Ohio State is on break again, along with Rutgers, its next opponent. This affords Ohio State fans the opportunity to watch this weekend's slate of games when the probability of Ohio State losing a game is zero. Always nice, even if the timing of this bye is a bit unfortunate. Ohio State fans may be wanting to let this momentum ride a bit.
This week's viewing guide will discuss the college football games to watch. Further, it will give you a rooting interest where appropriate. Ohio State is sneaking into playoff consideration despite that ugly loss at home to Virginia Tech. Toward that end, Ohio State still needs a few favorable bounces. So, get out your pom poms like this week's honorary TV Guide cover subject, The Life of Riley's Lugene Sanders.
Here is your viewing guide for this weekend.
Thursday
Brigham Young at Central Florida (ESPN, 7:30 p.m.). The wind got knocked out the sails of this matchup when BYU suffered a crushing defeat at home last Friday night to Utah State. It ended BYU's dreams of an undefeated season and top bowl game berth.
BYU will try to persevere without Taysom Hill. The Cougars' star quarterback fractured his left leg in the second quarter of the Utah State game.
Friday
Stanford would be a credible national championship threat if it had some semblance of an offense.
Washington State at Stanford (ESPN, 9 p.m.). Both teams are coming off deflating last minute losses the week previously. It's a shame that Americans east of the Mississippi River were asleep for the Washington State-California game, because it was wild.
Stanford has two losses on the season and does not look like a viable playoff contender at the moment. With that in mind, your rooting interest may be Stanford. The loser of the Oregon-UCLA game on Saturday (more on that later) is effectively eliminated from the playoff. Stanford still has to play both. Hope for Stanford to return to form in time for those two games, starting Friday night with Washington State.
Stanford's problem is the offense. It has the nation's second-ranked total defense (one yard per game behind Louisville) but the country's 96th-ranked total offense. If not for that, we'd be hoping for a Washington State upset.
San Diego State at New Mexico (ESPNU, 9:30 p.m.). I feel compelled to list any game that's nationally televised with New Mexico. I still find Bob Davie amusing.
Fresno State at UNLV (CBS Sports Network, 10 p.m.). The odds are you won't deviate much from the Washington State-Stanford game. This gives you just one more option when you're channel-surfing in between halftimes and commercial breaks.
Saturday
Florida State at Syracuse (ESPN, 12 p.m.). It's easy to say Syracuse is the rooting interest here, but an upset is implausible. Syracuse just demoted its offensive coordinator and the ACC after Florida State and Clemson is boiling garbage this year. It should be getting the national shade the Big Ten gets on a weekly basis.
The most realistic opportunities for a Florida State loss on the remainder of its regular season schedule is Notre Dame next week, at Louisville the week after that, and Boston College and Florida to end the season. When upset hopes hinge on that motley crew of teams, there's not much hope.
Texas vs. Oklahoma (ABC, 12 p.m.). Texas has four losses on the regular season. Oklahoma just had its first. Easy rooting interest for the optimistic Ohio State fan would be for Texas to pull off its second consecutive upset of the Sooners.
That said, this game might be inconsequential in terms of a dedicated rooting interest for Ohio State fans. I think it looks probable now that the Big XII is sending one team to the playoff. A Sooners loss eliminates the Sooners but doesn't eliminate the Big XII's other options like Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Texas Christian.
Georgia at Missouri (CBS, 12 p.m.). Georgia has just one loss on the season and is ranked ahead of Ohio State. Missouri lost at home on the SEC Network to Indiana, which might be the tenth or eleventh best team in the Big Ten.
Therefore, your obvious rooting interest is Missouri. Any SEC team that loses to Missouri has a transitive loss to Indiana and probably becomes leprous.
Wisconsin's production at quarterback is as bad as it could conceivably be.
Illinois at Wisconsin (ESPN2, 12 p.m.). Wisconsin has the fourth best rushing attack but couldn't pass a ball into a wishing well at this point. It has the country's 116th-ranked passing offense. In the loss last week at Northwestern, Wisconsin's two quarterbacks combined for 12/29 performance for 138 yards, one touchdown, and four interceptions.
Wisconsin football may have the yips.
The good news is Illinois is abjectly terrible and has the nation's 122nd-ranked rushing defense. The Illini will be without Wes Lunt too for the next four to six weeks with a broken leg.
Indiana at Iowa (ESPNU, 12 p.m.). Iowa was on a bye last week while Indiana finished its non-conference slate with a home win over North Texas. It's Homecoming for the Hawkeyes, which will also play both CJ Beathard and Jake Rudock at quarterback this game. Rudock will start.
Northwestern at Minnesota (BTN, 12 p.m.). Who would have thought in the first two weeks of the season that this would be a marquee matchup in the Big Ten West?
Despite losing its first two games this season and looking almost gangrenous in the process, Northwestern has rebounded in its next three and scored two conference upsets at Penn State and last week against Wisconsin.
Minnesota, coming off a bye last week, is 1-0 in the conference. At the moment, these could be considered the top two teams in the Big Ten West.
Auburn needed a fourth-quarter rally to beat Mississippi State last year.
Auburn at Mississippi State (CBS, 3:30 p.m.). This is a no. 2 (Auburn) vs. no. 3 (Mississippi State) matchup. I never would have thought I'd see the day, especially after that infamous 2008 encounter when Auburn beat Mississippi State, coincidentally enough, 3-2.
The Ohio State fan's rooting interest is unclear. It could be Auburn, which could knock out Mississippi State as an issue right now while still having to play South Carolina, at Ole Miss, Texas A&M, at Georgia, and, after a bye, at Alabama. Auburn may still have one or two losses left on the schedule. Its schedule is daunting.
It could be Mississippi State. Rooting for a win for Mississippi State leverages the real probability that Auburn loses at least one other game somewhere else on the schedule. Meanwhile, Mississippi State still has to take trips to Kentucky, Alabama, and Ole Miss later this season.
I don't think this matchup lends itself to a clear rooting interest, though it may be Mississippi State if one assumes the Bulldogs are more a fluke at the moment than Auburn. Just hope for fireworks.
Texas Christian at Baylor (ABC/ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.). This pits the no. 9 Horned Frogs at the no. 5 Bears. Ohio State fans may want a rooting interest.
As much as Baylor annoys me, I think Baylor is the choice here. I did mention earlier that I think the Big XII is poised to grab one of those four playoff spots. That said, a Baylor home win does little address the fact that Baylor can't beat a ranked team away from its home stadium. Its last road win against a team then ranked in the AP Top 25 was in 1991. That's north of 37 straight losses.
I mention this because Baylor still has a trip to Oklahoma on the schedule. A Baylor win here hurts Texas Christian's chances since Texas Christian was a late entry into the Top 25 (and late season rankings are endogenous to where a team starts in the rankings). A Baylor win still doesn't address the most glaring deficiency in its resume.
Notre Dame should be considered a real obstacle for Ohio State fans hoping for a berth in the playoff.
North Carolina at Notre Dame (NBC, 3:30 p.m.). If Notre Dame wins out, given its schedule, I'd absolutely (and begrudgingly) give the Irish one of the four playoff spots. With that in mind, your rooting interest against the Irish should be abundantly clear.
Michigan State at Purdue (ABC/ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.). The no. 8 Spartans are three-touchdown favorites. Ohio State needs Michigan State to be flawless until and after that November 8 matchup in East Lansing.
Oregon at UCLA (FOX, 3:30 p.m.). Oregon and UCLA are coming off home losses last week. The loser of this matchup loses its last claim to earning a playoff spot.
Both teams have to play Stanford. UCLA still has Arizona and USC on the schedule. The rooting interest for the optimistic Ohio State fan should be UCLA. Oregon's schedule is a bit weaker than UCLA's schedule going forward. UCLA has more opportunities for losses after this game.
Louisville at Clemson (ESPNU, 3:30 p.m.). Clemson basically plays a three-game schedule. The first game is a non-conference game early against some formidable team in the SEC. The second game is Florida State. The third is the season finale against South Carolina. On top of that, it plays a nine-game schedule against garbage teams like Wake Forest and Syracuse.
Having lost the first two games of that three-game schedule, no one has to pay attention to Clemson this year. Tigers fans, meanwhile, are grasping at straws to get motivated for this game. Bobby Petrino may have given it to them because Clemson fans don't like being likened to Syracuse.
Oklahoma State at Kansas (FOX Sports 1, 4 p.m.). An Oklahoma State loss at Kansas would help the Buckeyes more than hurt it, but it's also not going to happen.
Chattanooga at Tennessee (SEC Network, 4 p.m.). Yeah, okay, Tennessee...
Get on the Bertwagon this weekend against Alabama.
Alabama at Arkansas (ESPN, 6 p.m.). Swallow your pride and root for Bert's Razorbacks. The cynical college football fan in me believes the structure of the college football playoff is in part a function to give Alabama as many mulligans as it feels it needs in order to still compete for national championships. Alabama needs at least one more loss on the schedule to (maybe) knock it from playoff consideration.
East Carolina at South Florida (ESPNU, 7 p.m.). I think the probability of East Carolina leapfrogging us is practically zero, but the paranoid Ohio State fan may think otherwise. East Carolina is the no. 19 team in the country, but its schedule is weak going forward.
Penn State at Michigan (ESPN2, 7 p.m.). It's a game featuring a team Ohio State fans hate with a passion against a team that we forget hates us with the same level of animus.
Brady Hoke is in quite the bind sitting at 2-4 on the season. Hoke needs to win four of the next six games for Michigan to finish the season 6-6. Those games include this game against Penn State, a trip to East Lansing after a bye, home to Indiana, at Northwestern, against Maryland, and at Ohio State.
Losing three of those games eliminates Michigan from bowl eligibility. This game, and senior day against Maryland, are pivotal contests for the Wolverines.
I'd like Penn State more if its offensive line weren't five glorified traffic cones. That offensive line hasn't done a good job blocking anyone.
LSU at Florida (SEC Network, 7:30 p.m.). There was a five-year stretch between 2005 and 2009 where this might have been the greatest series in the SEC. Now, LSU is a young football team that borders on a bad football team. It's also Les Miles' worst defense for the ten years he's been in Baton Rouge.
Florida, meanwhile, is just a bad football team.
Texas A&M needed a game-winning field goal to beat Ole Miss last year.
Ole Miss at Texas A&M (ESPN, 9 p.m.). This pits the no. 3 Rebels against the no. 14 Aggies. As a result, the optimistic Ohio State fan should develop a rooting interest. Ostensibly, this should be Texas A&M, who was just thumped by Mississippi State last week. Ole Miss had arguably its greatest home win ever against Alabama last week.
A win for Texas A&M doesn't eliminate Ole Miss from the playoff picture. It might just create more opportunities for the SEC to squeeze in more teams to the playoff at Ohio State's expense. A Texas A&M loss does basically eliminate the Aggies from consideration given its remaining schedule that already includes two trips to the state of Alabama.
However, a win for Texas A&M is still probably the best-case scenario for Ohio State. Ole Miss has favorable home cooking this year. It hosts Auburn and Mississippi State later in the schedule and already hosted (and defeated) Alabama. The only challenging road games left on the schedule for Ole Miss after this trip to College Station are trips to Baton Rouge and Fayetteville.
USC at Arizona (ESPN2, 10:30 p.m.). Rich Rodriguez' no. 10 Arizona Wildcats are the last undefeated team in the Pac-12, just as everyone predicted. It's safe to say every college football fan anticipated that.
I don't fear Arizona as playoff threat, though I am happy for Rodriguez' success in Tucson. The paranoid Ohio State fan may want a USC win here to make sure, which I think is likely.
Arizona still has a trip to UCLA on the schedule. It will host Arizona State at the end of the season. Todd Graham has won both meetings against Rich Rodriguez in this rivalry.
