Two weeks into November and we're already filling out conference championship games. Florida clinched the SEC East with a 9-7 escape over Vanderbilt. Clemson ended Florida State's three-year run as ACC champion with a home win that catapulted the no. 1 Tigers into the ACC Championship Game on behalf of the ACC Atlantic.
Even more championship game berths are at stake this week. UNC could secure the ACC Coastal with a home win over Miami and concurrent Pitt loss at Duke. San Diego State will win the Mountain West West (sic) with a win at home against Wyoming and Nevada loss against San Jose State. Stanford secures the Pac-12 North with a home win over Oregon. Temple will represent the East Division of the American Athletic Conference with a win at South Florida. Bowling Green even won the MAC East yesterday with a win over Western Michigan.
There's a lot at stake this weekend. Here's your viewing guide.
THURSDAY
Louisiana Lafayette at South Alabama (ESPNU, 7:30 p.m.). Both Sun Belt programs are 4-4, though Louisiana Lafayette is 3-1 in league play and still alive in the conference championship race.
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech (ESPN, 7:30 p.m.). We're well past the point of Virginia Tech helping Ohio State's strength of schedule. Root for a Virginia Tech loss so that ESPN's College Gameday is not at all tempted to be in Blacksburg for Frank Beamer's final home game, which would be against ACC Coastal front-runner North Carolina.
FRIDAY
USC at Colorado (ESPN2, 9 p.m.). USC handed Utah its only loss in this season to date, but already has two league losses. The Trojans need to win the rest of the way. Meanwhile, Colorado has mildly exceeded expectations this season, which isn't saying much. The next loss for the 4-6 Buffaloes eliminates Colorado from a bowl game.
SATURDAY
Pittsburgh at Duke (ESPN News, 12 p.m.). Pitt needs this win (and for North Carolina to lose at least two of its remaining three games) if it wants to play Clemson in the ACC Championship Game in Pat Narduzzi's first year. That's a tall order since Duke might take out frustrations from the North Carolina and Miami losses on the Panthers in Durham.
Georgia at Auburn (CBS, 12 p.m.). In the preseason, I thought this installment of the "Deep South's Oldest Rivalry" would be a preview of the SEC Championship Game. In related news, I'm an idiot.
Florida at South Carolina (ESPN, 12 p.m.). Florida already secured the SEC East and is a distant hopeful for one of the four playoff spots to be given this December. A win here serves two purposes. One, it keeps Florida afloat in the playoff picture. Two, it eliminates the 3-7 Gamecocks from the postseason.
North Texas at Tennessee (SEC Network, 12 p.m.). It's November in the SEC, which means you'll be seeing a lot of cupcakes dot the schedule for SEC teams in the coming weeks (especially next week). It starts here as Tennessee hosts 1-8 North Texas.
Texas at West Virginia (ESPNU, 12 p.m.). West Virginia is more than a touchdown favorite at home. A Texas loss drops the Longhorns to 4-6 with a game at Baylor still to play.
Ohio State at Illinois (ABC, 12 p.m.). This is your personal game of the week. Stay tuned to Eleven Warriors for comprehensive coverage of this game.
Kansas at Texas Christian (Fox Sports 1, 12 p.m.). The Horned Frogs may be licking their wounds from a 20-point road loss at Oklahoma State, but Kansas should soothe what ails them. Texas Christian is a 45-point favorite.
Maryland at Michigan State (ESPN2, 12 p.m.). Count me as genuinely surprised that Michigan State had its "Sparty, No!" moment last week against a six-loss Nebraska team, concerns about a blown illegal touching call notwithstanding. Hope for a Michigan State win, which Ohio State fans hope will become one of their marquee wins next week.
Purdue at Northwestern (BTN, 12 p.m.). After last week's 48-14 loss at home to Illinois, Purdue is playing for just pride at this point... and not a whole lot of it.
Washington at Arizona State (Pac-12 Network, 3 p.m.). Arizona State was supposed to win the Pac-12 South this year. It's now 4-5 on the season.
Miami at North Carolina (ESPNU, 3:30 p.m.). Could Miami upset both ACC Coastal front-runners? If Pitt loses earlier in the day, a North Carolina win sends the Tar Heels to Charlotte to play Clemson next month.
Wake Forest at Notre Dame (NBC, 3:30 p.m.). Notre Dame is in the playoff right now, though the next two games against Wake Forest and Boston College won't help its standing. At least it's in the playoff right now.
Clemson at Syracuse (ABC/ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.). Syracuse is a 28-point underdog at home. It won't make its quarterbacks available to the media before the game because the coaches don't want to concede a strategic advantage to Clemson, which would probably cover the 28 points even if Donovan McNabb got to quarterback the Orange for the game.
Alabama at Mississippi State (CBS, 3:30 p.m.). An Alabama loss puts Ole Miss (remember them?) in the driver's seat for the SEC Championship Game. At this point, isn't that we want? Alabama's weekly presence in the playoff/national championship conversation is deserved, but definitely cumbersome.
Oklahoma State at Iowa State (ESPN, 3:30 p.m.). Iowa State beat Texas, 24-0. Oklahoma State beat Texas, 30-27. The transitive property says to put the second mortgage on the Cyclones this game.
Nebraska at Rutgers (BTN, 3:30 p.m.). Because when I think Big Ten football on the Big Ten Network, I think Nebraska-Rutgers...
Kansas State at Texas Tech (Fox Sports 1, 3:30 p.m.). Both teams have five losses on the season. Kansas State, though, is 3-5 but winless in Big XII play. It's still looking for its first league win.
Michigan at Indiana (ABC/ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.). No other Big Ten program was happier with Michigan State's inexplicable loss at Nebraska last week than Michigan. Michigan fans expect Ohio State will boat race Michigan State next week, setting up a showdown between the Wolverines and Buckeyes for a berth in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Happy and optimistic Michigan fans irritate me like a crying child on a plane, though. Root for 4-5 Indiana to get its first league win on Saturday.
Southern Methodist at Navy (CBS Sports, 3:30 p.m.). Navy upset Memphis last week in the Liberty Bowl. 1-8 Southern Methodist will look to give the Middies a taste of that medicine in Annapolis.
Kentucky at Vanderbilt (SEC Network, 4 p.m.). 4-5 Kentucky visits 3-6 Vanderbilt in a matchup between the SEC East's historic cellar-dwellers.
Temple at South Florida (CBS Sports, 7 p.m.). Temple could become the first team to clinch a spot in the first American Athletic Conference Championship Game with a win in Tampa.
Memphis at Houston (ESPN2, 7 p.m.). Fans have had their eyes set on this game for the past month after Houston burst into the AP Top 25 while then-undefeated Memphis scored a major upset of SEC West then-front-runner Ole Miss. Memphis' home loss to Navy takes the shine off this contest, but it should still be a good one.
Western Carolina at Texas A&M (ESPNU, 7 p.m.). Texas A&M has adapted to SEC scheduling practices quite nicely.
Arkansas at LSU (ESPN, 7:15 p.m.). Three weeks into the season, Bert looked like a dead man walking after two home losses to Toledo and a hapless Texas Tech squad. Now, Arkansas has three straight wins, including wins against Auburn and at Ole Miss, to pull Arkansas to 5-4 on the season.
LSU, meanwhile, will have to rebound from a deflating loss in Tuscaloosa last week. The Tigers are touchdown favorite at home.
Oregon at Stanford (FOX, 7:30 p.m.). I think Pac-12 types had higher hopes for this contest in the preseason. However, Oregon regressing to Mark Helfrich's mean was always in the cards. Credit the Ducks for winning three straight games at Washington, at Arizona State, and home to California (in which the Ducks were likely underdogs each contest). That at least spares the Ducks from a losing season.
Should Oregon want to play in Santa Clara next month, it needs a road upset of Stanford. It also needs Stanford to lose its remaining Pac-12 game against California and for Washington State to lose one of its three remaining games.
Brigham Young vs. Missouri (SEC Network, 7:30 p.m.). Since Missouri's president resigned earlier in the week, this game will still be played. It's actually in Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City too, not in Columbia.
Oklahoma at Baylor (ABC, 8 p.m.). This is ABC's primetime game of the week.
Last year, Baylor went to Norman and handed the Sooners a 34-point loss. This was Baylor's largest win in the series' history (Oklahoma won the first 19 encounters!) and the only win for Baylor in Norman.
The situation is a bit different this year. Baylor may look a bit more precarious than it was last year with a true freshman quarterbacking his second game for the Bears, but the Sooners look much more formidable. The loss against Texas has not aged well, but Oklahoma has blown out its four games thereafter by a combined margin of 232-50.
Baylor is a field goal favorite in this game.
Minnesota at Iowa (BTN, 8 p.m.). Iowa is, right now, the first team left out the playoff if the games were set today. Put another way, the probability that Iowa, of all damn teams, gets a playoff bid if it wins its remaining games is sufficiently high and probably exceeded by only Clemson at this point.
Minnesota, which won Floyd the Pig last year, will want to say something about in this primetime game in Iowa City. Tracy Claeys hopes to give Minnesota an immediate dividend. He was just appointed the full-time coach on Wednesday.
Utah at Arizona (FOX Sports 1, 10 p.m.). Utah's loss at Southern California seems to have eliminated the no. 10 Utes from the playoff talk. It could still conceivably claw into the conversation with a home win against UCLA next week and a win against, likely, Stanford in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
Last year's Fiesta Bowl team is this year's 4-5 outfit that is wondering if it will lose its coach to Blacksburg to replace Frank Beamer.
New Mexico at Boise State (ESPNU, 10:15 p.m.). 5-4 New Mexico may surprise Boise State if the Broncos are looking to next week's game against Air Force. That game next week may decide the Mountain West Mountain Division.
Oregon State at California (Pac-12 Network, 10:30 p.m.). Remember when California started the season 5-0? Well, it's lost four straight since. The game against 2-7 Oregon State should put California in the win column.
Washington State at UCLA (ESPN, 10:45 p.m.). There'll be no bigger cheerleader for UCLA this game than Oregon, if Oregon is able to upset Stanford. Meanwhile, UCLA actually controls its destiny in the Pac-12 South despite its two league losses. Its remaining games after this are road tilts at Utah and Southern California.
