Welcome back to College Football Saturday!
While your Miami Hurricanes are getting ready to play the Stanford Cardinal later this evening, there are PLENTY of other games to enjoy today in the meantime.
While you watch games from coast to coast today, hop in the comments and talk about the action as it happens. And, in case you needed to know who to root for in games with ACC teams, we’ve got you covered on that front:
I’ll post a couple highlight games in this window, but here’s a watchgrid graphic from TrigDraws, a contributor with another network.
Anyways, a couple games to keep an eye on in the early window, with lines provided by our friends at FanDuel Sportsbook:
- #8 Ole Miss at #1o Oklahoma, Noon, ABC; line: Oklahoma -5.5 — This is a big, BIG game for the SEC standings and path toward the SEC Championship game. Can Lane Kiffin keep the momentum going amid the widespread believe he’s the be-all, end-all target for Florida’s open HC job? Can John Mateer finally find top form again after thumb surgery? The storylines here are plentiful. This is the game of the early day.
- SMU at Wake Forest, Noon, The CW; line: SMU -2.5 — Miami travels to Dallas to play SMU next week, so this is 100% future opponent scouting. And, it matters toward the ACC standings, where Miami is in need of help to make the ACC Championship game yet again.
- Syracuse at #7 Georgia Tech, Noon, ESPN; line: Georgia Tech -16.5 — Syracuse comes down Hard Rock Stadium to play Miami in 2 weeks so this is future opponent scouting. Also, Georgia Tech are now the highest ranked team in the ACC after Miami fumbled the bag last week against Louisville. GT are undefeated in conference, so a loss would be GREAT for Miami. Don’t think it’s happening this week, though.
- #16 Virginia at North Carolina, Noon, ACC Network; line: Virginia -10.5 — the final team undefeated in ACC play, Virginia has been a surprise this season. Miami needs them to lose a game (see the theme here?) but Carolina is terrible and hasn’t been competitive against a P4 team yet. I don’t expect that to change today.
- #18 USF at Memphis, Noon, ESPN2; line: USF -5.5 — One of Miami’s 3 ranked wins so far this season, USF has been steamrolling every other team they played after getting blown out by 5 TDs at Hard Rock Stadium. Here’s another chance for them to take a step forward, and improve Miami’s strength of schedule while doing so.
- NC State at Pitt, 3:30pm, ACC Network; line: Pitt -6.5 — Future opponent scouting. Miami faces both NC State and Pitt in the month of November. Yeah, that’s about it.
- #15 Mizzou at #10 Vanderbilt, 3:30pm, ESPN; line: Vanderbilt -2.5 — A “nobody expected this” game of the day candidate. Mizzou has been very good this year, and Vanderbilt has been one of the stories of the season. Another key game in the chase to make the SEC Championship Game.
There are more games, obviously (check the graphic), but those are the ones that stick out to me in the early window.
Let’s talk some football until we’re back for the CANES GAME in primetime games later.
Happy Football Saturday, everybody!
