College Football Week 10 Thread

Keep it to sports.

As always, here’s the top 10 games of the week using the Athletic’s rankings of teams from 1-134, in order of game time.

1. #5 Ohio State at #3 Penn State, 12, FOX. Obviously, this is the game of the week. Penn State has not won a game that really mattered in forever. Every year, it seems they have their shot to win the Big 10 and they never come through. Ohio State is damaged after losing to Oregon and they didn’t look good against Nebraska either. Are the Buckeyes vulnerable here on the road? Sure. Do I believe in Penn State? I do not.
2. #20 Ole Miss at #25 Arkansas, 12, ESPN. This ought to be interesting. There was a lot of hype about the Fighting Kiffins, but now there are two losses. Arkansas was pretty well dismissed but they also only have two losses. Neither of these teams are going to the playoffs, but it ought to be a solid matchup. And at Ole Miss -7, I’d bet on Arkansas.
3. #37 Duke at #4 Miami, 12, ABC. Miami is so fucking lucky. Game after game. Though not against Florida State and LOL to the Seminoles. Duke’s had a nice year. Miami will lose a game. But I don’t think it’s to Duke at home.
4. #40 Virginia Tech at #30 Syracuse, 12, CW. There are games on the CW? This isn’t a bad game but it’s clearly the 4th best game of the time slot, at best. If you are a fan of middle of the pack ACC games, this is your chance!
5. #41 Minnesota at #26 Illinois, 12, FS1. Kind of an interesting middling Big 10 matchup here. Minnesota has been inconsistent, but you have to like them beating USC. And they have won 3 games in a row. They can score points. Illinois absolutely cannot, but they can stop anyone who doesn’t have Oregon level athletes. I wonder how Illinois will respond to being destroyed last week. This is a thick time slot this week so I doubt I will pay attention here, but it’s an intriguing matchup for those who just like college football.
6. #1 Oregon at #33 Michigan, 3:30, CBS. My Ducks obliterated Illinois last Saturday. Two Saturdays ago, I watched that Illinois dominate Michigan in all phases of the game. Michigan has a great defensive front and a great tight end. And that’s all. Their QB situation is clown show material. Oregon followed beating Ohio State by kicking the living shit out of Purdue (OK, whatever) and Illinois. So they seem to have the mental fortitude to not fall into trap games. Yes, this is in Ann Arbor. Normally, I’d say that really matters. But this Michigan team is a real mess. Oregon -14.5. I’d take the Ducks there.
7. #11 Texas A&M at #29 South Carolina, 7:30, ABC. Boy howdy, does this have trap game written all over it. A&M has a huge win against LSU and has to go on the road against a decent South Carolina team. And if you look back at A&M’s season, they are winning but not by much against far inferior opponents. I am not saying I think the Gamecocks win per se. But the odds makers only have A&M -2.5. So I am definitely not the only one thinking that’s possible.
8. #39 Louisville at #12 Clemson, 7:30, ESPN. Could be interesting. Clemson actually looks pretty good all of a sudden. Louisville has been alright this year. But I don’t see an upset here or even a very close game.
9. #42 Wisconsin at #36 Iowa, 7:30, NBC. Not sure this is the kind of prime time matchup NBC was hoping for with its Big 10 investment. Iowa can actually score this year. Wisconsin has been playing better, but against the dregs of the Big 10. Given that Oregon has to travel to Madison in 2 weeks, I might actually watch this.
10. #17 Pitt at #19 SMU, 8, ACC. It’s too bad that the second best game of the week is on ACC Network. The ACC is very weird this year, in the sense that it’s not very good but there are a lot of teams competing for the playoffs. Miami has been lucky as hell. Clemson has been good since an opening loss. But Pitt and SMU have both had unexpectedly excellent seasons. The winner of this game has a very real shot at the conference title game. SMU -7.5 seems high to me. I can see favoring the Mustangs, but Pitt has performed very well.