Welcome to week four of the college football season! Only 11 more to go!

For anyone happening on this from Facebook, this is pretty much what I do here. Each of the following is a game featuring at least one DI-A team from a BCS conference on national television, with additional exceptions for games that are interesting but only on regionally (read: the Raycom ACC and SEC “Games of the Week”). My idea of national is mostly based on what Comcast carries because that is what I currently have – so you’ll see the national Big Ten Network game of the week but not the ESNPU game unless I want to talk about it.

As usual, all times are Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• East Carolina @ North Carolina State (ESPN): NCSU has scored 9 offensive points against DI-A teams this year, losing in blowouts to South Carolina and Clemson. Granted, those were both on the road, but I’ve seen nothing to make me thing that NCSU has any idea what they’re doing. Meanwhile, the Pirates needed a touchdown in the last two minutes to beat lowly Tulane, though that was their first road game of the year. I’m looking for ECU to win, though it may be closer than many think.
• Iowa @ Pittsburgh (ESPN2): If this weren’t on an ESPN, I wouldn’t write about it. I can’t think of anything positive to say about either team. Iowa is 3-0, but all three teams are decidedly worse than them (Maine, FIU, and Iowa St.). Pitt, meanwhile, lost to Bowling Green and hasn’t played for two weeks since beating Buffalo. (Which I don’t think I’ve seen before – a two week break, that is.) I hate to pick another road team here, but I’ll go with Iowa so at least I can be mildly interested in this game.
• Troy @ Ohio State (BTN): Do I want Troy to win? Yes. Do I think they will? No.
• Mississippi State @ Georgia Tech (Raycom/Gameplan): This is an intriguing matchup for the Jackets. And not because of conference pride. Miss St. is terrible offensively (see the 3-2 debacle last weekend), and the Jackets had 3 fumbles last week in Blacksburg. Outside of just the fumbles, though, there is plenty of room of improvement for the Jackets. In what I suspect may be an issue all year, the middle of the offensive line has to get better blocks coming off the snap – with as often as VPI was in the backfield, it’s surprising there weren’t more fumbles lost. I say this because GT never established the first option in the triple option – the dive up the middle. B-back Dwyer had 10 carries for only 28 yards as VPI stacked the the middle-of-the-line. The other Tech then sold out on the 2nd option, the pitch-man on the outside. The result? A very banged up Josh Nesbitt, who ran 28 times for 151 yards. 5.4 yards per carry is nice, of course, but you don’t really want your QB getting banged up like that, and he is also prone to fumbling the ball. The good news for GT is that their best WR is back, which opens up the downfield pass even more. Anyway, I’ll be up early for this one.

12:30: Alabama @ Arkansas (Raycom/Gameplan): Alabama is 3-0! Which makes me very glad I’m not there last now, because I’m sure the press and fans are insufferable. We’ll ignore that they have 1 legit victory out of that (Clemson). Of course, we know about as much about Arkansas. Well, except that they needed last minute touchdowns to beat both DI-AA Western Illinois and annual DI-A punching bag UL-Monroe. I will reluctantly go with ‘Bama here.

3:00: Arizona @ California-Los Angeles (FSN): Yeah, I picked UCLA last week. Then they got shut out and embarrassed by the Stormin’ Mormons. Luckily for UCLA, this game is in, well, LA and against annual Pac-10 doormat Arizona, who has already lost to decidedly-worse-than-BYU New Mexico. Goin’ with Slick Rick and the Baby Blues here.

3:30:

• Florida @ Tennessee (CBS): SEC East football! Woo! Tennessee is looking to restore its reputation as the loss to UCLA now looks kind of bad. Florida, meanwhile, just got Percy Harvin back, this restoring the other 1/3 of Florida’s offense that isn’t Tim Tebow. Florida’s defensive secondary is still suspect, but so is Tennessee’s quarterback. Since Tebow plays for the Gators, I give them a slight edge on the road.
• Notre Dame @ Michigan State (ABC/ESPN): Michigan losing to ND says a lot more about Michigan than Notre Dame. Michigan State should win, but I’ll hesitate on calling for the rout. Unfortunately, the is the ABC national game for everyone who not on the Atlantic seaboard, the Southeast, and the area East of New Mexico and south of Missouri. Except for Orlando, FL. Let’s just move on.
• Miami @ Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (ABC/Gameplan): Ugh. Both these teams are terrible. I think TAMU is worse, mostly due to losing to Arkansas State. At home. I expect a repeat of last year’s 34-17 romp by Miami.
• Virginia Tech @ North Carolina (ABC/ESPN/Gameplan): This is a game that a lot of people are saying will be closer than people think. Heck, Vegas even has the Hokies as an underdog, though it’s only by 3 (essentially, they’re saying they have no clue). I guess the perception among most is that VPI is a favorite anyway. If were betting on this game, I wouldn’t take UNC and the 3, that’s for sure. I’ll even go ahead and pick VPI straight-up. Tyrod Taylor looked good enough against GT last week, and all the UNC-Rutgers game told me was that Rutgers isn’t good anymore. Speaking of whom…
• Rutgers @ Navy (CBS College Sports):

4:00: Utah @ Air Force (Versus): Both are 3-0, but Air Force’s 3-0 is against a couple very bad teams. The Utes, meanwhile, have victories over Michigan and, for what it’s worth, UNLV. I’ll go with them.

7:00:

• Wake Forest @ Florida State (ESPN2): I have no idea what the line is and I’m too tired to look it up. What do I know is that if FSU is favored the oddsmakers are crazy. FSU’s offense is just terrible.
• Rice @ Texas (FSN): Finally, I can pick a home team to win! Old SWC foes face off for the 6th straight time. The last time Rice beat Texas was in 1994, when the SWC still existed. The last time Rice had consecutive victories over the Longhorns was in 1953 and 1954. Ouch.
• Ball State @ Indiana (BTN): I don’t have anything constructive to say about this game. Indiana should win.

7:45: Louisiana State @ Auburn (ESPN): Auburn will score more than 3 points in this game. However, I haven’t seen anything to make me thing they will be able to score enough. Tentatively picking LSU.

8:00:

• Georgia @ Arizona State (ABC): Though it’d be almost everything I’d ever want or hope for, I can’t pick ASU here.
• Texas Christian @ Southern Methodist (CBS College Sports): TCU wins.

No update on stats this weekend unless I feel like doing them later. Answer to last week’s question was “Charlotte.” No trivia this week.

Anyway, live from the ATL, here’s this weekend’s somewhat noteworthy games. As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• California @ Maryland (ESPN): Normally, I like to make fun of coaches that are going down faster than a sinking ship (see: DaCoachO and John L. Smith), but I have hard time doing so for Das Fridge. But, yes, UMD probably has the hottest seat in the country and various message board pundits are predicting he will be fired or quit at or by the end of the season. What does this mean to you? Cal by a couple of touchdowns, at least.
• Florida Atlantic @ Michigan State (ESPN2): Normally, I wouldn’t dignify this game with a response, but look below. See that? That’s a bonfide rivalry game. This? This is bullshit. I shouldn’t have to say it, but MSU by a few scores.
• Iowa State @ Iowa (BTN): Sometime, I should look up why these two didn’t play each other after the 1934 season for 42 years. Until then, the home team has won the last three, and I don’t see any reason why that’ll change here.
• North Carolina State @ Clemson (Raycom/Gameplan): NC State lost to moribund South Carolina 34-0 in week 1, and then only beat William and Mary by 10. Clemson’s had their own troubles this year, but shouldn’t at home against the Wolfpack.

12:30:

• Nevada @ Missouri (FSN): Mizzou in a route.
• Alabama-Birmingham @ Tennessee (Raycom/Gameplan): I don’t really have anything different to say about this game. I mean, what can you say about UAB? Well, I guess it’s easy money.

3:30:

• Michigan @ Notre Dame (NBC): Slapfight! If I had to set an over-under for this game, it’d be somewhere around 16. Michigan by a field goal.
• Georgia @ South Carolina (CBS): Much like a cat playing with a mouse, UGA will bat South Carolina around for a bit before finally severing the spinal cord sometime in the middle of the 3rd quarter.
• Georgia Tech @ Virginia Polytechnic (ABC/ESPN/Gameplan): Once again, it’s difficult to make predictions about a GT game. A preview I read earlier this week from the VPI side pointed out nearly half of GT’s offensive yards last game came off 3 plays, though this hardly surpirses me it does inspire a cause of concern. I break it down like this. Each of these defenses are good, or at any rate, will look good in this game. Special teams is a concern for each club, though I will go the traditional route and attribute greater special teams prowress to Virginia Tech. And so we come to the offense. Both teams have questions on offense. As noted above, GT has been getting yards on big plays more than the methodical drive of the option. VPI is trying to integrate Tyrod Taylor, the classic example of how the backup just has to be better than the starter, though to be fair Glennon has been terrible this season. I really have no idea who will come out on top here, and as usual I will not hazard a guess for this game.
• Oregon @ Purdue (ESPN/ABC): Intersectional footbaal, woo! Purdue cruised to victory over a DI-AA scrub last week, meanwhile Oregon beat the tar out of Washington as well as annual “one of the worst teams in DI-A” contender Utah State. They’ve met once before, and only 20 points were scored as Purdue won 13-7. I would expect there will be many more points than that by the end of the day, with the scoreboard likely in Oregon’s favor.
• Pennsylvania State @ Syracuse (Gameplan/ABC): The ‘Cuse already lost to Northwestern by 20 and Akron by 16. Meanwhile, Penn State may actually be good this year. I don’t think I need to spell this out for you.
• California-Los Angeles @ Brigham Young (Versus): BYU is a trendy pick, along with ECU, as a BCS buster this year. (And unlike ECU, they were ranked in the pre-season.) However, unlike the Pirates, the Stormin’ Mormons barely espcated Seattle with a win over a pretty bad Washington squad. Like most folks, I agree this depends on which UCLA QB shows up. But nonetheless, I’ll take the minor upset angle here and go with UCLA.

7:00: Auburn @ Mississippi State (ESPN2): I’d say there’s about a 20% chance of Auburn getting Croom’d here. Maybe lower. Nonetheless, Tigers prevail.

7:45: Oklahoma @ Washington (ESPN): Washington is not very good again, or at any rate, not really good enough to beat OU. Big 12 goes to 2-0 in Seattle on the year.

8:00: Ohio State @ Southern California (ABC): Almost done, which is good because I’m tired. Many pixels have been dedicated to this game so I don’t think there’s much I can tell you. I didn’t think OSU had much of a chance beforehand, and with the likely loss of their starting running back for this game I will surprise absolutely no on and pick USC in this national-title semifinal.

10:30: Wisconsin @ Fresno State (ESPN2): Wisconsin has to know this is a trap. Fresno is good, and has a chance to knock off some big boys this year. You can bet that they are ready. It is difficult to get a read on the Badgers becaues they have played absolutely no one. Fresno has had 12 days to rest and get ready for this game. It’s probably not an upset, but I will go with Fresno here.

That’s all for this week. Now for some sleep.

Well, last week I “predicted” (read: guessed) the outcome of 27 games, and I got 16 of them right. Of course, several of the incorrect guesses include Virginia Tech, Michigan, and Clemson, so yeah.

By the way, the answer to last week’s trivia question (“Which state is Jacksonville State located in?”) was “Alabama”. This week’s question is embedded in the summaries below, and feel free to leave your answer in the comments.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Ohio @ Ohio State (ESPN): I’m tired and I’ll keep this short. Ohio State rolls, in the manner of chariots of old. Or something.
• Miami @ Michigan (ESPN2): I am reasonably confident that Michigan can handle the Miami that is in Ohio. Reasonably. Even if they got through 2 or 3 quarterbacks again.
• Georgia Tech @ Boston College (Raycom/Gameplan): And here’s the first real test of Georgia Tech’s new offense. I have to admit I do not feel good about this. From what I saw and what I have read our offensive line is simply not doing the things they need to do get off the line, cut their assignment, and get to the second level. Another key will be discipline. Last week Tech had two chop blocks called against them, and while one of them was definitely iffy, this is a point of emphasis for the officials this year and something they need to be conscious of. Also, they have to contend with a defensive line that is on the same level as our own. On the flip side, BC has a good, experienced offensive line, and it will be interesting to see how they match up with our athletic defensive line. Both teams have weaknesses in the secondary, but both teams also don’t figure to pass the ball a lot.

12:30: Southern Mississippi @ Auburn (Raycom/Gameplan): USM has played SEC spoiler in the past, but probably not today.

3:00: Brigham Young @ Washington (FSN): There’s little indication that Washington has done anything to get better over the past year, and so I’m going to take the Stormin’ Mormons here.

3:30:

• San Diego State @ Notre Dame (NBC): SDSU lost to Cal Poly last week. Notre Dame should be able to take care of business here.
• Oregon State @ Pennsylvania State (ABC/ESPN2): Big inter-sectional matchup here. I really have no idea which way to here, unfortunately. Penn State, I guess.
• Mississippi @ Wake Forest (ESPN2/Gameplan): After last week, Wake may well be the best team in the ACC. So they had better beat Ole Miss, just for the sake of the conference.
• Cincinnati @ Oklahoma (Gameplan/ESPN2): I have a very hard time seeing anyone other than Oklahoma winning here.

4:30: West Virginia @ East Carolina (ESPN): ECU somehow got two home games in a row against BCS opponents. Good job on their part, but can they follow up on last week? I doubt lightning will strike twice. Speaking of striking twice, though, I’m going to cop out with another geographic trivia question this week. Where is East Carolina located? No cheating.

5:00: Texas A&M @ New Mexico (Versus): TAMU, all the way.

7:00:

• Southern Florida @ Central Florida (ESPN2): USF has been the dominant partner in this relationship, the lesser of the two big Florida rivalries. USF is 3-0 and, winning last year by a score of 64 to 12. Will the suspiciously similar to late-90’s Georgia Tech-clad Knights charge on to revenge? Probably not.
• Louisiana Tech @ Kansas (FSN): Taylor Bennett led the “lesser” WAC Bulldogs to a minor upset of of the “lesser” SEC Bulldogs last week. Kansas should be a little better than Mississippi State, though, and I once again I doubt lightning will strike twice.

8:00: Miami @ Florida (ESPN): This is arguably the biggest game of the day as these two rivals meet for the first time since the 2003 season, where the two schools actually met twice. My take on this is simple. No team has done less with more than Miami over the past 3 years. Supposed to walk all over the ACC and vie with FSU for conference championships, Miami has done neither. (Including, to my delight, 3 straight losses to Georgia Tech.) Miami decidedly beat Charleston Southern last week (in their new digs at Dolphin Stadium), but that tells us nothing. Meanwhile, Florida should be a pretty good team. The game may be interesting for a half to three quarters, but I expect the Tebow express to take over at some point and take care of business.

10:15: Texas @ Texas-El Paso (ESPN2): Last game of the day, well, last one worth mentioning anyway. As much as I’d love for UTEP to pull it off Texas should really take care of things.

And we’re back! (Well, kind of – I will be out of town and miss the vast majority of these games.) As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Short explanation: I only list games that will be on a major national TV (i.e., networks that are part of most major TV packages, so the networks, ESPN, ESPN2, and FSN). I will also list “interesting” games from non-major networks, like ESPNU and Gameplan, where “interesting” usually means at least two DI-A teams. As usual, my source for all this is Mr. Sarz.

Thursday
7:00: Texas-El Paso at Buffalo (Time Warner-NY): This isn’t even on Gameplan, but it is the only televised game that I saw on the list. This and 3 other games tie for the first game of the season (Northeastern at Ball State, E. Illinois at Central Michigan, and Indiana State at Eastern Michigan are the other three.) As for the winner, that’s pretty easy for such an anonymous game – UTEP going away.

7:30:

• Vanderbilt at Miami (ESPNU): Not “Da U” but just “Miami U” in Ohio. Vandy isn’t expected to really even be much of a spoiler this year, but they should have this one under control.
• Jacksonville State at Georgia Tech (ESPN360): Since I’m in the unfortunate position of having Comcast, I won’t be able to watch this game. Also, quick trivia question: Which state is Jacksonville State located in? Is it: a) Florida b) Alabama c) Georgia or d) Mississippi? (Answer in next week’s column.) Once again, I shall refrain from making any definite predictions involving GT, but JSU did just suspend three starters last week. Things in their favor include beleaguered LSU transfer Ryan Perrilloux and GT’s first use of their new offense in a real game. Things against them include GT’s new offense and what is likely the best defensive line in the country.

8:00:

• North Carolina State at South Carolina (ESPN): And here we go! Nothing gets the blood flowing like a good OOC matchup in the first week of the season, much less the first day. These teams played regularly before South Carolina joined the SEC in 1992. Since then, they have met once (in 1999) and NCSU won 10-0. NCSU also has a slight edge in the overall series at 26-25-4. It’s hard to get a read on this game from my perspective. NCSU shouldn’t really be that good but Spurrier still doesn’t really have a quarterback. Therefore, I will arbitrarily pick the Gamecocks and move on.
• Wake Forest at Baylor (FSN): FSN kicks off their Big 12 coverage by showing what is supposed to be a decent Baylor team. While Baylor may spoil a game or two, Wake is in the running to crash the ACC party again, so I’m going to go with Wake.

9:00: Oregon State at Stanford (ESPN2): Things get going up on Palo Alto in some early Pac-10 action. That is about as much space as I’m willing to devote to this game. OSU wins going away.

Friday
7:00: Temple at Army (ESPN Classic): Two bad teams! But it’s Friday night and you’re looking for something to watch. Because it’s Friday, most networks don’t do anything because you’re supposed to be out partying. But you’re not out, you’re watching Temple vs. Army. Anyway, both these teams are so bad it’s hard to tell who’s worse. Since my rooting interest lies with Army, I’ll pick them to win.

8:00: Southern Methodist at Rice (ESPN): Supposedly, the Pony Express is back, though I don’t think it’s really the Pony Express if none of the athletes involved are getting paid. I was dismayed to see that Craig James won’t be at this game, because it’s always amusing to watch them awkwardly avoid talking about the whole scandal thing.

Saturday
Noon:

• Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina (@Charlotte, NC; ESPN): Much has been made of ECU almost beating VPI last year. I don’t think that’ll happen again.
• Syracuse at Northwestern (ESPN2): Bottom of the Big Ten versus the bottom of the Big East! I actually thing NU has a good shot of winning this.
• Bowling Green at Pittsburgh (ESPNU): I’m not sure why I listed this, honestly. Pitt should roll.

12:30:

• Hawaii at Florida (Raycom/Gameplan): Start your morning right with the Daves, and then change the channel because UF should be up by 3 or 4 touchdowns by the end of the first quarter.
• Georgia Southern at Georgia (Gameplan): Oh, if only this had any chance of happening. Any chance.

3:30:

• Southern California at Virginia (ABC/ESPN2): The question here isn’t whether USC will win. The question is “by how much?”
• Utah at Michigan (ESPN2/ABC): Michigan brought us Bizzaro Year last year right on the very first Saturday. While there is certainly potential here – Michigan has an entirely new offense and no quarterbacks to run it, and Utah isn’t terrible – I have a feeling that lightning won’t strike twice here.
• Oklahoma State at Washington State (@Seattle, WA; FSN): Theoretically, I could go to this game. I won’t, and I suspect the vast majority of the crowd in Seattle will be disappointed.

5:00: Appalachian State at Louisiana State (ESPN): The mythical national champion meets up with the NCAA-recognized Division I champion. Unfortunately for Appalachian State, LSU is slightly better than Michigan. A little. The mythical champion should roll.

6:00: Texas Christian at New Mexico (Versus): Versus is back with some hot, hot Mountain West action! UNM looks to revenge a 37-0 loss to the Horned Frogs last year, but I suspect (for no rational reason) that TCU will prevail again.

6:45: Mississippi State at Louisiana Tech (ESPN2): While the possibility exists of MSU Croom’ing itself, I would doubt that the Taylor Bennett led Bulldogs (that felt weird to type) will prevail.

7:00: Louisiana-Monroe at Auburn (Gameplan): The slightly better half of the UL-U-Pick ‘Em (i.e., the one that got really lucky and won the Sun Belt last year) shows up on the Plains to receive a loss and a large check.

7:30: Boston College vs. Kent State (@Cleveland, OH): I suspect this is in Cleveland to boost Kent’s home attendance, which is weird because BC probably doesn’t travel that well. Regardless of whether 1000 or 10000 BC fans show up, they should still win.

8:00:

• Michigan State at California (ABC/Gameplan): Okay, so I can’t complain about John L. Smith being gone anymore. I need to come up with a new schtick for Michigan State. Hrm. How about for the time being we agree that Cal should win this game and I’ll try to come up with something for next week?
• Alabama vs. Clemson (@Atlanta, GA; Gameplan/ABC): This is pretty much the game of the day. I would express surprise over Clemson’s high ranking and Alabama being ranked at all, but I have absolutely no faith in preseason polls. At any rate, I have to say I really want Clemson to win here. And by any logic I can come up with, they should. Alabama “won” the Fulmer Cup this year, which ideally means they have a few guys suspended for at least part of this game. (Though, in fairness, 20 of their 28 points were due to the tireless efforts of the amusingly named Jimmy Johns. A charmed life you lead when not only share the same name as a chain of sandwhich restaurants but also repeatedly sell cocaine to undercover officers. Bravo.) Anyway. Both these schools travel exceedingly well and I think it will end of 50-50 in the Georgia Dome. It will be nuts in there. Given where I think each of these teams are going (did anything actually happen to Alabama this offseason that made them better?), I have to give the Tigers the nod here.

8:30: Illinois vs. Missouri (@St. Louis, MO; ESPN): The rivalry returns for a second year! Gotta go with Mizzou here.

10:00: Washington at Oregon (FSN): Dennis Dixon or no, Oregon should take care of business in this early Pac-10 matchup.

Sunday
3:30: Kentucky at Louisville (ESPN): Sunday is rivalry day, apparently. Anyway, these teams have only met each other as DI-A squads every year since 1994. Disregarding their 3 wins from the 10’s and 20’s (when Louisville was not a major team) Kentucky is 5-9 against their non-SEC in-state rival, and last year was their first win since 2002. Of course, last year was Louisville’s worst squad since 2002 and Kentucky’s best. The future is highly uncertain for both teams this year, as UL looks to recover and UK looks to build on last year’s success. Louisville is slightly favored (3.5 at the time of this writing), for what that’s worth. Frankly, both these teams lost so much it’s hard for me to get a read on them. I’ll take the home team.

7:30: Colorado State vs. Colorado (@Denver, CO; FSN): Since 2002, the average margin of victory in this rivalry has been slightly more than 4 points. That said, CU usually pulls it out in the end (4-2 record over that span) and there’s not really any reason to think they won’t this time around.

Monday
4:00: Fresno State at Rutgers (ESPN): The early inter-sectional marquee game of the day. Lots of schedule re-jiggering happened back in the spring just to make this happen, and was one of the reasons the previews took so long to post. Not that I’m bitter, but I’m going to say Rutgers should have a handle on this. Kudos to these schools for making it happen, though.

8:00: Tennessee at California-Los Angeles (ESPN): And here’s the marquee inter-sectional game of the day. Tennessee ventures west once again to take on a Pac-10 opponent. UCLA has none other than Rick Neuheisel behind the helm now and he’s already established a rivalry with the Pete Carroll. How much will that help UCLA here? Not much, I suspect. Los Angeles, I hope you like “Rocky Top’.

And that’s it, kids! I probably won’t normally do Thursday games in this space (though there seem to be more of them this year), but I made an exception just for this weekend. (Also because Tech had a Thursday game.)

Last week of the regular season! As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

11:00: Central Michigan vs. Miami (@Detroit; ESPN2): It’s MAC-tastic! Miami won’t make a bowl game if they lose, so they’re going to have to win this to go anywhere. That said, they probably won’t.

Noon:

• Army vs. Navy (@Baltimore; CBS): My allegiance here, if it can be called that, is to the Black Knights. Unfortunately, I don’t really think they’ll have much of a chance against bowl-bound Navy.
• Tulsa @ Central Florida (ESPN): Both these teams have been the toast of Conference-USA this year, though UCF has one less conference loss, helped by the fact they won the first meeting between these two teams 44-23. Thought it may be closer this time around, it’s a home game for the Knights and I expect them to earn the trip to Memphis.

1:00: Boston College vs. Virginia Tech (@Jacksonville; ABC): And here we go again, a rematch of the rainy night in Blacksburg featuring a miracle come back for the Eagles that kept them in national title contention (at the time). No rain is expected tomorrow, for better or worse for these teams. Of course, since that night, VPI is 5-0 and won in convincing fashion, whereas BC is 2-2 with losses to moribund FSU and Maryland and an unconvincing margin over Miami (though the win at Clemson is good). That said, VPI seems to have found something of an offense and reversed their usual November swoon. I expect them to take the lead and hold it this time around, and get themselves some oranges in the process.

4:00: Louisiana State vs. Tennessee (@Atlanta; CBS): This game is of greatly diminished importance for all the obvious reasons. Tennessee has also been lucky (though not the luckiest team) since their loss to Alabama, beating Kentucky and Vanderbilt by a combined 3 points. LSU is also facing plenty of distractions, as not one but two of their coaches are rumored to be heading elsewhere. That said, Tennessee has no weapons like McFadden, and I still think LSU wins this one handily.

4:30:

• California-Los Angeles @ Southern California (ABC): Last year, USC was on their way to another shot at the national title when all of a sudden they got, shall we say, Dorrell’d. The plucky coach of UCLA probably needs to do it again if he wants to save his job. I’d say there’s a pretty good chance he’s going to need some new work come Monday. That said, would it not spectacularly sum up this season if UCLA and Arizona win, thus sending the Bruins to the Rose Bowl? (Ugh. I hate quoting Bill Simmons-isms, but I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.)
• Oregon State @ Oregon (ESPN2): Alas, poor Oregon. If there was an award in college football for “a player that individually makes a huge impact in the performance of his team“, Dennis Dixon would have to win it (and maybe there is, I think there are two “best player” trophies). The Oregon offense was offensive last weekend and put up a mighty zero against noted non-juggernaut UCLA. They are just completely boned without Dixon, and I don’t see that changing here. Beavers win.

7:00: California @ Stanford (Versus): Not only is it on Versus, it’s on Versus HD. Aw yeah, you know we’ll all be up for some Big Game action. Okay, well, not really, Cal should roll here.

7:45: Pittsburgh @ West Virginia (ESPN): Backyard brawl time! Does Pitt stand a chance? Not really! Many couches will lose their lives in Morgantown tonight.

8:00:

• Oklahoma vs. Missouri (@San Antonio, ABC): I feel conflicted about this. I want to like Missouri, I really do, but for whatever reason I still think Oklahoma is a better team. It also doesn’t help the Sooners won their previous meeting. Yet, in my bowl predictions, I took Mizzou because figuring out the Oklahoma winning scenario would be complicated. Of course, I’ll change the predictions after the games anyway before the bowls are announced in Sunday, but still. I’ll go with the #1 team in the country to pull off the upset here.
• Arizona @ Arizona State (ESPN2): ASU better not screw this one up, that’s all I can say. Sun Devils should win.

11:30: Washington @ Hawaii (ESPN2): You’d think this is an easy victory for the Warriors, but Washington played Boise State earlier this year and won, getting them one of their four victories. Of course, Hawaii took care of Boise pretty well, but still. That said, that was a long time ago, and I like Hawaii here, but it could be closer than many on the islands would like to think.