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There is not a very good slate of games this weekend, at least in terms of rankings. There are a number of games that could be potentially good so I just picked a whole bunch of them, not so much because they were between top teams (they are not) but because they might be fine and some of them are rivalries.
I have switched to the College Football Playoff Top 25.
#10 Penn State at Indiana (11:00 am, ABC/EPSPN2)
It’s November. A lot of teams are going to lose games that they shouldn’t because that’s what happens in November. Indiana seems like they play teams just close enough to lose and maybe this time the get it right.
Penn State at 7 – 2 technically could still win the Big Ten East. They need to win out while Ohio State needs to be Michigan. Can the Hoosiers destroy their dreams? Saquon Barkley says no.
#16 West Virginia at Texas (11:00 am, Fox Sports 1)
This is a good alternative game if Penn State - Indiana gets out of hand. If Texas wins this game they’re bowl eligible. This is important. They didn’t make a bowl last year. Get this, though – Texas is 4 – 0 at home this season. They beat both Notre Dame and Baylor when they were ranked in the top 10. Go figure.
Still, if West Virginia loses, it is one last Big 12 team that has any chance of playoff contention.
Baylor at #11 Oklahoma (11:00 am, ABC/ESPN2)
You should watch this game because we all want Baylor’s program to go to hell. I hope that they lose every game they play from here to eternity. Their constant desire to deny that they had a problem, or somehow bring back Art Briles is beyond comprehension.
Have you watched watched Jim Grobe on the sideline? Does he ever say anything? Is he actually even coaching? Or is he just there to make a couple million dollars as a figurehead so that they can keep their staff in place because of some misguided idea that things would blow over, perhaps believing that the public’s attention span would be too short to remember all that’s happened there?
#9 Auburn at Georgia (2:30 pm, CBS)
You should watch this one because it’s a rivalry game. It’s the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” as it started in 1892; the game this Saturday will be the 120th between these two teams.
A few weeks ago Gus Malzahn’s job appeared in jeopardy as the Tigers lost two of their first three, losses coming against Clemson and Texas A&M. Auburn has the edge, but weird things happen in rivalry games and I’d be perfectly fine with a high-ranking SEC team getting knocked down a notch.
Texas Tech at # 13 Oklahoma State (2:30 pm, Fox Sports 1)
Oh another Big 12 game! These teams feature two fun quarterbacks in Tech’s Patrick Mahomes II and Okie State’s Mason Rudolph. Mahomes leads the nation in pass yardage with 3,886 yards, while Texas Tech gives up yards and points faster than the French fighting in a war.
Fun! Fun! Fun! (If you like points and not much defense, and who doesn’t like that?)
#24 LSU at #25 Arkansas (6:00 pm, ESPN)
This one is all about the DACOACHO versus BERT. I could go into particulars about what team does what this team does that but really but I want (and what college football needs) is for Ed Orgeron to become the head coach of the LSU Tigers.
#20 USC at #4 Washington (6:30 pm, FOX)
USC started this season in horrific shape, losing to Alabama 52-6, and then starting 1-3 with losses to Stanford and Utah. They were written off and head coach Clay Helton’s seat got a little bit warm. Since then, they’ve bounced back, and they’ve become comparable to Washington in that their offense is excellent in production and balanced.
USC has the athletes to knock off Washington. If there is one game this weekend which has the potential for a major impact on the college football playoff this is it. It’s just too bad it’s on at the same time as our Nebraska game.
News
Minnesota Football: 1941 Win Over Nebraska #TBT - The Daily Gopher
In the Gophers national championship 1941 season the November 8th game vs the Cornhuskers was the only game where Minnesota wasn’t ranked #1 in the AP Poll.
Nebraska heads home looking to regain success vs. Gophers - StarTribune.com
When last seen at Memorial Stadium, Nebraska had just dominated Purdue in the second half, improving to 7-0.
Saturday, BTN will become the first college sports network to produce a live football game in virtual reality. The network has partnered with VOKE, one of the world’s leading virtual reality (VR) providers, to bring fans an immersive view of the Minnesota at No. 19 Nebraska football game. In addition to VOKE’s VR experience, the battle between the Gophers and the Huskers will be shown on BTN in primetime at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Interesting. Very interesting. The press release states there will be headsets in the press box so the media can “sample” the experience. I wonder how many will get motion sickness.
Are we sufficiently excited for 7-2 Gophers vs. 7-2 Nebraska? - StarTribune.com
Did you think you wouldn’t have to care about the Gophers this season because this had the makings of a transitional time under first-year head coach Tracy Claeys and new AD Mark Coyle?
There aren’t a lot of Gopher fans in Minnesota. If you talk to them, they’re constantly downplaying their college teams, which is kind of funny if you consider that the place loves the Vikings, but there’s NEVER BEEN A SINGLE SEASON IN ALL OF VIKINGS HISTORY IN WHICH THEY HAVEN’T LET THEIR FANS DOWN.
Big Ten
Pound the Talk: Northwestern vs. Purdue preview - Inside NU
The Wildcats and the Boilermakers are slated for a Saturday morning meeting.
Iowa Football Opponent Preview: Michigan - Black Heart Gold Pants
Here comes Big Blue...
In a surprising twist of events, his prediction isn’t as much of a blow out as you’d think.
Q&A: What to expect from Illinois vs. Wisconsin - Bucky's 5th Quarter
The Champaign Room previews Illinois’s first year under Lovie Smith.
Wisconsin changes venue policy in response to costume incident - Bucky's 5th Quarter
Because of attention-seeking morons, there are new rules.
Barkley is over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season.
Minnesota Basketball Preview: TDG Staff Discusses Coach Richard Pitino - The Daily Gopher
Several of The Daily Gopher’s writers try to make sense of Pitino’s Status heading into the season
Elsewhere
Nick Saban's world should include more than college football - LA Times
But the “higher education” part of the equation demands at least some intellectual vigor, even among coaches who must devote a large chunk of their time to deciphering the inside zone blitz.
HAHAHAHA This guy from LA writes an article about how a coach at Alabama should care about ‘education’. HAHAHAHAAH
USC at Washington matchups to watch - Conquest Chronicles
After jumping back into the top 25 in the college football rankings, the USC Trojans are heading into a much anticipated matchup against the fourth ranked Washington Huskies.
Written off in September, USC heads to Washington alive in Pac-12 race - Pac-12 Blog- ESPN
USC wasn’t quite three quarters into its first game of the season when much of the country had already written the team off. By that point, No. 1 Alabama had chewed up the Trojans, spit them out and left them for dead.
Keys to the Game: Auburn at Georgia - The Auburn Villager : Sports
In Saturday's 120th meeting of Georgia and Auburn in the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry, something's got to give.
No. 16 West Virginia at TexasWhen: 11:05 a.m. Saturday at Darrell K — Texas Memorial Stadium Records: Texas (5-4 overall, 3-3 Big 12); West...
Brian Kelly says it's 'ludicrous' that Alabama uses NFL alumni on its scout team - SBNation.com
Did we mention Notre Dame is 3-6?
College Football Playoff: All contenders must have competent QB
What's the one thing every contender for the College Football Playoff must have? A quarterback who can make plays, like Alabama's Jalen Hurts, Clemson's Deshaun Watson or Ohio State's J.T. Barrett.
This is an awful move by a program and a community desperate to return to relevancy.
Major Baylor Donor McLane Wants Briles’ ‘Honor Restored’ « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth
Billionaire businessman Drayton McLane, whose name adorns the Baylor University football stadium, said Thursday he wants to see fired football coach Art Briles’ honor restored and any evidence that led to his dismissal publicly released by the school’s board of regents.
The headline on this is misleading. The context of the article is more about a group of influential people who want more transparency about what happened at Baylor. On that ground, I agree with them. Baylor needs to come clean.
Or not. I mean, they can go ahead and burn themselves to the ground. Their choice.