It's another week of the college football season and another week of some exciting games. Now in Week 5, we are at the point of the season when the Power 5 start moving to in-league competition. The Big Ten is doing this with a handful of league games. Penn State will have two Big Ten games under its belt before Ohio State plays its first. Others, like the SEC and Pac-12, are getting deeper into league play as well.
Ohio State finishes its non-conference schedule hosting Cincinnati. The greatest television show to be set in the purported Queen City, WKRP in Cincinnati, is the subject of this week's honorary TV Guide for your consideration.
What follows is your viewing guide for this week. Make sure to come to The Eleven Dubgate to watch these games play before marching to Ohio Stadium to watch the Bucks.
Thursday
Texas Tech at Oklahoma State (ESPN, 7:30 p.m.). Week 4 was a bye week for most of the Big XII. Kansas beat Central Michigan. K-State lost to Auburn in a big Thursday clash and Oklahoma overwhelmed WVU. That was four of ten Big XII teams in action.
This week, Oklahoma State returns to action without J.W. Walsh to host Coach GQ's Red Raiders. For all his handsomeness, Texas Tech may not make a bowl game this season.
Appalachian State at Georgia Southern (ESPNU, 7:30 p.m.). Those curious to see two programs in their first two years of FBS play throw hands at each other, this is your other viewing option at this time.
UCLA at Arizona State (FOX Sports 1, 10 p.m.). The only game of the week between two ranked teams is a gem of a matchup hidden on FOX Sports 1.
Brett Hundley is still uncertain for UCLA's game against Arizona State.
Will this decide the Pac-12 South? That might be a stretch to say for two teams with one conference game between them (Arizona State beat Colorado two weeks ago). USC is still a heavyweight in the division and Arizona is off to a better start than anyone in the Pac-12. However, this seems like a game between no. 1 and no. 2 in the division.
Projecting this game is hard. Taylor Kelly, Arizona State's starting quarterback, will not play against UCLA. Brett Hundley, a preseason Heisman hopeful, is doubtful for this game after injuring his left arm against Texas two weeks ago.
The line right now hovers around UCLA -5. Does that seem right? I'd take Arizona State this game, even without Taylor Kelly.
Friday
Fresno State at New Mexico (ESPN2, 8 p.m.). Tim DeRuyter against "Footbaw" Bob Davie on Friday night. I don't want to hear you complain about that.
Middle Tennessee at Old Dominion (FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m.). This game is here to watch if you want it. I have little to add to it, beyond expressing a curiosity about seeing Old Dominion's home stadium. Old Dominion recently moved to FBS.
Saturday
Wyoming at Michigan State (ESPN2, 12 p.m.). A week after scoring the most points in a football game since 1989, Michigan State's campaign for vengeance against crappy football teams continues against Wyoming.
South Florida at Wisconsin (ESPNU, 12 p.m.). Wisconsin unloaded on Bowling Green in one of the greatest offensive outputs in Big Ten history. South Florida, meanwhile, is terrible.
This game ends with Wisconsin beating South Florida by 70 points or by three points. I'm not sure there's a middle ground for a prediction.
Tennessee at Georgia (ESPN, 12 p.m.). How good is Tennessee in Butch Jones' second year? The youth movement is apparent and has already paid some dividends. Making Oklahoma work four quarters to beat it by 24 points in Norman is a testament to that.
Georgia is a 17-point favorite in this game. This sounds about right, but, the SEC East, man. Missouri, the last unbeaten the SEC East and the reigning SEC East champion, lost at home to friggin' Indiana.
Iowa and Purdue play on Saturday in the latest installment of the greatest rivalry in the Big Ten.
Iowa at Purdue (BTN, 12 p.m.). This rivalry game is so important to the Big Ten that it could no longer afford to keep these two bitter rivals in separate divisions in its latest round of conference expansion. Long live Iowa-Purdue, the greatest rivalry in college football.
Many of you (if not most of you) may get Northwestern at Penn State at this time on BTN instead of this historic rivalry between Iowa and Purdue.
Tulane at Rutgers (ESPN News, 12 p.m.). It's here if you want it. Rutgers plays Ohio State in three weeks.
Vanderbilt at Kentucky (SEC Network, 12 p.m.). Kentucky's best win on the season is a three-overtime loss to Florida. That's about all anyone can say about Kentucky this year.
At least Vandy is next on the schedule. This should be Kentucky's first SEC win since 2011.
Maryland at Indiana (BTN, 1:30 p.m.). I wish I had a firm idea how BTN is going to handle this staggered kickoff on its network.
Nothing would be more Indiana, or #B1G, than beating the SEC East champion in its place on SEC Network and then losing by five touchdowns at home to Maryland.
Florida State at North Carolina State (ABC/ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.). On that note, how Clemson/Florida State would it be if NC State finished what Clemson started and couldn't finish last week?
Jameis Winston should return against NC State, but FSU's offense has problems even with him.
The Seminoles could use Jameis Winston who, pending some other vulgar outburst or criminal malfeasance to be determined, will return to action.
However, the Seminoles showed little against Clemson or in the previous weeks to underscore its no. 1 ranking. That Florida State can't run the ball even with Jameis Winston at quarterback is rather alarming for a team hoping to repeat as national champions.
NC State's quarterback, Jacoby Brissett, is off to a flying start. The recent Florida transfer has a completion rate of 69.7% and has a 10-1 TD-INT ratio.
Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (CBS, 3:30 p.m.). This game got a lot more interesting from what preseason projections were.
Arkansas was unranked and Texas A&M was a fringe top-25 team. Texas A&M is the no. 6 team in the country and Arkansas has just the season-opening loss at Auburn to its name.
Further, Arkansas looks great. The Hogs are averaging 324.5 yards per game on the ground.
This will be the first real test for Texas A&M, which has been busy pummeling rich kid schools in Texas (e.g. Rice, Southern Methodist) after its season-opening win at South Carolina.
This game will be played in Jerry World, college football's Babylon.
Minnesota at Michigan (ABC/ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.). Heart says Minnesota for multiple reasons, not the least of them being that Jerry Kill is the Big Ten's all-around "good dude".
Brain says Michigan, even in its current idiotic state. Minnesota can't beat even the stupid MIchigan teams.
Minnesota has not defeated Michigan since 2005 and has won just three times since Bo Schembechler took control of the program in 1969. Schembechler effectively killed that rivalry.
Wake Forest at Louisville (ESPNU, 3:30 p.m.). This is an ACC Atlantic Division game now. I had to look at it twice to make sure it wasn't a basketball game.
Louisiana Tech at Auburn (SEC Network, 4 p.m.). Things looked precarious for Auburn last week in the Little Apple, but the job ultimately got done. It hosts 2-2 Louisiana Tech before hosting LSU next week.
Texas at Kansas (FOX Sports 1, 4 p.m.). Texas is about a 14-point favorite in this game. Is it odd to think that Kansas covers, at the least? Such is Texas in the Big XII these days.
Stanford at Washington (FOX, 4:15 p.m.). Stanford lost in its last trip to Seattle, the only conference loss for the Cardinal en route to a Rose Bowl championship season. Stanford is just an eight-point favorites in this game.
Cincinnati at Ohio State (BTN, 6 p.m.). This is your personal game of the week. Stay tuned for comprehensive coverage of this game at Eleven Warriors. Also, come by the Eleven Dubgate and tailgate with your friends at Eleven Warriors! I know I'll be there.
South Carolina was Missouri's lone conference loss en route to winning the SEC East last year.
Missouri at South Carolina (ESPN, 7 p.m.). Missouri, the reigning SEC East champion, lost at home on SEC Network to Indiana. I can't say this enough because it happened and Missouri deserves eternal shame for it.
That said, Missouri is at least alive and well in the SEC Championship picture. If South Carolina loses this game, it might be done. That win against Georgia may go only so far.
Last year's contest was a classic and the only regular season loss for Missouri en route to an SEC East crown and Cotton Bowl championship.
North Carolina at Clemson (ESPNU, 7 p.m.). Fun fact: we are five weeks into the season and Clemson has yet to get a win against an FBS team. It'll get its chance against UNC.
Clemson is also starting true freshman Deshaun Watson at quarterback.
New Mexico State at LSU (SEC Network, 7:30 p.m.). LSU is hoping New Mexico State is much less potent on offense than Mississippi State. Mississippi State hung 570 yards of offense on LSU last week, the most conceded by a Les Miles LSU team since he arrived in Baton Rouge in 2005.
Duke at Miami (ESPN2, 7:30 p.m.). Duke—yes, that Duke—beat Miami by 18 points in last season's matchup in Durham. One wonders how much longer Al Golden has left in Coral Gables if Miami loses this game.
Baylor at Iowa State (FOX, 8 p.m.). Baylor won last year's contest 71-7 and lost the last trip to Ames in 2012 by 14 points. It's favored by 22 against the Cyclones this game.
Notre Dame vs. Syracuse (ABC, 8 p.m.). Syracuse' media guide billed this as a game between two programs who have a combined 12 national championships. The next sentence, it admitted that Notre Dame had 11 of those 12 national championships.
Even Syracuse is grasping at straws as to why someone should watch this game in MetLife Stadium.
Ameer Abdullah rushed for 225 yards against Illinois last year.
Illinois at Nebraska (BTN, 9 p.m.). This game is the conference-opener for both teams and will be for the next three seasons. The two started conference play against each other in Lincoln last year. That'll be five consecutive seasons opening Big Ten play against each other. I've mentioned elsewhere how much I love this concept of conference-opening rivalries.
Oregon State at USC (ESPN, 10:30 p.m.). This will be USC's first game since an inexplicable defeat at Boston College. It'll be against a team, Oregon State, that has a history of inexplicable wins against the Trojans. Oregon State had a six-year stretch where it went 3-3 against the Trojans before the Pac-10 became the Pac-12 and split into divisions separating the two schools.
One talking point this game will be Oregon State's Sean Mannion. At 11,339 passing yards for a career, he is already Oregon State's all-time record-holder for career passing yards. He's a little over 1,000 yards from USC's Matt Barkley for the Pac-12 record.
