It is all about the night games this week.
Ed Orgeron and the USC Trojans are headed to South Bend this weekend for their second consecutive night game at Notre Dame Stadium. The Trojans will be met by a well-rested Notre Dame squad that is coming off of a bye week. Elsewhere Florida State will visit Clemson in a huge ACC showdown between top 10 teams. You might want to have a plan for TV #2 on Saturday night.
There will be several other games played between now and then so let's take a look and see what other games we will have to pass the time with.
If any of you are looking for full TV schedules I suggest the link below.
*All times listed are EST.
Rankings are per the USA Today Coaches Poll
Thursday October 17th
#11 Miami FL (5-0) at North Carolina (1-4) 7:30 ESPN
Miami should keep cruising against the Tarheels but the Canes still have Florida State and Virginia Tech looming on the schedule in November. Until then we'll get to keep hearing about how the Canes are "back."
Friday October 11th
UCF (4-1) at #6 Louisville (6-0) 8:00 ESPN
UCF heads to Papa John's Cardinal Stadium with a resume' that includes both a 3 point victory over Penn State and a 3 point loss to South Carolina. Not bad. Teddy Bridgewater and the Cardinals have cruised to 6-0 with limited resistance thus far but the Golden Knights should challenge them on Friday night.
Saturday October 12th
TCU (3-3) at #17 Oklahoma State (4-1) 12:00 FOX
The Horned Frogs have had a rough start to the season and are now tasked with finding a way to win in Stillwater to get back above .500. That won't be easy. Okie Light has struggled in their last two outings where they lost at West Virginia and pulled out a close win against Kansas State. Coming off of a bye week the Pokes are going to need to kick it back into gear this weekend to beat TCU.
#9 South Carolina (5-1) at Tennessee (3-3) 12:00 ESPN
Ol' ball coach and the Cocks are still cruising in the SEC East where they find themselves a game behind Missouri. I think that everyone forgot Missouri was even in the SEC until they beat Georgia last weekend. Regardless, South Carolina should be able to take care of business against the Vols at Neyland.
Minnesota (4-2) at Northwestern (4-2) 12:00 ESPN2
Both of these teams are coming off of back to back losses and need to stop their respective skids. This one has the potential to be interesting but I think the Cats will end righting the ship and handing the Gophers their 3rd straight loss.
#15 Texas Tech (6-0) at West Virginia (3-3) 12:00 FOX Sports 1
The Red Raiders have enjoyed a nice little run to 6-0 against a really soft schedule. A week 2 win over then #24 TCU is the Raiders only "quality win" this season. With Oklahoma, Okie Light, Kansas State, Baylor and Texas waiting down the stretch Kingsbury and Co. need to pick up win #7 here before reality sets in.
Navy (3-2) at Toledo (3-3) 12:00 ESPN News
Submitted for any of you that feel the need to scout Navy again...
#22 Florida (4-2) at #14 Missouri (6-0) 12:00 ESPN3.com/ SEC TV
How is this game not being televised on a channel that anyone actually has access to? This is the best SEC game of the day and it isn't going to be nationally televised. Fail.
Auburn (5-1) at #7 Texas A&M (5-1) 3:30 CBS
Johnny Football will be on the CBS national broadcast though. Why wouldn't he be?
#10 UCLA (5-0) at #13 Stanford (5-1) 3:30 ABC/ ESPN2
This is a big game in the PAC-12. I would like UCLA's chances here if Stanford hadn't just been upset by Utah last weekend. I'm thinking David Shaw and the trees bounce back and pick up the W here.
Iowa (4-2) at #3 Ohio State (6-0) 3:30 ABC/ ESPN2
Wouldn't it be great if Kirk Ferentz earned some of that big contract with an upset of the Buckeyes on Saturday? It will never happen but it's a nice thought.
#18 Oklahoma (5-1) at Kansas (2-3) 3:30 ESPN
Stoops and the Sooners will be taking out their Red River frustrations on Chuck Weis.
BYU (4-2) at Houston (5-0) 3:30 ESPN2
I think BYU has been on national television every week this season. Deontay Greenberry anyone?
Indiana (3-3) at #24 Michigan (5-1) 3:30 Big Ten Network
Can the Hoosiers hand the Wolverines their second straight loss? Indiana did just beat Penn State a couple of weeks ago...
Arkansas (3-4) at #1 Alabama (6-0) 7:00 ESPN
This game will be ugly. The Hogs have dropped 4 straight games and this trip to Tuscaloosa will make it 5. Following this game woo pig sooie will be 3-5 with 4 games remaining against Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and LSU. Bowl eligibility is looking like a long shot in Fayetteville right now.
#8 LSU (6-1) at Ole Miss (3-3) 7:00 ESPN2
Leslie Miles and the Tigers are still hanging around and staying loose while they wait to play Bama on November 9th.
Iowa State (1-4) at #12 Baylor (5-0) 7:00 ESPNU
The Bears were averaging 71 points per game before Kansas State held them to 35 last week. How long will Iowa State be able to keep pace with the Baylor offense?
USC (4-2) at Notre Dame (4-2) 7:30 NBC
The staff will be all over previewing this game over the next few days so I will leave them to it. This is another big prime time game and a huge recruiting weekend. Simply stated this game needs to go well for several reasons. With Kiffin out of the picture USC could come out and play like they don't have anything to lose which makes this game a little more dangerous than it might be otherwise.
#5 Florida State (5-0) at #4 Clemson (6-0) 8:00 ABC
This is a huge ACC game with potential BCS Championship implications. Can Jameis Winston and the Noles keep it going or will Tajh Boyd and Clemson school the young upstart in Death Valley? I'm all about having multiple TV's going during the day but I really don't do a very good job of keeping an eye on the other games once ND kicks off. My ability to do so in this case will largely depend on how well things are going in South Bend.
Washington State (4-3) at #2 Oregon (6-0) 10:00 Fox Sports 1
For a nightcap you can watch Webfoot U run up and down the field at the expense of Mike Leach and the Cougs. Wazzu pulling a miracle upset here would be the most Dread Pirate thing ever.
Oregon State (5-1) at Cal (1-5) 10:30 ESPN2
Oregon State dropped their opener to Eastern Washington and haven't lost since. The Beavers do have a pretty ridiculous passing game led by quarterback Sean Mannion that is worth checking out. Mannion's favorite target wide receiver Brandin Cooks already has 944 yards receiving on the season.
What else should we be trying to keep an eye on? See you in the open threads on Saturday.