Since this is the first post of the year, I’ll explain how this works. Basically, I list each game that will be on TV for a particular weekend. In general, I list games that will be on a network that is reasonably national or feature a BCS team, though this judgment can be arbitrary. (For instance, I will list only national Big Ten Network games, but will always list the ACC and SEC regional games. Yeah, I’m biased.) Normally, I don’t list anything other than Saturday games except on special occasions, as the post usually goes up on Friday. I also include the following disclaimer:

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Thursday
7:00: South Carolina @ North Carolina State (ESPN): This is it. The first game of the year. Are you excited? Because I’m excited. Except, well, I won’t see any of these. But that’s all right! I’ll be on a plane destined for a much-needed vacation. That said, there’s been a fair amount of hype about NCSU this year and quite frankly I’m not sure why. They were the second worst team in the ACC last year and I’m not sure what they did to get better. Stever Spurrier is still trying to get his mojo back at South Carolina. I will begrudgingly take the Gamecocks here.

7:30: North Texas @ Ball State (ESPNU): So I get ESPNU now! Thanks Comcast! It makes me feel moderately better about the utterly ludicrous amount of money I have to pay for cable, I guess. Oh, also, UNT is terrible, taking Ball State here.

8:00: Eastern Kentucky @ Indiana (BTN): Hey, a game Indiana should win! Hope they don’t get too used to that.

10:15: Oregon @ Boise State (ESPN): You should stay up for this one, East Coast folks. Provided you survive the initial color clash of Oregon’s uniforms with the blue turf, you should be in for a treat as a big time program pays a visit Boise for the first time since Oregon State in 2006. Oregon State lost to that Boise team, that you probably remember from the legendary Fiesta Bowl that year versus Oklahoma. More notable, Boise won last year’s contest at Eugene, 37-32. Both these teams have lost some guys, but with less losses and the home field, I’ll take the Broncos.

Friday
8:00: Tulsa @ Tulane (ESPN): Conference USA! Feel the excitement! Tulsa will be trying to see if they can score more than 56 this time around, I suspect.

Saturday
Noon:

• Navy @ Ohio State (ESPN): Ohio State is going to honor the Middies before the game, a nice gesture. Perhaps they’ll only win by 3 TDs instead of 4?
• Minnesota @ Syracuse (ESPN2): This is a fairly amusing insight into rooting for a bad team. I especially like the “Quest for Toronto” feature. Gotta have reasonable goals. That said, I have to pick the Gophers.
• Kentucky vs. Miami University (@Cincinnati, OH; ESPNU): Guide to Miamis: MU is the one in Ohio, and UM is the one in Florida. I will be referring to them as such throughout the season. Oh, and uh, Kentucky.
• Akron @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): Penn State starts it’s, uh, “schedule” with a doozy against Akron. I’ll take Penn State.
• Western Kentucky @ Tennessee (SEC): Congratulations Western Kentucky, you’re now fully a member of Division I-A and the Sun Belt Conference! Now go be good boys and sacrifice yourself for the sake of getting Lane Kiffin his first college win.

1:00: Jacksonville State @ Georgia Tech (espn360.com): With wayward Ryan Perrilloux out, JSU is missing its best player. I will shy away from making an actual prediction as usual, but I do hope that we don’t overlook this won for their upcoming Thursday night dates. OH AND I AM SO EXCITED. WOOOO FOOTBAW.

3:30:

• Georgia @ Oklahoma State (ABC/GP): This is the first or second most interesting of the day, most likely. That said, I think UGA has just lost too much on offense to really keep up with OSU at home, so I’ll take the orange Cowboys.
• Baylor @ Wake Forest (GP/ESPN2/ABC): Baylor actually has a shot at this one, which is more than I would say. But one QB does not a team make, and Jim Grobe is perhaps the craftiest coach in the country.
• Western Michigan @ Michigan (ESPN2/ABC): I think Michigan will avoid losing, but I didn’t say they would avoid embarrassment.
• Nevada @ Notre Dame (NBC): Nevada is not chopped liver here. But it is at ND and ND should succeed on sheer talent alone. Should.
• San Jose State @ Southern California (FSN): Yeah, uh… hrm. This line is 32-33.5 right now, and well, I like USC to cover.
• Jackson State @ Mississippi State (ESPNU): Hey, it’s a team Miss State will be able to beat. Not sure how much they’ll be able to say that this year.

3:40: Missouri vs. Illinois (@St. Louis, MO; ESPN): I’ve made it know I like this series of games elsewhere, so I’ll stop now. But suffice it to say, these are both good teams, but I think year’s edition of Illinois is probably better.

7:00:

• Brigham Young vs. Oklahoma (@Arlington, TX; ESPN): This is a pretty interesting game. Even if BYU is just competitive they can make a statement. If they win? That would, just, wow. That said, I still have to take OU.
• Louisiana Tech @ Auburn (ESPNU): Auburn. I’m running out of time, so these will be short unless it’s interesting from here on out.
• Northern Illinois @ Wisconsin (BTN): Wisconsin.

8:00: Alabama vs. Virginia Polytechnic (ABC): I’ll try to see this, but I doubt I’ll be able to. For the sake of my conference I want VPI to win. I think this will be a defensive struggle, but ‘Bama just has to have more offensive talent, don’t they? It’ll be close but I have to admit the Tide will probably end up on top.

10:00: Maryland @ California (ESPN2): California. Okay, this is actually kind of interesting, and while this is probably the best Terp outfit in awhile, I still like Cal better.

10:30: Louisiana State @ Washington (ESPN): LSU. Washington will probably win a game this year… just not this one.

Sunday
3:30: Mississippi @ Memphis (ESPN): Sunday games! The best way to know the NFL hasn’t started yet, outside of the games tomorrow. That said, Ole Miss doesn’t need a lot of pre-season hype to know they should beat Memphis.

7:00: Colorado State @ Colorado (FSN): There’s a certain segment of the Georgia Tech fanbase that wants to move the Georgia game to the beginning of the season. Hogwash, I say. It’s a lot more fun at the end of the year. That said, when your rival is a major conference team, I guess you take what you can get when you’re CSU. CU probably wins.

Monday
4:00: Cincinnati @ Rutgers (ESPN): Almost there! Woo. Rutgers had a terrible start last year, including a 13-10 loss to eventual conference champ Cincy. No one has any Earthly idea who is supposed to win the Big East this year. It could even be Rutgers! Could. That said, I like Cincy here.

8:00: University of Miami @ Florida State (ESPN): A lot of folks are predicting the return of Miami this year. Not a lot are predicting the return of FSU. I’m not really that optimistic about either team, but I do like Miami better in this game.

And that’s it! I fly off to Seattle this afternoon and will miss a lot of these, but rest-assured I will be back in full force next week!

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Friday
8:00: Ball State vs. Buffalo (@Detroit, MI; ESPN2): We get the championship weekend started with the resurgent Buffaloes and potential hot coaching commodity Turner Gill versus undefeated Ball State. There was apparently an offer for the Cardinals to play Boise State, but out in Boise, which I agree is silly. Anyway, Ball State goes 13-0 and then off to the Motor City Bowl, most likely.

Saturday
Noon:

• Pittsburgh @ Connecticut (ESPN): I’m going to be frank here and say this is going to be a really boring game. UConn hasn’t beaten anyone other than Syracuse in a month, so I guess I’ll go with Pitt.
• East Carolina @ Tulsa (ESPN2): ECU has had a real roller coaster season, but they’ve been more consistent than their other C-USA East brethren. Except for two nightmare weeks, Tulsa has been pretty darn good, and with the home field advantage I’ll go with them.
• Navy vs. Army (@Philadelphia, PA; CBS): I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I want Army to win, but will pick Navy to do so. Also, this matches up two of the top 10 rushing offenses in the country, so there’s also that.

1:00: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College (@Tampa, FL; ABC): If the fans of the schools involved can’t be bothered to show up, why should I? Seriously, this game cannot get to Charlotte quickly enough. That said, Virginia Tech’s offense is epically bad, barely scraping out victories against a depleted Duke squad and a very mediocre UVA. I’m taking BC.

3:00: Washington @ California (FSN): Cal. Next!

4:00: Alabama vs. Florida (@Atlanta, GA; CBS): It’s Bama! It’s Florida! And my very overused cliche! Anyway, this game is very tough to predict. Florida is flat-out one of the most productive offense teams in the country and has not scored less than 38 points since the baffling loss to Ole Miss. Alabama may not be as flashy on offense, but come in sporting thirds place in total and scoring defense. It’s difficult for me to pick a team here. I was convinced that I was going to pick ‘Bama, but maybe it’s my bias or just being impressed with Florida’s offense performance this season. If there’s anything I’ve learned in life, though, your first instinct is usually right. So I’ll stick with Bama, though it pains me so.

4:30: Southern California @ California-Los Angeles (ABC): USC. Next!

8:00:

• Missouri vs. Oklahoma (@Kansas City, MO; ABC): Honestly, while Mizzou is a good football team it has been shown several times this year they haven’t really been able to run with the elite of the Big 12 South this year. It also helps that OU has put up 60+ for a month now. Of course, this game has produced surprising results on occassion, but I’m going to stick with the favorite.
• Arizona State @ Arizona (ESPN): ASU has to be in the conversation amoung most disappointing teams this year. As I said last night, the winner here earns a trip to the Las Vegas Bowl. ASU has won 3 straight, but against 3 of hte worst teams in the Pac-10 this year. Of course, Arizona hasn’t won since beating Wazzou a few weeks, but I’ll take them anyway, and then probably forget about the game as I’ll be watching Mizzou-OU.
• South Florida @ West Virginia (ESPN2): Speaking of disappointing seasons, I think both of these teams have had one. WVU still has better talent, though maybe not good coaching as the Bill Stewart face has permeated the Internet this year. Nonetheles, I’m picking WVU.

11:30: Cincinnati @ Hawaii (ESPN2): Wouldn’t be hilarious if Hawaii beat the Big East Champion? It’s unlikely, though, as they only managed 24 on a very moribund Wazzou squad. I’ll take Cincy here.

Here’s your viewing guide for the entire weekend. Enjoy!

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Thursday
8:00: Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Texas (ESPN): In a move to ensure a full day of football, TAMU and Texas agreed to move their game from Friday to Thursday night. Of course, the game probably won’t be that good, since it is in Austin and TAMU is really bad. Texas names their own score and attempts to prevent Oklahoma from leapfrogging them in the polls.

Friday
12:00: West Virginia @ Pittsburgh (ABC): Both teams enter the Backyard Brawl with 7-3 records. But are these records created equal? Both teams have a loss to Big East champ Cincinnati. Outside of that, WVU had early season losses to ECU and Colorado, and Pitt lost their opner to Bowling Green and later on to a resurgent Rutgers. But “resurgent” seems to describe both these teams, really, because mentioned above WVU has only lost once since losing to Colorado back in September. I would say it comes down to coaching but we’re dealing with a matchup of the Wannstache and Bill “Somewhat Incompetent” Stewart. So then it comes down to players, and one of these teams has Pat White, and that’s WVU.

12:30: Mississippi State @ Mississippi (Raycom/Gameplan): A moment of silence, please.

This is the last game for the Daves. I wrote about this back in August and it applies now. I just hope that ESPN’s regional syndication arm picks these guys up. As for the game itself, Ole Miss should win handily.

2:30: Louisiana State @ Arkansas (CBS): LSU is not a very good football team. We know this now. I would say Arkansas is really bad, but has anyone noticed that their worst margin of losing since the Auburn game is 7 points to South Carolina? I still favor LSU here, but don’t go predicting blowouts here.

3:30: Colorado @ Nebraska (ABC): Colorado’s 2 Big 12 wins came against two of the worst teams in the conference (Kansas State and Iowa State). While winning here gets them to a bowl, I think Nebraska pulls it out.

6:00: Fresno State @ Boise State (ESPN2): I tried to watch the San Jose St. – Fresno State game last week and just ugh. This Fresno team isn’t really trhat good and will probably suffer mightily in the cold on the blue turf up in Boise.

9:30: California-Los Angeles @ Arizona State (ESPN): Both these teams need a win here to maintain an outside shot at bowl eligilibility. Of course, ASU has the easier path since they play the relatively tame Wildcats of Arizona next week as opposed to USC. UCLA’s only road win this year was @Washington, so I’m going to go with the Sun Devils here.

Saturday
Noon:

• Georgia Tech @ Georgia (CBS): To Hell With Georgia.
• Virginia @ Virginia Tech (ESPN): The lines are drawn and regardless of the above result if VPI loses Georgia Tech will play in Tampa next week. UVA is fighting for a bowl spot and is riding a 3-game losing streak into Blacksburg. VPI hasn’t really been puching the consistency close themselves, either and lacks a serious amount of any offensive competence, as shown in the so-called football game played against Duke last weekend. That said, I will pick VPI but root like hell for UVA.
• South Carolina @ Clemson (ESPN2): The Citadel and South Carolina State are the main reasons why Clemson is 6-5 and not bowl eligible. They need to win here against South Carolina to get to a bowl. With resounding wins over, well, um, Duke and UVA they’re getting hot at the right time. South Carolina has been mostly consistent in the muddled middle of the pack of the SEC. They got absolutely waxed at Florida two weeks ago, though, so it’s tough to make a call here. With the noon start, I don’t think there’ll be a huge advantage for Clemson at home and I’ll take the Gamecocks, though I view this game as essentially a pick ’em.
• Miami @ North Carolina State (Raycom/Gameplan):NCSU has amazingly won 3 straight against mediocre competition. Miami had won 5 straight before their shallacking last week at the hands of GT (woo). Neither of these teams are particularly good in my opinion. NCSU just, well, isn’t despite their 3 game winning streak, or perhaps more accurately I refuse to believe they are. Despite having an offense led by Pat Nix, I don’t really think that Miami is as bad as they showed last week. So the question may be whether NCSU as good as the team that manhandled UNC last week? I really have no idea. A coin flip says Miami.

12:30: Missouri @ Kansas (FSN): Missouri, try not to overlook Kansas too much on your way to the Big 12 title game, eh?

3:30:

• Auburn @ Alabama (CBS): As much as I hate to admit, Alabama can and will win tomorrow. Hopefully it’ll at least be close.
• Florida @ Florida State (ABC/ESPN2): I saw somewhere the line was UF by 16.5? Yeah. I’d take Florida to cover.
• Maryland @ Boston College (ESPN2/ABC): Quick summary: BC wins and they’re win. Maryland wins and FSU is in. I’ve liked BC all year and I like them again here.
• Baylor @ Texas Tech (Versus): TTU was embarrassed last weekend. But the odds of it happening again are slim. TTU wins.

6:30: Kentucky @ Tennessee (ESPN2): Tennessee may have beat Vandy last weekend, but I think it was more of Vandy not playing well more than anything else. Of course, Kentucky lost to Vandy and hasn’t shown any indication recently of being decent. Relucantly going with Tennessee here.

7:00: Oregon @ Oregon State (Versus): This is the second biggest game of the day in terms of the potential money involved for the Pac-10 and Big Ten. Oregon State should win, though. Oregon is not a bad team, of course. But both these teams have played an equivalent Pac-10 schedule, and Oregon State has just been consistent through the Pac-10 over the past few months.

8:00:

• Oklahoma @ Oklahoma State (ABC): Perhaps the most important considerations of this game are that OSU is a pretty good team and they are at home. But Oklahoma has just been better throughout the year, and while this series has had plenty of stunning upsets in recent history I think OU prevails Saturday night.
• Notre Dame @ Southern California (ESPN): Southen Cal names their own score against hapless Notre Dame.

Happy Turkey Day, everyone!

I love Thursday night games. What I like even more is that we managed to win this year.

Das Jackets are now 8-3 with 1 game to go. We’re basically at the upper bound of what I predicted we could this year (4 to 8 wins), based on all the stuff that happened in the offseason. And what I saw tonight is one of the best games mentally Tech has played all year. There was only really one or two major player mistakes (the chop block early in the 1st quarter, which was legit, and the bad pitch by Jaybo in the third) and one coaching mistake (the onside kick after MJ’s pick-6). All these mistakes presented opportunities to let Miami into the game, but the team recovered and shut down Miami on offense until garbage time. The Tech offense didn’t let up until late in the 3rd quarter, and perhaps best of all the Jackets never trailed in this game.

Anyway, unlike the crap last weekend, there’s actaully some games on Saturday. So let’s do some predictin’.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Michigan @ Ohio State (ABC): It’s Michigan! It’s Ohio State! Er, wait, OSU is favored by three touchdowns? Trivia of the week: The last time either team came in with a losing record was OSU in 1988 (they were 4-5-1 at the time, and then lost). The last time Michigan came into this game with a losing record was 1967. As for the prediction part, well, I agree with Vegas on this one.
• West Virginia @ Louisville (ESPN): Louisville has no moment here, as losers of 3 straight. The only thing in their favor is WVU’s terrible coaching, but even so I don’t like the Cardinals’ chances here.
• Indiana @ Purdue (ESPN2): I like how this game is on national TV but Illinois-Northwestern isn’t. At least Northwestern is going to go a bowl. Anyway, will the Boilermakers be able to win one for Joe “Oatmeal” Tiller? Since both are 1-6 in the Big Ten and 3-8 overall, and also terrible in general, this game is about a push as far as I’m concerned. So I’ll just root for Purdue and move on.
• North Carolina State @ North Carolina (Raycom/Gameplan): GT needs UNC to lose one of its last two games, but I don’t really see that happened. Of course, I didn’t really see UNC losing to Maryland last week, either, but them’s the breaks. Also, Maryland is better than Duke and NC State, even in this topsy-turvy ACC. Tarheels win.
• Clemson @ Virginia (Raycom/Gameplan): If Clemson pulls out a win here, they will be bowl eligible. Talk a miracle comeback. Tech also needs UVA to lose again, but I don’t really see that here either. Cavs win.

12:30: Tennessee @ Vanderbilt (Raycom/Gameplan): The last time Tennessee did not go to a bowl was 2005, where Vandy (having blown their chance to do so) played the spoiler. While there will probably still be more construction orange than black or gold in Nashville, I like Vandy’s chances here now that they have the bowl qualification monkey off their back.

2:30: Syracuse @ Notre Dame (NBC): Man, I really wanted Navy to win last week. Oh well. This is pretty automatic for ND here as long as they’re not looking forward to next week.

3:00: Washington @ Washington State (FSN): CRIPPLE FIGHT. The two worst teams in major college football will face off in the Apple Cup Saturday. Hilariously, both teams have scored the same paltry amount of points (139) but U-Dub’s defense is allowing 10 points less per game. I suspect this will be the edge here, so I’ll take the Huskies.

3:30:

• Mississippi @ Louisiana State (CBS): I don’t know if the rest of the college football world noticed, but LSU nearly lost to Troy last week. The short story is that for 3 quarters, LSU’s quarterbacks were really, really bad. That said, I still like LSU here as at every other skill position they are more talented than Ole Miss. (That said, if LSU is down 31 at the start of the 4th quarter they’re not coming back this time. I think that’s obvious, though.)
• Michigan State @ Pennsylvania State (ESPN2/ABC): Penn State is playing for the Rose Bowl here, basically. If Michigan State wins, they will probably have a case for one of the other BCS bowls. If Penn State wins, and I think they will, then they’ll go to the Rose.
• Boston College @ Wake Forest (Gameplan/ESPN2/ABC): Wake has been, well, inconsistent this year. I realize this is moniker that could apply to every team in the ACC, but still they lost to by far the worst team in the conference last week. Meanwhile, BC is on something of a roll after wins over Notre Dame and FSU. I like the Eagles here.
• Stanford @ California (ABC): My favorite thing about this game? The Stanford Jonah. Yes, that’s right, the song GT ripped off at the 1929 Rose Bowl and turned into “Up With the White and Gold”. So I get to watch a usually entertaining game (and, if you look at the coverage map, not many people will) and sing one of our fight songs. Everyone wins! At any rate, Stanford needs this win to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2001. I’m not really optimistic about their chances, so I’ve got to pick Cal here.
• Air Force @ Texas Christian (Versus): Hey, uh, Versus? If you were going to show a Mountain West game, why not, you know, BYU-Utah? I mean, I’m just saying. At any rate, I may watch this just for AF’s true wishbone offense (at least, I think it is) but TCU should prevail.
• Illinois @ Northwestern (BTN): I wonder when the last time NU was favored here? Well, I don’t know if Vegas does but I do.

7:00:

• Oregon State @ Arizona (Versus): Oregon State is living the dream right now, and as long as they don’t overlook Arizona I think they will go into next weekend with a very real chance of winning the Pac-10.
• Iowa @ Minnesota (BTN): Minnesota has got to be the turn-around story of the year. Of course, they’re not exactly ending on a high note at the moment as they’ve lost 3 straight with bad losses to Big Ten bottom-dwellers (and try not to laugh (too much)) Michigan and Wisconsin. Despite every lesson I’ve ever learned about Iowa, I like them here.

7:15: Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati (ESPN2): I really just cannot take the Wann-stache here. Also, a win here would just about clinch the conference for Cincy, as they’d hold tiebreakers over everyone except UConn. So I like the Bearcats.

7:45: Florida State @ Maryland (ESPN): While a win here does not clinch the ACC Atlantic for the Turtle, it does keep them in the driver’s seat. Also, nothing about FSU scares me and the game is at Maryland, where it will be cold (and loud, if anyone shows up). I’ll take the Terps here.

8:00: Texas Tech @ Oklahoma (ABC): If I had a copy of “The Final Countdown” I’d start playing it right now. Of course, the question is, does a loss to Oklahoma even knock TTU out of the title game? I’m not so sure it does. Oklahoma would be best loss sported by any of the 1-loss teams. And if OSU beats Oklahoma next week TTU would still go to the Big 12 Title Game with a shot at redemption anyway. So maybe this isn’t quite the final countdown. At any rate, I like Texas Tech. This offense is just too good. I realize both offenses are good but OU’s is pretty white break in my opinion, whereas I (and the talking heads are jumping on board with this) think of Mike Leach as a pass-happy version of Paul Johnson. So I have to go with Texas Tech here.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Notre Dame vs. Navy (@Baltimore, MD; CBS): Should Navy win this game? Probably not, despite everything ND still had more talent on both sides of the ball. Can Navy win this game? Almost certainly, and I’ll project them to the upset.
• Ohio State @ Illinois (ESPN): That Pryor guy’s pretty good, I hear. OSU names their own score.
• Northwestern @ Michigan (ESPN2): When people talk about how boring ACC football is, I think of Big Ten football and games like this. Despite how bad Michigan has been they could definitely win this game, but I think NU pulls it out anyway.
• Indiana @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): Penn State had their bad game of the year last weekend, but unfortunately (for them) it was against a mediocre Iowa team and they don’t have the schedule to make up for it. They’ll get back on the Rose Bowl tracks against the Hoosiers, though.
• Duke @ Clemson (Raycom/Gameplan): Man, I don’t know about Duke anymore. They started off so well! Then they, uh, lost to by far the worst team in the ACC last week. Whoops! Anyway, I’m going to go ahead and take the Tigers. Duke is just, you know, Duke at this point instead of “darkhorse ACC sleeper”.

12:30:

• Texas @ Kansas (FSN): Texas doesn’t need William Shatner to explain that they can name their own score for this one.
• Georgia @ Auburn (Raycom/Gameplan): Georgia may easily be one of the most disappointing teams in the country this year. And I couldn’t be happier about it. I’d be really happy if they, say, ended the season on a 2-note losing streak. Once again, though, my heart says “maybe they’ll play like this did last week against Kentucky but lose this time” but my brain says that “Auburn hasn’t beaten anyone worth a damn this year and has lost 4 straight against DI-A competition”. So I’ll go with the brain. For now.

3:30:

• South Carolina @ Florida (CBS): South Carolina isn’t a bad football team, no. But what follows is the amount of points Florida has scored against SEC competition since their miscue against Ole Miss: 38, 51, 63, 49, and 42. For those of you as calculator dependent as I am, that’s 48.6 points per game. And that’s not terrible. What I’m trying to say is while The Visor going back to Gainesville makes a good storyline this probably won’t be a good game.
• California @ Oregon State (ABC/Gameplan): Oregon State controlling their own destiny is the one thing I don’t think I’ve heard anyone on TV talking about. I know it’s sort of a long shot considering their remaining schedule, but still! This would have huge effects on the BCS bowls because Oregon State is not even sniffing the rankings. That said, it’s tough to predict how they will perform against the first decent team they’ve played since Utah. I’m going to test the waters here and predict an OSU win.
• Minnesota @ Wisconsin (ESPN/ABC/Gameplan): Yet Another Big Ten Game That Involves a Trophy. Man, we should invent a trophy for our “rivalry” against, say, Duke! Yeah, there you go. Anyway, Wisconsin has dominated this series over the past 4 years, but I think despite the loss to Michigan last week Minnesota is poised to turn the tide.
• North Carolina @ Maryland (Gameplan/ESPN/ABC): This is an ACC football game involving two teams within a couple games of each other. Most outside observers would say this is pretty much a toss-up, but UNC has really been the most consistent team in the conference. I am not even kidding. And for UMD, there are worse teams to lose to than VPI, but I think UNC is a reasonably talented football team and will win. (Now watch Maryland hang 50 on them for no apparent reason.)
• Brigham Young @ Air Force (CBSCS): I was thinking about dropping the CBS College Sports games this week, but then I saw this matchup and realized I’d feature it anyway. While Air Force doesn’t control its own destiny in the Mountain West, it can sure affect BYU’s chance to knock Utah off at the end of the year. That said, I still think BYU is capable of defeating Air Force, blowout loss to TCU nonwithstanding.

6:30: Missouri @ Iowa State (FSN): Man, what is it like to lose eight straight games? Like, it’s one thing to lose all of them, Wazzou-style. But Iowa State started off 2-0! Anyway, Oklahoma State put up 59 on them a few weeks ago and I guess Mizzou will try to top that for style points or something.

7:00: Southern California @ Stanford (Versus): I almost went to this game, but apparently people are actually bothering to show up for this so the tickets are ridiculously expensive. Just out of spite, I will predict a USC win. Oh screw it, they’ll win yes, but I’m rooting for the Cardinal just because it’s more fun that way.

7:45: Mississippi State @ Alabama (ESPN): I think I said this last week but I think the odds of this edition of Alabama getting Croom’d this year are pretty slim. Anyway, if I had a cowbell I’d be ringing it throughout this contest, but in reality the Sabanators will probably win by 30 or 40.

8:00:

• Boston College @ Florida State (Gameplan/ABC): Things FSU will not do this weekend: pass, as they’ve suspsended 5 WRs. Unfortunately for them, that was kind of a weapon for them this year. Do they still have the talent to beat BC? Probably, but so did ND and BC took care of business 17-0. This one will be a close, offensive-less ACC battle probably in the 14-10 neighborhood. I think BC will have the 14.
• Oklahoma State @ Colorado (ABC/Gameplan): I’m not sure what this game did to deserve the prime time slot. OSU by like 30 or whatever.
• Vanderbilt @ Kentucky (ESPN2): Vandy! You coulda been a contenda! But you had to lose the mojo and lose 4-straight, including two inexplicable losses to Duke and Mississippi State. 1 win! That’s how close you are! For once, I’ll take the sentimental favorite just because.

10:15: California-Los Angeles @ Washington (FSN): Sometimes I look forward to these late-night West Coast games, especially since they’re not really all that late here. Not this one, though. Anyway, UCLA all the way.