The college football season is almost over. It seems like it just began too. College basketball season is underway, complete with hype for Kentucky that approximates what Alabama gets in football every season.
This week's slate of games is light on action. The reasons for this are multiple. Most teams in the SEC are either done with their conference schedule or have just one game remaining. Thus, it's cupcake city for programs like Alabama (vs. Western Carolina), Auburn (vs. Samford), Florida (vs. Eastern Kentucky), Georgia (vs. Charleston Southern), and South Carolina (vs. South Alabama). The SEC's designated night game slot this week is Vanderbilt at Mississippi State (SEC Network, 7:30 p.m.). We can respect the SEC as the toughest conference in college football because that's what the law requires, but we can still shame programs for doing this in November.
There are only three games this week featuring ranked teams. Two are in the Pac-12 and one is in the Big Ten. Fancy that.
Your honorary TV Guide cover for the week features Kate Mulgrew. Mulgrew is from Iowa, but her character from Star Trek: Voyager, Kathryn Janeway, hailed from Bloomington, Indiana.
Thursday
Kansas State at West Virginia (FOX Sports 1, 7 p.m.). What are the ratings like for games on FOX Sports 1? With incomplete visibility and access for consumers, they might lag well behind what's on ESPN even if the games on ESPN feature crappy teams. Kansas State is the no. 12 team in the country and West Virginia, though unranked, handed Baylor its one loss this season.
North Carolina at Duke (ESPN, 7:30 p.m.). No, it's not a basketball game.
Arkansas State at Texas State (ESPNU, 9:30 p.m.). Arkansas State is 6-4 and Texas State is 5-5. You're still going to watch this game anyway.
Friday
UTEP at Rice (FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m.). Louisiana Tech has already secured the Conference-USA West division and will play undefeated Marshall for the conference championship. Still, this game isn't terrible, I guess. Both teams are 6-4 but are the second and third best teams in the division.
I'm doing the best I can, by the way.
Air Force at San Diego State (CBS Sports Network, 9:30 p.m.). At 8-2 this season, Air Force is the team we were hoping Navy would be.
Compare and contrast the two divisions of the Mountain West and you'll find something approximating the problems of the Pac-12 and the SEC right now. The Mountain West "Mountain" division has 9-1 Colorado State, 8-2 Boise State, 8-3 Utah State, and 8-2 Air Force as the top four teams. The first three of those four teams have just one conference loss. Air Force has two conference losses (at 4-6 Wyoming and at Utah State).
Air Force hosts Colorado State next week. Boise State hosts Utah State next week as well. This should make for some fun Thursday and Friday night football.
San Jose State at Utah State (ESPN2, 9:30 p.m.). Utah State should have no problem with this game. San Jose State is 3-7 this year.
Saturday
Indiana at Ohio State (BTN, 12 p.m.). Your personal game of the week is again first on the schedule on Saturday morning. Stay tuned to Eleven Warriors for comprehensive coverage of this game. Ohio State secures its third-straight divisional crown (and second berth in the Big Ten Championship Game) with a win.
Depending on where you live, you may have the misfortune of being saddled with Rutgers at Michigan State. That game will also be on BTN at that time.
Charleston Southern at Georgia (SEC Network, 12 p.m.). Cool story, Georgia.
Eastern Kentucky at Florida (SEC Network, 12 p.m.). Cool story, Florida.
Kansas at Oklahoma (FOX Sports 1, 12 p.m.). Kansas lost to Texas Christian last week by just four points. Oklahoma lost to Texas Christian by just four points. Therefore, this will be a close game!
Minnesota at Nebraska (ESPN, 12 p.m.). Let's check the pulse of Nebraska fans in anticipation of playing yet another good rushing team.
@GopherSports how fast are your running backs, are they super fast or regular
— Fake Bo Pelini (@FauxPelini) November 19, 2014
A Nebraska win and Wisconsin victory later in the day at Iowa City sends Wisconsin to its third Big Ten Championship Game in four years.
Northwestern at Purdue (ESPNU, 12 p.m.). Northwestern secured one of the best upsets of the season last week in South Bend and could use that as momentum to finish 6-6. At 4-6, any loss in the final two games of the season keeps the Wildcats at home for the holidays.
Purdue is 3-7 and already eliminated from the postseason.
Southern Methodist at Central Florida (ESPN News, 12 p.m.). SMU is 0-9 and is en route to an all-time program-worst season. Given its history, that is no small feat.
Penn State at Illinois (ESPN2, 12 p.m.). Could this be the loss that leads to Tim Beckman's firing? It would be the seventh of the season for Tim Beckman's Illini.
Boston College at Florida State (ABC/ESPN2, 12 p.m.). We'll all be Boston College fans on Saturday afternoon and hope that Urban Meyer's former offensive coordinator, Steve Addazio, can coach BC into doing a solid for the Buckeyes.
Ole Miss at Arkansas (CBS, 3:30 p.m.). Arkansas just secured its first SEC win in 17 tries last week with a shutout win over LSU. It needs to beat Ole Miss if it wants to avoid its sixth loss on the season, however.
Arizona at Utah (ESPN, 3:30 p.m.). This is the second game between ranked teams on Saturday.
This is make-or-break time for Arizona. It scored its biggest triumph of the season in upsetting Oregon in Eugene, which is Oregon's only loss on the season to date. However, it's been getting a bit lucky since. It lost the next week at home to USC. It lost three weeks later at UCLA. It was up just four against lowly Colorado in the fourth quarter before putting away the Buffaloes. It needed a last-second field goal to beat Washington.
Arizona could still win the Pac-12 South, but it needs to show a lot more than it is right now.
Wisconsin at Iowa (ABC/ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.). Melvin Gordon set a single-game rushing record last week against Nebraska. What's his encore act against the country's no. 46 rushing defense?
Wisconsin could secure a berth in the Big Ten Championship Game with a win at Iowa and a Minnesota loss earlier in the day.
Louisville at Notre Dame (NBC, 3:30 p.m.). Games like this make me glad Notre Dame entered into an alignment with the ACC. It makes for interesting games like this that resemble decent non-conference games when everyone else is finishing league play (or, in the case of the SEC, scheduling FCS teams).
Maryland at Michigan (BTN, 3:30 p.m.). Ohio State fans should root hard for Maryland in this game. A Maryland win would be loss no. 6 for Michigan. It would give Ohio State the opportunity to hand Michigan a 5-7 season as Brady Hoke prepares to exit stage left.
Syracuse at Pittsburgh (ESPNU, 3:30 p.m.). Pitt has lost six of its last seven games. Syracuse is 3-7. If you're watching this game, you may need to rethink your priorities in life.
Western Carolina at Alabama (SEC Network, 4 p.m.). Cool story, Alabama.
South Florida at Memphis (ESPN News, 4 p.m.). Hidden on an ESPNU is a game with interesting implications. If Memphis wins this game, it wins at least a share of the American Athletic Conference. If the BCS were still alive, this would send Memphis, now 7-3, to some bowl game unfortunate enough to be compelled to have them.
Stanford at California (FOX Sports 1, 4 p.m.). I do hate that Pac-12 realignment has led to "The Big Game" no longer reliably serving as the conference finale for both teams. Stanford finishes its season next week at UCLA.
Both teams are 5-5 this year.
Samford at Auburn (ESPNU, 7 p.m.). Cool story, Auburn.
Miami (FL) at Virginia (ESPN2, 7 p.m.). One week removed from disappointing college football fans everywhere for failing to finish the job against Florida State, Miami is fighting for pride at this point. It can't win its division, but it can give Virginia its fifth straight loss on the season and eliminate the Hoos from the postseason.
Vanderbilt at Mississippi State (SEC Network, 7:30 p.m.). This is not an FCS opponent for Mississippi State, like the rest of the SEC this week, but it might as well be. Vanderbilt is 3-7, lost to Temple by 30 points and beat Massachusetts by just three points.
Oklahoma State at Baylor (FOX, 7:30 p.m.). Don't get your hopes up for Oklahoma State to upset Baylor like it did last year. Oklahoma State has lost four-straight games by a combined margin of 152-40.
Missouri at Tennessee (ESPN, 7:30 p.m.). Root for Tennessee. A Missouri loss sends Georgia into the SEC Championship Game. Georgia should be the team you want Alabama to play in the SEC Championship Game.
USC at UCLA (ABC, 8 p.m.). This is ABC's game of the week, if that gives you any idea just how bad this week is for college football viewers.
Boise State at Wyoming (ESPN2, 10:15 p.m.). Boise State is in as good a position as any team to secure the Mountain West's "Mountain" division. Next week's matchup against Utah State looms large.
