We’ve got through most of September now. And you don’t expect to have great weeks of college football early on. We have truly lucked out with how quality the first part of the season has been. Which leads us to this week. This is looking like one of the best non-Thanksgiving weeks in a long time. So many matches between ranked teams. Still a few unranked teams that are undefeated and playing in important games. It’s the kind of week that can put the entire season on its head. You have to expect at least one upset if not more. This week, as it says in the title, could change everything. Maybe we finally get some new blood in the College Football Playoff picture. The college football world would do well to hope for that as well. It puts more teams in the mix without resorting to expansion of the playoff (which is now being hotly debated among the ten conferences and Independents).
OK, let’s get to the task at hand which is getting you the college football schedule TV information for what looks like an awesome Week 5.
Thursday
| US | Canada | ||
| Virginia at Miami | 7:30 PM |  |
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| Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Prairie View A&M | 7:30 PM |  |
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Virginia might be not bad. Miami is looking worse than advertised and Manny Diaz is on the hot seat. This has the potential to be a crazy game. The other options are a SWAC game or Thursday Night Football featuring the Jacksonville Football Jaguars. So what I’m saying is, your options are limited.
Friday
| US | Canada | ||
| Dartmouth at Penn | 7:00 PM | |
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| Houston at Tulsa | 7:30 PM |  |
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| #13 BYU at Utah State | 9:00 PM |  |
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NOW we get into some stuff, kinda, sorta. BYU continues their run to try and go undefeated and get to the New Year’s Six. Utah State is a good team and may cause the Cougs some problems with their firepower on offense. A win here would make the Aggies an instant Mountain West contender. Houston is going to try and be that second team in the AAC Championship Game that gets fucking hammered by Cincinnati. They need to win games like this over Tulsa to do so.
Saturday Early
| US | Canada | ||
| Texas at TCU | Noon |  |
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| Pittsburgh at Georgia Tech | Noon |  |
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| Charlotte at Illinois | Noon |  |
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| Minnesota at Purdue | Noon | |
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| Western Michigan at Buffalo | Noon | |
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| #8 Arkansas at #2 Georgia | Noon | |
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| Duke at North Carolina | Noon | |
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| Memphis at Temple | Noon | |
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| #14 Michigan at Wisconsin | Noon |  |
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| Tennessee at Missouri | Noon |  |
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| Louisville at #24 Wake Forest | 12:30 PM |  |
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Oh my. This is quite the early schedule and a harbinger for what we are all in for this Saturday. If you want to know how special Arkansas’s season is shaping up to be, realize that Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit are calling this game. Yes, Fowler and Herbie are calling a Noon game for the first time ever. That is insane. Pair that with GUS JOHNSON calling a game where Michigan could win and continue to move up the rankings and you got a great pair of games. Add Louisville-Wake, WMU-Buffalo, and Texas-TCU and this is a seriously loaded early slate. Buckle up.
Saturday Afternoon
| US | Canada | ||
| #7 Cincinnati at #9 Notre Dame | 2:30 PM |  |
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| #3 Oregon at Stanford | 3:30 PM | |
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| Syracuse at Florida State | 3:30 PM | |
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| #11 Ohio State at Rutgers | 3:30 PM | |
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| #12 Ole Miss at #1 Alabama | 3:30 PM |  |
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| UCF at Navy | 3:30 PM | |
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| Texas Tech at West Virginia | 3:30 PM | |
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| #6 Oklahoma at Kansas State | 3:30 PM | |
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| Troy at South Carolina | 3:30 PM | |
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| USF at SMU | 4:00 PM | |
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And the amazing schedule continues. Holy moly it’s been a while since I’ve seen two timeslots in a row that were this good. Where do I begin? Let’s start with Cincinnati and their road to glory. They beat the Irish and there is no reason for this team to not be in the Top 4 by Sunday afternoon. The Sooners get Kansas State and you know how well they tend to do in Manhattan (spoiler: not very good). Also, Lane Kiffin gets another shot at Bama. You will notice there are no TSN games in this timeslot, nor the next one. Nothing until the late night sked which is odd considering what ESPN is doing today with the 6:00/9:00 games. Unfortunately, TSN’s contracts with UFC, MLS, CFL and NASCAR usurp anything college football-related. I get it. I just don’t like it.
Saturday Primetime
| US | Canada | ||
| #10 Florida at Kentucky | 6:00 PM | |
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| Liberty at UAB | 7:00 PM | |
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| #21 Baylor at #19 Oklahoma State | 7:00 PM | |
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| Mississippi State at #15 Texas A&M | 7:00 PM | |
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| Indiana at #4 Penn State | 7:30 PM | |
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| Boston College at #25 Clemson | 7:30 PM | |
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| Western Kentucky at Michigan State | 7:30 PM | |
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| Northwestern at Nebraska | 7:30 PM | |
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| UConn at Vanderbilt | 7:30 PM | |
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OK not as good as the first two timeslots but still a solid set of games. It’s highlighted by, you guessed it, UConn-Vandy Baylor-OSU. And expect UF-UK to be a sneaky good game and an important SEC one. I think ABC might be a bit miffed now to have picked Indy-PSU considering the Hoosiers’ start to the season. Maybe they can push the Nittany Lions to the limit in this one. And if you like pain, yes, UConn against Vanderbilt on the specialty pack. I just don’t get it. How many games could have been put there and then you can send this game to ESPN+ but no. Somehow we are going to get a lot of UConn football on our TV sets this year and that’s not a good thing.
Saturday Late Night
| US | Canada | ||
| #22 Auburn at LSU | 9:00 PM | |
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| Montana at Eastern Washington | 10:30 PM | |
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| #18 Fresno State at Hawaii | 11:00 PM | |
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This is an…interesting way to finish off the day. I guess it’s a nice cooldown compared to the pure insanity we will receive all day. The fact that TSN2 has 10:30 as a game to be determined is interesting since the only game available at that time is Montana-EWU. UPDATE: TSN is now not showing a college football game, going with Must See SC. I guess they saw the game and decided not to bother. It would be the first non-Week Zero, non-FCS Playoff game on a TSN station ever (I believe). Also, another Hawaii Test as Fresno State heads to a high school field in Honolulu for a game that will end around 2:30 or so in the morning.
Games to set your eyeballs on
Arkansas at Georgia (Noon, TSN3) – There is not an easy choice for Game of the Week with four games between ranked teams on the docket. I do believe with the top ABC/ESPN crew going to Athens for this one, it pushes it to the top. This is a massive game for both teams but really a bigger one for the Hogs. If the Razorbacks can pull this one out, you might want to at least pencil Sam Pittman in as Coach of the Year already since this is already the best coaching job we’ve seen in quite some time. It would also set up a crazy Bama-Arkansas game later on in the year between possibly two undefeated teams the week before American Thanksgiving. Giddy up!
Cincinnati at Notre Dame (2:30, NBC) – Still no respect for this Bearcats football team. The fact this is a day game shows what many still believe about Cincinnati and the Group of Five as a whole. Let’s be honest: this is Cincinnati’s best chance ever to make some noise in college football. I know they went to a BCS bowl in the past (where they were blown out by Florida). But this is their one true shot to get into the College Football Playoff before it expands, whenever that ends up happening. They need to win this because there are a few games on their American Conference schedule that will not help them at all, even if they win big. I kind of hope it happens only to make The Committee’s job difficult. I still wonder if they need an open bar when they have their meetings. Could be fun to watch one member who goes way too far and ends up puking before inexplicably stumping for UConn to be in the New Year’s Six.
Ole Miss at Alabama (3:30, CBS) – Normally a game with the Tide in it has a shot at being the GOTW. On almost any week this would end up being the case. It’s still going to be a good game I think as Lane Kiffin and his offense figured out the Tide last year, putting 48 points up on the board against them. Expect the same against a team that is not as good as last year’s. Nick Saban’s squad is still a heavy favourite but we know what the Rebels have been able to do in the past to them. Another game that could upset the balance in college football if an upset occurs.
Baylor at Oklahoma State (7:00, specialty pack) – If you thought this was going to be a game between two ranked teams at the start of the season, I would have taken you to Vegas to bet on roulette. The Cowboys are a bit of a shock at this point but the Bears are a full-blown surprise. Kind of surprised this didn’t end up being the ABC Primetime game but it does show what ABC/ESPN thinks of the Big XII (and it won’t get any better in a couple years). Anyway, both of these teams have a serious chance to be the team that gets to surprise everyone and get to go to JerryWorld for the Big XII Championship. With the conference being a bit of a mess right now, nothing says either of these teams can’t go all the way.
Oklahoma at Kansas State (3:30, FOX) – There are quite a few games that could go in this spot. We know about the Sooners’ struggles in Manhattan. Kansas State has looked good so far this season going 3-1 so it’s a team just outside the Top 25 here. Don’t be surprised if the Sooners defense struggles yet again. Or their offense. Who knows with this team. Now watch Oklahoma win by like 50 and prove me wrong.
Honourable mention: Iowa at Maryland (Friday, 8:00, FOX Sports One); BYU at Utah State (Friday, 9:00, CBS Sports Network); Louisville at Wake Forest (Noon, specialty pack); Oregon at Stanford (3:30, ABC); Florida at Kentucky (6:00, specialty pack); Ohio State at Rutgers (3:30, Big Ten Network); Indiana at Penn State (7:30, ABC); Boston College (7:30, specialty pack); Auburn at LSU (9:00, specialty pack); Arizona State at UCLA (10:30, FOX Sports One). I told you there were a lot of good games this weekend.
You bet!
My picks were not that good although they were all upset losses. That makes me feel at least a bit better. I have a feeling I will do better this week. I am adding more picks just for this week just because of the sheer number of great games. Alright *deep breath* let’s go!
Florida over Kentucky
Georgia over Arkansas
Alabama over Ole Miss
LSU over Auburn
BYU over Utah State
Notre Dame over Cincinnati
Oregon over Stanford
UCLA over Arizona State
Clemson over Boston College
Wake Forest over Louisville
Penn State over Indiana
Iowa over Maryland
Ohio State over Rutgers
Oklahoma State over Baylor
Oklahoma over Kansas State
Alright it seems like the specialty pack schedules are still a bit slow in coming out. I haven’t seen any definitive information for the Saturday games on any of the schedules I have looked at. I’m sure the info will come up shortly but really this info should be ready pretty much the day after the previous week’s games are done. I don’t buy the whole idea that it’s up to ESPN to “release” games to the cable companies. That’s horseshit. You have the contract, you show the games. It’s not like you get all the ESPN and ESPN2 games this week but next week, nope, only ESPNU games. Like, fuck off.
I went against my own advice (kind of) and did do the Twitter thing last weekend and it wasn’t bad at all. I guess I shouldn’t judge it based on one day but I know what Twitter can be like if you get into the wrong part of Twitter…the Twitter on the other side of the tracks. Enjoy the games everyone!
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