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.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Texas Tech @ Texas (FX): Will the real Texas Tech please stand up? Losing to Iowa State 41-7 after knocking off Oklahoma is, just, well, hard to fathom. I think Texas has a pretty good shot to get to bowl eligibility here.
• Michigan @ Iowa (ESPN): Michigan was last seen taking care of business against Purdue, while Iowa was last seen falling asleep on the job and losing to the extremely hapless Golden Gophers. Have to like Denard and Co. here.
• Syracuse @ Connecticut (ESPNU): Depressingly, this game is still extremely important in the race to the Big East’s BCS bid.
• Minnesota @ Michigan State (BTN): Will Minnesota make it two in a row? Almost certainly not.
• Indiana @ Ohio State (BTN): Hapless doesn’t even begin to describe the Hoosiers this year. Ohio State shouldn’t need a last minute TD pass to win this one.
• Vanderbilt @ Florida (SEC): Florida supporters probably feel like it’s the end of the world after losing to UGA. Not that I can blame them, of course. This is a fiesty Vandy team but it’s hard to envision how they could come out of the swamp with a win.

12:30:

• Virginia @ Maryland (ACC): Boston College looked like the shot in the arm the Terps needed. Instead, it looked like they were shot with a cannonball as BC picked up its first ACC win. I’m not expecting much else out of UMD at this point.
• North Carolina @ North Carolina State (ACC): While it probably won’t be the 34-0 drubbing this received last weekend, it’s hard to see NCSU winning here.

3:00: Duke @ Miami (ACC/FSN): Miami. Probably.

3:30:

• Army @ Air Force (CBS): Getting blown out by MAC teams isn’t a good sign for this year’s Army squad. Air Force should win easily.
• Stanford @ Oregon State (ABC): Look closely at this ABC coverage map. See that one sliver in southern Florida? That’s the Andrew Luck Effect, which could also refer to what’s about to happen to Oregon State.
• Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Oklahoma (ABC/ESPN2): Did you know that Texas A&M has the worst pass defense in the country? I didn’t until earlier today. I don’t think they’ll need to worry about surrendering a 2nd half lead in this one, suffice it to say.
• Purdue @ Wisconsin (ESPN2/ABC): Speaking of blowing 2nd half leads, I don’t think the Badgers have much to worry about this weekend.
• Texas-El Paso @ Rice (FSN): UTEP needs this one to set up the one upset they’ll need to pull to get to bowl eligibility. I think they’ll get it.
• Mississippi @ Kentucky (ESPNU): ESS-EEE-CEE SLAPFIGHT. Technically speaking, Kentucky does have more wins over DI-A competition than Ole Miss (2 to 1). Basically, this is is about as far as you can get from the nightcap on CBS tonight. Both of these teams are really just so awful it’s hard for me to pick one that will be slightly less awful for four hours. I guess I’ll go with Kentucky, because that’ll make it all the more hilarious when Houston Nutt inexplicably beats LSU two weeks from now but gets fired at the end of the year anyway.
• Troy @ Navy (CBSS): I think Navy gets the win here, but the rest of the year is looking pretty lean.
• Northwestern @ Nebraska (BTN): (looks up Big Ten divisional standings) Oh, right, with their win over Sparty last weekend Nebraska is in the driver’s seat for the …(checks again)… yes, right, Legends division. It’s difficult to see how Northwestern stands a chance.

7:00:

• Missouri @ Baylor (FSN): I HOPE YOU LIKE POINTS because boy howdy you’ll get them in this game. That said, Baylor’s defense is just awful and will probably let them down again. Despair not, Baylor fans – Texas Tech and Kansas remain very beatable.
• Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh (ESPNU): Finally this is the week where the three teams that could win the Big East start to play each other. If Cincy wins they remain the team to beat, where as a Pitt win makes this year’s Backyard Brawl bigger than ever.
• Houston @ Alabama-Birmingham (CBSS): If you don’t follow Alabama college news, there hasn’t been a lot of good news the past couple of weeks for the other two members of the University of Alabama system that aren’t in Tuscaloosa. My hometown school, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, recently got its unique DI hockey program canned (the only DI hockey program in the South) for various dumb reasons. UAB, meanwhile, recently got its bid for an on-campus football stadium canned. I feel less bad about that one because while I realize that Legion Field isn’t all that great these days I’m not really sure what UAB has done to merit an on-campus stadium. Most of what I’ve seen said it would cost around $75 million, which is vastly more than what it takes to run a hockey program. Perhaps that’s not really a fair point, though – after all, I love Tech’s on campus stadium but it’s only a mile and a half from the Georgia Dome. (Of course, the counter to that would be that Tech has been playing football for a very long time and the Bobby Dodd Stadium predates the Dome by decades.)
  Anyway, none of that has anything to do with the fact Case Keenum will become the NCAA’s all-time passing leader at Legion Field at some point Saturday night as Houston will almost certainly rout a UAB squad that is 116th in scoring and gives up 35 points a game to teams that aren’t Houston (i.e., the number one team in the country in scoring at 52.3 points per game).
• Middle Tennessee State @ Tennessee (SEC/FSN): And so begins Tennessee’s harrowing quest toward bowl eligibility. Four games to go, one of which is an almost certain loss to Arkansas, but the others are Vandy and Kentucky. Will they make it? Stay tuned.

7:15: South Carolina @ Arkansas (ESPN): Speaking of Arkansas, this is a game that features two SEC in the top-10 mostly because they’re teams from the SEC that only have 1-loss. Arkansas needed a missed chip shot FG to avoid overtime against Vandy last weekend, and South Carolina’s offense has taken a dive since they lost Marcus Lattimore. If one of these teams has a better chance of breaking out of their offensive funk, though, it has to be Arkansas, and so I’ll take the Razorbacks here.

7:30: Arizona State @ California-Los Angeles (Versus): UCLA pulled off an inexplicably upset of Cal last weekend, but I’m not buying it. Arizona State should roll.

8:00:

• Louisiana State @ Alabama (CBS): We’ve known this was going to be a huge game since the schedules came out at the beginning of the year. We also know that the wise guys like Alabama, but the people like LSU. Expect for their punter being one of the first victims of the NCAA’s new (and dumb) live-ball unsportsmanlike conduct rule, LSU has had a pretty, well, normal season so far, free of any botched end-of-game situations. They’ve even showed signs of actually having an offense which has generally been the thing missing from past LSU teams. The only thing that’s remained the same, it seems, is a very talented defense and Les Miles remaining extremely quotable.
  Nick Saban, of course, remains really boring. Nonetheless, if Bama fans had any sense of humor and were less religiously uptight there would probably “SABAN IS GOD” graffiti throughout the state. (I mean, there’s probably plenty of paraphernalia that just about implies Saban is at least a lesser deity along with God and, of course, Bear Bryant.) Anyway, enough blasphemy from me. If LSU’s defense is really good, then what I’ve been saying the last two years is true. 2010 Alabama had a pretty good defense, but it in 2011 it would be back to 2009 levels and so far I have been right. That said, LSU’s defense is only #2 because they played Oregon, who had the audacity to score 27 points on them. LSU also gave up 21 to West Virginia, but outside of that hasn’t given up more than 11 points. The reason why Alabama is #1 is because they haven’t given up more than 14 to anyone, but that is because they haven’t really played anyone with a decent offense other than Arkansas.
  The resume so far is the main reason why LSU is #1 in the country in all the polls. They boast a very good win over Oregon, and a decent OOC win over WVU, but won’t play the SEC’s other quality team until they play Arkansas at the end of the year. Alabama, meanwhile, was able to shutdown Arkansas’s offense but frankly holding Penn State and Florida to 11 and 10 points, respectively, isn’t really all that much of an achievement this year. I’m not saying this defense isn’t very good, mind you.
  In the end, this will go the way of many SEC heavyweight bouts over the past few years. There will not be a lot of points in this game. So, naturally, my mind turns to “which team is less likely to make mistakes?” If there’s any offense built to minimize mistakes, it’s Alabama’s, which again has an anonymous game-manager QB and a Heisman candidate running back. LSU’s offense has been a revelation this year, which basically means they’ve put up a lot of points against several teams that have sort-of sketchy defenses. And yet, if something weird happens in this game, you have to think that favors the team with The Hat, don’t yet? But nonetheless, if these teams played each other 10 times, I think Alabama would win 7 of those times. I’ll reluctantly take the Tide.
• Notre Dame @ Wake Forest (ABC/ESPN2): I have no idea why you would watch this game. This is a feisty Wake Forest squad but the Domers should punch their ticket for the Champs Sports Bowl (well, or maybe the Pinstripe Bowl).
• Kansas State @ Oklahoma State (ESPN2/ABC): Oklahoma put up 58 on Kansas State. The Wildcats will pickup their second loss, the only question is “by how much?”

10:30:

• Oregon @ Washington (FSN): It’s time for the nightcaps! This is the most palatable of them, of course. Washington’s been a nice surprise in the Pac-12 North this year (see Big Ten, I didn’t even look that up!) but their previous attempt to have a say in the outcome of the division didn’t go so well with a 65-21 rout in Palo Alto. They’ll try again here, and I think it could be closer but I don’t think it’ll be close enough.
• Louisiana Tech @ Fresno State (ESPNU): Yes, kids, this is a WAC game! Neither of these teams really do anything particularly well, but Fresno’s defense is apparently really bad, so we could have a shootout on our hands. I still like Fresno here though.
• Boise State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (CBSS): UNLV already gives up 40 points a game to teams that aren’t Boise State. This should be a bloodbath.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Missouri @ Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (FX): This Mizzou Big 12 schedule will soften up and propel them back to respectability, starting next week.
• Michigan State @ Nebraska (ESPN): Nebraska is a favorite in this game… how? I like Sparty to pull the “upset” here.
• Purdue @ Michigan (ESPN2): Michigan should roll.
• North Carolina State @ Florida State (ESPNU): FSU should roll.
• Northwestern @ Indiana (BTN): Northwestern isn’t good, but Indiana is awful. Wildcats should take it.
• Arkansas @ Vanderbilt (SEC): Vanderbilt’s made some noise in the SEC this year, but it’s hard to see how they can take Arkansas.

12:30: Virginia Tech @ Duke (ACC): VPI will do their usual “play to their level” thing but should win by a respectable margin in the end.

3:00:

• Washington State @ Oregon (FSN): Oh dear. Ducks roll.
• Boston College @ Maryland (ACC): I was going to say how painful this is going to bed, but then I realized that BC is really that much worse than Maryland. I like the Terps here.

3:30:

• Georgia vs. Florida (@Jacksonville, FL; CBS): These are two teams with similar records but vastly different schedules so far. Florida comes in with a 3-game losing streak, but two of those teams were Alabama and LSU, which hardly seems fair. They were also missing their starting quarterback for most of that span.
  Of course, the Cocktail Party brings me to another curiosity of college sports: an emphasis on tradition and history, when most of your players will completely cycle through every four years. Think about it. I’ll revisit that later. For now, I like the Gators.
• Navy @ Notre Dame (NBC): Navy’s going to be desperate (currently on a 5-game losing streak), and should cover, but I don’t think it’ll be enough. Domers win.
• Illinois @ Pennsylvania State (ESPN2/ABC): I declare the wheels officially off for Illinois now. Penn State won’t, role, per se, but I like them here.
• Baylor @ Oklahoma State (ABC/ESPN2): Neither of these teams plays a lot of defense, but Robert Griffin III’s one-man act probably won’t be enough against the Cowboys.
• West Virginia @ Rutgers (ABC): Somebody, anybody, please win the Big East. WVU winning would make my life a lot easier, so I’ll go with them.
• Oklahoma @ Kansas State (ESPN): The buck stops here for K-State. The Sooners should be out for blood this week.
• Southern Methodist @ Tulsa (FSN): This game will determine who gets to finish 2nd to Houston in C-USA West. SMU just lost pretty bad to the best C-USA team they’ve played this year (27-3 to Southern Miss) so I like Tulsa here.
• Wake Forest @ North Carolina (ESPNU): This is an up year for Wake, but Carolina should begin its trek out of the ACC Coastal basement here.
• Iowa @ Minnesota (BTN): Iowa has put up 41 and 45 in their last two games. This does not bode well for the Gophers.

7:00:

• Iowa State @ Texas Tech (FSN): Texas Tech should continue its newfound winning ways against this year’s version of a relatively hapless Iowa State squad.
• Mississippi @ Auburn (ESPNU): I will refrain from saying how badly Ole Miss will lose so Houston Nutt won’t come after me. So I’ll be nonspecific: it’ll be pretty bad.
• Mississippi State @ Kentucky (SEC/FSN): Before playing Jacksonville State last weekend, Kentucky had failed to score more than 17 points since September 10th. Now, Miss State isn’t that good this year or anything but I still like them here, suffice it to say.

7:15: South Carolina @ Tennessee (ESPN2): Can the Gamecocks cope without Marcus Lattimore? They’ve had a week off to try to figure it out, at least. I think they’ll win but they’ll still be on shaky ground the rest of the year.

8:00:

• Clemson @ Georgia Tech (ABC): I feel like I write this every year, but it goes back to what I was saying earlier about history in college football. We call it on it so much, yet so much as changed even from 2009. But I’ll say it anyway: Georgia Tech will win by less than a touchdown or Clemson will win by at least two.
  This game is always one that is marked on a Georgia Tech fan’s calendar. Clemson is GT’s closest ACC rival, a mere two hour drive up I-85. It is also one of Tech’s oldest rivals, as the two teams first played each other in 1898 and have played every year since 1962. Tech holds a large overall lead (49-25-1), but Clemson fans will be quick to remind you that Tech did not travel to Clemson until 1974. Since then, the teams are about as even as you can get: 16-16-1, with an average score of 19.73 to 24.18 in favor of Clemson.
  Of course, what does all that mean for this year’s game? Well, nothing really. If Tech can find its offensive mojo again they have a chance, otherwise this will be a one-sided track meet. With the offense sputtering the past few weeks and a special teams that are usually referred to undiplomatically as “special”, rationally it is hard for me to see us having a chance. Yet, it’s a rivalry game, it’s a night game (always the most fun, in my opinion), and I am nervous about it anyway.
• Stanford @ Southern California (ABC): Blah blah best team Stanford’s played so far blah blah. Whatever, the Cardinal should still blow them out.
• Wisconsin @ Ohio State (ESPN): So I coin “Wisconsin Death Machine” for their offense last weekend and what do they do? Score their lowest point output of the season (a “mere” 31 points). Then again, 31 should be enough to beat Ohio State this year.
• Southern Mississippi @ Texas-El Paso (CBSS): Southern Miss has blazed a trail of destruction across Conference USA since their inexplicable loss to Marshall in September 10th. They should easily handle UTEP provided they can get past the UTEP Reality Distortion Field.

10:30: Arizona @ Washington (FSN): Speaking of teams out for revenge after bad losses, oi, just turn your heads and look away Arizona fans. If you haven’t already.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Oklahoma State @ Missouri (FX): The biggest difficulty for me with these FX games so far is remembering they exist. I’m sure the Big 12 types remember, but I generally had an easier time when they were on FSN because then they were at least near everything else. As for the game, Oklahoma State should roll.
• North Carolina @ Clemson (ESPN): One of these weeks, Clemson will play with fire and get burned. I think this a game they could lose, but they probably won’t.
• Illinois @ Purdue (ESPN2): Illinois should be out for blood a week after losing their undefeated mark, but on the flip side this is a team coached by Ron Zook. So, who knows? They should still win though.
• Kansas State @ Kansas (FSN): Can K-State handle being heavy favorites in their in-state rivalry game? Yeah, they probably should be able to.
• Jacksonville State @ Kentucky (ESPNU): Kentucky won’t lose this game, but it could be too close for comfort.
• Indiana @ Iowa (BTN): Iowa can really put up the points against drastically inferior competition. I believe Indiana qualifies as such.
• Arkansas @ Mississippi (SEC): Can you imagine a SEC team giving up 60 in a conference game? Ole Miss almost did to the usually stodgy Crimson Tide last weekend, giving up 52. Arkansas should be worse.

12:30: Wake Forest @ Duke (ACC): This is apparently one of those years where all of the stars align for Wake Forest and they’re sort of halfway decent. Which is probably bad news for Duke.

3:00: Boston College @ Virginia Tech (ACC/FSN): BC’s defense isn’t, like, terrible. It’s not great or anything. But their offense is just so bad that even VPI should be able to win by (at least) 20.

3:30:

• Auburn @ Louisiana State (CBS): Yes, I get that LSU is missing several key players from this defense but still, we’ve got a freshman QB going into a place where even veteran QBs can whither and die. LSU all the way.
• Nebraska @ Minnesota (ABC/ESPN2): Nebraska isn’t as good as you probably think, but Minnesota is worse. Much worse.
• Maryland @ Florida State (ESPN2/ABC): Maryland sure has made it interesting the past couple of weeks, haven’t they? They may manage to do the same against FSU, but it’s still hard to see them breaking through.
• Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Iowa State (ABC): ISU just gave up 52 to Mizzou last weekend. I don’t see this ending well for them.
• Georgia Tech @ Miami (ESPN): I think I’ve mentioned each of the last three weeks the issues with our run defense. So what happened? Virginia ran all over us. That said, Georgia Tech had 3 chances to tie or take the lead in the 4th quarter but never mustered anything on offense.
  The usual things were said this week about “intensity” and “wanting it” and such on both sides of the ball. We certainly haven’t been as sharp since the UNC game, missing the big pass element of our game that had been so crucial early in the year. The defense is just, well, it’s a continual work in progress, though we should get two of our starting linebackers back this weekend.
  Miami enters with a rejuvenated offense but a very banged up defense. If this game turns into a shootout, I’m not really sure who I like better. Then again, that’s true regardless.
• North Carolina State @ Virginia (ESPNU): NC State isn’t very good, but neither is Virginia and we just lost to them. So, yeah, I have no idea. UVA could well be in for a letdown after their big (ugh) win last weekend.
• Oregon @ Colorado (FSN): Oregon will attempt to keep up with the Joneses in this one. In this case, the Joneses are Stanford (put up 48 points) and Washington (put up 52 points).
• Air Force @ Boise State (Versus): Air Force might keep it close for a half, but Boise should just be able to keep throwing it over their heads.
• East Carolina @ Navy (CBSS): Navy desperately needs a win to break out of a four game losing streak, and I think they’ll get it against ECU.

 7:00:

• Army @ Vanderbilt (ESPNU): In years past, this might’ve been a concern for the ‘Dores, but this year’s new and improved edition should be able to dispatch them fairly easily.
• Pennsylvania State @ Northwestern (BTN): Northwestern’s been more competitive in recent weeks, but they’re still losing due to a lack of a defense. However, Penn State is inept enough on offense to keep this close and possibly allow the upset.

7:15: Tennessee @ Alabama (ESPN2): This one might get ugly. Tide rolls.

7:30: Southern California @ Notre Dame (NBC): It’s the nation’s favorite intersectional rivalry! Mostly because, well, there aren’t really very many intersectional rivalries, but still. Outside of Michigan State and Michigan this will be Notre Dame’s toughest test by far, but it appears that it will benefit them to play this at home. USC has a suspiciously bad defense (for them), so I like the Domers.

8:00:

• Washington @ Stanford (ABC): This could be one of the more interesting Pac-12 matchups of the year, but ultimately I don’t think Udub can run with Stanford.
• Texas Tech @ Oklahoma (ABC): Texas Tech has only held two teams below 30 points this year: Texas State and New Mexico. I have to say, I don’t think I really like their chances against Oklahoma.
• Wisconsin @ Michigan State (ESPN): Gutting out wins won’t be enough against the Wisconsin Death Machine.
• Southern Methodist @ Southern Mississippi (CBSS): This could well turn into one of the more interesting games of the evening, but I like the Golden Eagles at home.

10:30: Oregon State vs. Washington State (@Seattle, WA; FSN): Well, Wazzou already beat one of the awful teams of the Pac-12 (Colorado), they should be able to do the same against Oregon State.