Sorry folks, the intro is closed this week. Between internet outages, sickness running through the family, and hardly any time to think about anything but the games I don’t have any deep musings to kick
off the Guide. We’ve got two weeks left of the regular season, let’s enjoy as much of them as we can!
Thursday, November 20 & Friday, November 21
Saturday, November 21 – Morning & Afternoon
Welcome to cupcake week! That festive time of year in which families all across the south come together to glory in the pure pageantry of storied games like Eastern Illinois @ #10 Alabama and Samford @ #3 Texas A&M. And of course we all remember the stories we grew up with like Mercer @ Auburn and Charlotte @ #4 Georgia. I know I won’t be able to sleep Friday night knowing that Old St. Finebaum soon will be there. Of course, not all schools celebrate the same way. There are those who will observe Kentucky @ #14 Vanderbilt or #20 Tennessee @ Florida. There’s even a family down the street that watches #22 Missouri @ #8 Oklahoma, but everyone’s traditions are unique and we should celebrate those differences this time of year. Me personally, I observe the old fashioned traditions like Arkansas @ #17 Texas.
Okay, did we get the lampooning out of our system? Yes? Good.
So, the SEC’s biggest contenders are taking their annual week off while everyone else plays football. That Missouri-Oklahoma game actually looks pretty good, and it’s the biggest game of the morning. The Tigers are likely well outside CFP territory but they have a big chance to spoil a fellow Big XII alum’s chances. Speaking of the Big XII, Kansas travels to Iowa State with the hope of becoming bowl eligible while the Cyclones will try to build off last week’s win over TCU. Closer to home, conference-wise anyway, Minnesota @ Northwestern is another face off between bowl eligibility and positioning with two fairly even teams. Rutgers @ #1 Ohio State is the Big Noon Kickoff game on Fox but…whatever.
The afternoon has a ton of mid-major action early on like Ball State @ Toledo, Liberty @ Louisiana Tech, Marshall @ App State, and South Florida @ UAB, all on ESPN+. These are all kicking off at 2:00 pm so they’re perfect side gigs if many of the morning games are duds and before the bigger 2:30 games kick off. Of course the biggest of those big games is the monumental, epic, earth shattering clash of Michigan State @ Iowa.
Look, I’ll admit the last two games have taken a good deal of shine off this Iowa season. I don’t think I ever really thought the Hawks would run the table from Oregon through Nebraska but it was sure as hell fun to think about. Two punches to the nuts against playoff contenders later and we’re back to just wanting to make sure Iowa beats the teams we’re supposed to and nothing else. But you know what, there are two weeks left of this regular season and I’m going to still watch every single second of this game because I love Iowa football, dadgummit, and so do you.
Anyway, outside of that titanic clash, you’re really looking for #15 USC @ #7 Oregon for some real playoff punch and my goodness does it hurt to actually look forward to watching this game. Both teams impressed me over the last two weeks for different reasons so it should be really fun to see the go up against each other. I can set my bitterness aside for a few hours Saturday afternoon.
Elsewhere that same afternoon I’ll also be jumping around to #18 Michigan @ Maryland, Duke @ North Carolina, and that Arkansas @ 17 Texas game I mentioned earlier. I can’t say no to a good old fashioned Southwest Conference revival.
Saturday, November 22 – Evening
In the evening we’re treated to a mix of pretty darn good games. I already mentioned #20 Tennessee @ Florida but I’m more interested in Pittsburgh @ #16 Georgia Tech and especially Nebraska @ Penn State. The Nittany Lions finally got their first conference win last week and the Huskers survived their trip to Los Angeles (imagine that!).
#21 Illinois @ Wisconsin reunites Bret Bielema with his old cheese and beer fueled stomping grounds while in the Big XII we have #11 BYU @ Cincinnati and #25 Arizona State @ Colorado. Finally, Big Ten After Dark gives us Washington @ UCLA to end the night.
With that, one week remains. Enjoy it while we can, folks.
