Is it really week 6 already? This season is seriously flying by. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are sitting on a 3-2 record after a nice showing at Purdue but face a very challenging three game slate coming up. This weekend the Irish tangle with a tough Air Force team then have a week off before hosting USC. That visit from Troy will then be followed up with a visit from recent nemesis Navy. Oh my. This month might be hard on my liver as the grind is officially upon us.
This weekend will be a good start as Barking Carnival's own Sailor Ripley is coming to town and we are going to get together to watch all the action on Saturday. We may not survive. I will keep you posted.
If any of you are looking for full TV schedules I suggest the link below. You can find permanent links to this one and a couple of others on the bottom left hand side of our front page under "TV Schedules."
Now on to the games. Rankings are per the BlogPoll.
*All times listed below are EST.
Thursday 6 October
Cal at #9 Oregon 9:00 ESPN
A little Thursday night Pac-12 love delivered up for the masses. Both teams have been idle since Sept 24th where Cal dropped one to Sarkisian and the U Dub and Oregon ran wild on Arizona. Is Jeff Tedford still the coach at Cal? Man they are permanently mediocre. Webfoot U rolls.
Friday 7 October
#5 Boise State at Fresno State 9:00 ESPN
The only real question that appears to be left for Boise State is whether or not they will get enough votes in the polls to play in the BCS National Championship. I'm guessing no. Looks like I'll be selling my Fiesta Bowl tix to a Boise State fan. Again....
Saturday 8 October
#3 Oklahoma at #12 Texas 12:00 ABC
The Red River Shootout. I remain permanently annoyed that they started calling it the Red River Rivalry. This is one of those games that I really need to experience at some point. As a native Texan it is a colossal failure that I have never attended this game in person. Watching this game with Sailor Ripley should be good fun though. I am truly looking forward to it. As a side note there are absolutely no other interesting games in this time slot. You won't need a second TV until 3:30.
#16 Florida at #1 LSU 3:30 CBS
Champ and Chuck get to tangle with another devastating SEC defense for the second consecutive week. Uh oh! This most likely won't end well for the Gators in Red Stick. Then again Trent Richardson doesn't play for the Bayou Bengals. This one could be worth a look.
Miami at #22 Virginia Tech 3:30 ABC/ESPN
The Hokies got spanked by Dabo Swinney and the Rock Rubbers last weekend and look to rebound against Jacory Harris and the Canes. Beamer owns Miami and I expect the Hokies to bounce back here.
Iowa at Penn State 3:30 ABC/ESPN
Everything about this sounds excruciatingly boring.
Missouri at Kansas State 3:30 ABC/ESPN3
K State is 4-0 after knocking off Miami and Baylor in back to back weeks. Interesting. Mizzu meanwhile is 2-2 after taking tough losses to Arizona State and Oklahoma. Big East tryouts here?
Air Force at Notre Dame 3:30 NBC
After watching the zoomies duke it out with Navy last weekend I'm a little concerned about this game for Notre Dame. This is all about Bob Diaco's gameplan. ND should score plenty of points if they can maintain their positive trend of taking care of the football. But can they stop Air Force from owning the clock and scoring plenty themselves? Full previews from the boys and a lot of X's and O's discussion coming in the next 24 hours.
Georgia at Tennessee 7:00 ESPN 2
The Dawgs have 2 losses. The Vols have 1. Both teams are suspect.
Vanderbilt at #2 Alabama 7:00 ESPN U
Good lord why is this game on TV? Oh yeah, Little Nicky and the Tide are in the hunt that's why. Bama by pick a number between 40-50.
#17 Auburn at #13 Arkansas 7:00 ESPN
Interesting matchup here. War Eagle might be the ugliest 4-1 team in the country but they got it done on the road at Bryce-Williams last weekend much to the chagrin of Ole Ball Coach. Fun Bobby and the Hogs meanwhile are also 4-1 with their only loss coming at the hands of Bama. Did you know that Arkansas plays at two different "home" fields? They play the majority of their home games at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville but play two home games each year at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. This isn't one of those games in Little Rock. Below for headwork there, War Memorial might have been too much for War Eagle to bear.
Texas A&M at Texas Tech 7:00 FOX
There was a time not that long ago when this game was actually pretty interesting. It has spawned a lot of the fairly recent "tradition" at Tejas Tech. Little gems like tossing tortillas, punching TAMU fans out in the stands, and the whole Mike Leach "pirate thing" were all borne in Lubbock, Texas based on the TAMU vs. Tech "rivalry." Who knew?
Gig Em' is 2-2 after back to back second half collapses against Okie Light and Arkie. Tejas Tech is 4-0 but let a Kansas squad masquerading in throwback Houston Oiler unis give them the business before pulling away last weekend. So how does this one shake out? Call it a toss up but you can count on some points getting scored.
Ohio State at #15 Nebraska 8:00 ABC
The World Wide Leader is probably kicking themselves for making this the prime time game right now. tOSU just had an anemic day on offense against Sparty and Corn just got completely worked over by Wiscy. Regardless Musberger and Herbie will be calling a Corn game for the second consecutive week at 8:00 EST on ABC. I think the Pelini brothers get it done here. tOSU offense is god awful.
What other games should I be trying to keep an eye on?