As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Saturday
8:30: Pennsylvania State vs. Central Florida (@Dublin, Ireland; ESPN2):

Noon:

• California-Los Angeles @ Virginia (ESPN): And so begins the “Mike London is So Fired” watch. This should give the hands a good shove toward “so very, very fired”, but not quite all the way there.
• Appalachian State @ Michigan (ESPN2): Would it absolutely wonderful if Appalachian State won again? Yes, yes it would be. Will it happen? No, probably not.
• North Dakota State @ Iowa State (FS1): Iowa State. Er, wait, didn’t NDSU beat Kansas State last year en route to a 15-0 season and the FCS national title? In that case, well, I like NDSU odds better than Appy State’s.
• Western Michigan @ Purdue (ESPNU): I’d like to think that even Purdue could win this game, but life is full of uncertainty. (These two teams combined to go 2-22 last year.)
• Indiana State @ Indiana (ESPNEWS): Hoosiers. (Did you know Indiana State are the Sycamores, though? And did you know Larry Bird went there? Just saying.)
• Ohio State vs. Navy (@Baltimore, MD; CBSS): As fun as it would be to see Navy do their thing to the Buckeyes, it just doesn’t seem in the cards, Braxton Miller or no.
• Tennessee-Martin @ Kentucky (SEC): Kentucky.
• Northern Iowa @ Iowa (BTN): Iowa. Well, probably. They’ve messed this up before.
• Youngstown State @ Illinois (BTN): Illinois.
• Troy @ Alabama-Birmingham (FCS): It’s the Little Iron Bowl! I’m pretty sure no one calls it that, but hey, you take what you can get from these sorts of games. I’ll go with Troy.

12:30:

• Georgia Southern @ North Carolina State (ACC): NC State… probably.
• Wofford @ Georgia Tech (ACC): It’s been a bit of a rough offseason for Tech. Attrition, injuries, etc. This game, if nothing else, will serve as a useful yardstick for how the offseason might have affected the team, and what we might see going forward this year.

3:30:

• Rice @ Notre Dame (NBC): Wait, isn’t Notre Dame the team that’s always going to Ireland to play American Football games? Why is it Penn State this year? Well, Penn State and UCF, but that doesn’t really help it make any more sense.
• West Virginia vs. Alabama (@Atlanta, GA; ABC/ESPN2): It’s hard to see how the Mountaineers have much of a shot in this. Even calling it “much of a shot” might be a bit generous.
• California @ Northwestern (ABC/ESPN2): No team seemed to be as affected by one loss as last year’s Northwestern. Rising to #16 and playing at home, they lost by 10 at home to Ohio State. From there, they lost seven straight games, including wrenchingly close losses to teams like Minnesota and Iowa that cost them bowl eligibility. Of course, the question is whether this Northwestern team is still mostly okay, and more importantly, whether they’re still better than Cal. My guess is yes.
• South Dakota State @ Missouri (ESPNU): Missouri.
• Florida Atlantic @ Nebraska (BTN): Nebraska.
• James Madison @ Maryland (BTN): Maryland.

4:00:

• William and Mary @ Virginia Tech (ESPNEWS): Virginia Tech (but see the Iowa caveat above).
• Arkansas @ Auburn (SEC): More stupidly early conference games to satisfy TV, ahoy! Hopefully Arkansas is the entertaining sort of terrible they’re capable of being and not the more milquetoast sort of terrible they’re currently more poised to be.
• Portland State @ Oregon State (Pac12): Oregon State.
• California-Davis @ Stanford (Pac12): Stanford.

5:30: Clemson @ Georgia (ESPN): Both these teams have lost a key players on the offensive side of the ball, with both starting quarterbacks gone. However, Georgia still returns a large chunk of their offensive production while Clemson replaces almost all their skill players. I reluctantly have to go with UGA in this one.

7:00:

• Idaho @ Florida (ESPNU): Florida.
• Northern Arizona @ San Diego State (CBSS): San Diego State.

7:30:

• Fresno State @ Southern California (FOX): It’s a rematch of literally the last game these two teams played. Helpfully, USC won easily, which makes this one also easy.
• Southern Mississippi @ Mississippi State (SEC): Miss State.

8:00:

• Oklahoma State vs. Florida State (@Arlington, TX; ABC): It’s the game of the year of the week! That said, how do you pick against the defending national champs that still have their dynamic, Heisman winning quarterback?
• North Carolina Central @ East Carolina (ESPNEWS): ECU. (There’s a reason why I don’t ordinarily list these games.)

9:00: Louisiana State vs. Wisconsin (@Houston, TX; ESPN): I already used this in my OOC schedule preview, but dammit I really need to wrap this up, so: it’s hard to imagine two fanbases more broadly similar yet utterly different than Wisconsin and LSU. Obviously, every college football tailgater likes drinking (well, except maybe BYU fans), that’s not in dispute. Many of them also like eating. But I really feel like there could be some good inter-sectional bonding in the parking lots of Reliant Stadium (well, provided they don’t ban tailgating like at Levi’s Stadium), or at least some Midwesterners discovering the wonders of andouille. Also, LSU is probably going to win.

10:30:

• Washington @ Hawaii (CBSS): Washington.
• South Dakota @ Oregon (Pac12): Oregon.

Sunday
7:00: Utah State @ Tennessee (SEC): Sunday college football, for what I’m going to assume is the only time this year. I’m going to wearily pick the Vols here.

7:30: Southern Methodist @ Baylor (FS1): As noted in my OOC schedule previews, I am enthusiastic about the continued Southwest Conference rematches. I’m somewhat less enthusiastic about the Mustangs’ chances, though.

Monday
8:00: Miami @ Louisville (ESPN): Frankly, it’s hard to give Louisville much of a shot here in their ACC debut. They did not exactly excel in the depleted remnants of the Big East last year, and Miami returns a singular talent in Duke Johnson. It’s difficult to see how the Cardinals will keep up.

Yep, it’s week 16. Why 16? Well, there was an extra week due to the calendar this year, which why teams had two bye weeks during the season.

Quick note: I won’t cover them here, but several more FCS playoff games are available online, including Eastern Washington’s blood-red field.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon: Coastal Carolina @ North Dakota State (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal; ESPN): North Dakota State is undefeated on the season, and it hasn’t really been close. Of the two games decided by less than a touchdown, one was the win over Kansas State and the other to fellow FCS power (though they had a down year this year) Northern Iowa. The Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina were also pretty dominant, but they did lose a game to a non-FCS opponent (South Carolina) and well I’m going with the Bison.

3:00: Army vs. Navy (@Philadelphia, PA; CBS): The 2nd and 3rd ranked rushing attacks in the country meet again, so don’t expect a lot of passing. That said, Navy was simply the better team on the year. Army struggled against other teams with strong rushing attacks (Boston College and Air Force) and in general their three wins were over some really lousy teams. It’s hard to see the USMA’s losing streak ending this year.

As usual, all times Eastern and predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Ohio State @ Michigan (ABC): Michigan isn’t disaster at this point simply because Florida still makes them look good. Ohio State should win easily.
• Florida State @ Florida (ESPN): Whoops!
  

  So … Georgia Southern’s passing downs success rate was higher than Florida’s. GS didn’t complete a pass.
  — Bill Connelly (@SBN_BillC) November 26, 2013

  So yeah, not feeling good about UF’s chances here.

• Duke @ North Carolina (ESPN2): I hate Duke so much. I also hate all the teams that managed to lose to Duke for no apparent reason after Georgia Tech went and dismantled them. I don’t have a very good idea who is going to win this game because I don’t think Duke is that good, but Carolina has been pretty not… great this year. I’m begrudgingly picking Duke.
• Kansas State @ Kansas (FS1): Kansas is still awful, K-State rolls.
• Temple @ Memphis (ESPNEWS): I’ll take Memphis’s three wins over Temple’s one.
• Rutgers @ Connecticut (ESPNU): Again, I’ll take the five win team (Rutgers) over the one win team.
• Minnesota @ Michigan State (BTN): It’s hard to see how things get any easier for Minnesota’s 70th-ranked offense against Michigan State’s defense of death.
• Wake Forest @ Vanderbilt (SEC): Vandy is the superior team here.

12:30: Maryland @ North Carolina State (ACC): Maryland isn’t very good, but NC State is worse, so…

2:00: Colorado @ Utah (Pac12): Utah has lost five straight games since beating Stanford, making that game even more inexplicable. Despite this, they still appear to be more solid than Colorado.

2:30: North Texas @ Tulsa (FSN): North Texas should put an end to one of college football’s most disappointing outfits this season.

3:00: Brigham Young @ Nevada (CBSS): Nevada struggled much of the year before their upset last week over San Jose State. BYU had a wrenching loss to Notre Dame, but despite these factors, BYU is the better team.

3:30:

• Georgia @ Georgia Tech (ABC): Once again, we need play basically flawlessly. Everything has to go right for us and bad for them. But, above all: To Hell With Georgia.
• Alabama @ Auburn (CBS): This should be a great time, for a time. Alabama, though, is just too good, too efficient. Auburn’s strides since last season are nearly amazing, but I think this game will show how far they still have to go.
• Pennsylvania State @ Wisconsin (ESPN): Wisconsin should roll as per usual.
• Baylor @ Texas Christian (ESPN2): Baylor should be able to regain their mojo against a struggling TCU team.
• Virginia Tech @ Virginia (ESPNU): UVA is awful, but that hasn’t stopped VPI from taking bad losses so far this season. That said, UVA is one of the few teams with a worse offense statistically than VPI’s, so they should be okay in this one.
• Purdue @ Indiana (BTN): Once again, I’ll take Indiana’s four wins against Purdue’s single win.
• Boston College @ Syracuse (ACC/FSN): Syracuse needs this win for bowl eligibility, but I just don’t think they’ll get it.

4:00: Iowa State @ West Virginia (FS1): These teams are evenly matched. That’s not really a good thing for WVU, who probably did not hire Dana Holgersen to run the nation’s 90th ranked scoring offense. Does Holgo still have the mojo to beat Iowa State? It’s probably going to be closer than many WVU fans would like.

7:00:

• Notre Dame @ Stanford (FOX): The nation’s 75th ranked offense will be getting no favors from Stanford’s defense. The Tree should roll, much like a log rolling downhill.
• Clemson @ South Carolina (ESPN2): I think Clemson is the better team here. However, that doesn’t mean I feel great about their chances. The ACC will almost certainly get two teams into the BCS first for the time ever if Clemson and Florida State win. More importantly for Clemson fans, they’ve lost four straight in this one. This is their best chance to overturn it so far.
• Tennessee @ Kentucky (ESPNU): Tennessee’s motto at this point could well be “well, at least we’re not Kentucky”.

7:45: Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Missouri (ESPN): TAMU has lost three games this year, and I think it’s about to become four, and it’s almost entirely because of their awful defense.

8:00: California-Los Angeles @ Southern California (ABC): Call me crazy, but I’m actually calling this for USC. Southern Cal and DACOACHO have started to play like, well, Southern Cal. Meanwhile, after failing to upset either of the Pac-12’s top two teams, losing to Arizona State last week killed any chance for the preseason Pac-12 South favorites.

9:30: Arizona @ Arizona State (Pac12): Arizona’s out-of-nowhere upset followed losses to UCLA and Wazzou. I like the Sun Devils, but these teams actually look pretty evenly matched. This one could be interesting.

10:15: New Mexico @ Boise State (ESPN2): This one, less so. Boise should roll.

10:30: San Diego State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (ESPNU): And finally, a day that is bound to be gut-wrenching for many wraps up with a little affair out in Vegas. At stake in this Mountain West clash? Not much, due to the Aztech’s overtime loss to Fresno back in October. This should be close, at least for a bit, but SDSU should prevail.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Michigan State @ Northwestern (ESPN): Northwestern has had an awful time of it this season, and it doesn’t look to suddenly be getting any better with Sparty’s defense to contend with.
• Duke @ Wake Forest (ESPN2): There often hasn’t been a lot riding on this game, has there? It’s hard to figure that Duke would lose here, no matter how much I’d like them to .
• Oklahoma @ Kansas State (FS1): Even though they’re, shall we say, offensively challenged these days the Sooners still pack enough punch to beat K-State.
• Cincinnati @ Houston (ESPNEWS): Tobby Tuberville does nothing but win (against really bad teams, that is). Houston came up just short against the AAC’s front runners in their past two games, so they have more than a good shot against the Bearcats.
• Virginia @ Miami (ESPNU): When Miami lost to Duke last weekend, I wasn’t happy or sad. I was angry. Mainly, I was angry that we pretty much went out and beat Duke like they’re, well, Duke back in September, yet Miami and Virginia Tech manage to have the worst games of their seasons against the Blue Devils. Absolutely ridiculous. At any rate, Miami is still good enough to be able to easily beat Virginia.
• Michigan @ Iowa (BTN): You could watch this game, but I don’t really know why. I guess I’m going with Michigan.
• Mississippi State @ Arkansas (SEC): Miss State should be able to earn that tantalizing fifth win here, putting it all on the line for the Egg Bowl next weekend.

12:30:

• Pittsburgh @ Syracuse (ACC): The ACC’s newbies face off! However, the ‘Cuse seems to be a much worse team at this point.
• East Carolina @ North Carolina State (ACC): I’ve had NC State losing this game in the bowl predictions and such, but I’m not really sure how. ECU isn’t great or anything, but NCSU is kind of bad. I’m sticking with the Wolfpack, but this feels like an upset is a brewin’.

1:30: Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical @ Georgia Tech (espn3.com): Last week, Clemson played their most complete game of the season against GT. The Tigers won every phase of the game except for the “Robert Godhigh” phase. But, nonetheless, GT must march on. This team is pretty aggressively mediocre: we’ve lost to everyone better than us and beat everyone worse than us. Anyway, this game. Alabama A&M is 4-7 this year with a 4-5 record in SWAC play. They actually have not played any other FBS opponents this season, so it’s hard to compare exactly, but usually the level of play in the SWAC is not great. The key to this game are the same as they are to any opponent like this: don’t let them get into it. Hopefully we do a much better job of executing on the plan than we did last Thursday.

3:30:

• Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Louisiana State (CBS): I’ve been leaning toward TAMU on this one, but it is tough. You have TAMU’s excellent offense against LSU’s pretty good defense, and then LSU’s okay offense against TAMU’s awful defense. It’s a matter of which one screws up first. Given that, still leaning TAMU.
• Brigham Young @ Notre Dame (NBC): I think BYU is a pretty legitimate team and can score the “upset” against Notre Dame.
• Oregon @ Arizona (ABC/ESPN2): Thanks to USC last weekend, Oregon is back in the driver’s seat in the Pac 12 North, and this came shouldn’t cause them to have to give it up again.
• Indiana @ Ohio State (ABC/ESPN2): Ohio State needs all the help they can get, and it’s likely even a blowout here will help that much.
• Wisconsin @ Minnesota (ESPN): I suspect Minnesota’s four game winning streak and good feelings will face a pretty stark reality check against the Badgers this weekend and Sparty next weekend.
• Idaho @ Florida State (ESPNU): FSU.
• Colorado State @ Utah State (CBSS): Utah State’s only losses are still to BYU, Utah, Southern Cal, and Boise State. Those are all good teams. Colorado State, not so much.
• Utah @ Washington State (Pac12): Wazzou can make a bowl if they win this game, but I actually don’t think they will. Utah is pretty solid and I’m not sure Wazzou is quite there yet. I am dreading that pick, though.
• Boston College @ Maryland (ACC/FSN): BC is 6-4 mostly from beating the Marylands of the world. I expect this trend to continue.
• Nebraska @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): What is Nebraska at this point? I have no clue. I do like their chances to beat Penn State, though.

4:00:

• California @ Stanford (FS1): The Big Game doesn’t feel quite so big when one of the teams is very, very bad. Stanford should roll.
• New Mexico @ Fresno State (ESPNEWS): Fresno.

7:00:

• Arizona State @ California-Los Angeles (FOX): Until USC announced their intentions by beating Stanford last weekend, this looked like the battle in the Pac-12 South. For weeks in the bowl predictions I had been calling this game for UCLA, but I switched last week and I’m going to stick with the Sun Devils.
• Vanderbilt @ Tennessee (ESPN2): This is one hard to pick, as Vandy is the better team but they always seem to have trouble with the Volunteers. I’m sticking with them anyway.
• Kentucky @ Georgia (ESPNU): I think UGA’s chances here.
• Tulsa @ Louisiana Tech (CBSS): When CBS Sports picked this game, I’m guessing they were thinking that Tulsa might be a little better than 2-8. Both of these offenses rank in the 100’s, and Tulsa’s defense is down there too, so I’m going with LaTech.

7:45: Missouri @ Mississippi (ESPN): Mizzou continues their march toward a SEC East title with a win here. I think they’ll get it.

8:00:

• Baylor @ Oklahoma State (ABC): Your Saturday forecast for Stillwater, OK: highs in the low 40’s with game time temperature expected to be around freezing. Will that be enough to slow down Baylor? I’ve been expecting the Bears to take at least one loss in their last five games, and this is the last chance. Can Oklahoma State do it? At this point, if they can’t, I doubt anyone can. But given the conditions and what feels like inevitability, I’m going with the Cowboys.
• Kansas @ Iowa State (FS1): I’m picking Kansas to win a game? This feels like madness.

9:30: Southern California @ Colorado (Pac12): USC. (Can I take a second to continue to praise Rece Davis and the fact that he also uses the Internet’s jokes about Ed Orgeron on air? Also can I just say that I support DaCoachO being USC’s head coach because even though it will be a disaster it will be hilarious, well, at least if you’re not a USC fan?)

10:30:

• Washington @ Oregon State (ESPN2): I think this is actually an interesting game, though UDub has a slight edge on paper. So I’m going with the Huskies, but this should be a good nightcap.
• Boise State @ San Diego State (CBSS): This game could be okay, but if Boise gets going early (and they’ve gotten going to the tune of 90 points the last two weeks), then it will be an even stiffer test for the Aztecs.