After a 2 week hiatus (sorry, real life got in the way), I'm back with a preview for what should be a great set of games this week.  

Last week had what appeared to be a weak slate of games, but it turned into one of the biggest chaos weeks in years.  Had the "woke" team in the "woke vs coke" matchup (Cal) not peed down their collective leg it would have been the biggest upset week ever.   This week there are tons of interesting matchups, but who knows.

Note: these are not game descriptions pulled from the web or AI generated, if I miss something or make some bonehead mistake, please let me know and I'll fix it.  Then after the game is played I usually put a quick blurb on the actual outcome.

Here we go!

#16 Utah (-5.5) at Arizona State -- (10:30 PM on BSPN, Friday the 11th)
The "will he or won't he play" saga with Rising at QB has just gotten absurd, it's been 19 months now, and we once again don't know if he's going to play or not.  Regardless, Utah has a solid defense, good enough to carry them.  Their QB (Isaac Wilson) just needs to not be a turnover machine.  Arizona State is a surprising 4-1 this season, but only 1 of those wins was against a team with a pulse (Kansas).  If Rising is good to go, the Utes will roll, but if not, I'm putting Utah on upset alert this week.

Washington at Iowa (-3) -- (12:00 PM on Fox)
No, this isn't a game that means anything. I just think it will be interesting to see where these two teams stand and where they're going.   Iowa just got smacked by the Buckeyes, and they barely got beaten by their rival (ISU) before that.   Washington has been pretty lousy this year but put the smack down on the cheaters.  Should be an interesting B1G game if you need something to watch in the noon slot, there's not a whole lot of big games on at that time this week.

#1 Texas (-14.5) at #18 Oklahoma -- (3:30 PM on ABC)
The Red River Shootout always seems to deliver the drama and excitement.  3 out of the last 4 games have gone to overtime, double overtime, or won on a last second play.  Clearly Texas is the better team this year, but Oklahoma has a pretty good defense.   The pressure rate from their front 4 is very good. Texas has not played anyone of note other than the cheaters up North, and that win is losing it's luster by the week.  Still, Texas has the weapons all over the field (despite losing the starting RB), and with Quinn Ewers at the helm they are formidable.  The Sooners dumped "star to be" Jackson Arnold and moved on to frosh Michael Hawkins.  Hawkins can run, but is not a great passer, though his completion percentage is better than Arnold so far.   Also, Texas has to play UGA next, so you wonder how much their focus is really on this game.   Should be a fun game to watch, and it has big implications for the SEC title race as well.

#4 Penn State (-3.5) at USC -- (3:30 PM on CBS)
PSU is coming into this game ranked #4, undefeated and flying high.  Yes, we've seen this movie before, they seem to start every year this way, before falling off a cliff when they play scUM or OSU.  James Franklin is a terrible big game coach, as is Lincoln Riley , so it might be a matter of which team screws it up worse.  USC has an improved defense (still not great), but their O-line is horrible. Might be one of the worst in the B1G.  PSU has a very athletic front and will put tons of pressure on them much like scUM did.  Still, PSU has to travel a long way west for this one, and traditionally teams that have to cross several time zones to pay have fared very very poorly.  I would not be surprised at all with a USC upset, but should be a good game.

Arizona at #14 BYU (-3) -- (4 PM on Fox)
Who would have thought we'd have BYU in the top 15 at this point in the season, but here we are.  Of course they've feasted on some cupcakes, but they also thumped K-state in Provo and KSU is not a bad team.  Arizona has the offensive firepower to be a better team then they've been so far this year, but last week took their second "L" of the season against Texas Tech.  Yuck. 

#9 Ole Miss (-3.5) at #13 LSU -- (7:30 PM on ABC)
This is actually a very interesting game with real impact on the SEC title race... but lets face it, none of us will be watching it.   Guess that's where the DVR capability comes in handy.  Ole Miss has a great offense but might be playing without their top WR (Tre Harris), and after taking a shocking "L" from Kentucky they they just got over a big game where they thumped perennial pretenders South Carolina at Columbia.  Meanwhile, LSU is coming off a bye and has had plenty of time to prepare.   This one might come down to the LSU front four on the D-line versus the Ole Miss O-line.  If the offense can give Dart any kind of time it's going to be a long day for the Bayou Bengals.  If not, Ole Miss will be done and likely won't be a factor anymore for a few years.  They went all out in the portal, pushed all their chips into the middle for this year.  If they crumble, they don't have bunch of top talent coming in for next year, they're going to struggle. 

Some other games of note -- these aren't bangers or particularly relevant, but might be interesting for other reasons.

Cal at #22 Pitt (-3.5) -- (3:30 PM on BSPN)
Pitt is undefeated so far after feasting on some cupcakes, but they have at least beaten some teams with a pulse (North Carolina, West Virginia).  Cal beat Auburn at Jordan Hare, and should have beaten Miami last week as well, so they're not terrible either.  Not a great game, but if you're flipping around during commercials for the TX vs OK game, you can stop and watch this one for a bit.

#18 Kansas State (-3.5) at Colorado -- (10:15 PM on BSPN)
As is customary over the past year or so, every Colorado game is overhyped... but truth be told they do deliver some exciting games, win or lose.  They suck in the trenches, but have very exciting skill players.  Travis Hunter is outstanding, and Sanders is a good QB.  This is a game you tune into if you want to watch some very late night football at the end of the day before heading to bed.

Vanderbilt at Kentucky (-13.5) -- (7:35 PM on the SEC Network)
<insert funky pimp music here>.  Both these teams have already pulled out shockers this year, and each came within a hair of pulling off a second gigantic upset (Kentucky barely lost to Georgia, Vandy came within a few seconds of beating top 10 Mizzou).  Both these teams seem like they are better than just a single fluke upset. Kentucky is at home and giving a lot of points, should be an interesting one.

Any other matchups that might be interesting?  Discuss!