As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Iowa @ Michigan (ESPN): Where have you gone, Denard Robinson? / Wolverine nation turns its lonely eyes to you  Okay perhaps not quite yet, but regardless if the former wunderkind plays today or not Michigan should win.
• Northwestern @ Michigan State (ESPN2): Picking Northwestern to win Big Ten games feels so wrong, yet so far this year it’s been almost mostly right.
• Florida State @ Maryland (ESPNU): FSU should be able to name their score in this one.
• Central Florida @ Tulsa (FSN): This might be the best game of the bunch. What to expect? Points, and lots of ’em. That said, I expect a rematch between these two in a couple of weeks, so this one is probably for home field advantage in that game. I’m expecting the rematch to be in Orlando.
• Temple @ Army (CBSS): Temple, probably.
• Indiana @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): Penn State, almost certainly.
• Arkansas @ Mississippi State (SEC): Miss State just lost the three games on its schedule it was supposed to lose. Now the question is if they can get back on the horse and see things out to 9-3.

12:30: Virginia Tech @ Boston College (ACC): Virginia Tech’s offense is bad, but fortunately for them they’re facing one of the few that is even more inept.

1:30: Washington @ Colorado (FX): The only thing worse than Colorado’s offense is their defense. Serious: they score 17.6 per game (118th in the nation) while their opponents score 47.2 (124th in the nation, aka, dead last). Yeah, I think the Huskies have this one.

3:00:

• Southern California @ California-Los Angeles (FOX): As pointed out elsewhere, UCLA won’t be lame ducking their way into the Pac-12 title game this year, but that said, I don’t think they’ll get there at all because I think USC will win this one. Maybe I’m just not looking closely enough, but still, I like the Trojans here.
• South Florida @ Miami (ACC): Virginia sure isn’t very good, but that was probably a fluke. The Hurricanes should prevail once again over USF, if for no other reason than because unlike USF, Miami actually is in any area one might reasonably call “south Florida”.

3:30:

• Mississippi @ Louisiana State (CBS): Well, this result will probably be less embarrassing than last year’s 59-3 “kneel down with 8 minutes to go” debacle, but not by much.
• Wake Forest @ Notre Dame (NBC): Despite their numbers, Wake is still 5-5, which may cause some to say that they’re not awful. The thing is, they certainly aren’t very good, and it’s hard to see how the nation’s 109th ranked scoring offense is going to do anything against its best defense. Oh sure, the Demon Deacons could catch a few lucky breaks, but that’s their only hope.
• Ohio State @ Wisconsin (ABC/ESPN2): So Wisky already has the Big Ten (checks divisions again because they still make no sense) Leaders division in the bag, while Ohio State still has the diluted goal of an undefeated season. (Still think there should be a “Terry Bowden Trophy” for this situation.) Anyway, the point is, the Buckeyes are probably going to win.
• North Carolina State @ Clemson (ABC/ESPN2): This the last chance for Clemson to pull a Clemson this year. Doing so would probably actually cause more chaos in the BCS than Alabama’s loss did last weekend. That said, it wouldn’t be much of a Clemson-ing if one could actually predict them, so therefore I have to take the Tigers.
• Duke @ Georgia Tech (ESPNU): Not sure what to write about this one. I think of Duke’s competent passing attack and think of our shambolic defense. I see Sean Renfree (one-time GT commit, though given his abilities I’d say he made the right decision after Chan got fired) doing his best Matt Ryan impersonation, bombing above and behind our beleaguered secondary. Both of these defense give up more than 30 points per game. GT is slightly better on offense, though that’s certainly been spotty at times.
  Simultaneously the most entertaining and maddening thing about college football is its unpredictability. Duke should not be in a position to play for the ACC title. Neither should Georgia Tech. The difference, though, is one of these teams is happy with a potential 6-6 record, the other should not be, having recorded at least one utterly inexcusable loss. If the win over UNC last week was an upset, then it was certainly a narrow one – Tech has beaten no other opponents this year against which we have been not been favorites. So we haven’t pulled off the upset, and we’ve been victims to multiple ones.
  I guess I’m just rambling (no pun intended) at this point. Anyway, there’s a pretty good reason why I always say “all predictions wrong” because I suspect that more often than not I am. And even though I have to for the bowl predictions, I hate making predictions involving my own team. All I can do is watch and hope.
• Colorado State @ Boise State (NBCS): In yet another edition of “awful offense” against “really good defense”, Boise should win in a landslide.
• Texas Tech @ Oklahoma State (FSN): Overtime against arguably one of the worst teams in major college football does not do much to inspire confidence in me, Texas Tech. Also I still have this probably irrational respect for Oklahoma State. I say that because I’m pretty sure I haven’t actually seen them play this year. But hey, it makes sense. I think.
• Texas State @ Navy (CBSS): Thanks to their special exemption, Army and Navy get to play a week after the actual end of the season, meaning after this Midshipmen don’t have another game for two weeks. They should head into their double-bye with a win.
• Minnesota @ Nebraska (BTN): Minnesota is most of the way through my prediction of them going 2-6 in the Big Ten and making a bowl game. Don’t let me down, Gophers!

7:00:

• Oklahoma @ West Virginia (FOX): Oh sure, WVU might score 40, but their defense is so awful the Sooners could well score 80.
• Tennessee @ Vanderbilt (ESPN2): I think I predicted Vandy to beat Tennessee last year as well, and as I recall, they probably should have. They should again this year, but as stated often around these parts, that doesn’t mean much.
• Syracuse @ Missouri (ESPNU): With Texas A&M on the docket for next weekend, this is their last, best hope for a bowl game. I’ve been predicting all year in the bowl predictions they won’t make it, so may as well stick to my guns.
• Iowa State @ Kansas (FSN): It’s difficult to overstate how awful the Jayhawks are this year, so let me just say it again: Kansas is awful. Fortunately for everyone there, basketball season has started, so there will only be a few curious and/or brave souls to see that they lost to Iowa State.

8:00:

• Stanford @ Oregon (ABC): Game of the day right here. I know everyone’s probably saying that but that doesn’t make it any less true. That said, it’s only the Cardinal’s decent defense up against the onslaught that is the Oregon offense. If you read one article about college football this week that isn’t this one, it should be Chris Bown’s article about the Oregon offense. (Really, you should be reading lots of other article about college football in a given week because this one isn’t very good.) A lot of people think that Chip Kelly will go to the NFL if he wins a national title. I really hope he gets the chance to kick the NFL into the 21st century. Oh, the league is gradually evolving, but Kelly would jump the league right into the deep end. (Probably the key takeaway from the article for me was the point about Kelly’s quarterbacks: they actually don’t run that much, negating one the usual cracks on run-based college offenses in the NFL. Also I still think even the Urban Meyer spread offense could work in the NFL, because it certainly couldn’t be any worse than every attempt I’ve ever seen at running the speed option in a NFL Game. I just tear my hair out going “the pitch angle is all wrong, it’s like they’re just doing this for the hell of it!”) Anyway, as for this game, I think Stanford isn’t going to be a wet piece of toilet paper, but Oregon should still win by at least 2 scores.
• Kansas State @ Baylor (ESPN): One might be tempted to be worried about Baylor’s offense against Kansas State, but then you remember they’ve already beaten several teams as good or better on offense than the Bears this year. And then you also see that K-State is 14th overall in offense, and their ability to measure out drives means that they can make time of possession meaningful. It’s difficult to score if you don’t have the ball, which I think is a predicament the Bears will find themselves in.
• Texas-El Paso @ Southern Mississippi (CBSS): Reminder: Southern Miss won 12 games last year. One of these days I’ll remember too look up if anyone has ever had a 12 game swing from year-to-year, because USM is probably on their way.

10:00: Arizona @ Utah (ESPNU): They’re finding their feet, but the Utes are still a little out-of-place in the Pac-12. Arizona should be able to handle them.

10:30: Brigham Young @ San Jose State (ESPN2): Well, you can’t have MACtion on a Saturday night, but you can certainly have WACtion. Okay that was bad, I’m sorry. Anyway, this one should be pretty interesting, but nonetheless I think BYU is a little better and will come away with the win.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Arkansas @ South Carolina (CBS): It’s difficult to come up with a reason why Arkansas has any sort of chance in this game, the lack of Marcus Lattimore notwithstanding.
• Miami @ Virginia (ABC): Virginia is actually a slight favorite at home. Uh, what? I’m tempted almost to say “‘Canes roll” but I guess we’ll find out.
• Louisville @ Syracuse (ABC): Louisville has only three games remaining. Three chances for the Big East to preserve some shred of dignity. Can they pull it off? Well, it’s the Big east so it’s hard to say, but you have to like their chances against the Orange.
• Northwestern @ Michigan (ESPN): I have Michigan here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Widlcats win.
• Wisconsin @ Indiana (ESPN2): The Big Ten is also hoping to preserve some dignity and is probably desperately rooting for a Wisconsin victory.
• Army @ Rutgers (ESPNU): Rutgers hasn’t played since losing to Kent State. In the meantime, Army got its second win, and by far its best, over Air Force last weekend. Rutgers should still win handily, but hey, they should’ve easily beat Kent State too.
• Kansas @ Texas Tech (FSN): KU is just awful this year.
• Purdue @ Iowa (BTN): Purdue began Big Ten play on October 6, and has lost every game since. Both teams sport mediocre offenses, so if the Boilermakers keep this low scoring they have a chance, but otherwise Iowa has a slight edge.
• Louisiana-Lafayette @ Florida (SEC): I guess this is homecoming for the Gators?
• Missouri @ Tennessee (SEC): Tennessee beat Troy last week. This ordinarily wouldn’t be remarkable, except the game was a 55-48 shootout. However, the Volunteers are slightly more competent on offense than the Tigers are, so I’ll give them a slight edge.

12:30: Georgia Tech @ North Carolina (ACC): Our defense has looked better so far, yes, but the teams we have played have been awful on offense. The only team that was even mediocre, BYU, ended up blowing us out. Carolina sports an all-conference running back in Giovani Bernard and a competent passer in Bryn Renner. They also have a pretty good defense. Both teams are playing for something – Tech to preserve our bowl streak and Carolina to show that the sanctions aren’t getting them down. We’ll see which is the more powerful in Chapel Hill.

1:30: Colorado @ Arizona (FX): Colorado is, like, so bad you guys.

3:00:

• Oregon State @ Stanford (FOX): This is a pretty pivotal Pac-12 matchup. Both teams have yet to play the frontrunner (Oregon), so in order to have any shot in the Pac-12 North they need to win this game. It’s actually difficult to get a read on these teams. Stanford has two losses, Notre Dame and Washington. Oregon State has only one, also to Washington. Both are sort of bizarro Pac-12 teams this year, sporting good defensive numbers but mediocre offensive ones. I actually took a break here because I’m legitimately stumped by who is going to win this. I’m going to roll with the Beavers and maintain a watch on my local In-n-Out, which is also the closest one to Stanford.
• Wake Forest @ North Carolina State (ACC): NC State shouldn’t lose this game, but they also probably shouldn’t have lost 33-6 to Virginia either. Regardless, by all rights the Wolfpack should win.

3:30:

• Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Alabama (CBS): Helpfully, TAMU has already played two defenses that are almost as good as Alabama’s: Florida’s and LSU’s. TAMU failed to break 20 points in either contest and lost both of them. I would guess the same will happen here.
• Pennsylvania State @ Nebraska (ABC/ESPN2): Nebraska should almost certainly win here, but then again everyone thought Penn State was going to lose 10 games this year too. There’s not a lot of certainty in the Big Ten this year, that’s for sure.
• West Virginia @ Oklahoma State (ABC/ESPN2): I hope you like points! That said, OSU’s defense is a lot less awful than WVU’s, which is also why WVU has lost three straight games and likely going on four.
• Maryland @ Clemson (ESNPU): A lot of folks are, like me, projecting Clemson into the BCS this year. Which probably means the time is ripe for a Clemson’ing. That said, pretty much every player on Maryland’s team has torn their ACL at this point and having watched last weekend’s grisly affair the Terrapins should stand absolutely no chance in hell in this one.
• Air Force @ San Diego State (NBCS): San Diego State’s upset of Boise last weekend not only punted Boise out of the BCS but also put SDSU right into the thick of the MWC title chase. Air Force lost to Army last weekend. I think I like the Aztecs here.
• Baylor @ Oklahoma (FSN): Again, I hope you like points! That said, the Sooners actually kinda sorta play a little (okay, well, a lot) of defense. Baylor may be able to keep up in the first half but will probably fade in the second.
• Minnesota @ Illinois (BTN): Minnesota can secure a bowl bid with a win, thus likely achieving the rare feat of going 2-6 in one’s conference and still making a bowl game.

5:00: Tulsa @ Houston (CBSS): I hope you like points, part three! That said, Houston has basically no defense. It may be fun for awhile, but once again the team from Oklahoma should prevail over the one from Texas.

7:00:

• Kansas State @ Texas Christian (FOX): Well, no one will doubt Gary Patterson’s cajones a this point, after deciding to go for two early in the overtime game against WVU. That said, that won’t be enough against Bill Synder’s particular brand of clock-killing wizardry, Collen Klein or no.
• Mississippi State @ Louisiana State (ESPN): Hey Bulldog(s), remember that time you started 7-0? And then you gave up 38 points to both Alabama and TAMU? Yeah, I’m not expecting much better here, but hey you’ll be favored against the last two teams on your schedule.
• Georgia @ Auburn (ESPN2): Are there any prop bets on which quarter of the game Gene Chizik will get fired in? I’m only partially kidding here.
• Vanderbilt @ Mississippi (ESPNU): Neither of these teams really play offense in any meaningful way, but Vandy does usually play defense against teams that aren’t obviously superior to them. Ole Miss is not Georgia or Florida, so the Commodores have a real good shot at winning this and securing a bowl bid for the second consecutive year. (And as I noted in the bowl games column last weekend, Vandy has never gone to a bowl game in back-to-back years.)
• Boise State @ Hawaii (NBCS): Hawaii used to at least fling the ball around and put up a ton of points. Now they don’t even do that. The Broncos should bounce back with this one.
• Southern Mississippi @ Southern Methodist (FSN): I’m not even going to look up SMU because USM is so awful this year. What the hell is happening down in Hattiesburg?

8:00: Notre Dame @ Boston College (ABC): You might be tempted to say, “hey, so ND went to overtime last weekend against a Pitt team that just got blown out by UConn”. And that is a thing you could say. But trust me on this: BC is a lot more awful than Pitt is, and by a pretty good margin.

10:15: Idaho @ Brigham Young (ESPNU): I just can’t help but feel bad for Idaho. I’ve always thought they were a quirky little team. They play in the KIBBIE DOME, for goodness sake! And yet, they will be adrift, a team without a conference, a rival who refuses to play them, and a non-trivial number of folks who think they should just give up on this FBS thing. And they are just plum bad this year: 123rd in scoring offense and 121st in scoring defense. BYU will almost certainly blow them out.

10:30:

• Oregon @ California (ESPN): So Cal is probably going to be 1-5 (against FBS teams) at home in their newly remodeled stadium after this game. Probably not quite the way they drew it up.
• California-Los Angeles @ Washington State (ESPN2): Multiple commentators have said that Wazzou officials should’ve known there’d be “drama” when they hired Mike Leach. Help me out here: does anyone remember any “drama” with Leach before Craig James untertook a campaign to get him fired at Texas Tech? Because I sure don’t. Anyway, they’ll probably lose this.
• Fresno State @ Nevada (NBCS): Nevada has to have this game to have any shot at the MWC title. I think they’ll give their best but Fresno should pull it out in the end. That said, this is probably the most interesting of the late games. And in how many of those games will it get down to a “pleasant” 16 degrees? Not many outside of this one, I’d wager.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Oklahoma @ Iowa State (ABC): It’s not unprecedented for Iowa State to pull off an upset of this magnitude, but that doesn’t make it any less unlikely.
• Temple @ Louisville (ABC): Can Louisville remain the Big East’s only somewhat competent team? Probably.
• Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Mississippi State (ESPN): Mississippi State’s 15th ranked scoring defense should continue to suffer against the second team on its schedule capable of scoring points.
• Missouri @ Florida (ESPN2): The Gators would probably have to turn the ball over, like, twelve times to lose to this bunch of Tigers.
• Vanderbilt @ Kentucky (ESPNU): Vandy can, and should, put itself in a very good position to make it a bowl game for a second consecutive season. How many times have the Commodores done that, though? None.
• Houston @ East Carolina (FSN): Neither of these teams can play defense to save their lives, but Houston’s offense is slightly more proficient and should get them the victory in the end.
• Air Force @ Army (CBSS): I keep forgetting that Air Force actually lost to Navy last month and so this will not decide the Commander-In-Chief’s trophy. Nonetheless, Army is still not any position to win it themselves.
• Michigan @ Minnesota (BTN): Time for more wacky Big Ten hijinks! Whee! Michigan probably wins.
• Troy @ Tennessee (SEC/FSN): Tennessee isn’t bad enough to lose to Troy, are they? Probably not.
• Tulsa @ Arkansas (SEC): A few years ago, the Golden Hurricane liked to sling the ball all over the place, but these days they’re 9th in rushing and only 86th in passing. I realize that Arkansas is just plan not very good but I still find it exceedingly difficult to pick against them.

12:30:

• Georgia Tech @ Maryland (ACC): Maryland is playing a linebacker at QB this week, but our defense has had the unfortunate tendency to make opposing quarterbacks look several times more competent than they actually are. Maryland also sports a pretty good rushing defense, the likes of which have given us fits this season.
• Virginia @ North Carolina State (ACC): NC State should be able to regroup after a devastating, last-minute loss to UNC last weekend.

2:00: Stanford @ Colorado (FX): If you’re the sort of person who likes disaster based reality TV shows, then this will be the football game for you.

3:00: Texas Christian @ West Virginia (FOX): WVU looks to get back on the right side of the ledger, after going 0-2 in their last two games. The main thing both those games was playings teams that aren’t awful at defense. TCU isn’t either, but if the Mountaineers can get any sort of offensive foothold at all they should prevail.

3:30:

• Mississippi @ Georgia (CBS): UGA won’t need six turnovers to beat Ole Miss.
• Nebraska @ Michigan State (ABC/ESPN2): Nebraska, probably? It’s the Big Ten, so we’re pretty much just guessing at this point.
• Texas @ Texas Tech (ABC/ESPN2): When was the last time TTU was favored against Texas? It has to have been awhile. Though in the Big 12, giving a team seven points is basically betting they’re going to get the ball last. Nonetheless, I think the Red Raiders can pull it off.
• Illinois @ Ohio State (ESPN): There are no certainties in the Big Ten, other than that Ohio State will find the most excruciating ways to win, such that it continues to make the rest of the conference look bad. If you’re not sure what I mean, the usual conversation goes something like this: “Ohio State is clearly the best team in the Big Ten.” “Yeah, but they’re not eligible for the title! And they only beat the Indiana schools by a combined 10 points!” “Well, that just makes everyone else look even worse, doesn’t it?”
• Pennsylvania State @ Purdue (ESPNU): Speaking of Purdue, they lost by 16 to Minnesota last week. Whoops! They’ll probably lose to Penn State, too.
• Kansas @ Baylor (FSN): Kansas is Baylor’s first, and perhaps best, hope for a Big 12 victory this season.
• Florida Atlantic @ Navy (CBSS): Navy should be able to lock-up a trip to San Francisco with ease.
• Iowa @ Indiana (BTN): Reminder: Iowa has a .500 record in the year so far, including two Big Ten wins, and has the nation’s 107th ranked scoring offense. Big Ten Football! Feel the excitement! They should probably still win, though if their defense has an off day against the Hoosiers there should be no way they can keep up.
• Boston College @ Wake Forest (ACC): I’m going with Wake since they managed to actually beat Army this year.

7:00:

• Oregon @ Southern California (FOX): USC picked the wrong time to fall asleep on defense last week. If they do the same again here, this game will over by halftime. That said, I think USC will be able to keep up, at least for a bit, but Oregon should pull away in the second half.
• Clemson @ Duke (ESPN2): Duke lost 48-7 to FSU last weekend, except similar here.
• Connecticut @ South Florida (ESPNU): This is a matchup of the two worst teams in the Big East. Remember, Temple is in the Big East again. Yeah.
• Southern Methodist @ Central Florida (CBSS): This is probably the second most compelling game on if Oregon gets up on USC by like 4 touchdowns before the next set of games start. Except for a slip-up against Tulane, both of these teams have marched through C-USA without meeting much resistance. Nonetheless, UCF should prevail.

8:00:

• Oklahoma State @ Kansas State (ABC): Kansas State is pretty darn good. Oklahoma State is currently one of the best two-loss teams in the country, but they’re probably about to become the best three loss team.
• Alabama @ Louisiana State (CBS): It’s a night game in Baton Rouge. That is usually enough for the Tigers, but it probably won’t be against this juggernaut of a football team. Alabama is actually competent offensively, and the first team to 14 points could well win this game. With the right combination of luck, we know LSU can prevail (see: last year’s regular season matchup), but I think Alabama will work diligent to make sure that on this night, luck won’t matter.

10:30:

• Arizona State @ Oregon State (ESPN2): I got it in my head last weekend that I actually liked Arizona State to win the Pac-12 South, but I keep forgetting that they actually lost to UCLA. Whoops. Anyway, I actually still like them against the Beavers simply because the Sun Devils will be the best team they’ve played so far this year.
• San Diego State @ Boise State (CBSS): Boise State continues its quest for a darkhorse run at a BCS game, which should make for good enough reason to find the CBS Sports Network in and of itself. If it doesn’t, or you hate the blue turf, then it’s a good enough reason to bring up the GameTracker or some such. I think the Broncos will win, but this is their stiffest test since their opener.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Tennessee @ South Carolina (ESPN): Well, South Carolina basically went 0-2 in the two most important games of their season. Whoops. Either way, Tennessee should be their ticket back to a healthy winning streak.
• Iowa @ Northwestern (ESPN2): Aw what the heck, Northwestern. They actually play offense.
• Kentucky @ Missouri (ESPNU): I think this will be the time Mizzou gets their first SEC win. Maybe. Probably.
• Texas @ Kansas (FSN): This game should be a respite for the Longhorns’ shamble-tastic defense.
• Ball State @ Army (CBSS): Army’s only FBS win so far this year is over Boston College. I foresee it remaining that way.
• Indiana @ Illinois (BTN): Both these teams are 0-3 in the Big Ten and 2-5 on the year. Yet, Indiana seems demonstrably less awful. I’ll take the Hooisers.
• Mississippi @ Arkansas (SEC): I actually like Ole Miss in this one.

12:30: North Carolina State @ North Carolina (ACC): I actually like Carolina in this one. UNC, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the lingo.

3:00:

• California-Los Angeles @ Arizona State (FX): UCLA has only beaten teams that one would think are probably worse than they are. Arizona State does not seem worse than them. I like the Sun Devils.
• Brigham Young @ Georgia Tech (ACC/FSN): Well, it’s week 2 of the new defense, and this time against a much more credible offensive threat than Boston College. Considering how middling the BYU offense is, that’s really saying something about BC, but anyway. Another hot topic for the Jackets has been “intensity” – from that of players on the sidelines to the guys on the field. The second half of the BC game definitely had the hallmarks of a team that had “taken their foot off the pedal”, so to speak. Yes, it’s easy to point to the kicking woes, but frankly if this offense were firing on all cylinders they would only need a guy that kicks extra points. Either way, on paper this one is pretty close, so it may come down to thinks like “focus” and “intensity”.

3:30:

• Texas Tech @ Kansas State (FOX): This is your weekly reminder that Bill Synder is a wizard. K-State could easily lose any of their next five games, but a loss in any one would be a massive upset at this point.
• Florida vs. Georgia (@Jacksonville, FL; CBS): This figures to be a low-scoring defensive battle. Florida’s best offense really is their defense. Last week against South Carolina, all their touchdown drives started deep in South Carolina’s territory off of turnovers. This does not figure to be an every game occurrence for the Gators, but the defense really is that suffocating. If UGA can get to 21 points I actually like their chances of winning, but I don’t really see how that can happen.
• Southern California @ Arizona (ABC/ESPN2): USC-Oregon is next week. Oregon plays Colorado this week, so they can maybe afford to not worry about that too much, but the Wildcats are just competent enough for the Trojans to worry about. Don’t get me wrong, it should still be a walk-over for them, but they will need to at least pay attention.
• Michigan State @ Wisconsin (ABC/ESPN2): I guess Wisconsin is sort-of kind-of good? At least by the standards of this year’s Big Ten?
• Duke @ Florida State (ESPNU): Duke may be able to keep up for a little while due to their passing offense, but as I’ve said elsewhere, their defense is still pretty much made up of the kind of guys that Duke can recruit. FSU should cruise to a win.
• Texas Christian @ Oklahoma State (FSN): OSU has basically no defense (like, you know, almost everyone else in the Big 12) but the usual “hope your opponent can’t keep up” strategy should be sufficient against TCU.
• Boise State @ Wyoming (CBSS): Boise State’s looking a little healthier against the bottom dwellers of the Mountain West. SDSU next week should provide a challenge, but really the biggest game for them will be the game at Nevada the last week of the season. Let’s hope they’re not looking ahead like I am.
• Purdue @ Minnesota (BTN): Purdue and Minnesota are basically fighting to get one last bowl bid for the Big Ten. Of course, there’s still enough games left neither of them could make it. Since the start of Big Ten play, Minnesota has lost three straight, and scored 13 points in all three. Purdue has scored, er, 13, 14, and 22. I have Minnesota winning, but that’s just a wild guess.

5:30: Ohio State @ Pennsylvania State (ESPN): This game is thoroughly irrelevant. Sure, Ohio State can try for the AP poll win, but they won’t get it due to their lackluster results the past couple weeks and because they’re not better than any of the other candidates, and more importantly, won’t get a chance to play them. Penn State just isn’t really very good. At least when they’re playing teams that aren’t each other they affect the bigger picture in some way but other than it’s hard to come up with a reason to care about this contest if you’re not a fan of either team. Also, the Buckeyes should win, and I still think if that Ohio State pulls off the undefeated season Terry Bowden should invent a traveling trophy for “undefeated teams in probation” and send it to Urban Meyer.

7:00:

• Texas Agricultural and Mechicanical @ Auburn (ESPNU): Auburn is just awful. TAMU rolls.
• Baylor @ Iowa State (FSN): Baylor has literally the worse scoring defense in the country. Can Iowa State exploit it? Well, yes, but likely not often enough.
• Massachusetts @ Vanderbilt (SEC/FSN): They gotta have else on TV, I guess. Vandy.

8:00:

• Notre Dame @ Oklahoma (ABC): Well, this is the game of the week. I like Oklahoma here but if Notre Dame wins somehow (defense is good, but who’s the quarterback?) I like their chances for the rest of the season.
• Michigan @ Nebraska (ESPN2): Misdirected passes ahoy! I’ll go with the Huskers.
• Central Florida @ Marshall (CBSS): UCF is pretty much going all-in on this year, so it would behoove them to not suffer a letdown against the Thundering Hood.

8:30: Mississippi State @ Alabama (ESPN): Well, getting to 7-0 was fun I’m sure, but this isn’t exactly an unstoppable force against an immovable object here. The Tide should roll.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Purdue @ Ohio State (ABC/ESPN2): Ohio State is pretty clearly the best team in the Big Ten at this point, giving up 49 to Indiana notwithstanding.
• Virginia Tech @ Clemson (ABC/ESPN2): It’s funny to reflect back on the first game of the season, with all the implications we thought they had. As it turns out, both us and VPI were worse than everyone thought. I guess what I’m trying to say here is  expect Clemson to win.
• Iowa State @ Oklahoma State (FX): Iowa State: not awful, but probably still not going to be Oklahoma State.
• Louisiana State @ Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (ESPN): Boy howdy, this is going to be a fun one I think. I think TAMU will prevail simply by playing offense, though.
• Minnesota @ Wisconsin (ESPNU): It’s the Big Ten, so who knows? But I’m going with Wisky.
• Auburn @ Vanderbilt (SEC): I’ve said for two weeks Auburn is going to lose this game. No going back now, no matter how weird it feels to pick Vandy in anything.

12:30: Wake Forest @ Virginia (ACC): Unless you root for one of these teams, I can’t come with a reason to watch this. Picking UVA though.

3:00:

• Stanford @ California (FOX): It’s The Big Game. This is also your reminder that Jeff Tedford has the best job in America, even if he loses this game by 30. They probably won’t, but I can’t see them winning.
• Boston College @ Georgia Tech (ACC/FSN): When your season includes a loss to Middle Tennessee State, you can’t really take anything for granted. Word on the street is that the athletes were considerably less enthused about Al Groh getting fired than the fanbase or media. Two out of three isn’t bad, though. The way I look at it is this: someone has to get fired after you have three straight games where your opponents (including the aforementioned MTSU) converted two-thirds of their third downs. Watching the Clemson game two weeks ago I almost felt like that the Clemson offense wanted to get to third down, with the Clemson coaches and players saying to themselves “we’ve got you now!” Since this is college, you have limited resources and you can’t really fire the players, so you almost have to start at the top. I get the feeling (well, I doubt this is really at all disputed) that Paul Johnson would prefer that he never even have to think about the defense, and that is what he hired Al Groh to do. This season he has had to think about he defense a lot, which maybe contributed to some of the inconsistent fourth down decisions we’ve seen this year. Even with the bye week to adjust to new realities, I’m not expecting any miracles. We’ll see what happens.

3:30:

• South Carolina @ Florida (CBS): This is the game of the day. I liked Florida’s chances to stop South Carolina in the same, and I like them even more now that Marcus Lattimore may not play, or will be limited if he does. A win here sets up the Gators for a shot at the title game against Alabama in Atlanta, and I think they’ll come through. But make no mistake: this will not be a LSU-style domination, because South Carolina has a pulse on offense. But the result will not be in doubt.
• Brigham Young @ Notre Dame (NBC): Independent teams have to stick together, you know? It’s hard to envision how BYU has a chance against this Irish defense.
• Nebraska @ Northwestern (ABC/ESPN2): I expect lots of running and lots of points, but also probably a Cornhusker victory in the end.
• Texas Tech @ Texas Christian (ABC/ESPN2): I guess the Texas Tech defense is for real? That does not bode well for TCU’s pedestrian (by Big 12 standards anyway) offense.
• South Florida @ Louisville (ABC): One of these teams lost by 9 last week to Temple. Hint: it wasn’t Louisville.
• North Carolina State @ Maryland (ESPNU): Maryland is 4-2, which makes precisely zero sense until you look at their schedule. NCSU isn’t some sort of offensive juggernaut or anything but unless they make a ton of mistakes it’s hard to see how UMD will score enough to win.
• Nevada-Las Vegas @ Boise State (NBCS): These teams almost have opposite records, but alas, Boise will need this game to record their sixth win. They’ll probably get it.
• Rice @ Tulsa (FSN): The country’s 105th ranked scoring defense against the 13th ranked scoring offense. This does not bode well for one of these two teams; which is left as an exercise for the reader.
• Indiana @ Navy (CBSS): I think this edition of Indiana may be unawful enough to beat Navy. Maybe.
• Michigan State @ Michigan (BTN): It feels sort of weird that a game like this isn’t on network television and Nebraska-Northwestern is. I have a hunch that maybe the Big Ten Network gets one of these a year or something. Anyway, both have well-above-average defense, but only one posses any sort of notable offense, so I’ll go with Michigan.

7:00:

• Kansas State @ West Virginia (FOX): You may not realize this, but adjusted for the pace of their offenses, Kansas State and WVU score about the same number of points. Can K-State succeed in Morgantown the same way they did in Norman? Personally, I’m not sure, and leaning toward “no”.
• Alabama @ Tennessee (ESPN): I have no doubts about this game, however. As they say in the other football, it’s a walk-over for Alabama.
• Middle Tennessee State @ Mississippi State (ESPN2): For Georgia Tech fans looking for any solace in the MTSU loss, well, the week after beating us they lost by two touchdowns against UL-Monroe. I can’t say I’m feeling good about their chances in Starkville.
• North Carolina @ Duke (ESPNU): UNC is just too competent offensively and defensively for Duke to overcome, I think.
• Kansas @ Oklahoma (FSN): The problem with scoring 63 against Texas is that everyone is then going to come out and say you’ll be disappointing if you don’t do the same against an awful Kansas team. I’d say that’s a little bit true, but I mean, that’s a lot of points. And besides, I’m sure the Sooners will want to get the starters rested for next week’s Game of the Century of the Week next week against Notre Dame.
• Marshall @ Southern Mississippi (CBSS): All indications, er, indicate that USM’s disaster of a season will continue.
• Georgia @ Kentucky (SEC/FSN): It’s almost, okay, well, not really, a shame that Kentucky and Auburn don’t play each other this year. Georgia rolls.

8:00:

• Baylor @ Texas (ABC): It’ll be another shootout for the Longhorns most likely, but despite everything I actually like them here.
• Florida State @ Miami (ABC): Another team looking to get right after a bad loss is FSU, and they should against one of their biggest rivals.
• Pennsylvania State @ Iowa (BTN): It’d be shocked if either team breaks 21 points in this game. If Iowa finishes the game with a running back, they should win.

10:30:

• Utah @ Oregon State (ESPN2): The Beavers’ surprisingly good season should continue against the Utes, but they can’t get caught thinking about their bigger-name conference foes that await.
• San Diego State @ Nevada (CBSS): Both these late games have a ton of potential to be fun to watch. This game features two teams with great running offenses and subpar defenses. I give a slight edge to Nevada, though.