As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Saturday
Noon:

• Northwestern @ Iowa (ESPN): Can Northwestern end our long, national nightmare championship game scenario? Probably not! Iowa wins 15-11.
• Central Florida @ Texas (FSN): This is the Priceline of football games. Congratulations Colt McCoy, you can name your own score!
• Syracuse @ Pittsburgh (ESPNU): Should I even bother waking up at 9 for these games? I mean, I usually sleep through the first half anyway, but this is ridiculous.
• Purdue @ Michigan (BTN): I’m willing to chalk up the loss UIUC as a fluke. If Michigan loses to Purdue they’ve got problems.
• Virginia @ University of Miami (Raycom/Gameplan): You know, I almost want UVA to win this game, because it would make it that much more difficult to fire Al Groh. (Now that GT has the UVA monkey off it’s back, I can go back to treating UVA as the terrible team they are.)
• South Carolina @ Arkansas (SEC/Gameplan): I bet the Visor is playing lots of golf these days. Hitting drives, chipping on to greens, making putts. Trying to figure out exactly what he did to deserve this. Sure, South Carolina is 6-3, but they have no offense. How does a man, know for such a thing, deal with that? Whatever the case, they can still beat Arkansas.

12:30: Kansas @ Kansas State (Versus): Both of these teams are so bad, but I’ll go with the team that managed to beat Colorado.

2:30: Navy @ Notre Dame (NBC): Notre Dame isn’t great, but has begun an unfortunate rise in the polls. Hopefully Navy keeps it close.

3:30:

• Louisiana State @ Alabama (CBS): I’m actually willing to accept that Alabama is a good football team at this point. In fact, they’re damn good, and I’m willing to downgrade my hatred to “loathing” to set up a match against Florida in the Georgia Dome next month. Okay, I still hat them, but I want to see that game.
• Ohio State @ Pennsylvania State (ABC/ESPN2):I’ve already heard several times this week that this game will “decide the Big Ten”. That should tell you how much everyone hates Iowa. At any rate, if Ohio State calls this game like they did their other big game this season (against USC) they will lose. Of course, we still don’t really know anything about Penn State. I still like them to win, though.
• Oklahoma State @ Iowa State (ABC/Gameplan): Somehow, I don’t see Iowa State holding OSU to 14 points.
• Wake Forest @ Georgia Tech (ESPN2/ABC/Gameplan): Having expectations placed on your team is weird.
  At any rate, last week we did exactly what I said we couldn’t do (allow Vandy to stay in the game) but then Vandy started to play like, well, Vandy and we pulled away to a 56-31 win. Wake, however, will not rollover so easily. While Vandy isn’t incompetent, Wake probably does have slightly better players and are led by 50th year senior Riley Skinner. (Despite suffering a concussion last week against Miami, he will be starting.) Wake is always a tough assignment for Tech – our last meeting was in the 2006 ACC title game, which Wake won 9-6. (Though it did get Patrick Nix fired and then hired (for some reason) by Miami, which worked out great for us over the next two years.) And with the way the defense is playing, no doubt older Tech fans (and by “older”, I mean “a few years older than me”) are having PTSD-flashbacks to 1999, where the offense scored 38 points a game and still lost 4 time. The 3rd loss was to Wake Forest, dropping Tech to 7-3 and likely ruining any chances Joe Hamilton had of winning the Heisman.
  So, suffice it to say, Tech will need to do all it can to avoid a repeat of history.
  By the way, the other three losses that year? @FSU, @UVA, and to Miami in the Gator Bowl.
• Oregon @ Stanford (FSN): Well, Stanford, you’ve had a good year so far. 5-3 overall, 4-2 in the Pac-10. Not bad, especially by Stanford standards. The problem with this rosy outlook? This game, @USC, vs. Cal, vs. Notre Dame. That 6th win may prove to be elusive, and they probably won’t find it here.
• Duke @ North Carolina (ESPNU): Fun fact: even if Duke loses, they can still beat Tech next week and have a shot at the ACC title. That’s said, there’s little about this UNC team on defense or offense that has particularly impresses me. They still allowed nearly 400 yards passing to FSU. If Duke puts up similar numbers – and they should – they have a pretty good shot to win here.
• Army @ Air Force (CBSCS): The battle for the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy continues in Colorado. Unfortunately, it’s hard to pick an Army team that was outscored 56-23 by Temple and Rutgers to win here.
• Washington State @ Arizona (FCS Central): Why did I list this? I have no idea. Arizona.
• Washington @ California-Los Angeles (FCS Pacific): (see above) U-dub.

4:00: Texas Christian @ San Diego State (Versus): SDSU is on a roll, by their standards, but TCU should still be able to take care of business here.

7:00:

• Oregon State @ California (FSN): Cal’s rolled off 3 straight against the worst of the Pac-10, while Oregon State has pretty much lost when they were supposed to and win when they were supposed. That said, Cal is still having issues getting the ball to its best player and needed a last minute FG to get past Arizona State. I actually kind of like the Beavers here.
• Memphis @ Tennessee (ESPNU): Mmm, delicious cupcakes.

7:15: Vanderbilt @ Florida (ESPN2): Too detailed prediction: Vandy hangs tough through the first quarter to make everyone go, “Hey, Florida’s only leading Vandy by 3 points” but the Tebow gets on track and is out of the game by the end of the 3rd quarter.

7:30:

• Houston @ Tulsa (CBSCS): This game was supposed to be for the C-USA West title, but Tulsa’s sort of fallen off the wagon and has lost 3 straight, including losses to completely schizophrenic UTEP and also to SMU. Since their inexplicable loss to UTEP, Houston has won 4 straight mostly via a way we’d entirely expect: offense. I expect a lot of points in this game (akin to Houston’s shootout last weekend with Southern Miss) but the Cougars to prevail in the end.
• Northern Arizona @ Mississippi (SEC/Gameplan): Ole Miss. Next.

7:45: Florida State @ Clemson (ESPN): It’s the Bowden— oh, right. At any rate, FSU really needs this to make itself relevant in the ACC Atlantic race again, while Clemson controls its own destiny, and in terms of that destiny FSU represents the last major hurdle (Clemson’s remaining ACC games are @NCSU and at home against UVA). We could see a reenactment of the Clemson-Miami game (if it’s half as exciting as that game was, well, this will be a pretty exciting game), but I don’t see a different outcome.

8:00:

• Southern California @ Arizona State (ABC/Gameplan): Okay, so our illusions have been shattered, USC is mortal, blah blah. But let’s face it, USC should still be favored to win all their remaining bids and get themselves to a BCS game, and that process starts here.
• Connecticut @ Cincinnati (Gameplan/ABC):Although this will almost certainly doom them, I really do think Cincy is “that good”, at least against their Big East compatriots. And this is the home stretch for the Bearcats, a win here and next week against WVU sets up the de-facto Big East championship game December 5th at Pittsburgh.
• Oklahoma @ Nebraska (Gameplan/ABC): I’m not sure why, but the Big 12 doesn’t have a fix-opponent system for its divisions, and it really hurts here. (Of course, this is probably the only major intra-divisional rivalry in the Big 12, so that’s probably why.) At any rate, while Oklahoma probably won’t put up 68 (that’s not an exaggeration) like they did in last year’s beatdown, they’ll probably still win handily.

10:30: Fresno State @ Idaho (ESPNU): Ah, the late WAC game. You know you love it. At any rate, Idaho is bowl eligible for the first time since 1999 (as well as guaranteed their first winning season since 1999) versus usual suspect Fresno State, which sits at 5-3. This is at least worth watching for a bit because it’s in THE KIBBIE DOME. That said, I like Fresno to win.

Sunday
8:30: Nevada @ San Jose State (ESPN): I wonder how cheap I could get tickets to what will most likely be the Colin Kaepernik show? Nevada should win easily.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Saturday
Noon:

• Indiana @ Iowa (ESPN): The first number that popped into my head as I wrote this was “12”, so I’m guessing that means the final score here will be something like 12-11, Iowa.
• Purdue @ Wisconsin (ESPN2): Well, after staking their claim as the 2nd worst team in the Big Ten, Purdue should be back on schedule with their beatdown in Madison.
• Cincinnati @ Syracuse (ESPNU): Cincy can’t lose this game, can they? I suppose they can, but the ‘Cuse has been even more dreadful than usual the past few weeks, while Cincy took care of business, including putting up 41 on the Big East’s other doormat, Louisville.
• New Mexico State @ Ohio State (BTN): Mmm, delicious cupcakes. At any rate, OSU should be able to name their own score against NMSU. I was going to make a joke about their coach punching people, but that’s actually the head coach of New Mexico. So my bad.
• Mississippi @ Auburn (SEC/Gameplan): Well, apparently the clock struck midnight for Chris Todd and turned back into, well, Chris Todd. Even worse during the three game skid has been Auburn’s defense, which gave up 44 points to Arkansas and 31 to LSU. This will be important if Jevan Snead isn’t on target again this week (he threw 2 picks against Arkansas), as the Tigers need to give their offense all the help it can get. I think this one will probably end up low-scoring and in Ole Miss’s favor.
• North Carolina State @ Florida State (Raycom/Gameplan): FSU got up off the mat last week against UNC. Meanwhile, NC State is really, really bad. Christian Ponder should be able to have a field day on NCSU’s secondary, which Duke torched en route to 459 passing yards a couple weeks ago. The ACC may be wacky, but NCSU is just far and away the worst team in the conference this year.

12:30: Nebraska @ Baylor (Versus): All the recaps for Baylor should probably read, “It was over when… Baylor QB/wunderkund went down for the year with a knee injury.” Of course, if Nebraska turns the ball over EIGHT TIMES again, well, who knows?

1:30: Missouri @ Colorado (FSN): Colorado: still bad! Mizzou should finally get their first Big 12 win of the year here.

3:30:

• Florida vs. Georgia (@Jacksonville, FL; CBS): Ahahahahahahahahahahaha. Anyway, hopefully Florida can find an offense against Willy Martinez’s patented “swiss cheese” defense. They should win anyway, but still.
• California @ Arizona State (ABC/Gameplan): Well, even though they did just play two of the worst teams in the Pac-10, I do feel good about saying Cal is back, and that trend should continue against a team that just lost by 19 to Stanford.
• Michigan @ Illinois (ESPN2/ABC): Why is this even on TV at all? Michigan rolls.
• Kansas @ Texas Tech (Gameplan/ABC): Though the ship has run aground for Texas Tech, this is still a Big 12 South vs. North matchup that doesn’t involve Baylor, so the team from the south division should win.
• University of Miami @ Wake Forest (Gameplan/ABC): “Da ‘U'” heads up to Winston-Salem, and most likely a win, as Wake comes off a 13-10 loss to Navy. If you can’t put up more than 10 on Navy, well…
• Central Michigan @ Boston College (ESPNU): Since the loss to Arizona in the season opener, Central Michigan has rolled off 7 straight. The downside for them is that this at BC, so while I expect CMU to give them a run for their money BC should still win.
• Temple @ Navy (CBSCS): Hey, Temple isn’t terrible this year! Nonetheless, Navy should still be able to beat them.

4:00: Nevada-Las Vegas @ Texas Christian (Versus): TCU has to avoid the post-game let down against a very bad UNLV squad. Provided they do, they should win handily.

4:30: Pennsylvania State @ Northwestern (ESPN): Northwestern is on the edge of getting bowl eligible, but that will most likely come against Illinois in a couple of weeks.

7:00:

• Kansas State @ Oklahoma (FSN): This isn’t last year’s Oklahoma team, and this isn’t last year’s Kansas State team. So Kansas State may only lose by 13 instead of 23 this time.
• Eastern Michigan @ Arkansas (ESPNU): Arkansas. Next!
• Mississippi State @ Kentucky (SEC): Okay, this isn’t much more exciting, but at least this is a conference game. Miss State has shown signs of life but on offense the just lack talent outside of RB Anthony Dixon. Kentucky is tough to read right now, because while they are 1-3 in the SEC, those 3 losses are definitely to the upper crust of the SEC, including both Florida and Alabama. I still think Kentucky is a slightly better team than Miss State, but this could be pretty close.

7:30:

• Washington State vs. Notre Dame (@San Antonio, TX; NBC): I don’t know for sure if this is a “true” neutral site game, but they could play this game on the Moon and Notre Dame would still win by 30. Wazzou is just bad.
• New Mexico @ San Diego State (CBSCS): Speaking of terrible teams, New Mexico is already 0-7 and that shouldn’t change against a merely bad San Diego State squad.
• Georgia Tech @ Vanderbilt (SEC): The GT boards are alight with giddiness over the fact that GT now controls its own destiny, especially with 4 games to go. I’m still nervous, of course. The key for Tech here in Nashville is avoid a letdown and make sure that we come out in the 1st half and take Vandy out of the game. I’ve made the point in past weeks about just how terrible Vandy’s offense is this year, so I can’t exactly take it back now. But I’m just worried that our bad defense could show up again at any moment now and Vandy could figure out how to run and/or pass the ball and just ugh. GT just needs to go up there, stay focused, and avoid turnovers.

7:45: South Carolina @ Tennessee (ESPN): I’m still not buying what Tennessee is selling, and hey, now that Steve Spurrier has finally beaten Vandy perhaps him and his Gamecocks are over the hump now! (Now there’s a sentence that no one could conceive of being written 10 years ago.)

8:00:

• Southern California @ Oregon (ABC/ESPN2): The two most important games of the day, right here. This is the Pac-10, right here. And trust me, I want to pick Oregon so bad. And it wouldn’t even be that far-fetched. While both offenses have been absolutely rolling the past few weeks, the USC defense is just a shadow of its former self at this point. That said, USC just doesn’t lose games like this, it seems like. I’ll pick the Trojans until they show me why I shouldn’t pick them. Unfortunately.
• Texas @ Oklahoma State (ESPN2/ABC): This is also a huge game, obviously. However, I think this is the game where OSU will finally feel the loss of their best player and while they may be in it for awhile, Texas will probably prevail.
• Michigan State @ Minnesota (BTN): That said, this is is the game of the night! It has everything you want! Two 4-4 Big Ten teams going at it in primetime! Only on the BIG TEN NETWORK!!! Okay, seriously, I’ll go with the team that didn’t let Iowa drive the length of the field with 90 seconds in the left of the game, and that’s Minnesota.

Sunday
8:15: Marshall @ Central Florida (ESPN): This is a very confusing game to pick. Both teams are roughly equal in terms of wins and losses. Both have lost to East Carolina, beat the terrible teams they played, and lost to their BCS conference opponents. So let’s play “C-USA East Coin Toss”. Marshall is heads, and UCF is tails. Heads it is!

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As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Minnesota @ Ohio State (ESPN): The natives are restless in Columbus, but I would still wager the odds of a Gopher upset are low. I also just refuse to accept that OSU is that bad despite the now piling evidence to the countrary.
• Illinois @ Purdue (ESPN2): Purdue, despite last weekend, is not a very good football. Saying Illinois is a football team does a disservice to all football teams, everywhere. Digest this: the Illni have been outscored in 4 conference games by 71 points. Taking the Boilermakers here.
• Connecticut @ West Virginia (ESPNU): I think it’s been well covered at this point what the folks at UConn are going through. As far the game goes, UConn seems like the rare team whose position in the Big East is well-defined: not at the bottom, but right in the middle. I like WVU here.
• Arkansas @ Mississippi (SEC/Gameplan): I think it’s safe to say at this point the Ole Miss offense is not what most folks projected it to be this year. They’re averaging 12 points a game in SEC play so far, including a 10 point effort in Columbia and, admittedly like everyone else (including Arkansas), 3 points against ‘Bama. That said, even a 48-point effort against UAB last weekend doesn’t inspire much confidence in me, either. I like the Razorbacks here.
• Georgia Tech @ Virginia (Raycom/Gameplan): One game at a time. That has to be the motto for GT going forward. Past GT teams have stumbled here, teams as good as this one, even. As anyone reading this probably knows, Tech has lost 8 straight in Charlottesville*, dating back to the 41-38 victory over #1 Virginia in 1990. I talked about this two years ago, as well. I hope I don’t have to link this post, or that one, two years from now.
  The most interesting matchup in this game is GT’s offense against UVA 3-4 defense. It was moderately effective last year, but GT’s 3 turnovers were perhaps the most effective defense for UVA as well. A perhaps overlooked part is UVA’s tall secondary, which contains many players over 6′ which will mean we need to smart in the passing game – as much as I love throwing the ball to Demaryius Thomas, a key aspect of his game is the fact he physically outclasses many of those assigned to cover him, so Nesbitt needs to look for the open man rather than the jump ball. The UVA defense is patient, and willing concede small plays to hope we make a mistake. It sound obvious, but GT simply cannot put the ball on the ground. They will make us earn every point.
  Conversely, our defense just has to play better on the road. I don’t think we’ll let them run up 500 yards on us, but in a game where I think points will be tight the defense has to do its part.

12:30:

• Iowa State @ Nebraska (FSN): Iowa State currently sits at 4 wins, and I think they have two very winnable games left on their schedule. This isn’t one of them.
• Oklahoma State @ Baylor (Versus): Well, since the loss to Houston, Oklahoma State has just been doing it’s thing, as it were. Of course, since that time their single toughest opponent has been Missouri, so that may not be saying much. Of course, saying they’ll almost certainly beat the Bears isn’t really saying much, either.

3:30:

• Tennessee @ Alabama (CBS): While it’s actually the fourth Saturday in October this year, this is still a big game. That said, outside of the 45 point outburst against UGA (ahahahahaha) Tennessee isn’t really scoring much, and Alabama is not particularly the team you want to face as an offense anyway. That said, I suspect Alabama will still win by a score of like, 20-7 because that’s just how they roll.
• Boston College @ Notre Dame (NBC): Boston College is 5-0 at home and 0-2 on the road. At home, they score an average of 39 and give up an average of 14.4 points per game. On the road, they have averaged 10.5 and 36.5, respectively. That said, I also think it’s a fair point to say they best teams they have played were also on the road, and I don’t think that changes this week against ND. They may put more than 163 yards, but then again, that’s not really a lot.
• Oregon @ Washington (ABC/Gameplan): This is the very definition of a trap game. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll pick Oregon to win this one every time. But they can’t get caught looking ahead to the showdown at home next week against USC. Washington is an improved team this year, but they still have some issues. Oregon just has to take care of business. (Especially if they want a shot at the Rose Bowl.)
• Clemson @ University of Miami (Gameplan/ABC): As with many teams in the ACC, the question of whether Clemson will win depends highly upon which version of them shows up. Is is the team that dominated Boston College and Wake Forest by a combined score of 63-10? Or is it the team that narrowly lost to TCU (no shame in that) and lost to Maryland (lots of shame in that)? Either way, Miami is not either Wake or Boston College, but simply the most competent passing attack in the ACC and my favorite to win this one, regardless of which Clemson shows up.
• Oklahoma @ Kansas (Gameplan/ABC): See Kansas what happens when you schedule absolutely no one? There is no room for error, and losing to a very bad Colorado team is a very big error. That said, Oklahoma enters Lawrence having to define what their season is all about. Will the offensive side of the house at OU is in disarray, the defense is well in order and should hold Kansas under 30 (and probably 20) points, which will keep the Sooners in the game. In fact, I like them here.
• Pennsylvania State @ Michigan (ESPN/ABC): Lots of people like Penn State to lose here, but I don’t. I’d certainly like to see that, though, because it opens up the BCS at-large bids a lot.
• Louisville @ Cincinnati (ESPNU): Even after Tony Pike went down last week, Cincy rolled along on their way to drumming USF 34-17. Now they get two straight games with the worst teams in the conference. I like their chances of being 8-0 through that strech. A lot.
• Wake Forest @ Navy (CBSCS): Neither of these teams scores a lot, and neither allows a lot. Compared to many of their BCS conference foes, the talent gap between Navy and Wake isn’t that large, and both teams are also smart. That said, I still think Wake a slight edge here.

4:00: Air Force @ Utah (Versus): This is the second most important game in the MWC today. That said, it may still be worth watching, but to me it looks like there’s a spanner in the works in the Air Force offense. I like Utah here.

7:00:

• Vanderbilt @ South Carolina (ESPNU): I’m not sure how, but Vandy has a two year winning streak running over South Carolina. As stated previously, though, the ‘Dores luck has run out this year and I can’t really pick them here.
• Iowa @ Michigan State (BTN): Michigan State has been consistent the past two games, beating two clearly inferior teams 24-14. Iowa, well, we’ve had a dislike of Iowa here since the infancy of this site. Who knows, they’ll probably McGuyver another win together here and win 16-15 or some crap like that.
• Louisiana-Monroe @ Kentucky (SEC/Gameplan): I’m not even going to dignify this with an analysis.

7:30:

• Florida @ Mississippi State (ESPN): ESPN’s been trying to make this one sound interesting, and sure, Miss State is slightly more competent this year, and heck, their RB will probably even break a couple of runs. That said, Florida should still pound them.
• Auburn @ Louisiana State (ESPN2): Even despite the recent two game losing streak, I still would’ve picked the other Tigers. That said, if Chris Todd stops looking like, well, Chris Todd again Auburn stands a chance. I didn’t say they’d win, though.
• Texas Christian @ Brigham Young (Versus): I really believe this is the game of the day. That said, I think TCU holds all the cards here. BYU may sport the better overall win, but even then those 54 points allowed to FSU – at home – stick out like a sore thumb. I think TCU is also the best team BYU’s played since then, and after putting up 44 on Colorado State last weekend I think TCU has the ability to exploit BYU’s defense as well.
• Southern Methodist @ Houston (CBSCS): What in the hell is going on in the West division of C-USA? I was watching UTEP-Tulsa Wednesday, and after Tulsa scored to take a multiple-score lead I went home thinking Tulsa would take care of business. Then they didn’t, and I didn’t even see it until the next day because I didn’t even think UTEP had a chance. So now UTEP has wins over the two teams everyone thought could win the division, but already has a conference loss to a very bad Memphis team. Meanwhile, SMU is 2-0 and is in the driver’s seat of the division. Well, not for long, I think. Houston is still putting up points like it’s going out of style, and SMU’s defense has been more than obliging it looks like.

8:00:

• Oregon State @ Southern California (ABC/Gameplan): One of my coworkers is an USC alum, and thanks to that Thursday night last year in Corvallis has some sort of post-traumatic stress syndrome relating to really short running backs. That said, while OSU is a pretty solid team, I think USC takes care of business and heads into Eugene next week to determine the Pac-10 title.
• Texas @ Missouri (Gameplan/ABC): Don’t look, but Mizzou’s best win is still over… uh… Nevada, maybe? They’ve lost both their Big 12 games so far and frankly I’m not sure why that trend wouldn’t continue.

10:15:

• Arizona State @ Stanford (FSN): Will Stanford get back on track this week against ASU? They could – ASU so far has a record evenly split down the middle. (They’ve lost to teams better than them and beat teams worse than them.) The problem is, these are effectively two teams in the middle of the Pac-10 race and I’m not sure how they compare. What I do know is that this is one of maybe 2 or 3 games left Stanford has a real shot to win, I think, but that said I’m going with the devils from the desert.
• Fresno State @ New Mexico State (ESPNU): The Mike Locksley era will continue to get off to bad start with a loss to Fresno. I assume that Pat Hill will not be punched in the face after the game.

*: UNC’s streak in Charlottlesville is worse, having gone without a win in 14 straight games dating back to 1983. Overall, UNC is 6-19-1 in that span, including losing 6 of the last 7.

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Programming note: first bowl predictions of the year will go up on Sunday!

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Oklahoma vs. Texas (@Dallas, TX; ABC): Ah, the Red River Shootout, thank you very much. At any rate, I think this one will be worth me getting up early for, which as you may note by the time this is posted (and, most likely, the numerous grammatical and spelling errors) is no small feat, indeed. I also think it’ll be a small feat for OU to win this one, but it is also the last chance for them to salvage their national aspirations this season. That said, I think Texas proves their worth here.
• Iowa @ Wisconsin (ESPN): Iowa’s been winning in a very, well, Iowa-like fashion. The 30-28 win over Michigan was a downright barnburner – they’ve only scored more against Iowa State. Wisconsin, on the flip side, had been rolling offensively until they ran into Ohio State. Though they still outgained the Buckeyes by almost 200 yards, they also threw two interceptions returned for touchdown and allowed a kickoff return to go the distance. That said, I never quite trust Iowa, so I have to go with Wisconsin here to knock off the Big Ten’s last unbeaten.
• Northwestern @ Michigan State (ESPN2): I’d make more Kafka jokes, but Doc Saturday already beat me to the punch. I also agree with the Doc re: Northwestern’s chances, as this should be really high flying, especially for a Big Ten game. I’ll stick with Sparty, though.
• Ohio State @ Purdue (BTN): If it weren’t for Illinois trying to get Ron Zook fired, Purdue would be the worst team in the Big Ten this year. Ohio State should be able to get back on track offensively against the Boilermakers.
• Georgia @ Vanderbilt (SEC): As I recently explained to a friend of mine (who went to Vandy) last weekend when discussing Vandy’s loss to Army, “This is basically the same offensive Vandy had last year, and basically teams aren’t giving the ball to them for free anymore.” That said, they’re still +5 through 6 games, but the offense is just so bad: 18.8 points per game, 35% on third downs, etc. Meanwhile, in terms of ye ole schadenfraude full panic mode is on over in Athens after they made Jonathan Crompton look like Peyton last weekend in Knoxville. Unfortunately, I have to think the UGA defense will hold up slightly better against Vandy. Unfortunately.
• Wake Forest @ Clemson (Raycom/Gameplan): Since this is an ACC Atlantic game, I’m just going to flip a coin. Heads is Wake, tails is Clemson…… tails it is!

12:30: Mississippi State @ Middle Tennessee State (ESPNU): Well, I think MSU can beat MTSU. Right? I mean, Miss State is a little better than they were last year, aren’t they?

3:30:

• Arkansas @ Florida (CBS): Somehow I just don’t see Arkansas hanging 30, much less 40, on Florida’s defense. Just no way. UF takes care of business.
• Southern California @ Notre Dame (NBC): Reports of optimism abound from South Bend. I don’t they’re well founded, though. Especially after the combined 57-9 beatdown USC has distributed the past two weeks, while Notre Dame hasn’t really shown they can do this “defense” thing. Also, this should give us a good clean transitive break, since Washington lost to Notre Dame but USC should beat Notre DAme.
• Minnesota @ Pennsylvania State (ESPN/ABC): I think Minnesota is very solidly in the middle of the pack of the Big Ten. The natural order of things should be returned with a PSU victory here.
• North Carolina State @ Boston College (Gameplan/ABC): Well, BC’s at home, which means their offensive might show up this week after not making the trip to Blacksburg. Meanwhile, with losses to Wake and Duke, I think it’s safe to say that NC State is one of the worst teams in the ACC. That said, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything (note that Virginia and Maryland still have conference victories), but I feel good enough about BC here to not have to resort to the ACC Atlantic coin flip.
• Texas Tech @ Nebraska (Gameplan/ESPN/ABC): Hard to get a read here, since they pretty much each have beaten teams worse than them and lost to teams that were better than them. (Yes, I remember Houston that beat TTU.) Nebraska’s last effort was the 27-point fourth quarter in a driving rainstorm in Columbia that led to their 27-12 victory over Mizzou last Thursday. Mean, TTU did their thing against K-State, throwing for 500 yards and scoring 66 points. I suspect this game will be somewhere in between, but a Nebraska victory.
• California @ California-Los Angeles (ABC/Gameplan): Well, we know now these are probably the two worst teams in the Pac-10 outside of Pullman. Both these teams have been struggling on offense, but Cal just has to have more talent offensively, right? Jahvid Best has to reassert himself at some point, doesn’t he? Cal can’t be this bad, can they?
• Houston @ Tulane (CBSCS): Houston should be able to name the score for this one.

4:00:

• Colorado State @ Texas Christian (Versus): TCU has to come out ready for this game. Colorado State isn’t terrible, but they’re definitely an opponent TCU should be able to beat easily. They just can’t get caught looking forward to BYU next week, or else CSU is decent enough to take advantage.
• Virginia @ Maryland (ESPNU): It’s the ACC Atlantic Slap Fight of the Week! Ugh. If you hate football, you might like this game. I don’t know what else to say. Anyway, it’s back to the coin flip: UVA is head and UMD is tails…. tails.

6:00: Virginia Tech @ Georgia Tech (ESPN2): If I were less exhausted, I would have an extensive preview of this game. This is a must-win for GT, no two ways around it. With a loss, GT is pretty much eliminated from ACC title game contention, barring basically a repeat of, well, last year. My main worries in this game are: 1) VPI’s defensive line and 2) our defense. We haven’t played a team since Miami (and to a small extent, UNC) that was able to get a great interior rush and really disrupt what we’re trying to on the offensive. (That said, whenever a DT is constantly in your QB’s face, it doesn’t really matter which offense you run.) Miami did have another advantage as well in their speedy corners and linebackers, that were able to pretty much go outside because their defensive line was owning our offensive line all night. As a result – there was no where for the offense to go. I don’t know if VPI has the same type of talent on the edges, but if we allow their DTs to control the offensive line that is not good for Tech.
As for the defense, well, they’re not very good. Perhaps not coincidentally, Tech’s biggest problem is the lack of pass rush, which leads to QBs with all day to throw because they never have anyone in their face. At one point in the first half last week, we actually ran an all-out blitz and FSU still scored because it didn’t work. Tyrod Taylor is faster than anyone in our front 7 most likely, so forcing him out of the pocket is not necessarily a great thing. If our D-linemen do find themselves getting to him, they must make the tackle and not let him escape. He is throwing better this year and is now a competent passer. Therefore, it is imperative we show some semblance of a defense this week, because I don’t think we’ll put up 40 against VPI.

7:00:

• Kansas @ Colorado (FSN): Colorado: still bad. KU: still scoring lots of points. This shouldn’t be hard to figure out.
• Illinois @ Indiana (BTN): The plan for Indiana has to be this. They sit at 3-3, having lost 3 straight including the inexplicable 40-point(!) loss to Virginia. (Seriously, how the hell did that happen?) Illinois and Purdue are the most winnable games left on the schedule, getting them to 5-3. The problem is, the other games are against Northwestern (competent), Iowa (uh-oh), Wisconsin (oh man), and Penn State (there goes that). So this is a must-win, in a game they should win.
• Alabama-Birmingham @ Mississippi (SEC): UAB does have a winning record in C-USA! Unfortunately for them, Ole Miss is not in Conference USA.

7:30:

• Stanford @ Arizona (Versus): I got on the Cardinal bandwagon, and doggone it I’m going to go down with the ship.
• Kentucky @ Auburn (ESPNU): Well, you can’t win ’em all, Auburn, but Kentucky should help get that chin back up.
• University of Miami @ Central Florida (CBSCS): Yes, that’s “da U” up in Orlando. That said, they should do their thing and come out with a win. (This hast to be a 3-for-1 deal, right?)

7:45: South Carolina @ Alabama (ESPN): I’m running out of steam here. USC should suffer their second loss here. I hate to say it, but I think ‘Bama is just that good.

9:15: Missouri @ Oklahoma State (ESPN2): Welcome to the “lowered expectations” bowl! Both these teams have struggled in their own way, and the 1-loss records don’t really tell us much. If OSU gets Dez Bryant back, then the should win. Otherwise, it’s Mizzou.

10:15: Washington @ Arizona State (FSN): Arizona State just isn’t very good. I have to pick U-Dub here.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Auburn @ Arkansas (ESPN): These are two of the SEC’s higher scoring offenses, but also two of the worst defenses. Auburn’s been a little more consistent with regards to both aspects, but scored “only” 26 against Tennessee. (It should be noted Tennessee is the best defense Auburn has faced to date.) Arkansas, to its credit, recovered from the UGA loss and the embarrassment against against ‘Bama to absolutely cream a terrible Texas A&M team. Again, I think this’ll be pretty high scoring, but in the end I think Auburn will get the ball last and probably win.
• Purdue @ Minnesota (ESPN2): That win over Toledo is starting to get a bit long in the tooth for the Boilermakers, losers of four straight including consecutive close losses to Notre Dame (understandable) and Northwester (less so). Except for the Cal game, Minnesota has rarely been outplayed this year (though the score against Wisconsin was probably closer than the actual game). That said, there’s not much reason to be optimistic about Purdue right now, so I’ll take the Gophers.
• Vanderbilt @ Army (CBSCS): Vandy’s turnover margin, while still positive, is down 0.8 turnovers a game so far this year. This year’s Vandy offense isn’t actually worse than last year’s, but when you go from the 112th ranked offense to the 83rd, well, there was really nowhere else to go. So a date with Army is probably just what the doctor ordered for the ‘Dores, who have beaten up on their out-of-conference opponents 81-17 but have only mustered 19 points against SEC foes.
• Eastern Illinois @ Pennsylvania State (ESPN Classic): Penn State.
• Michigan State @ Illinois (BTN): If you could look up “reeling” in the dictionary, the University of Illinois logo would probably right next to it. Provided Michigan State doesn’t get caught up in the fact they beat Michigan last weekend, they should be able to take care of business.
• Georgia @ Tennessee (SEC/Gameplan): Things UGA does well: score points. Things Tennessee does well: play some semblance of defense. What happen when these forces collide in Knoxville? Probably produce a result similar to what we saw last weekend: UGa puts up less than their averages but their ability to move the ball at all puts them past the Vols in the end.
• Boston College @ Virginia Tech (Raycom/Gameplan): I would like to take a moment to point out that the only ACC Atlantic teams with winning conference records are Boston College and Maryland. Let that sink in for a moment. Maryland, who has lost two straight to Middle Tennessee State and very nearly lost to James Madison in overtime. Boston College, who against Clemson not three weeks ago put up 54 yards and 4 first downs. (Since this is the ACC we’re talking about, I should clarify that BC did, in fact, lose that game.) Virginia Tech, by far the most consistent team in the conference since they joined, has done their usual thing and rolled off 4 straight, though they looked a bit lackluster against Duke last weekend. The logical pick here is VPI, and for the sake of my sanity, that’s what I’m going with.

12:30:

• Oklahoma State @ Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (FSN): Oklahoma State is lacking their best player thanks to some off-the-field shenanigans involving “Neon” Deon “Prime Time” Sanders. Yes, I know TAMU is 3-1 and all, but against the only team they’ve played that isn’t chopped liver (sorry UAB fans) they laid an egg. I think OSU still wins this game, but not by as much as they should.
• Iowa State @ Kansas (Versus): Speaking of terrible teams that got 3 (or more) wins off terrible patsies, Iowa State should lose to Kansas.
• Houston @ Mississippi State (ESPNU): If you looked up “laid an egg after the most important win in school history”…. okay, I think you all get where I’m going with this. I will say that Miss State is a decent football team, however, they seem to have forgotten that putting the ball on the ground is a bad thing. Provided the Cougars can pick themselves back off the ground, I think they should be able to win this one. It would also probably help if they don’t allow Miss State to run up 581 total yards of offense (of which one player was responsible for 262 yards).

3:30:

• Alabama @ Mississippi (CBS): Okay, Ole Miss isn’t as good as we thought. But they’re probably not that bad either. Will it be enough to stop the Alabama juggernaut? Probably not. (Unfortunately.)
• Oregon @ California-Los Angeles (ABC/Gameplan): UCLA didn’t put up much resistance last week in their loss to Stanford. On the flip side, Oregon has been rampaging, er, beating up, er, winning all their games since the debacle in Boise to open the season, and I don’t see why the streak will end in Pasadena.
• Wisconsin @ Ohio State (ESPN/ABC/Gameplan): Wisconsin kept up their habit of winning by 1 score or less in last week’s 31-28 win over UMN. Ohio State has done the opposite. Since playing it close to the sweatervest against USC, they’ve scored 30 or more points in every game since. I think Wisconsin will provide some resistance, but provided Ohio State is finally doing what it actually wants to on offense, I think they have the inside track to the Big Ten title.
• Baylor @ Oklahoma (Gameplan/ABC): This is an okay Baylor team. Of course, you could argue Oklahoma has proven absolutely nothing, but they will have Sam Bradford back and they should beat Baylor anyway.
• Connecticut @ Pittsburgh (Gameplan/ESPN/ABC): Pitt thrashed Louisville, but I don’t really take that as any sort of indicator of “quality”. I’m going to admit I’m completely guessing here and just with UConn because I think that’d be pretty funny.
• Navy @ Rice (CBSCS): I bet 10-3 seems really far away now for the Owls. Navy should cruise here. No pun intended.

4:00: Duke @ North Carolina State (ESPNU): It’s funny how, for all the wackiness of the ACC, the one terrible constant through all the years is Duke. For what it’s worth, both these teams have the exact same number of DI-A wins (one). That said, well, until they prove otherwise there’s not really any reason to favor Duke.

7:00: Stanford @ Oregon State (FSN): For the second week in a row, I’ll pick Stanford. I’m forced to wonder if that has ever happened before. I should go back and look. Though not right now.

7:15: Colorado @ Texas (ESPN): Unless something has happened since losing to The Bill Steward Experience, Colorado is still a terrible football team. Texas should handle them easily.

7:30:

• Southern Mississippi @ Louisville (ESPNU): Well, I’ll say one thing: if Louisville loses this game, the odds of them having the same head coach against UConn next week have to be extremely slim. In fact, they’re currently 0-3 against I-A teams. USM, meanwhile, has experienced something of a let down since the win over Virginia (which, if trends hold, should get more valuable each of the next three weeks!) by losing to Kansas (understandable) and UAB (much less so). UL should still beat their old C-USA foe, but the emphasis on that is should.
• Texas Christian @ Air Force (CBSCS): TCU is the most legitimate of the remaining mid-major unbeaten teams, and they have to be on their guard against a pretty decent Air Force squad. They should win, though.

8:00:

• Florida @ Louisiana State (CBS): Hooo boy. Well, here’s what we know. 1) We don’t know if Tim Tebow, the best player in college football, will play. 2) We know that in a haze of bourbon and butter, it will be very intense tonight in Baton Rouge. 3) Les Miles is crazy; Urban Meyer, not so much. And that, honestly, is what makes me think Florida will win regardless of Tebow’s presence. It’s not like the backup QB for Florida is some dude they got off the street two weeks ago. Will it change UF’s gameplan? Of course. But here’s what I know about LSU from their last two games. 1) They couldn’t stop Miss State for most of the game, except on a goal line stand at the end of the game that was probably Miss State’s fault as much as anything else. 2) They couldn’t score against UGA’s leaky defense for the first, oh, 57 minutes of the game last weekend. I think Florida, even without Tebow, has the talent to keep up with LSU and has a definite edge in coaching, and I think the Gators can, and should, win. Regardless, though, I think it’ll be close.
• Michigan @ Iowa (ABC): Michigan learned last week the ups-and-downs of having a freshman QB – saving your bacon one minute, throwing the game losing interception into the end zone the next. (Believe me, as a survive of the Reggie Ball Era, I know all about the perils of freshman QBs. The problem is when they don’t stop being freshman QBs.) Nonetheless, Iowa has failed to convince me of much of anything, and there’s the pesky fact they very nearly lost to Arkansas State last weekend. I actually like Michigan here.
• Georgia Tech @ Florida State (ESPN2): Hey, did you know Florida state is actually playing a game this weekend? Anyway, the drama around Bobby Bowden this week can amount to one of two things: 1) FSU is truly internally divided, with coaches and players fighting among themselves 2) the players have united behind Bowden and will come out motivated and ready to play. But here are some facts: Tech is looking bad on defense, and while we ended the overall losing streak to FSU last year, we’re still 0-6 in Tallahassee. Our last visit there was my freshman year back in 2003, where coming off the huge Auburn win we led 13-0 going into the 4th quarter only to lose, 14-13. We have to get this monkey off our back.
  The offense looked pretty darn good last week. We took advantage of Miss State’s 5 (!) turnovers and Nesbitt’s good passing effort (11-14 for 266 yards), easily a career best. Dwyer still lacks a 100 yard game, but with the way the passing game was working last week we almost didn’t need to – and in fact, we had more total yards passing (266) than rushing (213). Which led Mickey Andrews to his award-worthy quote: “You can’t cover everybody and play the run like you need to and double cover (Demaryius Thomas). You can, but they’ll penalize you. We’ve got it figured out if they’d just let us play with that extra guy. And they ought to, we need it right now.”
  On the opposite side of the ball, the defense was just not very good last week outside of forcing 5 turnovers. If nothing changes and the FSU that put 54 on BYU shows up, this could be a long day for us.