The regular season is technically over, but we’ll cover the Army-Navy game as well as the various playoff games that are actually on television (not to mention the others that’ll be on the Internet).

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Friday
8:00: Northern Iowa @ Montana (Division I Quarterfinal; ESPN): These teams entered as the 5 and 4-seeds (respectively) in the tournament, and thus both received byes to the second round in the 20-team bracket. The Grizzlies thumped their second opponent, Central Arkansas, 41-14 while UNI ended up winning 28-21 with some help from probably the most boneheaded play of last weekend. Nonetheless, Montana has all the cards here, with superior offensive and defensive rankings as well as a projected game time temperature of about 25 degrees in their home stadium, which looking at attendance figures will probably be sold out. Meanwhile, UNI plays their home games in a dome. I think I know who I like here.

Saturday
Noon: Montana State @ Sam Houston State (Division I Quarterfinal; ESPN): Sam Houston State is the #1 seed in the tournament, but they’re last in spelling, because apparently they are officially the “Bearkats”. I mean, at least “dawgs” is usually an unofficial nickname, but nope, it’s right there on their ESPN page. In protest, I refuse to write anything further about this game.

1:00: Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical vs. Grambling State (SWAC Championship @ Birmingham, AL; ESPNU): I really debated putting this game on the list. It’s on TV and all, but… I don’t know, maybe I just don’t fully understand the traditions of the SWAC that would cause them to want to have their own title game and not participate in the playoffs that so many of us at the top level of the sport of would love to have. Not only that, but the SWAC has 10 teams and plays 9 conference games, which means that a title game is wholly unnecessary. Oh, and speaking of rematches, A&M beat Grambling 20-14 back in September. If anything, the game should be the resolution of the three 7-2 teams that all beat each other in the regular season (Jackson State, A&M, and Alabama State).

2:30: Army vs. Navy (@Landover, MD; CBS): This has not been a banner year for these two academies. Navy is 4-7 and Army is 3-8 and is, last I checked, narrowly favored for what has to be the first time in awhile. Both have been undone by very mediocre-to-bad defenses. That said, though, Navy’s schedule was a lot tougher than Army’s, with Navy’s only really bad loss to San Jose State, then again, that’s countered by Army’s upset of Northwestern (which probably says a lot about how far the Wildcats have come more than anything else, since we can properly call it an “upset”). I’ll stick with the Midshipmen to continue their nine game winning streak.

Look for bowl previews starting next week!

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Ohio State @ Michigan (ABC): Ohio State has won seven straight, but for the first time that I can remember Michigan has all the advantages. They play good enough defense, and while their offense is spotty it’s more consistent than the Buckeyes’. Add in the fact it’s in the Big House and the Wolverines have to be a clear favorite.
• Iowa State @ Oklahoma (FX): Iowa State rocked the college football world in Ames last weekend, however, this contest is in Norman. Oklahoma, provided they learned anything from Baylor, should take the Cyclones seriously enough so as to not have any trouble with them.
• Georgia @ Georgia Tech (ESPN): To hell with Georgia.
• Rutgers @ Connecticut (ESPN2): I guess Rutgers is going to win this? I dunno. No, really, I don’t.
• Rice @ Southern Methodist (FSN): Neither of these teams are particularly good, but SMU is just slightly less bad.
• Michigan State @ Northwestern (BTN): Spary’s already clinched a spot in the Big Ten title game, but they shouldn’t overlook the Wildcats. I don’t think they will.
• Tennessee @ Kentucky (SEC): Oy. This is a SEC East slapfight. Both teams of these teams are also pretty bad, but again, the Vols are just slightly less bad.
• James Madison @ Eastern Kentucky (NCAA Tournament; ESPNU): I like giving props to the NCAA football tournament, and this is the the only game on national TV. I know even less about these teams than I do even Rice and SMU, so I won’t offer up a pick.

12:30: Maryland @ North Carolina State (ACC): Maryland is still simply awful this year and NCSU has rallied in the second half of the year, making the Wolfpack an easy choice.

3:30:

• Alabama @ Auburn (CBS): While this will likely be closer than the line, I just can’t really imagine a scenario where Auburn can win this game.
• Oregon State @ Oregon (ABC/ESPN2): It’s the Civil War! This is an underrated rivalry game, but the Beavers have just had an awful time of it this year. I really like the Ducks.
• Virginia Tech @ Virginia (ABC/ESPN2): UVA has exceeded every expectation for this year. While VPI still had legitimate offensive issues, it’s hard to see how UVA will prevail.
• Pennsylvania State @ Wisconsin (ESPN): Well, Penn State has exceeded at least my expectations these past couple of weeks. But Wisconsin has regained at least some offensive swagger, though they were a little slow to really get going against Illinois last week. However, I just can’t see how Penn State’s offense can keep up.
• Missouri vs. Kansas (@Kansas City, MO; FSN): Probably one of the last meetings of these two bitter rivals, but this KU team is simply awful. Mizzou all the way.
• Vanderbilt @ Wake Forest (ESPNU): Vandy needs this to get bowl eligible, and for me it’s a difficult call to make. Both of these teams are undermanned the vast majority of the time, so it’s hard to say what will happen when they meet each other. I’m leaning toward Vandy though.
• East Carolina @ Marshall (CBSS): The winner goes to a bowl game. The loser doesn’t. I think it’ll be ECU heading off to some far-flung C-USA bowl game.
• Illinois @ Minnesota (BTN): It would be the most Ron Zook thing ever for them to lose to Minnesota, right? I’ll go with that.
• Purdue @ Indiana (BTN): This is rivalry game, of sorts. Another game where neither team is very good but Indiana is just awful. I like the Boilermakers.
• Duke @ North Carolina (ACC): Duke and UNC meet once again, but it’ll be another couple of months before they meet in a fashion anyone in the Raleigh-Durham area really cares about. I’ll take the ‘Heels.

7:00:

• Florida State @ Florida (ESPN2): Florida can’t score, but sort of plays defense. FSU, meanwhile, just suffered a bad loss to Virginia. Provided FSU actually shows up for this one, though, I have to take the Seminoles here.
• Mississippi @ Mississippi State (ESPNU): Houston Nutt’s tenure at Ole Miss will not go out with a bang, but with a whimper.
• Texas Tech vs. Baylor (@Arlington, TX; FSN): Robert Griffin the III singlehandedly lead Baylor to their biggest victory ever against Oklahoma. Provided he’s not looking forward to a trip to Manhattan (New York, that is) he should have considerably less trouble against the Red Raiders.

7:30: Washington State @ Washington (Versus): It’s the Apple Cup once again! Udub lost to Oregon State somehow last weekend, but I have a hard time figuring out exactly how they could lose to equally morbund Wazzou. I like the Huskies here.

7:45: Clemson @ South Carolina (ESPN): I’ve been grappling with how to pick this game all week. South Carolina is now an offensive non-entity, but Clemson has lost two of their last three, and the third was a last-second FG win over Wake Forest. I’m sitting here in my family’s living literally scratching my head over my head over this. I think this is basically a toss-up. If Clemson shows up, then they have the offensive firepower to win. However, based on the last few weeks I have to think this will be a defensive struggle that favors the Gamecocks.

8:00: Notre Dame @ Stanford (ABC): ND may put up a fight, but I really like Andrew Luck and Stanford here.

10:00: California-Los Angeles @ Southern California (FSN): Boy howdy USC has looked good the last couple weeks haven’t they? And besides, it’ll make for good trivia for UCLA to represent the Pac-12 South next week at 6-6 and likely to be multiple touchdown underdogs.

Before we begin: what the heck, Oklahoma State? With that out of the way…

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Nebraska @ Michigan (ESPN): This could well be the most interesting game of the weekend, in terms of competitiveness. I think, however, Michigan’s ability to play some semblance of a defense (imagine saying that any of the past three years) will allow them to prevail in the end.
• Wisconsin @ Illinois (ESPN2): Dusting themselves off after two straight losses knocked them out of the nation title picture, the Badgers have got their offense rolling again. Meanwhile, Ron Zook is walking out of press conferences. I like the Badgers.
• Kansas @ Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (FSN): If there’s one team TAMU probably won’t blow a double-digit second half lead to, it’s Kansas.
• Cincinnati @ Rutgers (ESPNU): Speaking of walking out of press conferences, that’s what I’m tempting to do anytime anyone asks me to make sense of the Big East. I’ll take the Bearcats out of a sense of hope and desperation.
• Indiana @ Michigan State (BTN): Three low-level Big Ten games! Sparty looks to preserve its lead in the Legends division, which they should do easily.
• Minnesota @ Northwestern (BTN): Minnesota’s shown flashes of maybe not being a complete doormat these last few weeks, but Northwestern should still win in the end.
• Iowa @ Purdue (BTN): Outside of their shocking win over Ohio State, Purdue hasn’t really shown they can score any points. Iowa doesn’t score a lot but it should be enough.
• Kentucky @ Georgia (SEC): Will the dogs suffer a letdown against the SEC’s second worst team? No, probably not. Unfortunately.

12:30: Georgia Tech @ Duke (ACC): Well, what can I say about the Virginia Tech game that hasn’t been said? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
This will be the 79th meeting of the Yellow Jackets and Blue Devils. Duke is actually Tech’s third most-often played team, behind Auburn (92 games) and Georgia (105). The only other teams Tech has met even more than 50 times are Clemson (76) and Alabama (52). Somewhat surprisingly, the Jackets still sport a better winning percentage against Clemson (65.8%) than Duke (60.9%). However, while the Clemson series has been mostly even since the early 70’s, the Duke series has not been. After Georgia Tech’s low-point in the 70’s and early-80’s, the series has been all Tech – Duke has only won twice since 1990.
Duke is not the ACC’s most awful team this year – that honor lies with Boston College. However, that doesn’t mean the Jackets can overlook them. One need look no further than Ames, Iowa after the events of last night to remember that anything can happen on any day in college football. Virginia Tech came out against the Blue Devils and, were it not for 3 missed FGs, could have nearly lost the game. It will be critical for Tech to be on their game and press their advantage against one of the few teams they will are physically superior than. Other than special teams, Tech’s Achilles’s heel this year has been pass defense. After a heroic effort in the Clemson game, Virginia Tech continually got behind our secondary and was able to stretch the defense. Duke is 27th in the country in passing yards, which is partially due to necessity. However, Sean Renfree is a decent quarterback who can burn us pretty easily if the secondary allows him to.

3:00:

• Tulsa @ Texas-El Paso (CBSS): UTEP is up to its old tricks again – lose to Rice one week, beat East Carolina the next. That said, Tulsa should have little trouble dissecting them.
• Maryland @ Wake Forest (ACC/FSN): I think we can pretty safely call Maryland awful at this point. Wake Forest should get their sixth win here.
• Mississippi State @ Arkansas (CBS): Miss State should be able to score, but they just… can’t. One of my favorite football writers said on Twitter last weekend that he thinks Dan Mullen tries to get too “cute” with the Urban Meyer-style spread offense, and I’m inclined to agree. Arkansas, meanwhile, fields one of the few actual offenses in the SEC and should win easily as long as they’re not looking forward their huge showdown with LSU next Friday.
• Texas Tech @ Missouri (ABC): As everyone on the Internet is saying, Texas Tech’s victory over Oklahoma is becoming more and more inexplicable by the week. In their three games since then, they have been outscored 159-33. It wasn’t just Oklahoma State, either – Iowa State put up 41, and Texas’s moribund offense managed 52. Mizzou should win easily, even without Gary Pinkel on the sidelines due to his extremely ill-advised trip to Chili’s.
• Clemson @ North Carolina State (ABC/ESPN): What better way to follow up a loss to the worst team in the ACC than by an explicable upset over Clemson? Yeah.. I’m not seeing it either. Though after Wake the Tigers are almost just begging to lose again, aren’t they?
• Pennsylvania State @ Ohio State (ABC/ESPN): Okay yes Ohio State may have just lost to Purdue but still it’s hard to imagine Penn State winning any more games this year.
• Southern Methodist @ Houston (FSN): Well, based on the number of times I’ve said “win easily” so far it’s not hard to see why Gameday decided to make its annual mid-major trip out to Houston this weekend. And that was before Houston because the last remaining undefeated mid-major last weekend, and before the events last night that made them one of the only two remaining undefeated teams in the country. Meanwhile, SMU has lost to the other two decent C-USA teams it has played by pretty wide margins and just lost to Navy last week. So… this may end up being a blowout too.
• Miami @ South Florida (ESPNU): One of these schools is actually in a geographic region I would call “south Florida” and it’s not the one named “South Florida”. With that out of the way, USF did nothing between its upset of Notre Dame the first weekend of the year and beating Syracuse last weekend. I would expect them to get right back on the losing side of the ledger in this one, though.
• Colorado State @ Texas Christian (Versus): The Missed Field Goal Heard ‘Round College football resonated and wide (… right) last weekend, but now TCU has to keep up their 5 game winning streak against the less notable segments of the Mountain West in order to clinch their last mid-major conference title.

4:00: Boston College @ Notre Dame (NBC): I would say that BC is probably the single worst team on Notre Dame’s schedule this year, and keep in mind this is a schedule that includes Purdue, Navy, and Maryland. They should win easily.

7:00:

• Louisiana State @ Mississippi (ESPN): The SEC’s two most colorful coaching personalities clash in what should be a LSU rout, but does Houston Nutt have one last trick up his sleeve? (I.e., “lose to Louisiana Tech and then suspend 3 of your offensive skill position starters for the game and win”.) Well, no, probably not, but if Ole Miss does win the final score will be something like 9-8.
• Central Florida @ East Carolina (FSN): This is been a down year for both teams, but at least ECU managed to beat UAB. (Yes, I know they just upset Southern Miss.)
• Vanderbilt @ Tennessee (ESPNU): Let this sink in: Vanderbilt is favored to beat Tennessee. But I still don’t know if I can pick the ‘Dores because the last time Vandy was supposed to win this game they didn’t. My heart says Vandy but my brain says Vols, so let’s go with the latter.

7:30:

• Virginia @ Florida State (ESPN2): Both of these teams have beaten Miami, which says something but I’m not entirely sure what. Nonetheless, FSU has their offensive mojo back and Virginia is not Wake Forest so the Seminoles should come out with a win.
• Colorado @ California-Los Angeles (Versus): Note: even with a 25-point loss to Utah last weekend, the Bruins still have a shot to win the Pac-12 South. That said, Utah is better than Colorado, I’m pretty sure. This will be a terrible, sloppy, “defensive struggle” sort of a game but UCLA should still win and Rick Neuheisel will probably still get fired.

 8:00:

• Southern California @ Oregon (ABC): Oregon established pretty firmly last weekend that they are, in fact, still the team to beat in the Pac-12. USC has the talent to compete, but not the depth to stay with the Ducks. Expect the usual Oregon blueprint against good teams: a close first half followed by the Ducks simply wearing out the opposing defenses in the second half.
• Oklahoma @ Baylor (ABC): Welcome back to the BCS title hunt, Sooners! Okay, yes, now beating Oklahoma State won’t have the cachet it used to. Anyway, Baylor’s all-everything QB Robert Griffin III will try his best to singlehandedly keep the Bears in this one but I just don’t see how it can be enough against the Sooners.
• Kansas State @ Texas (FX): Okay yes they didn’t play in 2008 and 2009 but Kansas State has won three straight against Texas. I’m not sure if it’s an upset at this point, but K-State has shown they can at least run with TAMU and Oklahoma State, and unlike Texas, those teams actually can play offense! So I’m taking the Wildcats.
• Boise State @ San Diego State (CBSS): Boise once again finds itself picking up the pieces after a game gone horribly wrong, made even more painful by Oklahoma State’s loss last night. San Diego State is not exactly chopped liver, but this is not last year’s fiesty version either. I suspect the Broncos are once again the sort of team that picks up the pieces by laying waste to their next opponent, so I’ll take them here.

10:15:

• California @ Stanford (ESPN): The Big Game! Stanford Stadium is about 5 miles from my apartment out here, but by the time you read this I’ll be more like 2000 miles away. Anyway, speaking of picking up the pieces from a bad loss, you really have to like Andrew Luck and company in this one, right?
• New Mexico State @ Brigham Young (ESPNU): I’ll confess I don’t know that much about BYU, but they don’t have one of the worst defense in the country, in stark contrast to Fresno State will let these Aggies put up 48 last weekend. So, yeah, I’ll the Stormin’ Mormons here.

And that’s that. Bowl predictions may be delayed this weekend due to chaos. 

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Florida @ South Carolina (CBS): Why is this game on CBS? Who knows! Suffice it to say, if this game ends up 9-6 it will be a pretty safe bet to chalk it up to offensive ineptitude than to defense. Florida has speed but no apparent idea of how to use it, while South Carolina is decimated by injuries, suspensions, and dismissals. In the end, though, I still expect the Gamecocks to prevail.
• Oklahoma State @ Texas Tech (ABC): I think we pretty thoroughly know the answer to which Texas Tech team showed up against Oklahoma: not the one that has showed up for their other 8 games. Cowboys roll.
• West Virginia @ Cincinnati (ABC): Flip a coin. The coin has about as much of an idea about the Big East as I do at this point. I’ll take Cincy for the sake of my bowl predictions.
• Texas @ Missouri (FX): I don’t think either TAMU or Mizzoui’s Big 12 finales are going quite how they expected. Texas should get one last parting shot.
• Nebraska @ Pennsylvania State (ESPN): All I can say about this is: Nebraska has advantages both on the field and off, losses to Northwestern notwithstanding.
• Michigan State @ Iowa (ESPN2): The Big Ten is almost as befuddling as the Big East. I, uh, I’ll take Sparty here I guess?
• Marshall @ Tulsa (FSN): Marshall doesn’t score a lot and can give up points in bunches. Not good things against Tulsa.
• Wake Forest @ Clemson (ESPNU): This Wake team can bite you, but the Tigers shouldn’t really have any issues.
• Ohio State @ Purdue (BTN): Buckeyes, I guess.
• Rice @ Northwestern (BTN): This is not a good Rice team. Northwestern should roll.
• Kentucky @ Vanderbilt (SEC): It’s your yearly SEC East slapfight! Both enter at 4-5, but Vandy has generally at least been able to hang with the SEC powers this year while Kentucky has, for the most part, been getting blown out. I like the Dores to get to 5-5.

12:30: North Carolina State @ Boston College (ACC): This BC team is just plain hapless. Wolfpack should roll.

3:00: Duke @ Virginia (ACC/FSN): Virginia Tech can clinch the Coastal now with a UVA loss, but despite me being generally down on UVA I don’t think they’ll lose to Duke.

3:30:

• Auburn @ Georgia (CBS): I personally thought that putting Texas A&M in the SEC East is really lame. The only reason, it appears to me, that the SEC has “designated rivals” is because Alabama wants to play Tennessee every year and Auburn wants to play UGA every year. Why not just move Auburn and Alabama to the East and scrap the designated rivals thing altogether? It’ll be made up for because then the divisions will cycle through each other more quickly. Anyway, I guess I have to take Georgia here.
• Miami @ Florida State (ABC/ESPN): Boy, this is sure isn’t what it used to be, eh? FSU should roll.
• Michigan @ Illinois (ABC/ESPN): Well, Michigan looks to regain its offensive mojo once again. Luckily for them, Illinois has been especially hapless as of late.
• Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Kansas State (ABC): TAMU looks suddenly vulnerable defensively, but I’m not really sure K-State has the offensive talent to take advantage. Nonetheless, TAMU’s second half woes are well documented at this point and so only with some hesitation I’m picking them.
• Navy @ Southern Methodist (FSN): SMU has looked pretty good against the teams they’ve been expected to beat whilst getting clobbered by the powers of Conference USA. Meanwhile, Navy just hasn’t been, well, good this year at all. I like the Mustangs here.
• Texas Christian @ Boise State (Versus): It’s kind of funny that the Mountain West bent over backward to move this game from Fort Worth to Boise in response to TCU’s then-move to the Big East. In the meantime, Boise is now probably going to move to the Big East, so in the end it sort really didn’t matter. Either way, I don’t really like TCU this year at all – so I’ll take Boise to continue their run.
• Rutgers vs. Army (@New York, NY; CBSS): Because the world needs more football games at baseball stadiums! Rutger’s never ending quest to become New York City’s college football team continues as they should probably win easily over Army.
• Wisconsin @ Minnesota (BTN): Minnesota’s shown some signs of life over the past couple of weeks, but I can’t really comprehend how they can beat Wisconsin.

3:45: Washington @ Southern California (FX): U-dub put forth a valiant effort against Oregon last weekend. Will a valiant effort be enough against USC, though? I’m not really sure. I like the Trojans a lot at this point, though their lack of depth is always a concern.

6:00: Tennessee @ Arkansas (ESPN2): Tennessee has no offense. Like, I think they just let the other team play offense the whole time and hope to run back punt returns and interceptions. This is not a good recipe against what looks like the most competent offense in the SEC.

7:00: Western Kentucky @ Louisiana State (ESPNU): I think LSU’s going to win this one. I know I’m going out on a limb here, but…

7:30:

• Louisiana Tech @ Mississippi (SEC): Ole Miss might not win this one. After all, we need Houston Nutt’s last ride around the SEC to be as hilarious as possible, and so they need to be as bad as possible when they play LSU next weekend. And, with losses to Miss State and Southern Miss already, can LaTech afford to go 0-3 against the state of Mississippi? I think not. Bulldogs maybe pull off the upset. Probably. Well, perhaps.
• Maryland vs. Notre Dame (@Landover, MD; NBC): I meant to look up if this was really a neutral site game or just a Maryland home game played over in Landover. Either way, I like the Irish here as Randy Esdall’s dismantling effort continues. (I assume that’s the oppose of a rebuilding effort, right?)

7:45: Alabama @ Mississippi State (ESPN): Yeah… yeah… Alabama will rain fire down upon the Bulldogs on this night, and blow them out… 24-3.

8:00:

• Oregon @ Stanford (ABC): Okay, here’s the main event folks. And, frankly, all season I’ve liked the Ducks better. Stanford’s year should have been last year, when they were more well-rounded on both sides of the ball. Stanford has been challenged really only once all year, when they needed Andrew Luck to just about singlehandedly beat USC. Now, if you had to pick a guy who do that for you, you could could certainly do worse than Andrew Luck. But I just don’t think it will be enough against Oregon.
• Central Florida @ Southern Mississippi (CBSS): UCF picked a good week to have a good old-fashioned recruiting scandal. Regardless, USM should continue their march to the C-USA title game.

9:15: Idaho @ Brigham Young (ESPN2): Idaho is not very good and stuff. The BYU team isn’t exactly awe-inspiring or anything but they should still win easily.

10:15: Hawaii @ Nevada (ESPNU): Now here’s the WAC-tion you want right here. Expect points, and lots of them, but also expect the Wolfpack to emerge victorious at the end.

10:30: Arizona State @ Washington State (Versus): Arizona State losing to UCLA may be one of the more inexplicable upsets of the year. Will Sun Devils get upset again in Pullman? Well, probably not.