The action is picking up as the regular season nears its end. October may have been somewhat of a lull but the past two weeks promise to excite football fans.
The two biggest games this week are in Miami and Stillwater. College football fans will finally find out how good Miami is. The Hurricanes are one of a few remaining unbeaten teams, but few selectors and voters are buying them at the moment. Miami's schedule has been weak to this point. Virginia Tech will be its biggest test.
Meanwhile, Bedlam comes early amid the new Big XII Conference Championship Game format. The Big XII made sure to make this the earliest Bedlam has been since 2004 since a rematch in December is plausible. Ohio State fans should have a rooting interest in that game after Tuesday night.
Also, it's November, the time of the year in which SEC programs schedule the worst non-conference teams they can find. We lovingly call this "Chickenshit Saturday" at Eleven Warriors and we will not miss an opportunity to call SEC programs out for this scheduling practice.
Here's your viewing guide for this weekend.
Thursday
Northern Illinois at Toledo (ESPNU, 6 p.m.). One minor theme to this week: all the MAC teams are playing weekday games. Bowling Green, Kent State, Miami, Ohio, Central Michigan, and Western Michigan all played on Tuesday or Wednesday. Northern Illinois, Toledo, Ball State, and Eastern Michigan will play Thursday. Akron and Buffalo have byes.
Ball State at Eastern Michigan (CBS Sports, 7 p.m.). See previous item. Both teams are 2-6 so the loser of this contest is guaranteed a losing season.
Navy at Temple (ESPN, 8 p.m.). Navy started the season 5-0 but ran into the two best teams in the conference in its last two games. Memphis beat the Midshipmen by three in the Liberty Bowl while UCF won by 10 in Annapolis.
Temple will provide an opportunity for Navy to get back in the win column.
Idaho at Troy (ESPNU, 9:15 p.m.). You may want to pencil this one if for no reason other than Idaho will become the first team to drop from FBS to FCS next year. This will be one of your last opportunities to see Idaho play on prime time television.
Friday
Marshall at Florida Atlantic (CBS Sports, 6 p.m.). It's been a while since we checked on how Lane Kiffin is doing. Short answer: well. The Owls started 1-3 with losses to Navy, at Wisconsin, and a head-scratcher at Buffalo. The Owls have won four straight thereafter and are the last remaining conference unbeaten in the Conference USA.
Memphis at Tulsa (ESPN2, 8 p.m.). The best in the American West (Memphis) takes on the worst in the American West (Tulsa).
UCLA at Utah (FS1, 9:30 p.m.). UCLA is 4-4 but that doesn't appear to be meaningfully influencing Josh Rosen's draft stock. Rosen is averaging 339 yards through the air and his QB rating is No. 30 in the country. Still, UCLA sucks outside him, namely its No. 109 rushing offense and, more importantly, it's No. 121 total defense.
UCLA's struggles this year would be worse without Josh Rosen's individual brilliance. (Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports)
Saturday
Penn State at Michigan State (FOX, 12 p.m.). Saturday is packed with good games and it'll start with Penn State hitting the road again and hoping for a better result. The Spartans themselves are looking to get the bad taste from its mouth after losing at Northwestern.
Wisconsin at Indiana (ABC, 12 p.m.). Indiana is still looking for its first conference win. Maryland denied it that win last week in College Park and Wisconsin should have little difficulty punting Indiana's first Big Ten win into next week.
Therein, Indiana plays Illinois, the only other team still winless in the Big Ten.
Auburn at Texas A&M (ESPN, 12 p.m.). It'll be a QB battle between two former Baylor recruits. Auburn's Jarrett Stidham transferred from Baylor while Texas A&M's Kellen Mond was a Baylor commit before the Title IX scandal took down Art Briles.
UMass at Mississippi State (SEC Network, 12 p.m.). It's November, so expect to see more "Chickenshit Saturdays" proliferate the SEC schedule. Mississippi State is getting its win-for-hire against 2-6 UMass.
Florida at Missouri (ESPN2, 12 p.m.). The interim era for Randy Shannon starts for Florida as it takes to the road to play a 3-5 Missouri squad whose last two games were against Idaho and Connecticut.
Kansas State at Texas Tech (FS1, 12 p.m.). Two 4-4 teams clash in Lubbock. Texas Tech (-3) is a slight home favorite.
Western Kentucky at Vanderbilt (ESPNU, 12 p.m.). Vanderbilt is 3-5 or, to the point, riding a five-game losing streak that it will hope to end against a 5-3 Western Kentucky squad.
That Lovie Smith hire in Champaign doesn't look so good right now. (Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via USA TODAY Sports)
Illinois at Purdue (BTN, 12 p.m.). Purdue is making me look like an idiot for saying it was arguably the story of the year in the Big Ten. Since then, the Boilermakers have lost three straight games to Wisconsin (17-9), Rutgers (14-12), and, somehow, Nebraska (25-24). My midseason pick for Big Ten Coach of the Year (Jeff Brohm) has a 3-5 program right now.
At least a win over Illinois seems certain. The Illini are 2-6 and winless in the Big Ten.
South Carolina at Georgia (CBS, 3:30 p.m.). The SEC is a trash heap of a conference but Georgia's status as the playoff No. 1 is certainly deserved. We'll see how it responds at home to a competitive South Carolina squad that is 6-2 this year.
Wake Forest at Notre Dame (NBC, 3:30 p.m.). Notre Dame as playoff No. 3 is likely to ruffle a few feathers. I'm not yet sold myself though the Irish certainly stated a great case last week by pummeling NC State at home.
Clemson at NC State (ABC, 3:30 p.m.). Notre Dame took the shine off NC State last week in the 35-14 Irish win. Still, that masks the fact NC State is the only unbeaten in the ACC's Atlantic Division. If it could beat Clemson at home, that would put the Wolfpack one win away from its first ever division championship.
The Wolfpack's remaining schedule is Wake Forest, Boston College, and UNC, a combined 11-15 so far. NC State as potential ACC champion could challenge for story of the year in college football.
Ohio State at Iowa (ESPN, 3:30 p.m.). This is your personal game of the week. Stay tuned to Eleven Warriors for comprehensive coverage of this contest as Ohio State tries to avoid a letdown after last week's win.
Iowa State at West Virginia (ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.). Matt Campbell is going to give NC State's Dave Doeren a run for national coach of the year honors. Iowa State hasn't been this good since 2002.
Better yet, Iowa State controls its own destiny in the Big XII. The Cyclones next two games are against quality competition (West Virginia, Oklahoma State) but it finishes with winless Baylor and 4-4 Kansas State.
Stanford at Washington State (FOX, 3:30 p.m.). This game could be a banger hidden at an otherwise crowded 3:30 slot on Saturday.
Bryce Love sat out the Oregon State game and may not play against Washington State. (Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports)
Washington State may have the greater urgency at the moment. It already has two conference losses. It's not precluded from winning the Pac-12 North because of that. One of those losses came at Arizona in the Pac-12 South the other came at a Cal program that is 1-5 in league play. The Cougars still have Stanford and Washington the schedule.
Stanford, meanwhile, could effectively clinch the Pac-12 North in the next two weeks. It travels to the Palouse on Saturday and returns to the farm to host the Pac-12 champion Huskies next week.
South Florida at Connecticut (ESPNU, 3:30 p.m.). This game assumed much less urgency after South Florida lost at home to Houston last week. The Bulls still control their own destiny in the American Athletic Conference but the Group of Five invite to the New Year's Six now seems like a longshot.
Maryland at Rutgers OR Northwestern at Nebraska (BTN, 3:30 p.m.). You'll be getting one of these two games on BTN at the 3:30 p.m. slot.
The better contest will probably be Northwestern at Nebraska. That will jog memories of the classic finish between the two programs in 2013.
Oklahoma at Oklahoma State (FS1, 4 p.m.). Bedlam comes early to the Big XII. Deducing the Big XII's peculiar schedule in the first year of its new conference championship game format is rather fun. Here, you can tell the Big XII moved Bedlam to the first week of November, the earliest it's been since 2004, to hedge against a possible rematch in the conference championship game.
We're at the point of the schedule where Ohio State fans should have some rooting interests in these bigger contests. Go Cowboys, of course.
Ole Miss at Kentucky (SEC Network, 4 p.m.). How bad is the SEC? Here's one metric: Kentucky is 6-2 this year. That should say more about the SEC than any sudden turnaround Kentucky is having.
Coastal Carolina at Arkansas (SEC Network, 4 p.m.). It's Chickenshit Saturday in Fayetteville. I had to clarify that Coastal Carolina was no longer FCS. Indeed, it's not. It just transitioned to the Sun Belt, in which the Chanticleers are 1-7 and last place in the conference.
That would've made two FCS teams on Bert's schedule for Arkansas. The Razorbacks opened with Florida A&M.
Nevada at Boise State (ESPNU, 7 p.m.). Boise State is in great position to again the Mountain West but its non-conference losses (Washington State, Virginia) will preclude it and, in all likelihood, the Mountain West from the New Year's Six.
Colorado State at Wyoming (CBS Sports, 7 p.m.). All teams in the Mountain division are looking up at Boise State but these two are No. 2 and No. 3 in that division.
Texas at TCU (ESPN, 7:15 p.m.). Texas finally ended a two-game losing skid by beating a still winless Baylor squad in Waco. This game at Fort Worth against a bruised TCU program will be a different animal. TCU may take out frustrations from last week's loss in Ames out on the Longhorns.
UCF at SMU (ESPN2, 7:15 p.m.). After expressing some disappointment that South Florida lost last week to preclude the season-ending matchup between the Bulls and the Golden Knights from being a clash of unbeaten teams, UCF will try to avoid a similar fate in Dallas against a 6-2 Mustangs team.
Southern Mississippi at Tennessee (SEC Network, 7:30 p.m.). Tennessee will try to end a four-game losing skid on Chickenshit Saturday against Southern Mississsippi.
Third time's a charm. (Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports)
Minnesota at Michigan (FOX, 7:30 p.m.). Michigan was never going to be as good this year as it was last year. The Wolverines lost too many seniors and draft-eligible players to the NFL. That said, its struggles this year are still surprising. The Wolverines are 6-2 and even have an outside shot at the Big Ten East division crown but the quality isn't there.
Michigan will also hope the third quarterback is the charm. Redshirt freshman Brandon Peters will likely start against the 4-4 Gophers.
LSU at Alabama (CBS, 8 p.m.). Reports that Alabama was "snubbed" after Tuesday night's playoff announcement kind of miss the point. Nick Saban has repeated that he thinks every selector and poll voter telling Alabama how great it is is akin to a poison on the program. Placing Georgia above Alabama is more favor than snub the extent to which Saban can use that as motivational material.
Expect Alabama to have no difficulty on Saturday night. The Tide are three-touchdown favorites.
Virginia Tech at Miami (ABC, 8 p.m.). How good is Miami? The AP voters are suspicious of the Hurricanes and the playoff committee is even more skeptical. I'm of the mentality Miami is more lucky than good, and it's plenty good, to be fair.
We'll find out more soon enough. Virginia Tech will easily be the best team on Miami's schedule so far. Miami might sneak into the field of four next Tuesday with a win on Saturday night.
Oregon at Washington (FS1, 10 p.m.). The script in this series turned immediately when Oregon began to suck and Washington finally found its swagger again. The 70-21 Washington win in Eugene last year snapped a losing streak that started in 2004. It's also the worst asskicking Washington handed Oregon since 1974 (66-0).
Washington is favored big again (-21). The bigger intrigue is still next week when Washington travels to Stanford to practically decide the Pac-12 North.
San Diego State at San Jose State (ESPNU, 10:30 p.m.). I'll never skip an opportunity to plug Rashaad Penny. The Maxwell Award semifinalist leads the country in rushing and even put up 253 yards on Hawaii last week. He would get my Heisman vote if I had one.
Arizona at USC (ESPN, 10:45 p.m.). Here's an interesting debate: is Arizona the best team in the Pac-12 South? In the Pac-12? Arizona is 6-2 and 4-1 in the Pac-12. A road upset of USC would put the Wildcats in pole position to return to the Pac-12 Championship Game.
The whole season has been rather screwy in the Pac-12 and Arizona beating USC and eventually securing the Pac-12 South would defy all preseason expectations.
