It's the penultimate week of the regular season. As such, there's an odd contrast of decisive games to sort out the conference championship picture as well as cupcake games that teams gerrymander into their schedules prior to the more decisive games next week. I'm not saying "SEC" here but I'm certainly thinking it very loudly.
Okay, I'll say "SEC" here. Georgia is already going to the SEC Championship Game no matter last week's loss to Auburn while next week's Iron Bowl will sort out the SEC West's representative. With that in mind, most of the conference with those big games are playing cupcakes like Mercer and UL Monroe.
Elsewhere, we could potentially crown the Pac-12 North Champion in Palo Alto, the first berth into the Big XII Championship Game for Oklahoma and, potentially, the Big Ten East division should Ohio State beat Illinois and Wisconsin beat Michigan.
Here's your viewing guide for this weekend.
Thursday
Buffalo at Ball State (CBS Sports, 7 p.m.). The last Saturday game in the MAC was on Oct. 28. Thereafter, the league is exclusively a weekday league until the MAC Championship Game in Saturday.
The MAC Championship Game will be of no concern to both these programs. Ball State is winless in conference play while Buffalo is 2-4 (4-6 overall).
Tulsa at South Florida (ESPN, 7:30 p.m.). Next week's clash between South Florida and UCF will pique more interest than this game. South Florida is 8-1 overall while Tulsa, 1-5 in American Athletic Conference play, is 1-5 in the conference and 2-8 overall.
Friday
Middle Tennessee at Western Kentucky (CBS Sports, 8 p.m.). Both teams are 5-5 overall and 3-3 in the C-USA. Western Kentucky, last season's C-USA champions, won't be repeating.
UNLV at New Mexico (ESPN2, 9:30 p.m.). New Mexico was otherwise was one of the most exciting offenses in college football. This year? Not so much. In fact, New Mexico ended an ignominious streak last week of 46 drives without an offensive touchdown on the road.
However, New Mexico still lost that game to Texas A&M by 41 points.
Saturday
Mercer at Alabama (SEC Network, 12 p.m.). It's the premier weekend for Chickenshit Saturday in the SEC. Here, Alabama plays a 5-5 FCS team that, incidentally, also played Auburn earlier in the season. Mercer lost that game, 24-10.
Virginia at Miami (ABC, 12 p.m.). Miami's turnaround under Mark Richt was far faster than I would've anticipated, to the point of even securing its first ever berth in the ACC Championship Game. Mind you, Miami has been in the ACC since 2004. It should have no difficulty with Virginia at home.
Michigan at Wisconsin (FOX, 12 p.m.). If you're an Ohio State fan, you probably want Wisconsin winning this beyond the usual reason of rooting against Michigan whenever possible. A Wisconsin win sends Ohio State to the Big Ten Championship Game (assuming Ohio State beats Illinois later in the day) and sets up the potential for a marquee Big Ten Conference Championship Game win as Ohio State's last Hail Mary to the playoff.
Wisconsin is a 7.5-point favorite at home.
Louisiana Monroe at Auburn (ESPN2, 12 p.m.). It's Chickenshit Saturday on the Plains as Auburn plays host to a 4-5 Sun Belt team.
Delaware State at Florida State (ACC Network, 12 p.m.)
The Citadel at Clemson (ACC Network, 12 p.m.).
TCU at Texas Tech (FS1, 12 p.m.). TCU suffered a crushing second loss on the season to Oklahoma last week. This may have ended TCU's playoff hopes, or at least put it in a position similar to Ohio State.
However, it's probably the favorite for the second team in the Big XII Championship Game. Oklahoma's path to the Big XII Championship Game is clear. So is TCU's. If TCU, Oklahoma State, and WVU win out, TCU gets the second berth because of tie-breaking wins over both.
UCF at Temple (ESPNU, 12 p.m.). UCF is the No. 15 team in the country and is the odds-on favorite to get the Group of Five's invite to the New Year's Six. However, that would require three more wins. First up: a 5-5 Temple team.
Mississippi State at Arkansas (CBS, 12 p.m.). The next Arkansas loss would guarantee a losing season for Bert in his fifth year in Fayetteville and raise questions about why, at this point, Arkansas continues to bother with a $4-million coach who has never finished better than 8-5 and has just one winning conference record in any season so far.
SMU at Memphis (ESPN News, 12 p.m.). Memphis secures the American West division with a win, setting up a conference championship game clash with, likely, the winner of South Florida-UCF next week.
Minnesota at Northwestern (BTN, 12 p.m.). Ohio State is arguably the best overall team in the conference. Wisconsin would challenge that and note that it is the only team still unbeaten in the league. Northwestern might be the hottest team in the league. It's riding a five-game winning streak that includes wins over Iowa and Michigan State. It'll put that on the line against a Minnesota team that just waxed Nebraska last week.
You might also see Indiana hosting Rutgers at this same time slot.
Oklahoma at Kansas (ESPN, 3:30 p.m.). Oklahoma will have no problem clinching the first berth in the Big XII Championship Game with a win over Kansas on Saturday afternoon.
Kentucky at Georgia (CBS, 3:30 p.m.). Much like Leicester City winning the Premiership a couple years ago, Kentucky as second-place team in the SEC East is a damning indictment on the rest of the division more than it's cause to elevate praise for Kentucky. It'll get a Georgia team that should be plenty pissed off after losing its first game on the season last week in Auburn.
Navy at Notre Dame (NBC, 3:30 p.m.). Speaking of "plenty pissed off", expect Notre Dame to take out some frustrations on Navy to end its home schedule. The Irish are 18-point favorites.
Illinois at Ohio State (ABC, 3:30 p.m.). Ohio State will celebrate its Senior Day against a 2-8 Illinois team still looking for its first Big Ten win team. Stay tuned to Eleven Warriors for comprehensive coverage of this contest.
Kansas State at Oklahoma State (ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.). Oklahoma State needs some help to get a second crack against, in all likelihood, Oklahoma in the Big XII Championship Game. Oklahoma State needs to win out and hope TCU drops one of its next two games to get Bedlam Part 2.
San Jose State at Colorado State (CBS Sports, 3:30 p.m.). Here's a curious trend out west. Several teams, like Colorado State and San Jose State, are playing their last games of the season.
It's not just these two either. USC will finish its regular season on Saturday too. Even Washington State has a curious bye before next week's Apple Cup. I've seen several scheduling quirks in my lifetime but this one is new.
For what it's worth, this game in Fort Collins is immaterial to any conference championship picture unlike the situation for USC and Washington State. Colorado State won't be winning the Mountain division and San Jose State already has 10 losses.
Syracuse at Louisville (ESPNU, 3:30 p.m.). Remember Louisville? Last year's ACC darlings are 6-4 this year and need a win over visiting Syracuse to avoid a losing season in the ACC.
Purdue at Iowa (BTN, 3:30 p.m.). While I was happy to see "Legends" and "Leaders" go, unquestionably the best part of that failed focus group experiment was creating a protected "rivalry" game between Iowa and Purdue where it made absolutely no sense to do it. The Iowa fan base at least ran with it. Both share a division now but that three-year "rivalry" game was fun because it was absurd.
Nebraska at Penn State (FS1, 4 p.m.). Nebraska-Penn State might be my favorite Big Ten series that I hope the Big Ten doesn't force to be a "thing." Both spent more time outside the Big Ten than it. They even played 11 times before Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1993 (and two additional times before Nebraska joined). Both are tradition-laden programs and the color clash makes for great aesthetics.
It's a shame that Nebraska is a dumpster fire this year because this should otherwise be a bigger contest than it will be. Expect this game to play out much like the 2002 one did: Penn State wins in a beatdown.
Maryland at Michigan State (FOX, 4 p.m.). Michigan State probably did not expect what happened last week in Ohio Stadium. This observer certainly didn't. It'll look to take out some frustrations on Maryland in East Lansing. Sparty is a 16-point favorite in this contest.
Wofford at South Carolina OR UAB at Florida (SEC Network, 4 p.m.). Take your pick of Chickenshit Saturday offerings on the SEC Network.
Houston at Tulane (ESPN News, 4 p.m.). Houston will look to finish its regular season strong, starting first with 4-6 Tulane in New Orleans.
BRB, dying. (Calvin Mattheis/Knoxville News Sentinel via USA TODAY Sports.)
LSU at Tennessee (ESPN, 7 p.m.) The Brady Hoke *stifles laughter* era will *chortle* begin in *starts laughing* Knoxville as Tennessee *purses lips* look for its first SEC win on the sea-HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Arizona at Oregon (Pac-12 Network, 7 p.m.). The best Arizona can do is hope for a USC loss to UCLA to earn a share of the Pac-12 South division crown. However, USC is getting the tie-breaker berth to the Pac-12 Championship Game.
That shouldn't diminish Arizona's turnaround this year. Arizona is 7-3 this year after going 3-9 last year.
Texas A&M at Ole Miss (ESPN2, 7 p.m.). This game has zero implications for the SEC West that will be decided in next week's Iron Bowl. That said, a win by Ole Miss, combined with the next Arkansas loss, secures a last place finish for Bert's Razorbacks. I want that to happen more than I care about anything else involving the SEC.
NC State at Wake Forest (ESPNU, 7:30 p.m.). But for a close loss to Clemson in Raleigh a few weeks ago, NC State would have secured its first ever berth in the ACC Championship Game. However, NC State could still finish strong with wins over Wake Forest this week and UNC next week.
UCLA at USC (ABC, 8 p.m.). USC's berth in the Pac-12 Championship Game is already set in stone. It's just curious that the Trojans get a full blown bye that the Pac-12 North winner won't get. USC's regular season ends on Saturday night.
California at Stanford (FOX, 8 p.m.). Three teams can win the Pac-12 North under the following conditions.
Washington State is sitting pretty at home, controlling its own destiny. (James Snook-USA TODAY Sports)
- Stanford: needs to beat California and hope Washington beats Washington State in the Apple Cup next week.
- Washington: needs Stanford to lose to California and to beat Washington State next week.
- Washington State: needs to beat Washington State next week.
I'm less clear about what happens if Washington State loses to Washington next week, Stanford loses to California, and Washington loses to Utah on Saturday night. That would create a three-way tie atop the Pac-12 North. This would ostensibly eliminate Stanford because of Stanford's non-conference loss to San Diego State regardless of what happens next week in Palo Alto against Notre Dame. Thus, the head-to-head tie-breaker means Washington gets the Pac-12 North in this chaos scenario even if Washington loses to Utah on Saturday night.
Air Force at Boise State (ESPN2, 10:15 p.m.). Boise State secures the Mountain West "Mountain" division with a win over Air Force.
Utah at Washington (ESPN, 10:30 p.m.). See above conversation about California and Stanford's game.
Nevada at San Diego State (CBS Sports, 10:30 p.m.). This is one of your last chances to see one of the best rushing threat in the country. San Diego State's Rashaad Penny is averaging 160 yards a contest on 7 yards per carry, second only to Stanford's Bryce Love among all running backs.
