As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Ohio State @ Minnesota (ABC): With last week’s solid win over Michigan State, Ohio State is now solidly a contender. The loss to Virginia Tech will continue to dog them, though. However, they should have no such issues with the Gophers.
• Clemson @ Georgia Tech (ESPN): The first time we play Clemson at home since 2011 and it’s… at noon? I mainly don’t like it because that means it starts at 9:00am out here on the west coast, but still, I never much cared for noon starts as a student either. If this were a night game, I bet it’d be sold out.
  At any rate, let’s analyze the game itself. By most measures, this appears to be a tossup. Vegas has the visitors by three and the advanced stats have us by by around a touchdown. The average score in this series over 77 games has a margin of about 6 points. Of course, last year Clemson won by 24 (and it wasn’t really that close), and the year before by 15, which arguably has much more of a bearing on this year’s result. For starters, last year’s Clemson defense that forced 6 punts is largely back, especially in the all-important defensive line. Even though I don’t think it makes a difference, but Clemson this year didn’t get a lot of extra time to prepare for the offense (just an extra day, basically). The main key for us that we’re much more efficient offensively this year. Last year, we only rushed for 248 yards, due partially to the talented defensive line of the Tigers but also simply because we were in a 20-0 hole in the 2nd quarter and started throwing the ball. That said, if we rush for less than 300 yards again, we’ll probably lose again.
  And then there’s the defensive side. If you didn’t know better, you’d think the defense has improved over the course of the season, but they really haven’t. Our defense at this point has pretty much started relying entirely on generating turnovers. Interceptions are a matter of skill, but fumbles are a matter of luck. This defense still has trouble generating pressure, and still has trouble covering anyone. As usual, our hopes are pinned on the offense, which will be praying for the defense to generate just one stop, in all likelihood. (One or two defensive stops was basically the balance in the Carolina game, as you might recall.) The defense’s job will be that much tougher with Clemson’s dynamic freshman QB (Deshaun Watson) back in the mix after an injury.
  Really the only thing I’ve seen over the past six years that really stops this offense other than itself is elite defensive line talent. Our offensive line does not employ the beefiest men, valuing some measure of agility over the portly run blockers of a traditional offense. They can block most of the guys they face, and since we do run the option, that means they can leave a guy unblocked and either scamper up to the second level to block a linebacker or defensive back, or they can throw a double-team on a particularly troublesome guy. Problem is when you have elite talent, event the usual refrain of “just option the guy” (i.e., just don’t block him and use him as the option key) has problems because these guys can be fast enough to either chase the play from behind or blow up both options at the point of attack.
  This is a fun game (well, in retrospect usually) and a fun rivalry, usually, although it seems like we always win close in this series and lose big. Let’s hope it approximates something closer to the former tomorrow.
• Temple @ Pennsylvania State (ESPN2): I think Penn State’s got this one.
• Virginia Tech @ Duke (ESPNU): We need Duke to lose this one very badly, but I just don’t see how it will happen.
• Army @ Western Kentucky (CBSS): It’s not a good year for Army when they’re not the favorite against the Western Kentuckys of the world.
• Iowa @ Illinois (BTN): Iowa, probably?
• South Carolina @ Florida (SEC): Florida has put together by far the best two games of their season the past two weeks. The first, the rout over Georgia, was a genuine surprise; the win over Vanderbilt, less so. That said, this has been something of a lost season for the Gamecocks, with people even starting to whisper about Spurrier’s job security. I really have my doubts about that, but what I thought was a sure South Carolina win a few weeks is now completely up in the air after last week’s overtime loss to Tennessee. I don’t think this one will be very high scoring, but I will give a very, tiny slight edge to the Gators.

12:30: Pittsburgh @ North Carolina (ACC): Pitt is back after a bye week but still sitting on two straight losses to us and Duke. Pitt is probably the better overall team, but if that Carolina offense gets rolling Pitt may not be able to stop them. I’ll take Pitt though.

2:30: Rice @ Marshall (FSN): Marshall should still remain undefeated, though this will instantly be their best win of the season. With East Carolina’s loss to Cincy, the race for that non-Power 5 spot is now wide open.

3:00:

• Texas Christian @ Kansas (FS1): I fear for Kansas in this one. TCU are 29 point favorites. I would probably still pick them.
• Wake Forest @ North Carolina State (ACC/RSN): NC State may have less trouble with Wake than Clemson did last week, if I had to guess.

3:30:

• Washington @ Arizona (FOX): Thanks to an extra home game due to the Hawaii Rule, UDub is not bowl eligible yet at 6-4. They probably won’t get it here.
• Northwestern @ Notre Dame (NBC): Notre Dame finally did the courtesy of picking up their second loss, and even to Arizona State like I had predicted. That was nice of them. They will probably be pretty ready to vent some frustration on Northwestern, though.
• Mississippi State @ Alabama (CBS): Well, the rubber meets the road here. I’ve been calling for Alabama to be #1 in the Playoff, and it hinges a lot on getting this victory. Miss State’s defense is good, but Alabama should find a little more breathing room for their attack than they had last week at LSU. I think this game will actually be relatively wide open, but in the end the Tide defense will make more stops and gut out the win.
• Nebraska @ Wisconsin (ABC): Nebraska is the 1-loss team no one is talking about, unless they’re talking about teams that no one is talking about. Others have also presciently pointed out over the past few weeks that Nebraska may regret the conference move a bit in hindsight, after all, TCU and Baylor are generating way more national buzz than Nebraska or anyone else in the Big Ten for that matter. What would really help the Huskers though is to get a win here. They’re slight underdogs but I’ve had them winning here in the bowl predictions for a while now.
• Oklahoma @ Texas Tech (ESPN): Texas Tech sports one of the worst defenses in the country. This… may get ugly.
• Memphis @ Tulane (ESPNU): Memphis is poised to be one of the American’s co-champions, and I suspect Tulane will be able to do little to stop them.
• Georgia Southern @ Navy (CBSS): Folks, I think Georgia Southern is pretty legit. They’re going to win the Sun Belt this year, except that they’re technically still in transition and thus not even bowl eligible unless there aren’t enough teams. They will almost certainly give Navy a run for their money but I’m not sure I can quite pull the trigger on saying they’ll win.
• Indiana @ Rutgers (BTN): These are two extremely mediocre teams. I’m go with Rutgers by a nose.

4:00:

• New Mexico @ Utah State (ESPNEWS): When he was a broadcaster, Bob Davie said he would run an option offense, and by golly if he isn’t running an option scheme out of the pistol formation, Chris Ault-style. Utah State is probably going to beat them, though.
• Kentucky @ Tennessee (SEC): This seems like a good occasion to give a quick shoutout to my Mom, who waited in line in unseasonably bitterly cold temperatures for a chance to get some extremely rare products of Kentucky on my brother and I’s behalf. Even worse, it didn’t work out. Sorry. At any rate, I actually have Kentucky in this one, but these teams are pretty even I think.

6:00: Utah @ Stanford (Pac12): I think Stanford’s lack of offense will let them down again in this one.

7:00: Nevada-Las Vegas @ Brigham Young (ESPNU): Not a lot of hope for UNLV in this one.

7:15: Auburn @ Georgia (ESPN): The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry is back. Who will win? I have no idea, really. Both these teams can move the ball, that’s not really the issue. Georgia’s defense was solid all year until the nigh-inexplicable collapse against Florida, while Auburn hasn’t really slowed anyone down since September. Of course, it’s worth pointing out that Georgia has yet to face any of the elite offenses in the SEC, and they did give up 70 points in two weeks against teams that ran the ball down their throats (Arkansas and Florida). Auburn’s attack is the strongest and most well-rounded they’ve faced all year, so I’m giving a slight edge to the Tigers.

7:30:

• Texas @ Oklahoma State (FOX): Speaking of things I didn’t imagine a few weeks ago, I’ve actually got Texas here.
• Missouri @ Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (SEC): Mizzou’s best win of the year is still the not-as-good-as-it-looked at the time win over South Carolina. TAMU beat Auburn last week, but it wasn’t a sure thing. The key for these Tigers, as it was for the Tigers before them, will be trying to exploit TAMU’s woeful defense, but it’s not clear to me that they can. I’ve actually got A&M in this one.

8:00:

• Florida State @ Miami (ABC): All Miami has done since losing to us is, well, look like Miami, really. They’ve dominated their opposition since, and in 9 games Duke Johnson has over 1200 yards rushing. (I still think he was sorely underutilized against us.) I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: this is not last year’s Florida State team. I still think they’re going to win, though.
• Louisiana State @ Arkansas (ESPN2): I still say Arkansas is going to beat someone they shouldn’t this year, but I lack the guts to actually make that call.
• South Florida @ Southern Methodist (CBSS): SMU is bad enough to even lose to the USFs of the world.
• Michigan State @ Maryland (BTN): Sparty will be out for blood against the halfway-decent Terps, and I suspect they’ll get it.

10:00: North Texas @ Texas-El Paso (FS1): A national audience? Sure, why not, it’ll give you some live football during the half-time of FSU-Miami. Also, I have UTEP.

10:15: San Diego State @ Boise State (ESPNU): Boise gets a chance to continue to make their case for the Other 5 spot.

10:45: Arizona State @ Oregon State (ESPN): The Beavers aren’t really very good this year. I would definitely think Arizona State covers the nine points here.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Georgia @ Kentucky (ESPN): I still have no idea what happened to Georgia last week, but suffice it to say, I don’t envy Kentucky right now.
• Iowa @ Minnesota (ESPN2): Minnesota! You were having such a nice little season, and then you had to go lose to Illinois. Oof. Iowa, meanwhile, managed to score 48 (48!) points against Northwestern last weekend, surely making several Iowa fans dizzy in the process. I’m giving a slight edge to Iowa.
• Wisconsin @ Purdue (ESPNU): This one might get ugly for the Boilermakers.
• Baylor @ Oklahoma (FS1): I’m not entirely what’s going to happen in this one. Looking at the stats, these teams are pretty even, but Oklahoma has one more loss. I consider this a tossup, basically. I’m going with a minor upset for the Sooners.
• Texas-San Antonio @ Rice (FSN): It’s hard to see how UTSA has much of a chance here, but the advanced stats say this is about even. I guess we’ll have to just wait to find out.
• Southern Methodist @ Tulsa (CBSS): This is probably SMU’s best remaining chance to win a game this year, but I’m not seeing it.
• Pennsylvania State @ Indiana (BTN): Penn State has now lost four straight, but I still have them as slight favorites over the Hooisers.

12:30:

• Georgia Tech @ North Carolina State (ACC): NC State managed to reverse their four game slide finally with a touchdown win over Syracuse. Meanwhile, GT is coming off their most complete effort since the Miami game, dominating an inferior Virginia team from start to finish.
  The main worry for us is going to be NC State’s dynamic Jocaby Brissett, who could certainly do plenty to exploit our defense. The defense played better against Virginia last week, but they were arguably one of the worst offensive teams we’ve played all season. Watching the game, the UVA offense did very little to help itself.
  On paper, the NC State defense looks overmatched, sporting one of the worst run defenses in the country. The key for the Jackets will be to take advantage of this and, as usual, give the defense plenty of room.
• Duke @ Syracuse (ACC/RSN): It’s hard to see how Syracuse will keep up with Duke.

3:30:

• Notre Dame @ Arizona State (ABC): I’ve had Notre Dame losing this game in my bowl predictions for several weeks, so I’m not going to back down now.
• Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Auburn (CBS): It’s hard to see how TAMU is going to win this one.
• Michigan @ Northwestern (ESPN2): I wouldn’t expect a lot of points in this one. Michigan also needs this one pretty badly to get to a bowl, so I’m sort of thinking that means they probably won’t get it.
• West Virginia @ Texas (FS1): It’s hard to see how Texas is going to score enough points to keep up with the Mountaineers.
• Tulane @ Houston (ESPNU): Tulane just isn’t very good.
• Iowa State @ Kansas (FSN): I wouldn’t recommend watching this one. Iowa State is slightly less awful, though.
• Connecticut vs. Army (@New York, NY; CBSS): UConn had an out-of-nowhere upset of Central Florida last weekend. If they lose to Army, it won’t be out-of-nowhere, per se, but it would still be pretty surprising.

4:00: Washington State @ Oregon State (Pac12): I wouldn’t have had Wazzou has a favorite before one of their all-time best quarterbacks broke his leg last week, so…

6:30: Virginia @ Florida State (ESPN): Florida State will have to work pretty hard to inject any drama into this one.

7:00:

• California-Los Angeles @ Washington (FS1): UCLA upset Arizona last weekend, but nonetheless they remain a solidly “good” team. I think UDub could give them some problems but I still have the Bruins in the end.
• Hawaii @ Colorado State (ESPNU): Of the many teams hoping for a shot at the Group of Five slot for the big money bowls, Colorado State was definitely helped by East Carolina’s loss last weekend. Problem is, their loss to was to another team vying for that slot: Boise State. Either way, no big problems are anticipated for them against Hawaii.
• Boise State @ New Mexico (CBSS): I’ll give Bob Davie credit for sticking his what he said when he was a commentator and indeed running a spread option offense at New Mexico. Other than that, I got nothing for this, Boise should win easily.

7:15: Louisville @ Boston College (ESPN2): Boston College may be the most surprising 6-3 team in college football, but I think they’ll probably drop to a slightly less surprising 6-4 after this.

7:30:

• Kansas State @ Texas Christian (FOX): This is one is a tossup to me. I think these are both pretty good teams with good offenses. Kansas State has a better defense, but TCU’s offense is that much better than K-State’s. I’m basically guessing TCU.
• Florida @ Vanderbilt (SEC): I figured Florida would win this one regardless, but boy howdy was that game against Georgia satisfying to watch.

8:00

• Ohio State @ Michigan State (ABC): This one projects to be close, but honestly, I like Sparty a lot here. Michigan State has just been more well-tested than the Buckeyes. Keep an eye on it, though.
• Alabama @ Louisiana State (CBS): Game of the day, most likely. Did you know that Les Miles is the only current SEC coach to have beaten Nick Saban twice? Of course, that fact is somewhat tempered by the fact that a lot of SEC coaches haven’t been around long enough to try to beat Saban twice, but still, at night, in Baton Rogue, it’s all about the Les Miles Reality Distortion Field. What could happen? I have no idea. But I’m going with Alabama anyway.
• Colorado @ Arizona (Pac12): The Buffs have zero conference wins so far, and with their remaining schedule being Arizona, Oregon, and Utah that doesn’t figure to change.

10:00: Oregon @ Utah (ESPN): Since their loss to Arizona over a month ago, Oregon has done a lot more to look like a top team than they did up to that point, culminating last week’s demolition of Stanford. Utah has certainly been game this season in the Pac-12, but it’s hard to see them keeping up with the Ducks.

10:30: San Jose State @ Fresno State (CBSS): Why should you stay up to watch two sub-.500 Moutain West teams play? I have no idea, but hey, this one should be close. Giving a slight edge to the Spartans.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

11:30: Air Force @ Army (CBS): Air Force should be able able to seal up their first Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy since 2011 in this one.

Noon:

• Wisconsin @ Rutgers (ESPN): The pain doesn’t look likely to stop for the Scarlet Knights just yet, who are presumably reeling aftre consecutive blowout losses to Ohio State and Nebraska. Fortunately for them, though, they get Indiana next week.
• Maryland @ Pennslyvania State (ESPN2): Maryland may represent the best offense Penn State has seen all year, which isn’t really saying much, which I think leads to their inflated defensive numbers.
• Oklahoma @ Iowa State (FS1): Oklahoma’s season is lessened by losing two out of their last three, but not so much so that they’re suddenly vulnerable to Iowa State or anything.
• Duke @ Pittsburgh (ESPNU): Eight plays, five fumbles lost. I’ve made posts about luck on the football field in the past, but that one really takes the cake. I’ll talk about it more when I talk about Tech, though. For now, with the way Duke is playing I’m just not sure who they’re going to lose to the rest of the season. There’s nothing about Pitt that makes me think they’ll take it to Duke.
• East Carolina @ Temple (ESPNEWS): East Carolina has taken care of business in the American so far, and while this isn’t the completely awful version of Temple from, well, most of their history, I don’t think they’ll present much of a challenge for ECU.
• Central Florida @ Connecticut (CBSS): A team that could challenge ECU, maybe, is Central Florida, who should no issues dispatching a terrible UConn. I mean, seriously: UConn averages 14 points a game.
• Louisiana-Monroe @ Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (SEC): Texas A&M got to the meat of their schedule three weeks ago, and they blinked. Consecutive losses to the Mississippi schools were bad enough, but then there was the complete meltdown against Alabama last week. Suffice it to say, UL-Monroe may be exactly what the Aggies need right now.
• Northwestern @ Iowa (BTN): Neither of these schools scores a lot of points, and neither allows a lot. It figures to be a tight, low-scoring contest, which I figure probably favors Iowa.

12:30:

• North Carolina @ Miami (ACC): UNC squeaked out a win over Virginia last week, while Miami went out and pasted Virginia Tech last Thursday. It’s hard not to favor Miami’s ability to play, like, any defense at all.
• Boston College @ Virginia Tech (ACC): Even though they’re 4-4, VPI’s bowl streak is in very serious trouble. The only sure win on the schedule looks to be Wake Forest. I don’t think they’ll beat Boston College, but this is probably a better bet for them than UVA or Duke.

1:00: Washington @ Colorado (Pac12): Colorado isn’t as tire fire awful as they were the past few years, but man that defense is still pretty bad, and UDub is a team that is capable of taking advantage.

3:00:

• Western Kentucky @ Louisiana Tech (FSN): The Hilltoppers will throw the ball, but they can’t defend it. Louisiana Tech is moer balanced and looks like a better team overall. It also gives them a chance to get to 5-0 in the Conference USA East division, which would really put them in control.
• North Carolina State @ Syracuse (ACC/RSN): Boy howdy, FSU sure made NC State look good back in September, didn’t they? Of course, they’ve done that more than a few times in recent weeks, but anyway since then the Wolfpack have lost four straight and it hasn’t really been that close (even if you exclude the 41-0 shallacking from Clemson). But, again, Syracuse may be what they need. The Orange aren’t bad enough that they have no chance, it’s just from where I sit I think that NC State has a better than good chance of winning.

3:30:

• Georgia vs. Florida (@Jacksonville, FL; CBS): Florida fans could use more than a few cocktails at this point, I’d guess. I just don’t see any chance for the Gators in this game whatsoever.
• Purdue @ Nebraska (ABC/ESPN2): For most of this season, I’ve been stuck thinking that Purdue is as awful as they’ve been in the recent past.
• Texas Christian @ West Virginia (ABC/ESPN2): This is, admittedly, not a game I had exactly circled on the calendar at the start of the year. I think West Virginia will give them a fight. I think they will give them a hell of a fight. But goodness me TCU’s only loss was to the only team that could keep up with them, and they only lost by three. The rest of the schedule since then is a trail of devastation. I kept checking on their game last week just to see them break 80. It was ridiculous. I like them, even in the craziness of Morgantown. (Probably a good thing for them it’s not at night, though.)
• Virginia @ Georgia Tech (ESPNU): So, yeah, five fumbles. One calculation put the odds of forcing five fumbles in thirteen possessions at 0.00245%. Okay, so those are pretty low odds. The odds of recovering all five? Too low to be expressed as a percentage, because it’s about a 1 in 1.3 million chance.
  As for this one, well, it’s hard to say. The defense remains a huge issue, though it’s hard to say how bad they were last week what with the being up 28-0 5 minutes into the game and all. Virginia’s offense doesn’t scare anyone per se, but with how bad our defense is it doesn’t need to be scary. The Cavs are coming off two straight close losses to Duke and Carolina, so they will certainly be in the mood to get back on a winning streak, especially if they want to make a bowl.
• Brigham Young @ Middle Tennessee State (CBSS): It’s gotten pretty ugly for the Cougars after losing their all-everything quarterback. Is it bad enough to lose to a former Sun Belt team? That’s really the big question here. BYU can still score against not so great defenses, but in their currently four game losing streak they haven’t allowed less than 30 (though one of those went to overtime). Hard to say, but tentatively taking the Stormin’ Mormons.
• Indiana @ Michigan (BTN): Michigan’s offense is lost, lost in the woods with no compass, and a missing shoe. Their hated athletic director resigned today. A loss to Indiana, which doesn’t seem unlikely, would probably result in Brady Hoke not being too far behind.

4:00:

• Kansas @ Baylor (FS1): Man, at least Kansas is as awful as they’ve been for most of the past few years. Makes these things easy. Baylor should be able to score however many they want here.
• Houston @ South Florida (ESPNEWS): USF isn’t horrible, they’re just not good. I don’t think it’ll be Houston by much, but it’ll be Houston in the end.
• Kentucky @ Missouri (SEC): Well, both these teams have beaten Vandy and South Carolina, so I think they’re actually kind of even. I’m giving a slight edge to Mizzou, though.

4:30: Southern California @ Washington State (Pac12): I don’t think USC will have a problem, per se, but I think this one might not be as comfortable as you might expect given the records.

7:00:

• Auburn @ Mississippi (ESPN): Well, this one isn’t going to end 10-7, I feel pretty good about saying that. Auburn had a bit of trouble with South Carolina last week as well. At any rate, let’s not bury the lede too much more: this one is a fight to stay in national title contention. At Ole Miss, and with that defense, I think the Rebels may gut it out, but I think this one is pretty much even.
• Old Dominion @ Vanderbilt (ESPNU): Vandy could very well lose this game, I’m not even kidding. I’m not going to predict that, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
• Colorado State @ San Jose State (CBSS): The Rams are kind of legit, huh? I wonder if they want that game from Boise back in September back. They should be able to handle the Spartans.

7:15: Arkansas @ Mississippi State (ESPN2): Both these teams can score, but I think Miss State can score better, if that makes any sense. The Bulldogs should remain undefeated.

7:30:

• Stanford @ Oregon (FOX): Stanford can’t score, and while they have an awesome defense, Oregon just figures to be too much. I expect this one to be tight at the half and then Oregon gets out to a comfortable lead by the end of the game.
• Texas @ Texas Tech (FS1): Red Raider fans might be wondering if they can get a refund on their recent coach purchase. Alas, they cannot, and so they will charge out again with a less-than advertised offense. The Longhorns’ offense, meanwhile, is nearly nonexistent, and so I think they’ll probably lose. Maybe.
• Tennessee @ South Carolina (SEC): Tennessee isn’t awful, but they’re still a notch below even this diminished South Carolina side.

8:00:

• Notre Dame vs. Navy (@Landover, MD; CBS): I think Notre Dame will lose at least one other game. This isn’t it. (But enjoy the last of a rare CBS triple-header!)
• Illinois @ Ohio State (ABC): Don’t look, but after an upset of Minnesota last weekend Illinois is 4-4. They might even make a bowl if they’re not careful. The Buckeyes don’t have much to worry about in this one unless they get caught looking forward to Sparty next weekend.
• Oklahoma St @ Kansas State (ABC): K-State keeps doing it… and they should keep on keeping on until they run into TCU next week.

10:30:

• Arizona @ California-Los Angeles (ESPN): Well, one of these teams wasn’t taken to double overtime by Colorado last weekend, so I’m taking Arizona.
• San Diego State @ Nevada (CBSS): SDSU has one of those “hasn’t played anyone with an offense” sort of high-ranking defenses, so it’s hard to cite that as a factor here. Tentatively going with Nevada in this one.
• California @ Oregon State (Pac12): Cal might have the most exciting 4-4 record in college football, thanks to an awesome offense and a defense that can keep anyone on it. That said, Oregon State might be not good enough that they can’t score on every drive, which could be fatal.

10:45: Wyoming @ Fresno State (ESPN2): This one might be good for halftime entertainment more than anything else. Just sort of picking Fresno.

11:00: Utah @ Arizona State (FS1): This is very quietly a must-watch game. Arizona State is at the fringes of national talk, but Utah is very quietly 6-1. The numbers make these teams look about even. I’m very slightly going to give the edge to the home team.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Texas @ Kansas State (ESPN): It’s pretty clear at this point in the season that Texas just is not a good football team, near-upsets of Oklahoma notwithstanding. In fact, at 3-4 I don’t actually have them going to a bowl, I just don’t currently see three more wins on their schedule. If they want to have a chance, upsetting K-State would be a good, but unlikely, start.
• Rutgers @ Nebraska (ESPN2): With the rise of 14-team conferences, an issue that I think is really starting to become a problem is intra-conference scheduling. Right now the difference in the Big Ten west is that Nebraska had to play Michigan State and Minnesota will not. (See also: Duke in the ACC, which dodges both Clemson and Florida State.) Either way, Rutgers should not present a significant hurdle for the Huskers.
• Minnesota @ Illinois (ESPNU): Speaking of Minnesota, this week they get the hapless Illini.
• Memphis @ Southern Methodist (ESPNEWS): Memphis.
• Maryland @ Wisconsin (BTN): Wisconsin has only played two conference games so far, which makes it difficult for me to figure out exactly how good they are. The defense appears stingy, but they gave up 24 to LSU and 28 to Illinois. Maryland, meanwhile, isn’t much easier to judge. They’ve beaten Indiana and Iowa, but got shellacked by Ohio State. So Maryland is probably safely in the mid-tier of Big Ten teams, but this game will probably show if Wisconsin can roll with Nebraska, Ohio State, and Michigan State or not. Tentatively going with the Badgers.
• Alabama-Birmingham @ Arkansas (SEC): Don’t look, but the Blazers are 4-3. Probably won’t help them much against the Razorbacks, though.

12:30: North Carolina @ Virginia (ACC): Who’s going to win the ACC Coastal? Well, Duke, probably, but nonetheless the question isn’t quite academic yet. UVA is 4-3 but only sports an okay offense. UNC is 3-4, but they sport one of the best offenses in the country paired with one of the worst defenses. I like the Tar Heels, by a little.

1:00: San Jose State @ Navy (CBSS): San Jose State isn’t completely awful this year and this edition of Navy probably isn’t going to shock anyone, but I still like the Midshipmen.

2:00: California-Los Angeles @ Colorado (Pac12): So much for national title darkhorse UCLA, eh? Either way, they’ll get bowl eligible against the Buffs.

3:30:

• Mississippi State @ Kentucky (CBS): Not a problem for the Bulldogs unless they’re caught looking ahead to their opponent two weeks from now.
• Texas Tech @ Texas Christian (FOX): Based on the way they’re playing this year, this one does not look to be setting up well for the Red Raiders at all.
• Michigan @ Michigan State (ABC): Michigan already has problems scoring points, so this is really the last thing they need to see right now. I don’t see a lot of hope for the Wolverines.
• West Virginia @ Oklahoma State (ESPN): Two teams, opposite directions. West Virginia is 3-1 in conference, 5-2 overall, coming off a potentially season-defining upset of the fourth-ranked team in the country. (And they didn’t just beat Baylor, they controlled the game.) Oklahoma State is 3-1 in conference, 5-2 overall, and just got absolutely pasted by TCU. It’s hard not to pick WVU in this scenario.
• Oregon State @ Stanford (ESPN2): Stanford University is one of the top research universities on the planet. 59 people associated with Stanford are Nobel Laureates. Stanford raises more money than any other school, and Stanford graduates founded several of the largest companies in the world. So, surely with those resources, they could figure out a way to score some touchdowns. Fortunately for the Cardinal this week, Oregon State doesn’t really score a whole lot either, so they should be able to eke out a victory.
• Georgia Tech @ Pittsburgh (ESPNU): So last week, before the game, I saw some sobering stats about our defense on a pace (i.e., per-play) basis. Basically, since the offense tends to hold the ball and limit opponent’s possessions, it makes the per-game stats for the defense look better than they actually are. For instance, Miami had seven non-garbage time possessions. Baylor usually has that many possessions in a half. Well, after giving up 48 last week they aren’t fooling anyone anymore.
  On a per-game scoring basis, Pitt has the 14th ranked defense in the country. But the counter to that is they haven’t exactly been playing Oregon, Baylor, and Mississippi State. The best offense they’ve faced this season is Virginia’s at 74th nationally, and they haven’t faced anyone who runs the option. But with the tire fire that is the Georgia Tech defense right now, we can probably make anyone look good, so it will probably be up to the offense again to get ahead and stay ahead.
• Florida Atlantic @ Marshall (FS1): I feel bad for the Thundering Herd, but while I’m pretty confident they’re going to go undefeated they just don’t play anyone. Seriously, not even, like, Vanderbilt or Colorado or someone.
• Boston College @ Wake Forest (ACC/RSN): In three ACC games, Wake Forest has scored 20 points. Ouch.

4:00:

• Nevada-Las Vegas @ Utah State (ESPNEWS): I feel for the Aggies, but after a tough, low-scoring loss to Colorado State last week the schedule softens up considerably is before they face Boise State in what will probably be a pivotal Mountain West matchup.
• Vanderbilt @ Missouri (SEC): Vandy picked up their second win of the season last week, beating Charleston Southern 21-20. In short: what the hell happened in Nashville? I just feel like this can’t be explained by a coach leaving.

5:00: Temple @ Central Florida (CBSS): I hope you don’t like points, because neither of these teams are especially inclined to score and generally inclined to play defense. I’ve got UCF winning like 10-7.

6:00: Arizona @ Washington State (Pac12): I actually kinda think Wazzou will ruin someone’s Pac-12 season in the same way I think Arkansas is going to ruin someone’s in the SEC, though obviously via completely different methods of attack. But until such a time, it’s pretty hard to actually pick them to win, you know?

7:00: Syracuse @ Clemson (ESPNU): I feel pretty good about Clemson’s chances in this one.

7:15: Mississippi @ Louisiana State (ESPN): On traditional stats, these two teams look pretty similar, but man the advanced metrics love Ole Miss the same way a tailgater in the Grove loves bourbon. Nonetheless, it’s the first of many potential pitfalls in the knife-fight SEC West, but looking at the numbers, it’s pretty hard to pick against them at this point.

7:30:

• Alabama @ Tennessee (ESPN2): The Third Saturday in October is on the fourth Saturday this year, but those are just the breaks in this modern era of conference scheduling. Neither date would make much difference in the likely outcome, though.
• South Carolina @ Auburn (SEC): I just hope that after he retires, sportswriters continue to to go to Steve Spurrier for snarky quips about his rivals. He had this to say about Auburn, AL earlier this week: “The loveliest village on the plains is what they used to call it.” Seriously, one of those Stanford guys should also figure out the Futurama head-in-a-jar technology while they’re at it.
  Anyway, while Spurrier will almost certainly win the battle of snarky quips, his team’s odds of winning the football contest are pretty slim.

8:00: Ohio State @ Pennsylvania State (ABC): That Ohio State loss to Virginia Tech back in September is starting look pretty weird now, right? That’s the thing with September losses, though. Either way, Penn State is reeling after consecutive losses to Northwestern and Michigan, and the fact that this your ABC primetime game says more about the quality of the last this week more than anything else.

10:00: Southern California @ Utah (FS1): I think this going to be my standard boilerplate for USC this rest of the season: on paper they should win this game, it’s just a matter of their starters holding up because the Trojans have basically no depth.

10:45: Arizona State @ Washington (ESPN): This should be a fun, late-night contest for you folks out East, but I think in the end Sun Devils will win.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Kansas State @ Oklahoma (ESPN): I was fully prepared to write that K-State was going to wind up being easy for the Sooners, but I was too hasty. My main argument was going to be that the Wildcats hadn’t seen anything like the Sooner attack, but I forgot that they held Auburn to 20 in their narrow loss a month ago. So there’s plenty to suggest both defenses are good, and that both offenses are all right. I still have the Sooners in the end, though.
• Iowa @ Maryland (ESPN2): Iowa had a relative offensive explosion against Indiana, putting up 45 points. It’s hard to see them doing the same again in College Park, though.
• Baylor @ West Virginia (FS1): While it’s tempting to write this will be a fun, high-scoring contest, the truth is that it’s much, much more likely for that to be true for one of these teams, and that team is Baylor.
• Tulane @ Central Florida (ESPNU): UCF isn’t, like, really that good or anything. Tulane, though, is worse.
• South Florida @ Tulsa (ESPNEWS): These are two of the worst teams in FBS, which makes this game a bit of a coin flip. Tulsa is slightly better at offense, so I’m going to go with them.
• Texas-San Antonio @ Louisiana Tech (FSN): LaTech just dropped double-nickels on UTEP, and it’s hard to see the Roadrunners’ dreadful offense keeping up.
• Purdue @ Minnesota (BTN): Neither team plays offense particularly well, but Minnesota’s defense is good enough for them to get away with it. Purdue, not so much.
• Syracuse @ Wake Forest (ACC/RSN): Syracuse didn’t get quite as blown out by Florida State as Wake did, so I guess I’m going to go with them.

12:30: Virginia @ Duke (ACC): So much for the “Mike London is So Fired” watch. That said, I don’t think the Cavs really play offense well enough to surpass the Blue Devils’ attack, but the differences between these teams are slight and this could wind up being a pretty close game.

3:30:

• Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Alabama (CBS): The wheels have fallen off the new-look Alabama offensive bus the past couple weeks. Fortunately for them, perhaps, is the Texas A&M defense coming to town. TAMU will definitely want this to turn into a shootout, and even though this is a flawed Alabama defense this year I’m not sure that it will happen.
• Rutgers @ Ohio State (ABC/ESPN2): Rutgers picked up their first Big Ten win last week against Michigan, but other than that there’s nothing to suggest that they can do much against the Buckeyes.
• California-Los Angeles @ California (ABC/ESPN2): UCLA was expected, coming into this season, to field one of the premier defense in the country. That… is hasn’t exactly happened. Against Cal’s attack, it’s going to continue to not happen. Fortunately for them, the same thing that keeps Cal’s opponents in the game applies here: the Bears’ defense, which is atrocious. I like the Bruins, but only by a little.
• Michigan State @ Indiana (ESPN): Say, remember that time the Hooisers beat Mizzou? Yeah… it should be a walk-over for Sparty.
• Clemson @ Boston College (ESPNU): I’m still getting used to the idea that Boston College isn’t completely terrible, so it’s still too soon for me to entertain the idea that they might beat Clemson.
• Kansas @ Texas Tech (FSN): After four straight losses, including three in conference, a visit from the Jayhawks may be exactly what the doctor ordered.
• North Carolina State @ Louisville (ACC/RSN): Since they made a game of it against FSU, NC State has suffered a 41-0 loss to Clemson and a 30-14 loss to Boston College. Against a stingy Louisville defense, the situation does not seem likely to improve for Jacoby Brissett and Co.
• Cincinnati @ Southern Methodist (CBSS): SMU had a relative offensive explosion last week against ECU, but they still lost 45-24. To give you an idea of how bad it’s been, that’s also their closest loss of the season. On a three-game schnide themselves, this is exactly what the Bearcats need right now.

4:00:

• Oklahoma State @ Texas Christian (FS1): The last game in what might be the toughest 3-game stretch anywhere in the country, TCU looks to sweep the state of Oklahoma. With the four point win over Oklahoma and a three point loss to Baylor, that puts TCU at a differential of +1, which is about as narrow as things get. Fortunately for them, despite the #15 ranking, Oklahoma State is still easily the easiest of the three opponents. Provided TCU keeps their focus, they should have to trouble facing K-State three weeks from with a 7-1 record.
• Georgia @ Arkansas (SEC): It’s just a matter of time before the punishing Arkansas attack ruins someone’s season. I think they’ll win one their remaining games against Georgia, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss, I just have no idea which. Given that, I’m still going with Georgia here.

6:00: Colorado @ Southern California (Pac12): It’s hard to say on a week-to-week basis how USC is going to do. They’ve certainly got the talent, but with like 60 scholarship players they lack depth. That said, it shouldn’t be a problem against the Buffs.

7:00:

• Tennessee @ Mississippi (ESPN): I guess I have to start believing these Mississippi schools, huh? That said, it is a much easier task against the Tennessees of the world. 
• Missouri @ Florida (ESPN2): If you thought last week’s game against LSU was dumb, this game may even worse. I guess I’ll take the Gators?
• Georgia Tech @ North Carolina (ESPNU): Well, it happened. After putting together perhaps their best game of the past few years against Miami, we managed to play one of our worst against Duke. We didn’t do anything particularly well, but it’s come to light that the defense is really pretty bad. UNC is having their fourth or fifth disappointing season in a row, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t playing. Well, more accurately, they are at least playing offense. They gave Notre Dame everything they wanted in a 50-43 shootout last weekend in South Bend. The problem is that giving up 30+ is pretty routine for the Tar Heels defense.
  Given those things, the game is likely to resemble the 68-50 shootout from the last time we visited Chapel Hill, hopefully with the good guys on the right side of it again.
• Utah State @ Colorado State (CBSS): If the Aggies were at full strength, this would project to being a pretty even matchup, but alas, given the way things are I have to go with the Rams.

7:30:

• Kentucky @ Louisiana State (SEC): Kentucky is 5-1 and likely ecstatic about it, while LSU is 5-2 and disappointed. That said, this is easily the best team Kentucky has faced so far this year, and I’m leaning pretty heavily toward things getting back to normal for them over the new few weeks.
• Nebraska @ Northwestern (BTN): Look, I know Northwestern has the 11th ranked scoring defense in the country, but their offense is bad, Nebraska’s defense is just as good, and their offense was only stopped by a probably great Michigan State defense. So I just don’t see it, Northwestern. Sorry.

8:00

• Notre Dame @ Florida State (ABC): Since the scares against Clemson and NC State, FSU has reverted to type, with that type blowing out weak ACC competition. Notre Dame, not so much. Though both sport easy victories over Syracuse, Notre Dame struggled against a pretty good Stanford team, which is okay, but then against a not-so-good North Carolina team. Unlike Stanford, Florida State is actually capable of scoring touchdowns in the red zone, which means that if Jamesis Winston is still thinking about football at all (one story I read earlier this week noted wryly that Winston’s decision making is apparently vastly better on the field than off it) I don’t think the Domers have the offense to keep up.
• Washington @ Oregon (FS1): After the Ducks’ offensive like performance on Thursday night against Arizona, most assumed their game against UCLA would be the sack-pocalypse, but it turned out to be a comfortable Oregon win. Most are excited for this game because U-Dub has been the only team so far to contain the prolific Cal attack. Unlike Cal, though, Oregon actually fields a somewhat competent defense, which would be trouble for the relative pedestrian Husky attack. I like the Ducks in this one.

10:15: Nevada @ Brigham Young (ESPN2): Hey, I said watching Nevada was fun, not that they were good. BYU is still definitely the favorite here, but it’s going to be closer than I would’ve projected a month or so again.

10:30:

• Stanford @ Arizona State (ESPN): This is a game of opposites: Arizona State’s good offense versus Stanford’s great defense, and vice versa. If the Sun Devils can score, say, three touchdowns they have a pretty good chance, but I don’t like their chances of doing so.
• Hawaii @ San Diego State (CBSS): The Aztecs field a pretty legitimate defense, and this isn’t exactly the Hawaii offense of yore here. I like them at home.