College Football Week 5 (Not Open) Thread

Keep it to sports.

Here’s this week’s listing of the top 10 games of the week, based on the Athletic’s rankings of college football teams from 1-134 and in order of game time. Some real good games this week.

1. #50 Washington at #40 Rutgers, Friday, 8, FOX. Here’s a logical conference game in 2024! Just on principle, I’m saying Scarlet Knights in a rout. Washington lost the Apple Cup two weeks ago and then have to travel cross country. As for them beating Northwestern last week, who cares. Hope I’m right! (Sat update: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, fuck off Huskies!)
2. #20 Oklahoma State at #21 Kansas State, 12, ESPN. Both of these teams lost to good teams last week. But KSU got absolutely eviscerated by BYU so they probably suck. I’m going Cowpokes. Good early day match too.
3. #54 Kentucky at #5 Ole Miss, 12, ABC. Do I think the Fightin’ Kiffins are really that good? No. Do I think Kentucky will be the team to prove that on the road? No.
4. #23 Louisville at #22 Notre Dame, 3:30. Peacock. Two points here. First, a lot of old Irish Catholics are going to be pissed to have to figure out what Peacock is. Second, Louisville is probably ranked too low by the Athletic. They are #15 in the AP. But Notre Dame is #16 in the AP too, so I guess they are lower rated equally. Still, I really don’t trust the Irish and they are favored by 6.5. Might go with ND but not with that spread.
5. #41 Arkansas at #32 Texas A&M, 3:30, ESPN. Interesting game here. Arkansas could really boost itself if it can pull this off after beating Auburn. A&M hasn’t played a decent opponent since it lost to Notre Dame (sorry, Florida doesn’t count) so it’s hard to know what this team is. A&M favored by 4 at home, seems about right.
6. #52 Fresno State at #27 UNLV, 3:30, FS1. This is a super interesting game because UNLV’s QB just left the team because promised NIL benefits weren’t delivered. Get it in writing! The guy, who had transferred from Holy Cross, really wasn’t that awesome and was throwing under 50 percent on the season, but that’s a huge psychic blow for a team that has no historical success. I suspect a quite strong Fresno team that nearly beat Michigan will take this.
7. #2 Georgia at #7 Alabama, 7:30, ABC. Let’s just say this is the Game of the Week. Georgia has looked great so far. Alabama has looked good in Kalen deBoer’s first year. The game is in Tuscaloosa. I think Georgia wins, but quite obviously Alabama could win and if the Tide do, the expectations for the smoothest all-time transition from a great coach go way, way up.
8. #18 Illinois at #10 Penn St., 7:30, NBC. No one but fans of these teams will be watching because it goes up against UGA-Bama, but this is a super interesting game. Penn State has a long-standing reputation of beating everyone it is better than and losing to any team as good or better. Usually that latter only means Ohio State and Michigan. How good is Illinois? I will be at the Michigan at Illinois game in a few weeks so I am very interested in what I might see! I will say one thing–Penn State is favored by 19.5 on an over/under of 47.5 points and that’s completely bonkers. They may win, but by 19.5?
9. #25 Washington State at #30 Boise St, 10, FS1. This one could be fun. I am so happy the Cougs beat Washington. Back to your doghouse Huskies! But Boise is the better team and I think will easily handle WSU at home. Next Gen and Extremely Lesser Pac-12 After Dark!
10. #43 Arizona at #9 Utah, 10:15, ESPN. Another fun one here. Utah beat Oklahoma State without the always injured Cam Rising at QB. They are a very solid team. Arizona has great skill players but haven’t put it together this year like it did last year. I assume Utah grinds this out.

As for my Ducks, they are playing at a bad UCLA team in a game that starts at….11 PM. You know, I’m just not going to do this. I hate not watching them. But that’s just too damn late for the east coast. I’d be up til 3 AM! Plus I want to go hiking and see a show on Sunday. Not worth it.