It’s the next-to-last week of the season, the penultimate week of the regular season – whatever you want to call it.
There’s a lot of less-than-dramatic games on the schedule today, but we do have a few to look forward to.
I didn’t end that sentence with correct grammar, but you get what I mean.
Hey, man, I’m posting this just before the early kickoff. I don’t have time for BS. Let’s get to it.
We’ve had a few games already this week.
On Tuesday, Toledo edged Bowling Green by one point, 32-31, at Bowling Green’s house. Northern Illinois edged Western Michigan – JK, they blew them out! – 24-0. Eastern Michigan beat Akron by a field goal, 30-27, in two overtimes.
Wednesday night, Ohio beat Central Michigan, 34-20. Miami (Ohio) beat Buffalo, 23-10. Thursday, Pitt beat Boston College, 24-16. And Friday night, Texas-San Antonio – led by alleged Texas A&M coaching candidate Jeff Traylor – beat down South Florida, 49-21, and Washington State spanked Colorado, 56-14.
On Saturday, here’s the menu. All times are Central Standard Time, because we’re in Texas, and well, that’s just.. ok, here they are.
No. 3 Michigan at Maryland, 11 a.m., FOX
Chattanooga at No. 8 Alabama, 11 a.m., ESPN+, SEC Network Alt.
No. 10 Louisville at Miami, 11 a.m., ABC
Rutgers at No. 12 Penn State, 11 a.m., FOX Sports 1
Louisiana Monroe at No. 13 Ole Miss, 11 a.m., SEC Network
No. 14 Oklahoma at BYU, 11 a.m., ESPN
No. 24 Tulane at Florida Atlantic, 11 a.m., ESPN+
Coastal Carolina at Army, 11 a.m., CBS Sports Network
Michigan State at Indiana, 11 a.m., Big Ten Network
Southern Miss at Mississippi State, 11 a.m., ESPN+, SEC Network Alt.
Purdue at Northwestern, 11 a.m., Big Ten Network
Abilene Christian at Texas A&M, ESPN+, SEC Network Alt.
Sacred Heart at UConn, 11 a.m.
East Carolina at Navy, 11 a.m., ESPNews, ESPN+
SMU at Memphis, 11 a.m., ESPN2
UMass at Liberty, noon, ESPN+
Louisiana Tech at Jacksonville State, 1 p.m., ESPN+
UTEP at Middle Tennessee, 1 p.m., ESPN+
Rice at Charlotte, 1 p.m., ESPN+
Appalachian State at James Madison, 1 p.m., ESPN+
Kent State at Ball State, 1 p.m., ESPN+
Hawai’i at Wyoming, 1 p.m.
No. 22 Utah at No. 17 Wyoming, 1:30 p.m., Pac-12 Network
Cincinnati at West Virginia, 1:30 p.m, ESPN+
Duke at Virginia, 2 p.m., CW Network
North Texas at Tulsa, 2 p.m., ESPN+
Temple at Alabama-Birmingham, 2 p.m., ESPN+
Texas State at Arkansas State, 2 p.m., ESPN+
Nevada at Colorado State, 2 p.m.
No. 1 Georgia at No. 18 Tennessee, 2:30 p.m., CBS
Illinois at No. 16 Iowa, 2:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1
Wake Forest at No. 19 Notre Dame, 2:30 p.m., NBC
No. 20 North Carolina at Clemson, 2:30 p.m., ESPN
Sam Houston State at Western Kentucky, 2:30 p.m., ESPN+
UCLA at Southern Cal, 2:30 p.m., ABC
North Carolina State at Virginia Tech, 2:30 p.m., ACC Network
Baylor at TCU, 2:30 p.m., ESPN+
Louisiana at Troy, 2:30 p.m., NFL Network
UNLV at Air Force, 2:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network
Minnesota at No. 2 Ohio State, 3 p.m., Big Ten Network
No. 6 Oregon at Arizona State, 3 p.m., FOX
No. 23 Oklahoma State at Houston, 3 p.m., ESPN2
New Mexico State at Auburn, 3 p.m., SEC Network
Central Florida at Texas Tech, 4 p.m., Fox Sports 2
Marshall at South Alabama, 4 p.m., ESPN+
Old Dominion at Georgia Southern, 5 p.m., ESPN+
North Alabama at No. 4 Florida State, 5:30 p.m., CW Network
Cal at Stanford, 5:30 p.m., Pac-12 Network
No. 21 Kansas State at No. 25 Kansas, 6 p.m., Fox Sports 1
Boise State at Utah State, 6 p.m., CBS Sports Network
No. 5 Washington at No. 11 Oregon State, 6:30 p.m., ABC
Florida at No. 9 Missouri, 6:30 p.m., ESPN
Florida International at Arkansas, 6:30 p.m., ESPNU
Kentucky at South Carolina, 6:30 p.m., SEC Network
Nebraska at Wisconsin, 6:30 p.m., NBC
No. 7 Texas at Iowa State, 7 p.m., FOX
Georgia State at No. 15 LSU, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Syracuse at Georgia Tech, 7 p.m., ACC Network
New Mexico at Fresno State, 9:30 p.m. FOX Sports 1
San Diego State at San Jose State, 9:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network
Staff picks
Our staff – editor / publisher Mitch Lucas, his wife and correspondent Jenna Lucas, photographer Alex Nabor, correspondents Mitchell Molandes and his wife / correspondent Shelby Thompson Molandes, videographer Jacob Lucas, and associate editor Clayton Fletcher – picks these games every week, and right now, they’re LOSING TO MITCH’S BEAUTIFUL COLLEGE-STUDENT DAUGHTER, Ashtyn.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.
Ashtyn is not your typical “daughter,” she loves football and might even have a career in it one day.
And it shows in her knowledge of the games.
Her record before today is 116-40.
Mitch is second (114-42). Alex and Mitchell are tied at third (111-45). Shelby is next (109-47). Jacob and Jenna are tied (108-48), and Fletcher is 96-60. Too many upsets, there, ol’ Fletch.
Colorado at Washington State, of course, was Thursday. The pick was 5-3 in favor of Colorado, but Mitch, Alex, and Mitchell all picked WSU – and boy, I bet they’re glad.
Michigan at Maryland
The pick: Unanimous (8-0) in favor of the Wolverines. I guess they’re not buying Tua’s little brother pulling the upset.
Chattanooga at Alabama
The pick: ‘Bama, unanimously (8-0).
Louisville at Miami
The pick: 6-2 in favor of the Cardinals, with Mitch and Jenna thinking the ‘Canes could pull the upset.
Oklahoma at BYU
The pick:
The pick: Slow start, fast start, whatever kind of start, everybody on the panel picked OU (unanimous, 8-0).
Rutgers at Penn State
The pick: The Nittany Lions, unanimously (8-0).
Tulane at Florida Atlantic
The pick: The Green Wave, unanimously (8-0), which sort of surprises me. I thought someone might buy into the upset pick. (Where are you at, Fletch? This has you written all over it)
Utah at Arizona
The pick: A 50-50 split, hey, there we go. Mitch, Mitchell, Shelby and Ashtyn lean Wildcats, while Jenna, Fletch, Jacob and Alex all said Utes.
Georgia at Tennessee
The pick: Bulldogs, unanimously (8-0). Probably had a little something to do with the Vols looking like – well, looking really bad in a loss at Mizzou last week.
UCLA at Southern Cal
The pick: Fletch and Alex took the Bruins. The remainder of the panel took the Trojans. And by the way, who knows which Trojans will show up? I think that’s a valid point. And they did dismiss defensive coordinator Alex Grinch recently. (I just like saying his name)
North Carolina at Clemson
The pick: Jacob, Mitchell and Mitchell are saying Dabo and his boys are going with the Tigers. Will this be the last Dabo-Mack Brown battle for a while? Some folks believe Swinney is on the way to Texas A&M. We’ll see.
Kansas State at Kansas
The pick: Another even split! Jacob, Shelby, Ashtyn and Mitch are taking the visitors (K-State), and everyone else are on the home team, the Jayhawks, who decided they weren’t going to show up last week against Texas Tech. Was that unfair? Hmmm. Maybe. But maybe accurate.
Washington at Oregon State
The pick: five of the panel are taking the Huskies, while three (Jenna, Jacob and Mitch) are flat-out picking the upset. Boy, wouldn’t that make things easier for the College Football Playoff committee if one of the unbeatens lost?
Florida at Missouri
The pick: Missouri, unanimously (8-0). Never thought I’d see the day when the Gators were picked to lose in unanimous fashion.
Texas at Iowa State
The pick: The editor / publisher of this site took the Cyclones to pull this upset. Believe it or not. I’m beginning to think Fletch made Mitch’s picks this week. If the ‘Horns lose this – wow, that would really make things crazy for the Big 12 Conference and their standings and the title game.
