Is it finally here? I have been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. Not only is Notre Dame hosting USC on Saturday night, they will be doing so under the lights at Notre Dame Stadium. The Fighting Irish also need this W to jump back into the Top 25 and stay in the hunt for a BCS berth.
Lane Kiffin, Matt Barkley and a bunch of other villains in Cardinal and Gold will be looking to throw a wrench into the works. There are rumors of surprise uniforms, piped in music, "rally towels" and a few other random crowd exciters that could make an appearance in the stadium on Saturday night. No matter how the game shakes out there should be plenty to talk about on the back side of this one and we will be hard at it all week here at OFD.
Oh yeah there are some other games this week too. We should probably take a look at those before I get too focused on the Trojans.
Week 8 College Football TV Schedule
Games after the jump
Rankings are per the BlogPoll.
*All times listed below are EST.
Tuesday 18 October
FIU at Arkansas St. 8:00 ESPN
Check it out there was an awful game on last night. We are entering the portion of the season where you can just about watch football 7 days a week. I'm okay with that. Those that tuned in saw Arkie State lay it on FIU 34-16.
Thursday 20 October
UCLA at Arizona 9:00 ESPN
Both of these teams will be looking for new coaches come December. Arizona just went ahead and got started last week. Do Pirates like the desert?
Friday 21 October
#13 West Virginia at Syracuse 8:00 ESPN
Rutgers at Louisville 8:00 ESPN2
Come to the Big East where you can play on Friday Night just like you did in High School! Neither of these games are interesting. At all.
Saturday 22 October
#5 Oklahoma State at Missouri 12:00 FX
It looks more and more like Okie Light should roll into Bedlam with an 11-0 record. Mizzu has a pretty decent football team this year but I don't think they knock off the Cowboys. Both teams seem to be a lot better on offense than they are on defense which should lend itself to a lot of points getting scored.
North Carolina at #8 Clemson 12:00 ESPN
I'm thinking that this little Clemson run will eventually end in with an inexplicable loss to an unranked also ran. Any chance this might be the one?
#22 Auburn at #1 LSU 3:30 CBS
Much to the chagrin of Jimmy Clausen and all Auburn fans Cam Newton plays for the Carolina Panthers now. This should be Auburn's last week in the Top 25. They have 5 remaining games and 2 of those are against LSU and Bama. Bye!
#12 Nebraska at Minnesota 3:30 ABC/ESPN2
Maryland at Florida State 3:30 ABC/ESPN2
#18 Texas A&M at Iowa St 3:30 ABC/ESPN3
#19 Georgia Tech at Miami 3:30 ESPN
This might be the worst slate of 3:30 ABC/ESPN games ever. I had to list all of them in a heap just to soak them in. Corn & Aggie both roll big. I suppose that I might try and keep an eye on the Maryland at FSU game just to watch Maryland again. Any chance that GT at Miami game will be interesting?
East Carolina at Navy 3:30 CBS Sports
We need to have the Coach DVR this one for one last data mining session. With a loss to Rutgers last week Navy has now dropped 4 straight. Will they hit 5 before visiting South Bend? I really don't like that scenario. At all.
Tennessee at #2 Alabama 7:15 ESPN2
The WWL continues to chronicle Little Nicky's latest championship run. I'm looking forward to that Bama vs LSU game in a couple of weeks.
USC at Notre Dame 7:30 NBC
Here we go people. This is one of those games that I have circled on the calendar the day that the previous season ends. Bottom line is that this is a huge rivalry game for an Irish team that needs to win out in order to play in a BCS game. This is big. Murtaugh already has his preview up and he will be taking a look at the small army of top flight recruits headed to South Bend for visits later this week. I'm sure Burger will cook up some of those X's and O's that you like so much too. Our open thread will open 1 hour prior to kickoff on Saturday. See you there!
Texas Tech at #3 Oklahoma 8:00 ABC/ESPN3
#23 Washington at #7 Stanford 8:00 ABC/ESPN3
These two matchups are an interesting prime time combo. Is this really the best that the WWL could do? Tejas Tech has a horrendous defense comprised of little plastic guys standing on vibrating bases. Tubs Raiders are giving up an average of 38.5 pts/gm to teams not called Texas State and New Mexico. I think Boomer might hang 80 on them. As for the Pac-12 showdown in Palo Alto Washington will free up another Top 25 spot after they get run ruled by Andrew Luck's beard.
#4 Wisconsin at #14 Michigan State 8:00 ESPN
So the real trick in this time slot is the WWL attempting to get you to watch this game instead of the two crapfests they tossed onto ABC. This game is actually pretty interesting as Michigan State just might be the best team that Wisconsin is going to play during the regular season. Too bad it is on during the USC vs. ND game!
Oregon State vs Washington State (Seattle) 10:30 FOX
Just in case you need a college football nightcap.
What other games should I be trying to keep an eye on?