Das
Boot Shift
- Arkansas-LSU: Fresh air, sun, and exercise will be had by all.
- Notre Dame-Pitt: The Panthers suffered back to back losses to West Virginia and Louisville earlier in the season but have since rattled off five on the trot to match Notre Dame’s 7-2 record. As previously stated, every week the Irish are playing for their postseason lives and this weekend marks their last real challenge before ending the year with Syracuse and Stanford. For their part, Pitt is also not out of it but given how even if they pick up this win they have Georgia Tech and Miami on the docket, it’s not super encouraging.
- Arizona-Cincinnati: The Bearcats are in the mixer for the Big 12 Championship and are set for a pivotal matchup with BYU next week, but first they have to take care of business against the Wildcats.
- USF-Navy: The insane six-way tie in the American will be broken this weekend when these two teams in the virtual deadlock (USF has a conference game in hand) meet to clear up not just the conference title race but also the G5 Playoff spot.
#goacc Shift
- Oklahoma-Bama: I think this is a game between two teams who when they are playing at the best and nearly untouchable but very rarely operate in that zip code. I think any type of game outside of an Oklahoma blowout is possible here.
- Virginia-Duke: We were dealt a tough blow last week when the football gods finally brought justice to the Hoos, but the dream of a Virginia-Georgia Tech ACC Championship lives on, though on thin ice. This is a tough spot of the Cavs as Duke may be the worsr team out of conference at 5-4 overall but absolute world beaters in conference at 4-1 with a tough loss to GT as their lone blemish.
- Iowa-USC: The Hawkeyes are coming off a heartbreaker last week, but respite is hard found in a superconference and they now have to leave the friendly confines of Kinnick to Los Angeles. But this is Iowa and this is still Lincoln Riley, so we’ll see.
- NC State-Miami (FL): You know the vibes #goacc
Stockton Gunner Shift
- Texas-Georgia: Arch Manning has been progressing well over the past month or so as a QB (even if the rest of the team looked like shit) but this will be his biggest test thus far since Ohio State to start the season. If Gunner Stockton outperforms him here, #TheDiscourse will be severe.
- Virginia Tech-Florida State: I love mess.
- Mississippi State-Mizzou: Mizzou has entered a tailspin since losing QB Beau Pribula to a season-derailing injury but this week he was upgraded to doubtful and not officially ruled out. Again, it’s not likely he plays, but it would be huge getting him back for the stretch run, especially against a Mississippi State team that hasn’t won a lot of but is very down for a scrap.
- Utah-Baylor: Last year Dave Aranda saved his job with a crazy run on wins to close out the regular season. He’ll probably need to replicate that starting this week to be back in Waco next season and it starts this weekend against a Playoff hunting Utes team.
Robert Kekuala Memorial Shift
- Boise State-San Diego State: What could be a preview of the Mountain West title game sees the two conference leaders with 4-1 records meeting in Snapdragon Stadium. This one will be worth staying up for.
- Louisiana Tech-Wazzu: Hey remember when LSU fans took the copium and just said that Louisiana Tech has a good defense? Yeah.
- TCU-BYU I don’t think either of these teams are necessarily good, but I think I trust BYU more than TCU. We’ll see here though.
- Wyoming-Fresno State: It’s football.
