The Big Ten starts league play in earnest this week. Other conferences like the Pac-12 and the Big XII are in conference play the rest of the season. Others like the ACC and the SEC are still transitioning into the conference schedule. Auburn, Kentucky, and LSU have cupcakes while Miami has yet to play a conference opponent.
There's plenty of room for excitement with this week's schedule. Alabama plays at Georgia for the first mid-season conference game since 2008. Clemson hosts Notre Dame in one of the hottest Clemson Memorial Stadium tickets in years. This game will bring ESPN's College Gameday to town as well.
This guide will tell you what to watch around Ohio State's game on Saturday.
Thursday
Miami (FL) at Cincinnati (ESPN, 7:30 p.m.). There's something admirable about Miami's scheduling practices. At the height of their glory years in the 1980s and early 1990s, Miami would go anywhere to play anyone. These included stops at Penn State, Houston, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma, among many, many others. The Canes even traveled to programs like California, Missouri, and Wisconsin before the recent resurgences for those programs.
Miami has played at Cincinnati before (1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, and 1998). However, in this era of college football, Miami's decision to schedule a game at Nippert Stadium is somewhat curious. Three of those five home games for Cincinnati were at least in the old Riverfront Stadium. Why play at Nippert other than to confess that shrimpy venue is fitting for both of these mid-level programs?
It's not just Cincinnati either. Miami has a road game scheduled at Arkansas State in 2017 and at Toledo in 2018. Toledo!
Friday
Temple at UNC-Charlotte (CBS Sports, 7 p.m.). This might be your first chance to see Charlotte football. This is the first season of FBS football for the 49ers. At 2-2 this young season, it has gone well enough. However, two of those wins were over Georgia Southern and Presbyterian. Middle Tennessee State beat Charlotte, 73-14 in Week 3. The 49ers lost, 17-7, to Florida Atlantic last week.
Memphis at South Florida (ESPN2, 7 p.m.). Memphis' game last Friday night against Cincinnati was kind of wild. Cincinnati outgained Memphis, 752-570, but three Cincinnati turnovers may have been the difference in Memphis' 53-46 win. If nothing else, this game might have high spectator value.
Connecticut at Brigham Young (ESPN2, 10:15 p.m.). This game is strategically located at a 10:15 kickoff. It's hard to imagine this game being any good, though. Connecticut is dreadful and Michigan may have just beat the charm off the Cougars last week.
Saturday
Central Florida at Tulane (ESPN News, 12 p.m.). Central Florida is chasing its first win of the season. I can't reiterate enough that Central Florida lost to Furman, which is not even a good FCS team. Furman's only other win was against a hapless Virginia Military Institute team.
Houston at Tulsa (CBS Sports, 12 p.m.). This might be your first chance to see the Tom Herman-led Cougars. Houston is looking to start league play with a win in Tulsa.
South Carolina at Missouri (SEC Network, 12 p.m.). Both of these teams lost to Kentucky. That's the joke.
Army at Penn State (ESPNU, 12 p.m.). Penn State already has a league win under its belt (against Rutgers in Week 3). Rutgers, incidentally, plays at Army the week before its season finale against Maryland.
West Virginia at Oklahoma (FOX Sports 1, 12 p.m.). This is the first of five games this weekend featuring ranked teams.
Last week, I mentioned that I did not doubt that West Virginia would manhandle Maryland, though I wasn't sure how we could infer that from West Virginia's schedule to that point. No matter, West Virginia thrashed Maryland in Morgantown, 45-6. Now, it starts Big XII play at Norman.
No. 15 Oklahoma had a bye last week, which may provide some rest for the otherwise red-hot Baker Mayfield. Mayfield had an incredible second half to rally Oklahoma in Tennessee. He also threw for 487 yards, four touchdowns, and ran for another 85 yards and two touchdowns in the win over Tulsa.
The 2013 game between both programs was quite the defensive battle, which Oklahoma won, 16-7.
Texas at Texas Christian (ABC, 12 p.m.). Texas is snakebit this season. It was flattened in Notre Dame to start the season, struggled in a win against Rice, lost on account of #collegekickers to California, and may have been officiated out the game in the loss to Oklahoma State last week.
Texas got a raw deal last week, but its fans have gone full tin hat on Big XII officiating (see rebuttal here). Try reconciling that with what you remember about the 2009 Big XII Championship Game.
Texas Christian heel-stomping Texas this game might actually start a few fires in Austin.
Purdue at Michigan State (ESPN2, 12 p.m.). Michigan State is more than a three-touchdown favorite, but last year's game was kind of screwy. Sparty won by two touchdowns, but not without making it look unusually difficult to beat a crummy Boilermaker squad.
Minnesota at Northwestern (BTN, 12 p.m.). Minnesota is 3-1 this season with those three wins by a combined nine-point margin. It starts B1G play against a Northwestern team that has arguably the best portfolio in the country right now.
Iowa at Wisconsin (ESPN, 12 p.m.). Remember when the Big Ten gerrymandered its divisions so Wisconsin was in the opposite division of its main rivals? That was fun.
Air Force at Navy (CBS Sports, 12 p.m.). This is the first Commander-in-Chief's Trophy game of the year. Air Force took the crown from Navy last year, which had won it the past two seasons.
Texas Tech at Baylor (ABC/ESPN2, 12 p.m.). Ohio State has the reverse mirror again this week. If the Buckeyes are on ABC, then Texas Tech-Baylor is on ESPN2, and vice-versa.
Michigan at Maryland (BTN, 12 p.m.). Maryland is in the worst possible position this game. It beat Michigan last year in Ann Arbor on Michigan's senior day. It also happens to suck out loud right now while Michigan is enjoying something of a rebirth.
This one might get ugly.
Florida State at Wake Forest (ESPN, 3:30 p.m.). Wake Forest lost at home to Indiana and lost by 13 at Syracuse, if that gives you an idea of what you can expect Florida State to do to it this game.
North Carolina at Georgia Tech (ESPNU, 3:30 p.m.). A loss for Georgia Tech would be three straight losses and two in conference play for the league's defending ACC Coastal Division champion.
Alabama at Georgia (CBS, 3:30 p.m.). This is the second of five games this week featuring ranked teams.
You may have heard that Alabama is actually an underdog this game. It's true, and it's also historic. Alabama had been favored in the past 72 games it had played until this one. The game originally opened as a pick'em, though Georgia is about a three-point favorite right now. It's the first time Alabama has been an underdog since the 2009 SEC Championship Game.
Both sides met in the 2012 SEC Championship Game, though this will be the first regular conference game between both sides since 2008. Alabama was an underdog in that game as well. Georgia had circled the game as one they wanted to remember. Georgia fans all wore black to Sanford Stadium and the Bulldogs wore black jerseys. The goal: "black out" Alabama.
Georgia fans do not like to recall what happened that game. Alabama took a 31-0 lead to halftime before finally winning, 41-30. Knowshon Moreno was limited to 34 yards on nine carries.
Georgia, which had been experimenting with black jerseys and wore them in the 2008 Sugar Bowl earlier that year, has not worn black jerseys since.
San Jose State at Auburn (SEC Network, 4 p.m.). I'm hoping for an Auburn loss just to hear Tammy's reaction on Finebaum...
Kansas State at Oklahoma State (FOX Sports 1, 4 p.m.). This might be a dark horse candidate for game of the week. Neither team is fantastic. Oklahoma State's win at Texas might be misleading, but I find Kansas State to be an interesting team to watch.
Washington State at California (Pac-12 Network, 4 p.m.). California might start the season 5-0 for the first time since 2007. In that season, California went winless in October and did not become bowl-eligible until November 3rd.
The Bears might suffer a similar fate this season. A win gets California to 5-0. California's next opponents are, in order, at Utah, at UCLA, USC, and at Oregon. A winnable home against Oregon State follows but is succeeded by a road trip to Stanford.
The Pac-12 is fun.
Nebraska at Illinois (BTN, 4:02 p.m.). Imagine the lifelong Nebraska fan who is at least 30 years old. This person grew up with classic rivalry games against Colorado and Missouri. The older Nebraska fans may even remember the Big 8 days with the season-ending showdowns against Oklahoma. Conference road games against programs like Kansas and Kansas State were approximately two-to-three-hour drives from Lincoln.
Now, today's Nebraska fan gets a program that starts conference play with Illinois every year from 2013 to 2015. The Illini are Nebraska's first Big Ten home game in 2016 and first Big Ten road game in 2017.
I actually love this. I've said elsewhere that I rather like what the SEC did until 2012 when it had traditional conference openers (e.g. Alabama-Arkansas, Florida-Tennessee, and Georgia-South Carolina). I just find the pairing hilarious and weird even if I would love for it to become a tradition.
Ole Miss at Florida (ESPN, 7 p.m.). This is the third of five games this week featuring ranked teams.
This is also the return of Ole Miss to Gainesville for the first time since the infamous 2008 game. That game was Florida's only loss in what became Urban Meyer's second national championship. The Tim Tebow speech that followed it is now etched on a plaque outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, along with a statue of Tim Tebow himself.
That game was weird to anyone who saw it live. Ole Miss was okay in 2008. It even won the Cotton Bowl over Texas Tech. Still, that team had no business beating Florida in Gainesville.
With all that said, this game is a rare occurrence. It was rare even before the recent SEC expansion to 14 teams. Ole Miss has played in Gainesville just three times since the league expanded to 12 teams in 1992.
Arkansas at Tennessee (ESPN2, 7 p.m.). I'm not sure if this will be a football game or a therapy session.
Eastern Michigan at LSU (ESPNU, 7 p.m.). How fortunate for LSU to have scheduled the team with the worst rushing defense in the country. Eastern Michigan concedes 373.25 rushing yards per contest, 59 yards worse than the next worst team (Idaho).
Vanderbilt at Middle Tennessee State (CBS Sports, 7:30 p.m.). Vanderbilt took Ole Miss deep into the fourth quarter in Oxford before the no.3 Rebels secured a home conference win. That should be all the more amusing when Middle Tennessee bludgeons Vanderbilt this game.
Mississippi State at Texas A&M (SEC Network, 7:30 p.m.).This is the fourth of five games this week featuring ranked teams.
I will confess my surprise that Texas A&M did not blow the doors off Arkansas last week. The accelerated pace by which Texas A&M forced the game into overtime and secured an overtime win is what I expected to see all game.
Mississippi State, meanwhile, was a preseason projection for a last-place finisher in the SEC West. Now, that looks like a race between last year's "hottest" SEC team (Arkansas) and the preseason SEC Champion (Auburn, if you can believe that). Mississippi State secured its first league win this year in Auburn behind 29/41, 270-yard performance from Dak Prescott. Mississippi State gained only 56 yards on the ground last week.
Texas A&M gets a pass because of its league affiliation, but it is worth mentioning that the Aggies' schedule does not have them leaving the state of Texas until the October 24 game at Ole Miss.
Kentucky hosts Eastern Kentucky on SEC Network at the same time. Check the overflow network if you want to see Noah Spence take on Kentucky's offensive line.
Arizona State at UCLA (FOX, 7:30 p.m.). Auburn gets the attention this season as the team whose performance has most belied its preseason hype. Let's not forget about Arizona State, though. Todd Graham hailed this as his best-ever team at Arizona State. This "best-ever" team has a 2-2 record with a three-touchdown loss to Texas A&M, a four-touchdown loss at home to USC, and a win against Cal Poly in which it was tied in the fourth quarter.
UCLA may be legit. At least, it made an example of Arizona in Tucson in front of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit. Did you watch, though? ESPN laments that game earned the worst rating ever for a Saturday night college football game.
Notre Dame at Clemson (ABC, 8 p.m.). This is the final game of the day featuring two ranked teams.
I had this penciled on the calendar for a variety of reasons, least of which being that I live in the area and the traffic will be a zoo. Notre Dame was a controversial team in the preseason. Some had Notre Dame as a playoff team. Others, like me, were wondering whether Temple or Pitt would be the team against whom Notre Dame would need two to three overtimes to defeat. After all, the Irish were the first team in the preseason AP Top 25 to not appear on a given ballot.
Notre Dame has mostly allayed that skepticism through four games, though the nature of the close win against Virginia stands out. However, all that preseason hype for Notre Dame seemed to forget that the Irish had to play at Clemson this year. Florida State is the pick to win the ACC Atlantic Division, though I think Clemson is the most talented team and whose schedule is most favorable to represent the division in the championship game in Charlotte.
In short, I think this is Clemson's most difficult game notwithstanding the homestand against USC and the trip to Palo Alto at the end of the season.
This is a pick'em right now. If anything, that lends more optimism to the Irish to win in Death Valley than to Clemson to win at home.
That said, I kind of like Clemson to win this game. Expect an electric atmosphere if you recall well the season-opener against Georgia in 2013.
Also expect a wet field. Upstate South Carolina may get eight to 12 inches of rain this weekend as a result of Hurricane Joaquin.
Oregon at Colorado (ESPN, 10 p.m.). I feel vindicated for saying repeatedly to jam the proverbial "sell" button on Oregon this year. However, Colorado is demonstrably bad at football. Oregon should have no issue here.
Hawaii at Boise State (ESPN2, 10:15 p.m.). Hawaii will be the only team this season to play in five time zones. It checked Eastern Time from this list for the game at Ohio Stadium and crossed off Central Time when it played at Camp Randall last week. This week, it gets to check the box next to Mountain Time for the game in Boise.
Fresno State at San Diego State (CBS Sports, 10:30 p.m.). I won't blame you if you don't watch this game. However, this might be the de facto Mountain West West (yes, that's the division) championship game.
Arizona at Stanford (Pac-12 Network, 10:30 p.m.). Poor Arizona. UCLA desecrated everything Arizona held dear. Worse yet, it will likely be without both starting quarterback Anu Solomon and all-everything linebacker Scooby Wright, III. Wright re-aggravated a foot injury against UCLA. Solomon will likely sit for concussion concerns.
Meanwhile, Stanford will return Kyle Murphy, Brennan Scarlett, and Aziz Shittu.
