Not gonna lie, I missed last week and was late this week, but there are no Thursday games (strange), so I’m bailed out. Who says procrastination doesn’t pay?
Phew… what a pretty lame slate this weekend, especially compared to last week. There will be some good games, no doubt about it, but there aren’t any real marquee matchups. Let’s take a look at some of the ones that may be worth keeping an eye on.
The only decent looking game Friday night is JMU at Louisville. Yeah, Boise State got hammered last
weekend, but don’t expect the blue carpet Broncos to lay another egg this week. As for the Dukes, they’re a solid program off to a great run to start their run as an FBS program, but the Cardinals should pull that one out.
Saturday kicks off with NC State hosting Virginia in a non-conference game (weird), and based on the SP+ and Sagarin ratings, that should be one of the better games of the weekend. Both teams have a lot to prove.
At the same time that the Pack and Wahoos square off, just down the road Duke will be hosting Illinois. That Bret Bielema hire by Illinois has worked out fantastically s the Fighting Illini are coming off a 10-win season. Duke’s new big money QB, Darian Mensah, looked the part in his Blue Devils debut. This should be a good game.
Honestly, the noon schedule is the best of the Saturday timeslots. Iowa at Iowa State, Baylor at SMU, and UConn at Syracuse all have varying degrees of in-state or regional intrigue and decently well matched teams.
Ole Miss at Kentucky and the border war between Kansas and Missouri are the two midday games worth tuning into after the NC State game wraps up. I think the Rebels run the Wildcats out of their own stadium pretty quickly, but it is a road contest so you never know. Okay, so maybe watch Kansas-Missouri instead and remember back to the Ryan Finley era offenses that Eli Drinkwitz used to coordinate in Raleigh.
At 6:00pm the Pack’s opening opponent will square off with the team that will head into Carter-Finley on Oct 4th. I might be the only person watching that game that frequents this site, and that’s probably for the best.
Look how aligned SP+ and Sagarin are with that Arizona State and Mississippi State game. Neat.
Michigan-Oklahoma’s going to get all the attention for the primetime slot, so no use spending much time on that, but a few other notes in that timeslot… A little surprised to see Vanderbilt ranked ahead of Virginia Tech in both of the advanced ratings, although it is way early in the season so those rankings have to be taken with a huge grain of salt. If Brent Pry wants a fifth year in Blacksburg, this is a game his Hokies need to win.
If Boston College can top Michigan State, there’s a chance the Eagles get out to a 5-0 start before hosting Clemson on Oct 11th. Not saying it will happen, but it lines up decently well, even if three of those five games are on the road.
UCLA-UNLV could be a really fun game. It could also be disgusting, but, you know… big risk, big reward.
Football, baby! Go State!
Rankings for SP+ Ratings and Sagarin Ratings listed, respectively, ahead of each team’s name.
Friday
44/66 James Madison @ 20/18 Louisville – 7:00pm – ESPN2
99/116 Northern Illinois @ 52/71 Maryland – 7:30pm – BTN
FCS/154 Eastern Washington @ 58/58 Boise State – 9:00pm – FS1
Saturday
59/52 Virginia @ 61/45 NC State – 12:00pm – ESPN2
21/31 Illinois @ 34/48 Duke – 12:00pm – ESPN
FCS/206 East Texas A&M @ 31/25 Florida State – 12:00pm – ACCN
35/32 Iowa @ 27/37 Iowa State – 12:00pm – FOX
57/41 Baylor @ 32/23 SMU – 12:00pm – CW
113/119 Central Michigan @ 39/34 Pittsburgh – 12:00pm – ESPNU
68/80 UConn @ 73/44 Syracuse – 12:00pm – ACCNX
FCS/179 Western Carolina @ 94/101 Wake Forest – 2:00pm – ACCNX
50/78 Oklahoma State @ 3/2 Oregon – 3:30pm – CBS
82/91 Troy @ 25/11 Clemson – 3:30pm – ACCN
4/13 Ole Miss @ 48/47 Kentucky – 3:30pm – ABC
26/56 Kansas @ 16/17 Missouri – 3:30pm – ESPN2
79/83 Fresno State @ 93/98 Oregon State – 3:30pm – CW
FCS/172 Gardner-Webb @ 36/24 Georgia Tech – 3:30pm – ACCNX
46/60 West Virginia @ 81/79 Ohio – 4:00pm – ESPNU
64/69 South Florida @ 9/12 Florida – 4:15pm – SECN
FCS/211 Campbell @ 88/86 East Carolina – 6:00pm – ESPN+
FCS/247 Bethune-Cookman @ 10/8 Miami – 7:00pm – ACCNX
78/64 North Carolina @ 133/195 Charlotte – 7:00pm – ESPN+
66/84 Army @ 33/40 Kansas State – 7:00pm – ESPN
30/30 Arizona State @ 70/70 Mississippi State – 7:30pm – ESPN2
15/22 Michigan @ 7/19 Oklahoma – 7:30pm – ABC
41/39 Vanderbilt @ 62/43 Virginia Tech – 7:30pm – ACCN
49/42 Boston College @ 65/50 Michigan State – 7:30pm – NBC
75/65 UCLA @ 74/75 UNLV – 8:00pm – CBSSN
89/117 San Diego State @ 83/89 Washington State – 10:15pm – CW
100/82 Stanford @ 28/51 BYU – 10:15pm – ESPN
