Ohio State is on a sweet, precious bye, the first of two this season for the Buckeyes. A fall Saturday without Buckeye football may seem wrong for our fans, but I cherish our bye weeks. It permits enjoying college football with the probability of an Ohio State loss being zero. Plus, the Buckeyes have no shortage of things on which to work this bye in preparation of its last non-conference game the next week against Cincinnati.
This week's slate of games looks much more appetizing than the prior week. There are two games between ranked teams. The Big Ten again steps out of conference with big games from teams like Iowa, Michigan, and Nebraska. There are not a lot of marquee games this week, but the ones we do have will be worth watching.
In honor of the bye week, this week's ceremonial TV Guide cover features Ted Koppel, Whoopi Goldberg, Catwoman, Homer Simpson, and Roseanne Barr sitting at a couch fighting over the remote control. Channel-surf to your heart's content.
Here's your guide for the week.
Thursday
Auburn at Kansas State (ESPN, 7:30 p.m.). The college football gods will be good to us this week. Thursday night features a game between two ranked teams, one of them being a College Football Playoff contender.
Both teams are coming off byes, lest they risk a short week of practice conditioning the outcome of this game. Auburn may well be more battle-ready for this contest. Its win against Arkansas has appreciated in value in subsequent weeks.
Meanwhile, K-State's signature win is a 32-28 come-from-behind win over Iowa State. This might be enough to wonder if Kansas State would be the favorite to win the Big Ten West if that were where it played, but it's not informative beyond that.
Kansas State is conceding just 87 rushing yards a game in its game against two bad opponents. Auburn is rushing for 330 yards a contest. One of those will give.
Both teams last played in 2007, a 23-13 Auburn win. Kansas State is 0-3 all-time against Auburn.
Friday
Connecticut at South Florida (ESPN, 8 p.m.). Hope that the game on Thursday is exciting, because it will have to keep you satiated until Saturday.
Saturday
Eastern Michigan at Michigan State (BTN, 12 p.m.). Michigan State took the week off to recuperate from a crushing loss to Oregon in Eugene. Getting Eastern Michigan, a team that made Florida appear good at football, at home will cure what ails Sparty.
Troy at Georgia (SEC Network, 12 p.m.). Georgia is coming off yet another loss in Columbia to the Gamecocks. Troy, meanwhile, is winless on the season with a 48-10 loss to hapless UAB and a three-point loss to Abilene Christian, a team that transitioned to FCS from Division II in 2013.
Bowling Green at Wisconsin (ESPN2, 12 p.m.). Bowling Green defeated Indiana last week. No. 19 Wisconsin should (hopefully) be a different monster.
Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech (ESPN, 12 p.m.). Both technical institutes are coming off bad games in Week 3. Virginia Tech lost at home to East Carolina and Georgia Tech should have lost at home to Georgia Southern.
A lot was made about Virginia Tech's loss to East Carolina as a follow-up to its win at Ohio State. Let's be frank. Virginia Tech was always losing that game. Either it loses to East Carolina after beating Ohio State to make Ohio State look worse or it gives us the Boise State treatment, losing to East Carolina and denying Ohio State a signature non-conference win.
Oh well.
Iowa last played Pitt in 2011, defeating the Panthers 31-27.
Iowa at Pittsburgh (ESPNU, 12 p.m.). I like Pitt in this game and not just because it happens to be hosting this contest. It helps, though. The Big Ten should still be wanting for its second win over a Power 5 conference opponent after this game.
Western Illinois at Northwestern (ESPN News, 12 p.m.). Northwestern is still looking for its first win on the season.
Southern Illinois at Purdue (BTN, 12 p.m.). This is the only game you'll get on BTN at this time slot. Can Purdue beat the 13th best team in FCS? Probably not! That's what makes everything the opposite of great about the Big Ten now.
Florida at Alabama (CBS, 3:30 p.m.). Florida needed three overtimes to beat a Kentucky team it has beaten every year since 1986 and hasn't won an SEC game in two years.
Things will probably be fine for the Gators this game. Probably.
Texas A&M at Southern Methodist (ABC/ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.). I mentioned this last week. Texas A&M's schedule is so absurdly backloaded. It doesn't play an interesting game until October 11 when it hosts no. 10 Ole Miss.
Virginia at Brigham Young (ESPN, 3:30 p.m.). This became an interesting game on short notice. BYU, the AP no. 21, has that drubbing of Texas to its name and Virginia just upset Louisville.
North Carolina at East Carolina (ESPNU, 3:30 p.m.). East Carolina may have UNC's attention now.
Rutgers at Navy (CBS Sports Network, 3:30 p.m.). Things were going well for Rutgers against Penn State last week before, well, everything was broken beyond repair and everyone died. I still think Rutgers is a five-win team at best.
Utah, then of the Mountain West, played spoiler at Michigan for Rich Rodriguez' debut in 2008 en route to an undefeated season.
Utah at Michigan (ABC/ESPN2, 3:30 pm.). This should be win no. 2 for the Big Ten against a Power 5 conference opponent. Probably. Maybe? Hopefully. Even then, it's just Utah.
Indiana at Missouri (SEC Network, 4 p.m.). Indiana just lost on the road at a MAC school and travels to the home of the reigning SEC East champions for the return leg of this home-and-home series. This will not end well.
Somehow, this would be even less interesting if the sport were basketball.
Texas State at Illinois (ESPN News, 4 p.m.). If you ignore those three plays in which Illinois' defense conceded 21 points, Illinois may have won at Washington. If you ignore those 19 games that Tim Beckman has already lost, maybe he would have kept his job at the end of the season.
Massachusetts at Penn State (BTN, 4 p.m.). UMass has played other Power 5 teams close, though this should be a welcome respite for Penn State. You will get this game or San Jose State at Minnesota on BTN at this time slot.
Mississippi State at LSU (ESPN, 7 p.m.). This is the start of a rough stretch for Mississippi State. After this trip to LSU, Mississippi State hosts Texas A&M and Auburn, travels to upstart Kentucky, and hosts Arkansas. There might be three more wins left on the schedule for Mississippi State, leaving me to wonder if Dan Mullen may be looking (or forced to look) elsewhere for gainful employment.
Northern Illinois at Arkansas (ESPNU, 7 p.m.). It's fun when our old friend Bert face-plants, but Arkansas looks legit at football this season. The Razorbacks are third in the country in rushing (362 yards per game) and ran for 438 yards and seven touchdowns in last week's win at Texas Tech.
Oklahoma at West Virginia (FOX, 7:30 p.m.). Both programs are coming off big wins against non-conference Power 5 opponents (Tennessee and Maryland). Maybe West Virginia will return to what it was in 2011, or something close to it. A four-win team from last year that could do nothing right, WVU is fifth in the country in passing yards a game (410 yards per game).
Oklahoma's last trip to Morgantown was a real barn-burner.
South Carolina at Vanderbilt (SEC Network, 7:30 p.m.). Since Brent Musburger is exclusive to the SEC Network now, he will call this snuff film rather than call a game that's interesting.
Florida State should still be favorites in this game, even without Jameis Winston for the first half.
Clemson at Florida State (ABC, 8 p.m.). Ohio State fans bemoaning that Clemson leapfrogged us in the AP can take some pleasure in watching Florida State desecrate Clemson on national television again. Florida State has hung 100 points on Clemson's defense in the past two games combined.
Florida State made this a bit more interesting by suspending Jameis Winston for the first half. The cause for the suspension was his outburst at the student union earlier this week, screaming vulgarities I should not reprint here.
Given his proclivity for shooting animals, theft (of juicy crab legs), and an ongoing rape investigation, this move by Florida State marks an interesting development where a star player is suspended for half of a game for "exhibiting signs of sociopathy". Bold strategy, Florida State. Let's see if it pays off.
I'll be at this game on Saturday, hanging out with the finest of #FSUTwitter. Pray for me.
Miami (FL) at Nebraska (ESPN2, 8 p.m.). Both programs are, and have been for some time, empty shells of what they were and ought to be. Still, when Miami plays Nebraska, it's an event.
BTN and Eric Crouch (on BTN) tried to pitch this as a rivalry. I'm not sure that it is, even in an unconventional sense. It's an odd-ball series with an incredible history.
Miami and Nebraska have played ten times, six times in bowl games. In a pre-BCS era where national championship games were coincidental, three of those bowl games were de facto national championship games. The 1984 Orange Bowl will have a special place in history for all 16 of Miami's remaining fans as the birth of a dynasty.
The 1995 Orange Bowl was cathartic for Nebraska, which had lost the previous three bowl game matchups by a combined margin of 76-33. Miami mauled Nebraska in the 2002 Rose Bowl en route to the 2001 national championship.
Still, no one mentions the 1962 Gotham Bowl between the two, which Nebraska won 36-34.
Oregon at Washington State (ESPN, 10:30 p.m.). Washington State 84th in the country against the run and 73rd in total defense. This should not end well for Washington State.
