams GT has played that look terrible this year, boy howdy is Carolina rebuilding or what? Domers should roll.
• Louisiana State @ Florida (CBS): If you like 12-7 football, then you’ll like this SEC Game of the Week on CBS­™! Seriously, you may want to avoid this particular vortex of offensive dysfunction, unless you like watching things in a train wreck sense. Gators, I guess.
• Miami @ Florida State (ESPN): It will take something truly bizarre for Miami to lose to Florida State this year, so I’m going to have to go with the Canes this time.
• Minnesota @ Purdue (ESPN2): While many in the college football sphere have marveled at Purdue’s turnaround this year, Minnesota has sort of quietly chugged along, logging a close loss to Maryland in their first Big Ten contest. I’m leaning Purdue due to their offensive potential, but I think if the game is tight it could break toward the Gophers.
• West Virginia @ Texas Christian (FS1): WVU faces a sharp increase of difficultly here after beating Kansas last week. TCU pulled out a fantastic game at Oklahoma State last weekend, continuing to ride their philosophy of a defensive coach that knows he has to put up 40+ to win in the Big 12.
• Air Force @ Navy (CBSS): Air Force is 1-3 and 0-2 in the Mountain West already. I like Navy here.

4:00:

• Maryland @ Ohio State (FOX): Buckeyes, obviously, but Maryland might give them a bit of a contest for a little while.
• Tulsa @ Tulane (ESPNU): Uh, Tulane? Sure, let’s go with that.
• Arkansas @ South Carolina (SEC): Boy howdy, this 4:00 slate isn’t very exciting so far… uh, SoCar?
• Oregon State @ Southern California (Pac12): USC.

6:30: Army @ Rice (beIN): Army, you’ve got to win this game. I’m telling you.

7:00:

• Kansas State @ Texas (FS1): Jokes about Bill Synder being a wizard aside, this doesn’t look like exactly the best version of Bill Synder K-State this year. Which will probably make it that much more hilarious when they somehow beat the Longhorns again, but I’m not going to predict it.
• Southern Methodist @ Houston (CBSS): Don’t look, but SMU might be good this year. I mean, Houston is probably still better, but still.

7:15:

• Alabama @ Texas A&M (ESPN): I suspect this game may cause angst both ways, in the sense that Bama may not win by as much as they have at other times this season and the sense that TAMU is likely still going to lose very badly.
• Virginia Tech @ Boston College (ESPN2): Well, VPI, I can pretty safely say that you be much better equipped to handle BC’s offense than Clemson’s.

7:30:

• Michigan State @ Michigan (ABC): Sparty’s already got 3 wins this year, and I doubt they’re going to lose 8 in a row, so they’ve definitely improved this season. And while this Michigan team has weaknesses, it’s not clear that Mich State has the ability to exploit them.
• Missouri @ Kentucky (SEC): Missouri is a trash fire this year, going with Kentucky.

8:00:

• Washington State @ Oregon (FOX): Hello secret best game of the day! It’s Wazzu’s first road trip of the year, and Autzen should be ready to go on a crisp fall evening. I think Wazzu will win, but it’s hard to count out what look some rejuvenated Ducks at home.
• Central Florida @ Cincinnati (ESPNU): UCF is good, y’all.
• Wisconsin @ Nebraska (BTN): “Oh hey, I thought Nebraska was struggling, but they’re 2-0 in the Big Ten already? Huh.” [clicks on team page] “Ah, Rutgers and Illinois. That makes sense.” Yeah, I like the Badgers here.
• Arizona @ Colorado (Pac12): The Arizona teams aren’t as bad as we all thought they’d be coming into the year, but they’re still not good. Meanwhile, Colorado is struggling, but I’d say this is the first Pac-12 game they’d be expected to win. Going with them here.

10:15: Stanford @ Utah (FS1): See what I said about Penn State-Northwestern, except replace “Saquon Barkley” with “Bryce Love”.

10:30: Hawaii @ Nevada (CBSS): You could watch this, or you could watch one of the games above or below. Hawaii, why not?

10:45:

• California @ Washington (ESPN): Look, Washington should win, but hey if Cal is in this thing at all it should be interesting. Just hard to compete at Husky Stadium, though.
• San Diego State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (ESPN2): UNLV is so bad. So bad.

Alternate title: Wherein I Lament that Southern Cal at Washington State is Tonight Instead of Tomorrow Night.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Northwestern @ Wisconsin (ABC): Week 5 is pretty brutal, but I’ll try to shepherd you through the best I can. We’ll start in Madison, for what might be an interesting nooner, but probably not. Going with the Badgers.
• Vanderbilt @ Florida (ESPN): Gators are a favorite I guess but AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
• North Carolina @ Georgia Tech (ESPN2): I thought we might look rusty last week, so naturally we kickoff and immediately allow Pitt to march down the field. “Here we go again”, thought everyone in gold and white, but after that it was sort of… all Tech? Of course, it was helpful the Pitt offense immediately regressed after that drive. This week’s game is against a moribund but still dangerous Carolina team that we haven’t beaten since 2013.
• Maryland @ Minnesota (FS1): Minnesota’s handled themselves well so far in 2017. Maryland now sports a win over Texas and a loss to UCF. Going with the Gophers at home.
• Houston @ Temple (ESPNU): While this isn’t the same Houston of the past few years, this is really not the good Temple we’ve had the past few years. Going with Houston.
• New Mexico State @ Arkansas (SEC): If you, like me, listen to Podcast Ain’t Played Nobody, then you know all about these New Mexico State Aggies. Normally one of college football’s most hapless teams, they’re 2-2 with a win over their biggest rival (New Mexico) and a pretty good shot at a bowl, all in a season that will see them get kicked out of the Sun Belt after it ends. But… it’ll still take a minor miracle for them to upset Arkansas.
• South Florida @ East Carolina (CBSS): ECU is, uh, bad this year. Bulls.
• Rice @ Pittsburgh (ACC/RSN): Pitt has no offense, but they should be able to handle Rice.

12:20: Syracuse @ North Carolina State (ACC): NC State better be awake after knocking off FSU last week, because while they should be Syracuse they’re still armed and dangerous (on offense).

3:30:

• Georgia @ Tennessee (CBS): Georgia should win this game, and they probably will, but if there’s any game this week with the highest potential of ending in hilarious fashion (by which I mean Georgia losing in hilarious fashion) this is it.
• Florida State @ Wake Forest (ABC/ESPN2): Given what’s going on the real world, I still haven’t seen any statements from Winston-Salem that would allow me to call Wake Forest “Woke Forest” unironically, much to my disappointment. Anyway, Wake is 4-0 but it’s a full-calorie soda 4-0, full of sweet but unfulfilling wins. I still like FSU here.
• Baylor @ Kansas State (ABC/ESPN2): K-State.
• Navy @ Tulsa (ESPNU): This may be the actual best game in this time slot, and it’s on the much easier to find ESPNU and not CBS Sports Network. But still, that’s saying a lot because Tulsa is 1-3 this year and isn’t really bombing like they used to, at least not bombing it well. I like the Midshipmen here.
• Indiana @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): Penn State will need to keep their guard up in this one, but they shouldn’t have any issues.
• Texas-El Paso @ Army (CBSS): Army, I guess?

4:00:

• Iowa @ Michigan State (FOX): Sparty is still better than they were last year, even after getting pasted by Notre Dame last weekend. Suffice it to say, though, I like the Hawkeyes here.
• Connecticut @ Southern Methodist (ESPNEWS): SMU?
• Eastern Michigan @ Kentucky (SEC): Maybe Kentucky will remember to cover EMU’s receivers in this one.
• Arizona State @ Stanford (Pac12): You can fool me Arizona State! I saw you beat Oregon last week, but I still don’t believe you. Going with the Cardinal here.

5:00: Miami @ Notre Dame (NBCSN): No, this isn’t Catholics vs. Convicts, and not even in the sense that hasn’t been true since like the 80’s. It’s the Miami that’s like an hour outside of Cincinnati. Notre Dame should roll.

6:00: Mississippi State @ Auburn (ESPN): Miss State! You were all poised to be one of the other good teams in the SEC and then… you lose 31-3 to Georgia. 🙁 I have to like Auburn here, I guess.

7:00:

• Memphis @ Central Florida (ESPN2): Okay, now we’re getting to the staggered games zone. This is the one you should watch until halftime, and then switch to the beginning of Clemson-VPI. You win! Now as for who will win this game… I like UCF?
• Troy @ Louisiana State (ESPNU): LSU is still trying to figure some things on offense, and this should give them a chance to.
• Air Force @ New Mexico (CBSS): I like Air Force here.
• Middle Tennessee @ Florida Atlantic (Stadium): It’s not going good for Lane Kiffin in Year 1 of being a head coach again, which naturally means he’ll probably get the Texas A&M job this offseason. I like MTSU here.

 7:30:

• South Carolina @ Texas A&M (SEC): TAMU has been on a bit of a roll of late, and I think that will continue until they play Alabama in their next game, two weeks from now. Rest up, Aggies!
• Ohio State @ Rutgers (BTN): Buckeyes.

8:00:

• Oklahoma State @ Texas Tech (FOX): The ‘Pokes looked legit, and then TCU went and stole all their thunder. Can they get the magic back against an improving Texas Tech team? It’s Lubbock at night, so anything’s possible, but I still like Oklahoma State here.
• Clemson @ Virginia Tech (ABC): Man this game better be good because Week 5 doesn’t have a whole lot else going for it. Lane Stadium at night is fantastic of course, and VPI’s looked pretty good this year. Clemson, meanwhile, is just as dominant, if not more, on defense this year and their offense that was supposed to be rebuilding this year seems to have more or less reloaded. The Tigers have already proven themselves, and I think they’ll still be one of the best teams in the country even if the lose as long as they don’t get blown out. That said, I don’t think it will be a concern.
• Washington @ Oregon State (Pac12): UDub.

9:00: Mississippi @ Alabama (ESPN): Bama. (Ole Miss is bad, y’all.)

10:30:

• Colorado @ California-Los Angeles (ESPN2): What do we even do with this UCLA team? They don’t seem to be good or anything, but Josh Rosen is a good QB. Colorado is also kinda meh right now, too, so maybe skip to the next game. I’ll take the Buffs, I guess.
• California @ Oregon (FS1): Now here’s the game that you’ll tune into after Clemson-VPI. It’ll still somehow be in the first half after the other game ends. It’ll be 32-29 at the half. Which way, I don’t know. Probably the Ducks. But this should be fun.
• San Jose State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (ESPNU): I’m as much of a College Football Hipster as anyone, but… you have my permission to skip this one. UNLV, I guess?
• Northern Illinois @ San Diego State (CBSS): Besides, if you’re going to watch a G5 matchup in this time slot, then this is the one to watch anyway. If you squint hard, you’ll see Nebraska @ Stanford here, but probably more interesting than that game would actually be! I like the Aztecs here, though.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• North Carolina State @ Florida State (ABC/ESPN2): NC State was a bit of hipster pick this year, but we’re not quite sure how that’s turned out yet. In the meantime, thanks to various weather calamities we don’t really know what a Deandra Francois-less Florida State looks like quite yet. So plenty of uncertainty here, but I’m still talking about going with the ‘Noles.
• Texas Tech @ Houston (ABC/ESPN2): From all appearances, these teams appear to be rather similar. Beat a bad pair of Arizona teams and then blowout a cupcake. That said, Texas Tech’s offense appears set on saving their coach’s job, so I’ll take them, at least for now.
• Texas A&M vs. Arkansas (@Arlington, TX; ESPN): It’s the 2017 edition of the Hot Seat Bowl! This one feels especially precarious, in the sense that both might get canned regardless of the result either way. I have no idea what to expect out of this game. Arkansas has looked listless at best on offense, while more than one observer has notice that TAMU doesn’t seem o care. I’d avoid this one. I consider it essentially a coinflip, so I’m going with TAMU I guess.
• West Virginia @ Kansas (ESPNU): Kansas is still completely awful, so the pick here is pretty straightforward.
• Massachusetts @ Tennessee (SEC): Vols.
• Nevada-Las Vegas @ Ohio State (BTN): Buckeyes.
• Army @ Tulane (CBSS): … I’m picking Army here.
• Kent State @ Louisville (ACC/RSN): Provided he’s recovered from facing Clemson’s defensive line, Lamar Jackson should look like Lamar Jackson again.

12:20: Pittsburgh @ Georgia Tech (ACC): And we’re back after last week’s non-game against UCF. It’s hard enough to know what kind of team you have here in Week 3, but it’s even harder when you’ve played two games of wildly varying difficulty. The Jacksonville State game played out roughly as I expected, with GT struggling a bit in the early going and then pouring it on the second half. So I’m not sure we learned much. However, I expect to have the offense operating at full strength in this one after having an extra week off. Hopefully that turns out to be the case instead of, you know, the other scenario where they come out rusty.

3:00: Central Florida @ Maryland (FS1): Lack of information rules the day! Maryland has a scheduled off week last week, so they’ve only played two games. UCF has only played one, a romp over Florida International to start the season, so see above. In their first two games at least, this doesn’t look like the hapless Maryland of the last few years, so let’s go with the Terps.

3:30:

• Southern California @ California (ABC): Texas managed to give the Trojans everything they could’ve wanted last week, but USC managed to pull it out. Ultimately, I view that as a battle of two teams with an awful lot of talent. “Awful lot of talent” is not a term usually used to describe Cal, though the Bears have looked pretty good early as well. I’ve got USC here, but my advice to the Trojans would be: watch out.
• Alabama @ Vanderbilt (CBS): Okay so I want Vandy to pull off the upset here as much as anyone, but if we’re talking about a battle of two teams that play a lot of defense and score when they can… well, it’s hard to out-Alabama Alabama. (Ask Michigan State a few years ago about that.)
• Texas Christian @ Oklahoma State (ESPN): This is quietly (or maybe not-so-quietly?) the game of the weekend. This should be entertaining. TCU features a defense-first coach who was mad at his team last week for not putting up 80. Oklahoma State’s coach is celebrating the tenth anniversary of declaring his manhood and is in year two of a mullet. So yeah, expect this game to be Big 12 AS HELL. I like the Pokes here though.
• Boston College @ Clemson (ESPN2): Boston College has no real offense to speak of, and Clemson has probably a top-two defense this year. Is it possible for team to score negative points? We may be about to find out.
• Louisiana Tech @ South Carolina (SEC): Well, ours fears that South Carolina might have an offense were short-lived. Turns out that scoring 31 on Mizzou isn’t a big deal this year. But do the Bulldogs have a chance here? Ehh….
• Rutgers @ Nebraska (BTN): Rutgers may not be as desperately bad as they were last year, but even this flailing Nebraska team should still beat them. 
• Cincinnati @ Navy (CBSS): Navy struggled a bit of with Tulane last week, but I’m not going to hold that against them. I like the Midshipmen here.
• Toledo @ Miami (ACC/RSN): ‘Canes.

4:00: Michigan @ Purdue (FOX): Michigan’s done what they needed to this year, but will they be able to stop this newfound burst of offensive confidence down in West Lafayette? You may want to keep an eye on this one, but I’m still going Michigan.

6:00: Nevada @ Washington State (Pac12): Still waiting for the other shoe to drop for Wazzou, because it doesn’t seem conceivable we’ll be talking about a 4-0 Washington State hosting USC in Pullman next week, right? Right? (It does seem pretty probable, though.)

6:30: Alabama-Birmingham @ North Texas (beIN): Could we be looking at 3-1 UAB after this? That’d be really nice, but, well… actually, it’s not North Texas is a bunch of world-beaters or anything, so why not?

7:00:

• Mississippi State @ Georgia (ESPN): We’re about to find out a lot more about this pair of Bulldogs. Miss State’s shellacking of LSU last week confirmed what we should’ve already realized: Miss State under Dan Mullen has been the most consistent second-tier team in the SEC for a while now. They can cement that status between the hedges, and I think they will.
• Syracuse @ Louisiana State (ESPN2): Okay LSU, you can recover from this! Just, you know, fend off an aerial barrage for the next four hours while you still look like you struggle to field a competent offense… oof. This one is tough to think about. I think I have Syracuse here.
• San Diego State @ Air Force (CBSS): SDSU is living up to its spoiler billing so far, but to keep it up they’ll need to win this, their toughest remaining road contest. I think they will.
• Ball State @ Western Kentucky (Stadium): The Hilltoppers should still have enough remaining traces of Jeff Brohm to throw it around and over a still kinda-not-good Ball State team, right?

7:30:

• Pennsylvania State @ Iowa (ABC): As is usual with Iowa, it feels like of they’re going to win this game the final score will be something like 15-12, while if they lose it’ll be 60-10. Penn State just seems too good so far this year, like the latter score is more likely than the former.
• Auburn @ Missouri (ESPNU): Bill Connelly knows a lot more about college football than I do, and so when he writes a column saying that Mizzou is pretty much done for the year, well…
• Florida @ Kentucky (SEC): On November 15th, 1986 Kentucky beat Florida 10-3. On that day, Boston’s “Amanda” was the #1 single in the United States, the Iran-Contra Affair was in full swing, and I was a little over a year old. Also, it was the last time Kentucky beat Florida. This version of Kentucky looks kind of competent and Florida is scuffling, so this could be the year. But I’m not going to call it.

8:00: Notre Dame @ Michigan State (FOX): While we still try to figure out what will be this year’s version of 2016’s Michigan State @ Notre Dame, we’ll have to deal with the reality of the 2017 version of this game, wherein there are basically no expectations for either of these teams. I’m leaning Notre Dame a bit, since they beat up on a decent Boston College defense last week.

10:00:

• Washington @ Colorado (FS1): Here’s an early test for UDub, having survived their non-conference slate with ease. The problem, in terms of predictions, lies in that Colorado also easily disposed of their non-conference slate, so we’ve got to go to… THE NEXT LEVEL. And the next level likes the Huskies, like, a lot.
• Oregon @ Arizona State (Pac12): The Pac-12 is a little more fun when Oregon is good, so welcome back, Ducks! I like them a lot of get their first conference win courtesy of a somewhat hapless Arizona State team.

10:15: Hawaii @ Wyoming (ESPN2): Josh Allen needs to get his mind right, you know what I mean? I mean, in the sense that maybe all the NFL stuff and preseason hype might have placed an unreasonable set of expectations upon the erstwhile Cowboys signal caller. Fortunately, the Rainbow Warriors provide a pretty good chance to do so.

10:30: California-Los Angeles @ Stanford (ESPN): No body clock this time. UCLA comes back to the West Coast after having their bubble burst in a major way at Memphis. And, uh, Stanford maybe was up past their bedtime last weekend when they lost at San Diego State. So… I’m going with the mild upset here and going with UCLA. Don’t make me regret this, Bruins.