As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Ohio State @ Michigan (“The Game”; FOX): And once again, we start the last full day of college football with The Game, which is every bit as consequential as it has been the past two seasons. In Ohio State’s favor is human cheat code Marvin Harrison, Jr. In Michigan’s favor is a two game winning streak where they have more-or-less out-toughed the Buckeyes. It’s sort of crazy to think about, but I think the Wolverines will make it three in a row.
• Kentucky @ Louisville (ABC): I still don’t really believe in Louisville and they could definitely lose this, but I can’t really put my fingers to the keyboard and type that.
• Texas A&M @ Louisiana State (ESPN): A&M is probably slightly less dysfunctional on offense without Jimbo. LSU though just has a score-at-will type ability through Jayden Daniels that a lot of other teams, even top ten teams, lack.
• Navy @ Southern Methodist (ESPN2): Ponies figure to keep the pedal down all the way through the end of the season here, with a date with Tulane next weekend looming.
• Houston @ Central Florida (FS1): Both of these teams have been varying degrees of bad this year, especially Houston. It was a rough go for both in their first year of Big 12 play. That said, I have no idea what to expect here and I’m kind of tempted to pick Houston.
• Indiana @ Purdue (BTN): The Old Oaken Bucket is on the line, and, well, it’s a battle of 3-8 teams. State of Indiana pride is on the line, and that’s about it. One of the things about being 3-8 is that it’s hard to say if a win over Minnesota or Wisconsin means anything when the context is that you only won two other games. I’ll take the Boilermakers because they’re at home.
• Troy @ Southern Mississippi (ESPNU): Southern Miss did reel off two straight wins before losing to Miss State last week, but regardless Troy isn’t as good as they were, but they’re still in the upper crust of the Sun Belt. They should be fine here.
• Pittsburgh @ Duke (ACCN): Duke has QB injury issues, but Pitt just has offense issues in general. The Blue Devils should romp.
• Miami @ Ball State (CBSS): We’ll have some Saturday MACtion back, though this one should be straightforward for Miami.
• Northern Illinois @ Kent State (ESPN+)
• Middle Tennessee State @ Sam Houston State (ESPN+)
• Connecticut @ Massachusetts (ESPN+)

1:00:

• Florida Atlantic @ Rice (ESPN+)
• Sacramento State @ North Dakota (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)

2:00:

• Wake Forest @ Syracuse (The CW): We’ll close out the first (only? I need to check) year of ACC football on the CW. Wake Forest has lost four straight. Yes, Syracuse just fired their coach (the second time my team has gotten a Syracuse coach fired since I matriculated) and the offense is… limited, to say the least, but they still seem like a more coherent team than Wake at this point.
• Tulsa @ East Carolina (ESPN+)
• Alabama-Birmingham @ North Texas (ESPN+)
• Georgia State @ Old Dominion (ESPN+)
• Southern vs. Grambling State (Bayou Classic @ New Orleans, LA; NBC)
• North Carolina Central @ Richmond (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)
• Lafayette @ Delaware (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)

3:00:

• Colorado @ Utah (“Rumble in the Rockies”; Pac12): Remember what Oregon did to Colorado a couple of months back? Well, Utah doesn’t have Bo Nix (or anyone else that’s a real quarterback, for that matter), but I expect this to look pretty similar.
• San Jose State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (MWN)
• Louisiana-Monroe @ Louisiana (“Battle on the Bayou”; ESPN+)
• Western Kentucky @ Florida International (ESPN+)
• Tennessee-Chattanooga @ Austin Peay (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)
• Nicholls State @ Southern Illinois (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)
• Gardner-Webb @ Mercer (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)

3:30:

• Alabama @ Auburn (“Iron Bowl”; CBS): Okay, it’s the Iron Bowl, and it’s on the Plains, and sometimes stuff can… look, just no. The Tigers just got manhandled by New Mexico State last week. [Editor’s note: italics here for emphasis, NMSU is a FBS school.] I’m pretty sure Alabama can scheme some stuff up to do something similar. This might be a good point in the afternoon to go to the store.
• Brigham Young @ Oklahoma State (ABC): On the one hand, Oklahoma State seems determined to show that they won their one-game season by winning Bedlam, even if they did rally and beat Houston last week. On the other, BYU is super beat up and has lost four straight. Oklahoma State may well try to throw this but just back their way into getting blasted by Texas next week. This could wind up being interesting in a certain sort of way.
• Arizona @ Arizona State (“Territorial Cup”; ESPN): It’s generally a bad sign for your roster depth when you starting a true freshman at QB, who then got hurt, and is now starting again for the first time since September. That’s what Arizona State is doing, and I suspect that this one might be over early.
• James Madison @ Coastal Carolina (ESPN2): It’s neat Grayson McCall came back for Coastal this season, but they just don’t have the juice this season. I like JMU here.
• Wisconsin @ Minnesota (FS1): This is the most ambiguous Axe game in a while. Neither of these teams is especially good, with Minnesota stalling out a bit and Wisconsin going through a philosophy change on offense under a new coach. With the game effectively being a coin toss, I’ll take the home team.
• Maryland @ Rutgers (BTN): Maryland scared the heck out of Michigan last week, even if it was never really really in doubt. I suspect that means Rutgers is going to win easily this week.
• Northwestern @ Illinois (BTN): Northwestern’s coach should win at least one of the various coach of the year awards. Seriously. I think they win this one easily.
• Georgia Southern @ Appalachian State (“Modern Day Hate”; ESPNU): App is still somewhat maddening, as I’d definitely written them off going into JMU last week. Naturally, they left with the upset. This is a real G5 rivalry that goes back to their FCS days and there should be a good crowd in Boone. This could be a sneaky good game, or… an App rout. We’ll see.
• Vanderbilt @ Tennessee (SEC): Vols by a lot.
• Virginia Tech @ Virginia (“Commonwealth Cup”; ACCN): Virginia’s upset of Duke last week aside, there’s been a lot more to be optimistic about over on Blacksburg. That said, the talent level of these two teams is similar so we could wind up with a close game, though I’m expecting a VPI win.
• Liberty @ Texas-El Paso (CBSS): It brings me no pleasure to report that Liberty will be 12-0 after this. Tulane, we need you to win out.
• Arkansas State @ Marshall (ESPN+)
• Drake @ North Dakota State (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)

4:00:

• Washington State @ Washington (“Apple Cup”; FOX): Wazzu worked out some frustration last week on Colorado, subjecting the Buffs to a 56-14 game that wasn’t that close. Before that, however, the Cougs lost 6 straight after beating Oregon State, which made one feel like they’d lost the plot a bit. UDub is 11-0 and definitely more talented. I’m a bit skittish after what happened in Eugene earlier tonight, but I think this game is going to be closer than one might think.
• Jacksonville State @ New Mexico State (ESPN+)

5:00: Duquense @ Youngstown State (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)

7:00:

• Florida State @ Florida (“Sunshine Showdown” ; ESPN): Even with their backup QB, I still expect FSU to win here. The talent level on both sides of the ball is still good and the Gators are just not good enough right now to overcome it.
• West Virginia @ Baylor (FS1): I’m still trying to figure out what happened at Baylor after last year. ‘Neers get to one of the most unexpected 8 win seasons in the country after this one.
• South Alabama @ Texas State (NFLN): Texas State probably won’t give up 77 again, but I don’t really trust them at this point.
• Notre Dame @ Stanford (Pac12): It’s not a coincidence that this is one of the largest point spreads of the weekend (at Notre Dame favored by 25). Maybe it’s for the best this will probably be the last ever football game shown on the Pac-12 Network.

7:30:

• Georgia @ Georgia Tech (“Clean, Old Fashioned Hate”; ABC): TO HELL WITH GEORGIA
• Kansas @ Cincinnati (ESPN2): I know the QB at situation means this line is close, but KU shouldn’t have any trouble here.
• Charlotte @ South Florida (ESPNU): USF figures to get bowl eligible against one of the worst teams in the country.
• Clemson @ South Carolina (“Palmetto Bowl”; SEC): The Gamecocks have won three in a row and salvaged the season a little, but that figures to come to a screeching halt at the hands of a seemingly rejuvenated Clemson squad.

8:00:

• Iowa State @ Kansas State (“Farmageddon”; FOX): This is the longest continuously played rivalry in FBS, but regardless it’s due to rotate off the Big 12 schedule in 2028. This error should be fixed. Outside of that, we’ve already remarked a couple of times that Iowa State is playing well as of late after being dead in the water earlier in the season. I hope it’s been fun, because this trip to the Little Apple isn’t likely to be.
• North Carolina @ North Carolina State (ACCN): NC State has reached 8 wins, which isn’t exactly news, because they do that almost every year. What this does imply is that UNC will probably win. Look, I don’t make the rules, okay.

9:00: Wyoming @ Nevada (CBSS): Wyoming isn’t as good as their record (7-4), but they good enough to take care of business in Reno.

10:30:

• California @ California-Los Angeles (ESPN): It’s a shame this game never really got a name, considering the shared history and governance of these schools. Plus that it’s probably on hold for the foreseeable future. But yeah, the main motivation in this one is that we’re going to be winding down the season with these games, and this does figure to be more watchable than the next game. That said, UCLA should handle business here.
• Fresno State @ San Diego State (FS1): And finally, we’ve got the battle for the Oil Can. I still have no idea what is going on with Fresno after they lost to New Mexico last week, but I will still say they’re going to be able to take care of this SDSU team. Well, unless the Aztecs decide to send Brady Hoke off with a sudden burst of competence on the offensive side of the ball, which feels unlikely.

11:00: Colorado State @ Hawaii (Team1Sports): Mahalo, the 2023 college football regular season. There’s a lot of change coming in 2024, and it’s been a fun send-off to what will possibly be a very significant point in the history of the sport.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Louisville @ Miami (ABC): As multiple outlets have noted, this week is not exactly the best. Let’s consider this game, which is relatively close to a marquee matchup compared to everything else. As such, I’ve also thrown in some FCS rivalries, including at least one that will probably be worth figuring out ESPN+ for. As for this one? Well, I don’t think the Cardinals are that good, but I don’t trust the canes.
• Michigan @ Maryland (FOX): By far one of the most amusing things to come out of the Harbaugh in-game-only suspension is the fans of multiple other fanbases that wish their head coach could be banned from the sideline on gameday. Oh and the Wolverines will roll. Whether or not we’ll do another week of acting like Jim Harbaugh is dead is TBD.
• Oklahoma @ Brigham Young (ESPN): Ordinarily, this is where I would say traveling to Provo is a good way to get knocked around but… yeah the Sooners are going to be okay.
• Southern Methodist @ Memphis (ESPN2): Okay this one could well actually be a banger. Sure, Memphis isn’t actually good, but they can score some points when they want to, and are more than capable of getting the Mustangs a game. I don’t think it’ll be enough to win, but there it is.
• Rutgers @ Pennsylvania State (FS1): Penn State will presumably be saddled with James Franklin for the foreseeable future, in which case they are probably elated that they will no longer have to play both Michigan and Ohio State every year. After all, if you’re always going to go to 10-2, why not spice it up with some USC or Oregon?
• Purdue @ Northwestern (BTN): Northwestern just elevated their interim to the head coaching job, as since they’re sitting on 5 wins it’s reasonable to say that maybe this job isn’t as hard as the previous coach was making it look? (It totally is, though.) Also they’ll probably get to a bowl!
• Michigan State @ Indiana (BTN): I don’t have to watch this game and you can’t make me. Also, uh, Hoosiers?
• East Carolina @ Navy (ESPNEWS): Navy?
• Louisiana-Monroe @ Mississippi (SEC): Lane Kiffin teams failing to climb the mountain and beat the SEC teams that are obviously better than them (like Bama and Georgia) is almost Franklin-esque at this point. Suffice it to say they’ll be fine here.
• Coastal Carolina @ Army (CBSS): Army is completely baffling to me, so I guess they could win this, but I don’t think they will.
• Harvard @ Yale (“The Game”; ESPNU)
• Tulane @ Florida Atlantic (ESPN+)
• Abiliene Christian @ Texas A&M (ESPN+)
• Southern Mississippi @ Mississippi State (ESPN+)
• Tennessee-Chattanooga @ Alabama (ESPN+)
• Lafayette @ Lehigh (“The Rivalry”; ESPN+)

1:00: Massachusetts @ Liberty (ESPN+)

2:00:

• Hawaii @ Wyoming (Team1Sports)
• Appalachian State @ James Madison (ESPN+)
• Louisiana Tech @ Jacksonville State (ESPN+)
• Texas-El Paso @ Middle Tennessee State (ESPN+)
• Kent State @ Ball State (ESPN+)
• Rice @ Charlotte (ESPN+)
• Montana State @ Montana (“Brawl of the Wild”; ESPN+): Watch this. Seriously.

2:30:

• Arizona @ Utah (Pac12): Zona is better than anyone expected, yes, but after a brief 1-week swoon against the Ducks Utah is apparently rejuvenated. I mean, they’re still super hurt, but they’re back to their normal “making you feel like you got hit by a ton of bricks” selves.
• Cincinnati @ West Virginia (ESPN+)

3:00:

• Duke @ Virginia (The CW): Duke’s quarterback situation still makes me hesitant to pick them, but yeah they should totally beat UVA here.
• Nevada @ Colorado State (MWN)
• Texas State @ Arkansas State (ESPN+)
• North Texas @ Tulsa (ESPN+)
• Temple @ Alabama-Birmingham (ESPN+)

3:30:

• Wake Forest @ Notre Dame (NBC): Sam Hartman will play against his old team, and presumably also completely rip them to shreds.
• Georgia @ Tennessee (CBS): As said elsewhere, if this is the week where the Joe Milton deep ball finally pays off for the Vols this could be interesting. Alas, it probably won’t be.
• California-Los Angeles @ Southern California (ABC): Everyone’s favorite color-on-color game will be a fantastic demonstration of both “unstoppable force meets immovable object” and “very stoppable force meets extremely movable object”. UCLA plays pretty good defense and is a non-entity on offense, whereas USC is absolutely all gas and no brakes. I know USC lost last week to Utah, but even on their 3rd-string QB Utah is still, like, capable on offense. I don’t think UCLA will be able to keep up with USC, even with plenty of help from USC’s “defense”.
• North Carolina @ Clemson (ESPN): By using advanced statistical and analytic methods (read: how my team fared against these teams), I’ve determined Clemson will by approximately one million points.
• Illinois @ Iowa (FS1): Nah.
• Louisiana @ Troy (NFLN): This is normally a marquee matchup on the west side of the Sun Belt, but, well, the Cajuns aren’t especially Ragin’ this year.
• North Carolina State @ Virginia Tech (ACCN): Virginia Tech has been playing better, and I think they’ll get to a bowl, but it won’t be this week, as the Wolfpack need to fulfill their 8-4 destiny.
• Nevada-Las Vegas @ Air Force (CBSS): We’ve gotten reports that the issue with Air Force is that they “really like giving the other team the ball” to explain their bizarre losses the past couple of weeks. Suffice it to say, the team that would winthe  “comeback team of the year” award, if such thing existed, will likely be more than happy to continue to assist.
• Baylor @ Texas Christian (“The Revivalry”; ESPN+)
• Sam Houston State @ Western Kentucky (ESPN+)
• Bethun-Cookman @ Florida A&M (“Florida Classic” @ Orlando, FL; ESPNU)

4:00:

• Oregon @ Arizona State (FOX): Ducks.
• Oklahoma State @ Houston (ESPN2): Houston is… not good, but by all indications Oklahoma State just decided they won the season by beating Oklahoma. I’m still going to pick them, but the fact I have to question this at all is an indictment.
• Minnesota @ Ohio State (BTN): Buckeyes.
• New Mexico State @ Auburn (SEC): Quick shout out to the Aggies here, who are also having a season no one saw coming. Even if (when) they get pulverized by Auburn, they still have plenty to feel good about.

5:00:

• Central Florida @ Texas Tech (FS2): Texas Tech is sneakily very okay, and I think they’ll give UCF plenty of trouble.
• Marshall @ South Alabama (ESPN+)

6:00: Old Dominion @ Georgia Southern (ESPN+)

6:30:

• North Alabama @ Florida State (The CW)
• California @ Stanford (“The Big Game”; Pac12): Stanford is bad bad, but I just have no read on this Cal team. Cal should win, to be clear, but this is very much the kind of game where everything weird that can happen happens.

7:00:

• Kansas State @ Kansas (“The Sunflower Showdown”; FS1): With KU on their third quarterback, the intrigue level of this game has dropped somewhat, but anytime this game is actually good it’s fun. And it should be fun.
• Boise State @ Utah State (CBSS): Boise isn’t Boise this year, but Utah State is also very much in the “bad bad” zone.

7:30:

• Washington @ Oregon State (ABC): And finally, the game of the day. And what a game it should be. UDub hasn’t looked quite right since they beat Oregon, but they’re still undefeated. Oregon State as just been quietly knocking the heads off the bottom half of the Pac-12 all season long. Oregon Sate is actually favored here by “our friends in the desert”, and the home environment in Corvallis for a night game is one of the best, and that’s before you start to consider things like “Washington killed the Pac-12 and left us to rot”. I’m still picking Washington here. But they can get got here, for sure.
• Nebraska @ Wisconsin (NBC): Nebraska’s quarterback situation is more-or-less a disaster, and it’s not really because of injuries, they’re just… not good. Wisconsin meanwhile has been suffering their own growing pains under a first-year head coach. I still like the Badgers at home, but, well, this won’t be the same kind of game the one in Corvallis will be, that’s for sure.
• Florida @ Missouri (ESPN): I don’t know what’s wrong with Florida, other than they’re going to lose by 20 to Mizzou here.
• Florida International @ Arkansas (ESPNU): Hogs should have this one.
• Kentucky @ South Carolina (SEC): This could be the one game this season where Spencer Rattler Figures It Out, but it seems more likely Kentucky is just going to run over and around South Carolina all night long.

8:00:

• Texas @ Iowa State (FOX): Here’s a sneaky co-headliner for you. Texas is, of course, is sitting on one-loss and very much fancies themselves a playoff contender. Iowa State, of course, has shaken off some very dire play back in September to reel off some wins against the bottom of the Big 12. They’re playing better, but better enough to beat a Texas team with a hurt starting QB? I don’t think so, but it may be worth keeping an eye on.
• Georgia State @ Louisiana State (ESPN2): LSU’s defense is still the greatest instance of defensive malpractice this side of USC, but they’ll be fine here.
• Syracuse @ Georgia Tech (ACCN): Okay, so we all know the deal here. Everything that went well against Virginia more or less went exactly the opposite against Clemson, both disrupting the odd week think and the “playing to the level of our opponents” thing. The main theme of the season has been inconsistency. While the play has been better at times, there’s still a lot of little mistakes that can add up in a hurry when you play teams that have more talent than you (or, in the Bowling Green case, less talent). This has still been a much more fun football product than the last four seasons combined, and I’m just hoping we can see it out these last two weeks.

10:30:

• New Mexico @ Fresno State (FS1): I still haven’t gotten a good explanation for how Fresno got absolutely walloped by San Jose State last week. That said, no worries here for the Bulldogs.
• San Diego State @ San Jose State (CBSS): So apparently SJSU is awesome this year, they just hadn’t shown it until last week against Fresno. I expect them to follow that up in similar fashion against a bad SDSU team with a now lame-duck head coach.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Georgia Tech @ Clemson (ABC): Wait, hold on, we played a team last week that we should’ve beat and handled them easily? What team is this? Is this the same team that lost to Bowling Green? The same team that hasn’t had a winning record since Week 1 of 2020? That hasn’t even been close to bowling since 2018? I have no idea what to expect anymore.
• Michigan @ Pennsylvania State (FOX): So we’re all familiar with how this is going to go now, right? Penn State will stick around and occasionally threaten, but at the end of the day the Big Win™ still eludes James Franklin and company. I still have no reason to believe otherwise.
• Alabama @ Kentucky (ESPN): I want to believe, but yeah, now that Bama has figured out a QB rushing attack, it’s over. Over, I tell you.
• Tulsa @ Tulane (ESPN2): Tulane by a lot.
• Texas Tech @ Kansas (FS1): While Kansas doesn’t really have any sort of inside track to the Big 12 title game (that’s Oklahoma State now) they’re definitely favored to take care of business here.
• Indiana @ Illinois (BTN): I still get BTN only in standard definition, so any reason to behold this game is further diminished. Uh, Illini I guess?
• Vanderbilt @ South Carolina (SEC): South Carolina is bad this year, but Vandy remains even worse.
• Virginia Tech @ Boston College (ACCN): This is definitely an ACC game that’s happening. BC.
• Maryland @ Nebraska (Peacock)
• Temple @ South Florida (ESPN+)

1:00 Old Dominion @ Liberty (ESPN+)

2:00:

• North Carolina State @ Wake Forest (The CW): I don’t really want to look this up, but it certainly feels like NC State leads the league in appearances on the CW. Which, I say, more power to you! That’s nationally broadcast television! (Mostly.) Either way, I don’t think I’ve watched the Wolfpack at all this year, but I have seen Wake Forest, and they should be fine.
• Arizona @ Colorado (Pac12): I keep having a tough time remembering Arizona is the Arizona school that’s good this season against all expectations and not Arizona State. Once again, Colorado’s Pac 12 difficulties figure to continue.
• Connecticut @ James Madison (ESPN+)
• Appalachian State @ Georgia State (ESPN+)
• Troy @ Louisiana-Monroe (ESPN+)
• Memphis @ Charlotte (ESPN+)

3:00:

• Baylor @ Kansas State (ESPN+)
• Sam Houston State @ Louisiana Tech (ESPN+)

3:30:

• Tennessee @ Missouri (CBS): This might be one of the better games of the day, in all honestly. While Tennessee’s offense has been slightly off all season, they’re still pretty good. Mizzou, of course, has defied all expectations in becoming pretty solidly the 2nd best team in the SEC East this season. Add in what figures to be a crowd that has been oft-disappointed in Columbia, and I think there’s a good recipe for something interesting here.
• Utah @ Washington (FOX): I feel a bit for the Utes. The defense is still good-to-great, but they’re just running out of bodies. Penix and company have looked more mortal in recent weeks, but the Huskies just figure to have too much firepower.
• Minnesota @ Purdue (NBC): I won’t watch this game and you can’t make me. Gophers?
• Miami @ Florida State (ABC): I know this is a rivalry and all, but I just see no way the Canes win this one.
• Oklahoma State @ Central Florida (ESPN): The Pokes won Bedlam, and all they have to do to win out is beat UCF, BYU, and Cincinnati. You know, the three teams that have yet to beat any pre-existing Big 12 team. All you gotta do is not blow it Pokes, and you’ll get a shot at Texas in December. That’s all you gotta do.
• Northwestern @ Wisconsin (BTN): Wisconsin is still figuring somethings out, but probably not “lose to Northwestern” levels of figuring things out.
• Pittsburgh vs. Syracuse (@New York, NY; ACCN): This is being played in Yankee Stadium for some reason? Sure. Either way, this figures to be an Iowa-esque low-scoring defensive slapfest, and the experts in that arena are definitely on the Pittsburgh sidelines.
• Alabama-Birmingham @ Navy (CBSS): Blazers, I guess?
• Florida International @ Middle Tennessee State (ESPN+)
• New Mexico State @ Western Kentucky (ESPN+)
• Texas State @ Coastal Carolina (ESPN+)

4:00:

• Washington State @ California (ESPN2): It’s not going the way Wazzu might’ve liked for their last year in the Pac-12 as we know it. They’ve now lost 5 straight, some of them understandable, but the most recent one suggests they’re just a bit snakebit: a 10-7 loss to a bad Stanford team. I’m not sure a trip to Berkeley is what they need to fix things, but just about anything can happen at Cal, and I think they might be able to get back up.
• Auburn @ Arkansas (SEC): Yes, Arkansas definitely looked more like themselves after making a change at coordinator and upsetting Florida last weekend, but Auburn seems to be trending upward at the right time.
• East Carolina @ Florida Atlantic (ESPN+)

5:00: Arkansas State @ South Alabama (ESPN+)

5:30: Stanford @ Oregon State (Pac12): Beavers all the way here.

7:00:

• West Virginia @ Oklahoma (FOX): With their loss to Oklahoma State, the Sooners no longer control their Pac-12 destiny. That said, nothing remaining on their schedule suggests that they at least will be able to control what they can control: winning out.
• Mississippi @ Georgia (ESPN): I want to believe… that Lane’s offense can show up for a big game for the first time in a while. I want to believe.
• Cincinnati @ Houston (FS1): Houston beating Baylor says a lot about how bad Baylor’s been this year. Cincy’s been worse.
• Georgia Southern @ Marshall (NFLN): Southern is coming up a baffling blowout loss to Texas State last week, but I think they’re still in the driver’s seat against most Sun Belt competition.
• San Diego State @ Colorado State (CBSS): In perhaps the “well, somebody has to win” game of the year, I guess I’m going with the Rams? Sure, let’s put that down.

7:30:

• Texas @ Texas Christian (ABC): While the loss to Colorado to start the year is still baffling, it hasn’t really gotten that much better for the Frogs. And it doesn’t figure to get better here. I suspect they might be looking forward to the Revivalry next week.
• Michigan State @ Ohio State (NBC): This is a rough week, eh? Ohio State occasionally messes around for a bit and turns on the jets (read: remembers that they have a human cheat code lining up at WR named “Marvin Harrison, Jr”) but I suspect this one will be over by the end of the first quarter.
• Mississippi State @ Texas A&M (ESPN2): Both of these teams have a lot of problems, but “not being able to score” is only a problem for one of them. Aggies figure to be able to relax just a tad this week.
• Rice @ Texas-San Antonio (ESPNU): Meep meep.
• Florida @ Louisiana State (SEC): Rarely the best SEC non-rivalry rivalry game, but often the strangest. I think Florida’s loss last week to Arkansas sets them perfectly to win this one. Yes, I know it’s LSU at home at night.

8:00: Duke @ North Carolina (ACCN): Okay, I know Duke is basically without a quarterback now, but UNC’s defense is just such a disaster. I think the Heels will ultimately win, but Duke can definitely keep it within a couple of scores.

9:00: Arizona State @ California-Los Angeles (Pac12): The Sun Devils let Utah work out some frustration last week to the tune of a 55-3 drubbing. UCLA might be able to visit the same upon them.

10:00: New Mexico @ Boise State (FS1): Lobos, losing two straight to the Nevada schools does not inspire a great deal of confidence even against a down year Boise State team.

10:15: Iowa State @ Brigham Young (ESPN): In September, I would’ve said BYU easily. But as bad as September looked for the Cyclones, they’ve gotten right and clearly shown they’re still a cut above the Big 12’s bottom dwellers.

10:30:

• Southern California @ Oregon (FOX): USC finally fired Alex Grinch after UDub drubbed their defense. That said, a week doesn’t figure to be enough to figure it out, especially when they’ll have to go on the road to Autzen for a November night game, which is rarely fun for anybody.
• Fresno State @ San Jose State (CBSS): Okay, I don’t gamble, but if I did… what in the world is the spread in this game. SJSU -1? As a team with a losing record against a physical, tough, one-loss Fresno State team? Per SP+, Fresno is essentially a 10 point favorite. What are we doing here?!?

11:00: Air Force @ Hawaii (Team1Sports)

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Florida State @ Wake Forest (ABC): FSU still looks like the best team in the ACC, and I don’t think Wake is going to do anything to dissuade me.
• Oklahoma @ Kansas (FOX): Kansas has been fine without Jaylon Daniels, but I’m not sure they’ve been fine enough to be at Oklahoma.
• Indiana @ Pennsylvania State (CBS): Okay, so, Penn State’s going to win this one. That’s basically a given. The real intrigue is when they play Michigan, to see if that is finally the time the Nittany Lions can actually beat an opponent at or above their level.
• South Carolina @ Texas A&M (ESPN): Is Jimbo in trouble yet? It’s unclear! I guess A&M will win this one, but I think it’s kind of damning that I’m not sure.
• Houston @ Kansas State (ESPN2): Houston finally won a Big 12 game two weeks ago, but, well, K-State figures to send them straight back to the Misery Zone.
• West Virginia @ Central Florida (FS1): I think WVU gets back on the good side in Orlando.
• Maryland @ Northwestern (BTN): September Maryland is a distant memory, but Northwestern is bad bad.
• Tulsa @ Southern Methodist (ESPNU): SMU all the way here.
• Connecticut @ Boston College (ACCN): BC for sure.
• Massachusetts @ Army (CBSS): Army, probably.

2:00: Clemson @ North Carolina State (The CW): While Clemson may be heading for 8-4, I don’t think one of those 4 will be NCSU.

3:00: Memphis @ North Texas (ESPN+)

3:30:

• Georgia vs. Florida (“The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” @ Jacksonville, FL; CBS): I want to believe. That said, Florida hasn’t provided a lot of particularly strong reasons to do so this season, and I’m not sure that will start now.
• Oregon @ Utah (FOX): Here’s your game of the day, folks. Utah of course is somewhat crippled on offense, and while they were able to make hay against an extremely suspect USC defense, the Ducks don’t have such issues. Alas, I’m pretty sure the Ducks are going to win this one pretty comfortably.
• Brigham Young @ Texas (ABC): Set aside the tropes: the Longhorns are good enough to win this one.
• Pittsburgh @ Notre Dame (NBC): It’s not really the superweapon if Notre Dame is already wounded, so I suspect the Irish will win easily.
• Duke @ Louisville (ESPN): Duke without Riley Leonary looks extremely like, well, Duke. I like the Cardinals here.
• Purdue @ Nebraska (FS1): I don’t have an opinion about this game and you can’t make me. Huskers?
• Michigan State @ Minnesota (BTN): Gophers, presumably.
• Mississippi State @ Auburn (SEC): I shudder to think what the final of this game might be. We all joke about Iowa not scoring a lot, but both of these offense have really been on the struggle bus all season. Auburn I guess?
• Virginia @ Miami (ACCN): Barring more Mario Cristobal, Clock Commander, incidents, the Canes should win this one easily.
• Miami @ Ohio (“Battle of the Bricks”; CBSS): The Bobcats are decent, but the Redhawks look like one of the best teams in the MAC.
• East Carolina @ Texas-San Antonio (ESPN+)
• Iowa State @ Baylor (ESPN+)
• Southern Mississippi @ Appalachian State (ESPN+)

4:00:

• Tulane @ Rice (ESPN2): I remember when we thought Rice might be decent. I don’t think the Green Wave will have any trouble here.
• Southern California @ California (Pac12): So it might be tempting to think Cal’s defense is going to be enough to affect the USC offense. To which I would say: nope.

5:30: Wyoming @ Boise State (FS2): This would ordinarily be a Mountain West headliner, and it sort of still use, but unfortunately Boise isn’t really holding up their end of the bargain this season. Some of the shine has come off Wyoming but I still like them in this matchup.

6:00: Marshall @ Coastal Carolina (NFLN): Speaking of which, I guess Herd?

7:00:

• Tennessee @ Kentucky (ESPN): It just hasn’t clicked for Tennessee this season. While they didn’t exactly get blown out by Alabama, it just figures the Kentucky defense is just going to make their lives miserable once again and keep this in the Wildcats faor.
• Washington @ Stanford (FS1): Huskies, by a lot.
• Air Force @ Colorado State (CBSS): So this is also a rivalry, but that said Air Force looks like the best team in the G5 and I’m sure that will be true even in bowl season.
• Troy @ Texas State (ESPN+)

7:30:

• Colorado @ California-Los Angeles (ABC): The Prime Time show rolls in to the Rose Bowl for a, well, prime time slot on broadcast television. That said, while I don’t think UCLA is capable of doing to them what, say, Oregon did, I think it’s going to be a long night for the Buffs.
• Ohio State @ Wisconsin (NBC): The Buckeyes did what they needed to do to beat Penn State, and as long and they can still toss it up to a player named “Marvin Harrison Jr.” that figures to continue to be the case.
• Vanderbilt @ Mississippi (SEC): I don’t see any path to victory for the Commodores here.

8:00:

• Cincinnati @ Oklahoma State (ESPN2): So early in the season Oklahoma State seemed like they were going to be really bad. It’s been a few weeks now, but they seem to have figured some things out. As for the Bearcats, well, not so much.
• Old Dominion @ James Madison (ESPNU): JMU all the way here.
• North Carolina @ Georgia Tech (ACCN): So maybe we don’t play well at home? I’m not sure. Naturally, I typed up what I did about Haynes King last week and then we went out and threw some brutal picks, but I stand by what I said. The way this game has gone the past decade or so means that I can’t reasonably say anything about, other than just hoping for the best on a Saturday night in Midtown where a lot of folks figures to be on costume. (Seriously, Halloween falling on a Tuesday is just the worst.)
• Washington State @ Arizona State (Pac12): I’m still not buying what ASU is selling, so I’m taking the Cougs all the way here.

10:30:

• Oregon State @ Arizona (ESPN): Again, the Arizona schools seem to be tripping the top of the conference up, but I’m still not trusting them.
• Nevada-Las Vegas @ Fresno State (FS1): This is the secret best game of the day. UNLV is… good? As in, their only loss is to Michigan good? That said, this one of their first real tests since then against a consistently solid Fresno squad that figures to test. And on a Saturday night in the Valley, I sort of just have to pick them to win?
• New Mexico @ Nevada (CBSS): This one is, uh, dire. Nevada did get their first win of the season last week in completely unexpected fashion over San Diego State, but that normally wouldn’t be a reason to pick them anyway other than New Mexico is also somewhat terrible. You could flip a coin in this one, but maybe the Lobos can actually score, so I’ll take them.

12:00: San Jose State @ Hawaii (Team1Sports)

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Central Florida @ Oklahoma (ABC): Most of the new arrivals in the Big 12 have struggled a bit, and UCF has had their share for sure, but they rate pretty highly in several objective categories. Will that help them with the Sooners? Well, probably not.
• Air Force @ Navy (CBS): The Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy action starts here. It’s useful to remember that while Army-Navy is the headliner, the team that they both dislike more are the Johnyy-come-lately desk jockeys out in Colorado. Unfortunately for the traditional arms of the armed services, Air Force is just plain good this year and should capture the CiC.
• Pennsylvania State @ Ohio State (FOX): It’s the game of the day, and it’ll probably be over before I get out of bed. That said, for the first time that I can remember in the current Big Ten alignment, I don’t know how this is going to go? Penn State is just good, and I think they’ve got the talent and the beef to go toe-to-toe with the Buckeyes. But the game is in the Shoe, and the scarlet-and-gray have a human cheat code in Marvin Harrison, Jr. I actually slightly like the Nittany Lions here, but this game could go either way.
• Mississippi State @ Arkansas (ESPN): This is definitely also a game happening in this time slot. Uh, Arkansas I guess?
• Memphis @ Alabama-Birmingham (“Battle for the Bones”; ESPN2): Let’s recall that this game is a rivalry, and that it has the GREATEST TROPHY OF ALL TIME.
  

  Ok, we can finally say it…

  The Battle of the Bones is COMING BACK!

  (And so is the best trophy…ever). pic.twitter.com/wk8vG18J5G

  — UAB Football (@UAB_FB) October 21, 2021

  
  So yeah, the game itself, it’s hard to say. Is UAB, as much as I’m loathe to admit it with their current coach, kind of good? And what’s the deal with Memphis? It’s hard to say, but I’m taking the Blazers.

• Rutgers @ Indiana (BTN): Rutgers is probably going to win? They definitely need to, ’cause the schedule after this gets grim real quick.
• Boston College @ Georgia Tech (ACCN): Okay, so we’ve been laughing about what happened at the end of the Miami game for two weeks, so it’s back to the games. What this team currently shows is that they’re young and somewhat reckless. They self-admittedly did not take the Bowling Green game seriously, but they punched above their weight and took advantage of some completely asinine end-game coaching by Miami to steal a win in south Florida. It might already be safe to say that Haynes King is the best passing quarterback GT has had since I matriculated in 2003. That said, the main thing for this game is focus. This is a game we’re supposed to win. So was Bowling Green. Can we come out focused this time?
• Western Michigan @ Ohio (CBSS): Bobcats?
• Baylor @ Cincinnati (ESPN+)

2:00:

• Louisiana-Monroe @ Georgia Southern (ESPN+)
• Charlotte @ East Carolina (ESPN+)
• Akron @ Bowling Green (ESPN+)

3:30:

• Tennessee @ Alabama (“Third Saturday in October”; CBS): Alabama is still a really, really good team they’re just not… Alabama. You know what I mean. Tennessee is still really good, but they’re not the team they were last year when they knocked off the Tide in legendary fashion in Knoxville last year. Bama’s found something with their quarterback, and even if it looks a bit retrograde, I think they’ll just be able to keep the Vols off-kilter and see this thing out.
• Washington State @ Oregon (ABC): We love the Cougs here, but as long as Oregon isn’t too down about their game from last week they’ll be okay.
• Minnesota @ Iowa (NBC): The Drive for 25 is basically dead at this point. That said, I’m not sure that I really want to know anything about this game. The final score is going to be 13-3 Iowa or some such (with the 13 definitely not scored in anything approaching conventional fashion).
• Oklahoma State @ West Virginia (ESPN): Okay, we’re doing this pretty late on a Friday and we’ve got a pretty action packed weekend at this point, so if something doesn’t catch our interest it’s going to be…. LIGHTNING ROUND! ‘Neers!
• North Texas @ Tulane (ESPN2): Green Wave!
• Wisconsin @ Illinois (FS1): Badgers?
• Northwestern @ Nebraska (BTN): Somehow this game is more dreadful-seeming then UMN-Iowa, because, I mean, at least someone at the end of that one is going to get to hoist a 90-pound pig statue. Huskers?!?
• South Carolina @ Missouri (SEC): South Carolina isn’t bad, and I’m still not sure I believe Mizzou, but the Tigers handled Kentucky last week, so…
• South Florida @ Connecticut (CBSS): Bulls.
• Pittsburgh @ Wake Forest (ACCN): The Pitt Superweapon fired, and so the week after means a baffling, inexplicable loss to a bad Wake Forest team.
• Central Michigan @ Ball State (ESPN+)
• Buffalo @ Kent State (ESPN+)
• Eastern Michigan @ Northern Illinois (ESPN+)

4:00:

• Texas @ Houston (FOX): It’s finally here. For the better part of three decades, Houston was left behind – the infuriating Baptists of Waco got into the Big 12 and they didn’t, and that was so unfair. The avatar of the ridiculousness of the Big 12 arrangement was always the big bad Longhorns. So they’ve been waiting for this one for a while. The only problem is… Houston is kind of bad this year. The ‘Horns aren’t.
• Toledo @ Miami (ESPNU): Saturday MACtion! And between the two best teams in the conference, at that! I hope there’s actually some folks in the stands for this one. I’ll take the Rockets, but picking Toledo in the MAC is a bit of the wrong kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.

6:00:

• Hawaii @ New Mexico (Team1Sports)
• Texas-San Antonio @ Florida Atlantic (ESPN+)

6:30: Virginia @ North Carolina (“The South’s Oldest Rivalry”; The CW): Tar Heels!

7:00:

• Mississippi @ Auburn (ESPN): Rebels!
• Texas Christian @ Kansas State (ESPN2): Wildcats!
• Texas Tech @ Brigham Young (FS1): Red Raiders!
• Appalachian State @ Old Dominion (NFLN): Monarchs?
• Utah State @ San Jose State (CBSS): Aggies?
• Colorado State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (MWN)
• Coastal Carolina @ Arkansas State (ESPN+)

7:30:

• Duke @ Florida State (ABC): So the line on this game the other day was FSU by 13.5, which, like, what? This Duke team is by all indications legit, and FSU has some injury questions. I mean, I’m still picking the Noles here, but come one.
• Michigan @ Michigan State (NBC): So the biggest news in college football this week is that Michigan football is under investigation for stealing signs. To give you an idea of how spiteful this rivalry is, someone got a quote into the Athletic article about the investigation that Michigan State considered cancelling the game out of concern for, and I quote, “the health and safety of our players”. That cannot possibly be a real quote. It just cannot. The fact that the multi-decade game of flag football between the two schools’ student newspapers was canceled was already ridiculous enough. And, of course, there was the fight at least year’s game that resulted in actual charges. This is going to be dumb. And Michigan is going to win by like 50.
• Army @ Louisiana State (SEC): LSU is going to win this like 35-34 because Army will go for two and not get it at the end. Book it.

8:00:

• Utah @ Southern California (FOX): Okay, so USC finally “found out”, so to speak. Now what? The Utes of course play defense like no one’s business, but their offense is bad bad. USC’s defense remains a joke, an obvious liability that seems to rest on the reigning Heisman winner “just figuring it out” that doesn’t work so well when he doesn’t. We saw this game last year, of course, and I don’t think it’ll be much different – USC will probably gut this one out, but it won’t make anyone happy.
• Georgia State @ Louisiana (ESPNU): Panthers?
• Clemson @ Miami (ACCN): Tigers.

9:00: Nevada @ San Diego State (FS2): Aztecs.

10:30:

• California-Los Angeles @ Stanford (ESPN): Bruins!
• Arizona State @ Washington (FS1): Huskies!