As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Ohio State @ Maryland (ABC): At least judging from results, both these teams really above even. Which means we have to go deeper, and that’s where it starts to fall apart for the Terps.
• Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Mississippi State (ESPN): While Miss State was able to prevail against LSU last weekend, I thought (and still presently think) TAMU was better anyway, struggles with Arkansas aside. It’s fair to say the Bulldogs haven’t seen anything like what TAMU is going throw at them (in some cases, literally) and I’m not sure they can keep up.
• Purdue @ Illinois (ESPN2): Illinois is… bad but Purdue is just so inept that it’s basically impossible to pick them.
• Iowa State @ Oklahoma State (FS1): Iowa State is still terrible, so at least some things are constant.
• Southern Methodist @ East Carolina (ESPNU): SMU has been one of the worst teams in football so far this year, while ECU has lived up to their darkhorse billing. I don’t think it’s going to end well for the ‘stangs.
• Marshall @ Old Dominion (FSN): I thought ODU was pretty alright, but they lost to MTSU last week, so I’m going to go with Marshall getting to 5-0.
• Ball State @ Army (CBSS): Army, when you lose games to Yale, I’m going to have a hard time picking you even against 1-3 MAC teams. That’s just the way it is. I’m sorry.
• Florida @ Tennessee (SEC): Given all the vitriol, you probably wouldn’t think that Florida is 2-1 with that one loss coming to Alabama, but yeah it’s hard to disagree with the idea that Will Muschamp isn’t going to last the season. Meanwhile, the conventional wisdom is that the Volunteers look leagues better this year, even if it’s not reflected in the results. Well, here’s your chance Vols, now reach out and grab it.

12:30: Virginia Tech @ North Carolina (ACC): When it comes to the ACC Coastal, no one is ever truly out of it, at least not in the first week of October. So both these teams have chances to recover from exceedingly disappointing starts. That said, UNC has looked downright bad so far, while VPI has at least been competitive in their two losses. Going with the Hokies.

2:30: North Texas @ Indiana (BTN): Ah, Indiana. One week you’re beating Missouri, the next you’re losing decisively to Maryland. What do I do with you? I’ll still pick you to beat North Texas, I just wish I could feel better about it.

3:30:

• Stanford @ Notre Dame (NBC): Stanford is awful in the red zone, but the reality of this game is that I don’t think either offense is going to factor much into it. I actually have the Cardinal in this one.
• Alabama @ Mississippi (CBS): This is likely the biggest game in Oxford in… a long time. Nonetheless, it’s hard to see how Ole Miss stacks up against the Alabama machine, especially now that it has a legitimately threatening offense. If Ole Miss is going to prevail, though, it’ll be against the seemingly-suspect Alabama secondary.
• Oklahoma @ Texas Christian (FOX): Boy howdy, lots of undefeated teams playing each other this weekend, but that’s the magic of conference play. Not that either of these teams has a feather in their cap, per se. TCU is only allowing 7 points per game, but they’ve only played three games and one of those was against SMU. The Sooners seem more legit overall, but I guess we’ll find out out for sure.
• Baylor @ Texas (ABC): I wish I could go back in time and tell my younger self that he’d pick Baylor in a game at Texas and not really even think twice about it.
• Wake Forest @ Florida State (ABC): Florida State has found ways to make it interesting against Wake in the past, but as usual no sane person would ever call it.
• Wisconsin @ Northwestern (ESPN2): About the only chance for Northwestern here is to build up a big lead early and try to force Wisconsin out of their ground-and-pound game plan. This seems… unlikely.
• North Carolina State @ Clemson (ESPNU): Both these teams have relatively fresh close losses to Florida State possibly on their minds. NC State and the antics of Jacoby Brissett electrified many last weekend, while Clemson had many opportunities and let them slip away. Overall, I still think Clemson is the better team, and they will need to play like to salvage their season.
• Navy @ Air Force (CBSS): Air Force posted a solid win over Boise State last week, which signaled two things. One, Boise is probably coming back down to Earth. Two, Air Force is pretty good again, while Navy has struggled at times this year, most recently posting a loss to Western Kentucky. Air Force are definitely my favorites right now to win the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy.

4:00:

• Kansas @ West Virginia (FSN): I keep having to remember that Charlie Weis was the head coach at Kansas, and just when I realized that, they fire him! Thanks for nothing, Jayhawks. Also, WVU wins in a walkover.
• Vanderbilt @ Georgia (SEC): Todd Gurley has 610 yards rushing on the season. Vanderbilt has 510. This does not bode well for the Commodores.
• Oregon State @ Colorado (Pac12): There’s nothing that really makes me sure that Oregon State has an edge over the Buffs, but… it’s just that I’m not going to call Colorado to win anything until proven otherwise.

7:00:

• Louisiana State @ Auburn (ESPN): The yearly edition of Tigers vs. Tigers is back. I think the Auburn offense is still just too good for LSU to keep up, especially after the issues they showed against Miss State a couple weekends ago.
• Texas Tech @ Kansas State (ESPNU): K-State’s offense is potent enough to exploit the truly awful Red Raiders defense.
• Memphis @ Cincinnati (CBSS): So Cincy went out for their first real game last week and got shellacked by Ohio State. Meanwhile, Memphis is 2-2, with the expected result against Ole Miss and a surprisingly game loss to UCLA. Nonetheless, still difficult to pick them here, so going with Cincy.
• Michigan @ Rutgers (BTN): I almost have to think the Wolverines are relieved this game isn’t taking place in Ann Arbor. It’s a bit late to weigh in on this now, but the handling of what happened in game last weekend and afterward is nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. On the field, the Michigan offense is as well. Rutgers isn’t good or anything, but they’re certainly going to be more into this game than Michigan probably is.

7:30:

• Arizona State @ Southern California (FOX): That loss to Boston College will probably continue to be a bit of an albatross for USC. Arizona State just got pasted last week by UCLA, but I’m not sure they’re really that bad? Still going to pick USC, but I don’t feel at all good about it.
• Miami @ Georgia Tech (ESPN2): It would be wonderful if we could flash back to 2008 for a second, eh?
  
  I picked that spot because it shows a good job of the kind of holes we had that night. Of course, since then, Tech has dropped every contest to Miami, usually due to just plain superior talent. Can we prevail this year? I honestly have no idea. Miami certainly was able to leverage their talent against Duke, and Duke Johnson is as advertised. Meanwhile, Tech finally had a decent game against VPI, but I wouldn’t exactly want to play against FSU or Alabama or someone right now, either.
• South Carolina @ Kentucky (SEC): Kentucky may be just what South Carolina needs right now.
• Pittsburgh @ Virginia (ACC/RSN): Going into the year, I thought for sure I wouldn’t pick UVA in any game. Yet it’s Pitt with the inexplicable loss to Akron, so here we are.

8:00:

• Nebraska @ Michigan State (ABC): The best two teams in the Big Ten face off, and it’s not really even close. Against their schedules so far, both these teams have dominated on both sides of the ball (with the exception of Sparty’s loss to Oregon), so this is will be a real test for both. I’m going with Sparty, but that’s mostly just a guess.
• Nevada-Las Vegas @ San Jose State (ESPNEWS): Both these teams are bad, but SJSU has been slightly less bad.

10:30:

• Utah @ California-Los Angeles (ESPN): So the Utes followed up their triumph against Michigan with… a loss to Washington State. Whoops. At any rate, this game could be close, but I expect UCLA to pull it out.
• Boise State @ Nevada (CBSS): I think I actually like Nevada here? Maybe?
• California @ Washington State (Pac12): I HOPE YOU LIKE POINTS. Saturday night, Pullman, anything could happen. Well, anything involving offense, anyway. A perfect nightcap, if you ask me. Going with Wazzou here.

Once again, this is going to be the express edition because a) I am tired and b) I haven’t actually watched like any games in the first three weeks. Expect a proper writeup next week.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Georgia Tech @ Virginia Tech (ESPN): Both these teams have had what one might generously call “up-and-down” seasons so far. After beating Ohio State by two touchdowns, VPI lost to East Carolina. But wait, haven’t I in this column been saying like all summer that ECU is a very common darkhourse? So it’s not like they should’ve been surprised.
  Meanwhile, Georgia Tech has yet to play a coherent game of football. They’ve had excellent halves, sure. But the second half against Georgia Southern was basically a disaster. The first half against Tulane was similarly puzzling. There’s maybe a good team somewhere in that jumble, but with the ACC slate now completely in front of us we really need to figure out it out starting immediately.
• Bowling Green @ Wisconsin (ESPN2): Wisconsin.
• Iowa @ Pittsburgh (ESPNU): Pitt.
• Western Illinois @ Northwestern (ESPNEWS): Northwestern.
• Old Dominion @ Rice (FSN): Rice.
• Troy @ Georgia (SEC): Georgia. (Seriously. Troy is super bad this year. They lost to Abilene Christian last week. Abilene Christian is a transitional FCS team. As in, they just moved up. To FCS.)
• Eastern Michigan @ Michigan State (BTN): Sparty.

12:30:

• Maryland @ Syracuse (ACC): Not a conference game! Also this one is hard to call. Maryland?
• Tulane @ Duke (ACC/RSN): Duke.

2:00: Hawaii @ Colorado (Pac12): Colorado.

3:30:

• Florida @ Alabama (CBS): Alabama.
• Utah @ Michigan (ABC/ESPN2): Michigan.
• Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Southern Methodist (ABC/ESPN2): TAMU.
• Virginia @ Brigham Young (ESPN): BYU, though I’m having a hard time dealing with the reality that UVA might not be awful this year.
• North Carolina @ East Carolina (ESPNU): ECU.
• Louisville @ Florida International (FS1): Louisville.
• Central Michigan @ Kansas (FSN): Central Michigan.
• Rutgers @ Navy (CBSS): Navy?

4:00:

• Texas State @ Illinois (ESPNEWS): Illinois.
• Massachusetts @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): Penn State.
• San Jose State @ Minnesota (BTN): Minnesota.
• Indiana @ Missouri (SEC): Mizzou.

6:00: Georgia State @ Washington (Pac12): UDub.

7:00:

• Mississippi State @ Louisiana State (ESPN): LSU.
• Northern Illinois @ Arkansas (ESPNU): Arkansas.
• Miami @ Cincinnati (CBSS): Ciny.

7:30

• Oklahoma @ West Virginia (FOX): Oklahoma.
• South Carolina @ Vanderbilt (SEC): South Carolina. (Seriously, what the hell happened to Vandy?)

8:00

• Clemson @ Florida State (ABC): FSU? (Downgraded from a ‘.’ with Winston being suspended for the whole game.)
• Miami @ Nebraska (ESPN2): Nebraska.

10:00: California @ Arizona (Pac12): Cal? (This would be their first conference win since… October 2012. Hard to tell at this point, though. This is the first week of conference play in most leagues, which is at least nice because in a couple weeks we’ll start to have a much more coherent picture of the landscape.)

10:30:

• Oregon @ Washington State (ESPN): Oregon.
• San Diego State @ Oregon State (FS1): Oregon State?
• Louisiana-Lafayette @ Boise State (CBSS): Boise.

Again quick due to lack of time.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Kent State @ Ohio State (ABC/ESPN2): Ohio State.
• Boise State @ Connecticut (ABC/ESPN2): Boise.
• East Carolina @ Virginia Tech (ESPN): VPI.
• Pittsburgh @ Florida International (FS1): Pitt.
• Indiana @ Bowling Green (ESPNU): Indiana?
• Syracuse @ Central Michigan (ESPNEWS): Syracuse?
• Ohio @ Marshall (CBSS): Marshall.
• West Virginia @ Maryland (BTN): West Virginia?
• Central Florida @ Missouri (SEC): Mizzou?
• Massachusetts @ Vanderbilt (FSN): Vandy?
• Georgia Southern @ Georgia Tech (ACCR): This is a tough one to call. The main fear is that Georgia Southern beat Florida last year (of course, they then lost to NC State the next week). If GT comes out as flat as they have in their first two games, though, then we might be in real trouble.

12:30: Louisville @ Virginia (ACC): Louisville.

2:00: Wyoming @ Oregon (Pac12): Oregon.

3:30:

• Georgia @ South Carolina (CBS): Georgia.
• Arkansas @ Texas Tech (ABC): Arkansas?
• Iowa State @ Iowa (ESPN): Iowa.
• Arkansas State @ Miami (ESPNU): Miami.
• Miami @ Michigan (BTN): Michigan.
• North Carolina State @ South Florida (CBSS): NC State?
• Kansas @ Duke (ACCR): Duke?

4:00:

• Illinois @ Washington (FOX): Washington.
• Minnesota @ Texas Christian (FS1): Minnesota?
• Mississippi State @ South Alabama (ESPNEWS): Miss State.
• Louisiana-Lafayette @ Mississippi (SEC): Ole Miss.

5:00: Army @ Stanford (Pac12): Stanford.

6:00: Southern Mississippi @ Alabama (ESPN2): Alabama.

7:00:

• Louisiana-Monroe @ Louisiana State (ESPNU): LSU.
• Texas-San Antonio @ Oklahoma State (FSN): Oklahoma State.
• Wake Forest @ Utah State (CBSS): Utah State?

7:30:

• Purdue vs. Notre Dame (@Indianapolis, IN; NBC): Notre Dame.
• Kentucky @ Florida (SEC): Florida.

8:00:

• Tennessee @ Oklahoma (ABC): Oklahoma.
• California-Los Angeles vs. Texas (@Arlington, TX; FOX): UCLA?
• Southern California @ Boston College (ESPN): Southern Cal.
• Navy @ Texas State (ESPNEWS): Navy.
• Pennsylvania State @ Rutgers (BTN): Penn State.

9:00: Rice @ Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (ESPN2): TAMU.

10:00: Arizona State @ Colorado (ESPNU): Arizona State.

10:30: Nebraska @ Fresno State (CBSS): Nebraska.

11:00: Nevada @ Arizona (Pac12): Arizona.

This is going to be quick, as I’ve spent most the past eighteen hours traveling.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Oklahoma @ Tulsa (ABC/ESPN2): Oklahoma.
• Akron @ Pennsylvania State (ABC/ESPN2): Penn State.
• Missouri @ Toledo (ESPN): Mizzou.
• Kansas State @ Iowa State (FS1): Kansas State.
• Central Michigan @ Purdue (ESPNEWS): Central Michigan?
• Southern Methodist @ North Texas (FSN): SMU.
• Buffalo @ Army (CBSS): Buffalo.
• Western Kentucky @ Illinois (BTN): Illinois?
• Florida Atlantic @ Alabama (SEC): Alabama.
• Arkansas State @ Tennessee (SEC): Tennessee.

2:00: Alabama-Birmingham @ Mississippi State (SEC/FSN): Miss State.

3:00: Fresno State @ Utah (Pac12): Utah?

3:30:

• Southern California @ Stanford (ABC): Stanford?
• Ball State @ Iowa (ESPN2): Iowa.
• Ohio @ Kentucky (ESPNU): Kentucky.
• Maryland @ South Florida (CBSS): Maryland?

4:00:

• Georgia Tech @ Tulane (ESPNEWS): This is a bit of a tough call. It’s the first home game in over three decades for the Green Wave, who are moving out of the cavernous Superdome and back into a proper stadium. It’s also tough because we didn’t exactly cover ourselves in glory last week against Wofford, with a sluggish start that lasted for the entire first half. There’s some questions for this team, and I suspect there will be some answers from this game.
• Eastern Michigan @ Florida (SEC): Florida.

4:30: Mississippi @ Vanderbilt (@Nashville, TN; ESPN): I figured all week there was some Cinderella metaphor where, with James Franklin leaving representing the clock hitting midnight and turning back into a pumpkin and stuff, but I’m super exhausted so I’m not sure how I was going to really tie it together. Either way, Ole Miss.

6:30: Michigan State @ Oregon (FOX): Oregon?

7:00:

• San Jose State @ Auburn (ESPN2): Auburn.
• East Carolina @ South Carolina (ESPNU): South Carolina?
• Arizona State @ New Mexico (CBSS): Arizona State.

7:30:

• Michigan @ Notre Dame (NBC): Notre Dame?
• Brigham Young @ Texas (FS1): Texas.

8:00:

• Virginia Tech @ Ohio State (ESPN): Ohio State?
• San Diego State @ North Carolina (ESPNEWS): North Carolina.

10:00: Memphis @ California-Los Angeles (Pac12): UCLA.

10:15:

• Colorado State @ Boise State (ESPN2): Boise State.
• Air Force @ Wyoming (ESPNU): Air Force?

10:30: Oregon State @ Hawaii (CBSS): Oregon State.

11:00: Texas Tech @ Texas-El Paso (FS1): Texas Tech?

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.