There are only 2 remaining undefeated teams in the nation. Alabama has been featured in roughly 25% (not even much of an exaggeration) of ESPN GameDay matchups and anyway the Tide have their customary FCS opponent prior to the Iron Bowl.
Instead, the WWL is ready for some MACtion and headed to Kalamazoo, Michigan!
Enemy Watch
Morgan State (OFF) at Army
Ohio State (-21.5) at Michigan State
Miami (-3) at NC State
Duke (+7.5) at Pittsburgh
Florida State (+20.5) at Syracuse
Texas (-23.5) at Kansas
Navy (-7.5) at East Carolina
Utah State (-6.5) at Nevada
Stanford (-10.5) at California
USC (-10.5) at UCLA
You can probably imagine Michigan State didn’t think they’d be in this spot when Ohio State came looking for revenge from last year. This could’ve been the top game of the weekend in another reality. That’s still a ton of points to lay down on a game that could be close for a good long while.
Ditto for the Seminoles coming all the way up to central New York at the Carrier Dome. Without doing any research it seems like plenty of teams have the air taken out of them inside the sleepy dome with 30,000 in attendance. Plus, the Orange can score some points.
Navy has had some of the strangest lines this year.
We haven’t talked about Stanford in a really long time. They seemed destined to join us and Michigan State in the garbage bin this year, even after beating the Irish. They’ve won 3 straight and could easily finish 9-3. I want to die.
Speaking of garbage, UCLA’s little run over USC ended harshly last year and could be much worse this weekend. The Bruins are likely to finish 4-8, which is something.
Raised Eyebrow Game
Memphis (-7.5) at Cincinnati
I bet Gunner Kiel didn’t expect his career to finish up losing his job with the Bearcats and only throwing 6 touchdown passes so far through his senior year. Also, not many expected Cincinnati to be so terrible this year. They are very quietly 4-6 and just 1-5 in AAC play.
Tommy Tubberville just signed an extension that takes him through the 2019 season while making $2.2 million per year. Not a great return on investment for a team that should be among the best in their league.
Double Raised Eyebrow Game
UConn (+7) at Boston College
This is so sad. Bob Diaco has regressed after a midly nice 2015 season. How any FBS football program could be a touchdown underdog to Boston College boggles the mind. This isn’t a good look. Please, Bobby, win this game.
National Spotlight
Louisville (-13.5) at Houston
Oklahoma State (+4.5) at TCU
Florida (+13.5) at LSU
Buffalo (+34) at Western Michigan
Washington State (+4.5) at Colorado
Indiana (+23.5) at Michigan
Oklahoma (-3) at West Virginia
The game of the week really happens on Thursday as Lamar Jackson looks to sew up the Heisman Trophy on the road at Houston. You have to think the award is all his with a win and even in a loss if he puts up bonkers numbers. Either way, it’s still a really intriguing game that puts Tom Herman back in the spotlight after a month+ back in the shadows.
The hurricane re-make game is this weekend and Florida can clinch the SEC East with a victory. Two really good offenses are about to ram into each other but LSU’s offense actually can do positive things. Still, a bunch of points to lay down. You know my rules with these big SEC games. Take the points!
P.J. Fleck gets the limelight for GameDay (it won’t last long this game is in the afternoon and probably won’t draw a very large rating) and needs to take care of business. This is a complete look ahead game with 8-2 Toledo looming in the finale. We’ll see if he can not mess it up.
Washington State and Colorado, pound for pound the best game of the weekend. Both teams are leading their divisions in the Pac-12. This season has mostly sucked but this is pretty cool.
I threw Michigan up here because they are without quarterback Wilton Speight who’s out for the rest of the year and I have delirious dreams of Harbaugh going absolutely insane while losing to the Hoosiers in overtime.
I just want to see Lamar Jackson in the playoffs. He’s the most exciting player in a long time IMO. if they win out they could well be in since OSU and MSU play each other. I’d like to see a rematch with Clemson on a neutral site.
I couldn’t muster enough interest to watch our Army game. VaTech should e more interesting. Look out for USC though. Wrong qb started the year for them or they could possibly have been in the hunt.
The fate of Louisville and Ohio State–two teams who might easily be seen as one of the “best” 4–might not win their conference. Do they get in??
I don’t know how much this line of thinking is in play with the committee, but if Penn State wins the Big Ten – which they’d probably be favored to do if Ohio State knocks off Michigan next week – I can’t see putting the Buckeyes in and leaving Penn State out. The committee puts so much weight on conference titles, I just can’t see them invalidating that by putting Ohio State in over Penn State, and on the flipside Penn State doesn’t deserve to be in there with losses to Pitt and Michigan.
I think Ohio State has to hope Penn State loses, either against Rutgers (not going to happen) or MSU (possible) or in the Big Ten title game (possible).
The Big 12 is almost certainly out. They’re a pile of hot garbage this year, even hotter and garbage-ier than most years. The Washington loss to USC really screws things up for the Pac 12 now, as there’s a better chance they’ll have a 2-loss champ who will get shut out. That’s probably Louisville’s best hope to sneak in.
So much drama.
How come no one mentions Petrino as a possible replacement at LSU or Texas? Might be a creep, but the dude can coach. Is he really that untouchable? Or is he just waiting for the USC or UCLA job to open up cause the socal coeds are the hottest?
Nah, SoCal coeds are a liability. The implants mess with your balance on your motorcycle.