2019 College Football: Week 11 - PIcks and Viewer's Guide

We have #MACtion welcome to the football holy land with football every day next week.

Weekday Slate (Tuesday to Friday)

We’ve made it y’all Tuesday football.

Ball State at Western Michigan (Tues. 7:00 pm, ESPN)

Ball State leads the MAC West at 3-1 with WMU (3-2) this week and CMU (4-2) next week to decide the division. WMU has a win over CMU already, but a weird conference race would bring Toledo (2-2) back into the fold with their win over WMU, a loss to Ball State and CMU still on the schedule. Needless to say this is a big one for both of these teams. WMU might be the best in the MAC after a slow start to the season. A Ball State win puts them in the driver’s seat, but it’ll be a tall order on the road.

Miami (OH) at Ohio (Wed. 7:00 pm, ESPN2)

The battle for the lead in the MAC East takes place the next day in Athens, Ohio. Ohio isn’t flashy but they run the triple option very efficiently. Miami (OH) keeps winning but they aren’t overly efficient on either side of the ball and their wins are mostly against incredibly bad MAC East teams.

UCF at Tulsa (Fri. 7:00 pm, ESPN)

UCF has regained its form and they have more hiccups than the last few years and catching Cincinnati is going to be tough but they’re a lot of fun to watch and hey what else are you going to do on a Friday? Oh, and Tulsa will be on the field too.

Washington at Oregon State (Fri. 9:30, FS1)

One of these teams still has a chance at the divisional title… And, I swear to God, it’s Oregon State. I know it’s unlikely but true. A slip up against either of the Arizona schools for Oregon, and a win in there next two Pac-12 games means that Oregon State would head into the Civil War with control of their own destiny and the tears of every Pac-12 executive in a jug for sustenance. Washington is the better team in this one, but we can make #Pac12AfterDark a reality once more on Friday night by cheering on #Chaos and the Beavers.

Early Slate (11:00 am)

The early slate is shallow but two very important games involving undefeated teams.

Penn State at Minnesota (11:00 am, ABC)

Minnesota get’s their first big test of the season (team strength, not close games). This is a battle of unexpectedly good units. The Minnesota offense has bene inefficient for a number of seasons with above average to good defenses. Penn State has had some great backs and good defenses, but I don’t think anyone expected a top ten defense this season. A nooner at Minnesota should be a good showcase but ultimately the Gophers will have to overcome a significant talent gap with the Nittany Lions.

Baylor at TCU (11:00 am, FS1)

Baylor’s been surviving by the skin of their teeth every other week with a 2-point win over ISU, 3-point win against Tech, and a 3-point win over WVU this weekend. Oddly all three of those results were at home while they managed a 19-point win at Kansas State and a 18-point win on the road at Oklahoma State. Now it’s a rivalry game against TCU with the big one against Oklahoma looming just a week away. This is a look ahead spot if there ever was one and against a rival. A loss here and next week would make the conference race more interesting for the #2 spot but I’d honestly hate to see it for Matt Rhule, et. al. (Briles and the members of the admin involved in everything from a few years back can all go fuck themselves though.)

Home	Away	Home Rating	Away Rating	My Spread	Win%	Date	Time	TV
Toledo	Kent State	-3.441	-12.572	11.435	62.5%	11/5	18:00	CBSSN
Western Michigan	Ball State	-0.154	-4.606	5.993	56.7%	11/5	19:00	ESPN2
Ohio	Miami (OH)	-4.308	0.143	-2.137	52.7%	11/6	19:00	ESPN2
Coastal Carolina	Louisiana	-9.619	14.952	-22.118	73.8%	11/7	18:30	ESPNU
USF	Temple	-6.525	0.023	-4.687	55.4%	11/7	19:00	ESPN
Tulsa	UCF	-13.488	20.755	-32.942	85.4%	11/8	18:00	ESPN2
Oregon State	Washington	1.321	12.289	-8.229	59.1%	11/8	21:30	FS1
Ohio State	Maryland	44.752	-11.817	62.289	100.0%	11/9	11:00	FOX
Florida	Vanderbilt	18.574	-14.185	37.732	90.6%	11/9	11:00	ESPN
Minnesota	Penn State	25.092	35.088	-6.846	57.6%	11/9	11:00	ABC
Virginia	Georgia Tech	14.356	-14.123	30.913	83.2%	11/9	11:00	ACCN
SMU	East Carolina	25.911	-21.155	48.869	100.0%	11/9	11:00	ESPNU
Arkansas	WKU	-23.707	-5.415	-14.247	65.4%	11/9	11:00	SECN
TCU	Baylor	2.604	22.143	-15.822	67.1%	11/9	11:00	FS1
West Virginia	Texas Tech	-9.058	-8.222	3.120	53.7%	11/9	11:00	ESPN2
Northwestern	Purdue	-14.044	-8.562	-2.765	53.3%	11/9	11:00	BTN
Boston College	Florida State	3.651	0.102	6.315	57.1%	11/9	11:00	ACCN
Army	UMASS	-12.522	-53.259	43.517	96.9%	11/9	11:00	CBSSN
New Mexico	Air Force	-24.364	17.403	-40.473	93.6%	11/9	13:00	-
Old Dominion	UTSA	-32.178	-18.540	-10.656	61.6%	11/9	13:00	ESPN3
Colorado	Stanford	-11.408	-0.798	-7.172	58.0%	11/9	14:00	P12N
Texas State	South Alabama	-18.150	-27.004	10.212	61.2%	11/9	14:00	EPSN3
UTEP	Charlotte	-31.505	-11.879	-18.741	70.2%	11/9	14:00	ESPN+
Alabama	LSU	34.416	34.553	5.374	56.1%	11/9	14:30	CBS
Texas	Kansas State	9.214	16.454	-2.089	52.6%	11/9	14:30	ESPN
Michigan State	Illinois	9.089	3.512	10.145	61.1%	11/9	14:30	FS1
Arizona State	USC	6.383	10.455	-0.527	51.0%	11/9	14:30	ABC
Cincinnati	Connecticut	23.397	-29.537	55.509	100.0%	11/9	14:30	CBSSN
Miami (FL)	Louisville	2.019	6.719	-0.792	51.3%	11/9	14:30	ESPN2
Virginia Tech	Wake Forest	-6.068	12.693	-14.606	65.8%	11/9	14:30	ACCN
Southern Miss	UAB	4.042	0.607	5.333	56.0%	11/9	14:30	NFL
Troy	Georgia Southern	-12.726	4.674	-15.001	66.2%	11/9	14:30	ESPN+
Wisconsin	Iowa	20.507	17.311	7.952	58.8%	11/9	15:00	FOX
Mississippi	New Mexico State	-6.589	-26.067	23.513	75.3%	11/9	15:00	SECN
Louisiana Tech	North Texas	10.190	-12.093	24.180	76.0%	11/9	15:00	-
ULM	Georgia State	-10.836	10.109	-20.445	72.0%	11/9	16:00	ESPN+
FAU	FIU	9.866	-13.518	24.644	76.5%	11/9	17:00	-
Georgia	Missouri	24.888	3.731	26.400	78.3%	11/9	18:00	ESPN
California	Washington State	-2.045	0.049	0.352	50.8%	11/9	18:00	P12N
South Carolina	Appalachian State	0.267	18.715	-13.781	64.9%	11/9	18:00	ESPN2
Fresno State	Utah State	-4.290	-2.798	0.827	51.3%	11/9	18:00	CBSSN
NC State	Clemson	-8.896	40.043	-44.818	98.3%	11/9	18:30	ABC
Duke	Notre Dame	5.742	13.138	-5.109	55.8%	11/9	18:30	ACCN
BYU	Liberty	5.326	-4.707	13.789	64.9%	11/9	18:30	ESPNU
Kentucky	Tennessee	2.795	-0.780	7.391	58.2%	11/9	18:30	SECN
Oklahoma	Iowa State	25.309	11.062	19.351	70.8%	11/9	19:00	FOX
Boise State	Wyoming	16.131	9.664	9.431	60.3%	11/9	21:15	ESPN
San Diego State	Nevada	12.538	-9.698	24.273	76.1%	11/9	21:30	ESPN2
Hawaii	San Jose State	-0.528	-10.684	11.556	62.6%	11/9	22:00	-

Midday Slate (1:00 pm to 4:00 pm)

You know what you’re going to watch but there are some other options too.

LSU at Alabama (2:30 pm, CBS)

I don’t have to oversell this one. The loser is still probably the second-best team in the country, the winner has all but punched their ticket to the playoff. Hopefully we get Tua back because that’ll make it most fun and give us two wonderful QBs against worse than usual defenses.

Kansas State at Texas (2:30 pm, ESPN)

Hey, the middle of the Big XII is still a fucking mess. Winner’s still alive for a spot in the conference championship game, the loser is going to be at least a game back of at least three teams and a tied with one or two others.

USC at Arizona State (2:30 pm, ABC)

This one still matters, kind of, maybe, technically. USC is still a game back of Utah with the head to head tiebreaker. Arizona State is a perfectly alright football team.

UAB at Southern Miss (2:30 pm, NFL)

These two are both a game back of Louisiana Tech in the West division of CUSA. Southern Miss already have their loss to La Tech but a win here mucks everything up with UAB catching them in a couple of weeks. UAB’s defense is the best unit on the field by a good margin but they’re also wildly underwhelming on offense (bottom 20 efficiency). Southern Miss is average on both sides of the ball but a better than expected showing on Saturday could easily mean a win against this flawed UAB team.

Georgia Southern at Troy (2:30 pm, ESPN+)

The first of a pair of Sun Belt games. With their upset of App State on Thursday Georgia Southern has really opened up the Sun Belt East. Now there is just a half game separating the two Georgia schools and the Mountaineers. Troy has come crashing back to Earth following the departure of Coach Brown to West Virginia. This should be a cake walk heading into an impressively tough end to their schedule with ULM, Arkansas State, and rival Georgia State to finish out the year.

Iowa at Wisconsin (3:00 pm, FOX)

The battle for the right to challenge Minnesota for the division title starts now. Technically with these two and Penn State still left on Minnesota’s schedule the loser at 3-losses won’t be completely eliminated but they will need quite a bit to return them to the rank of contender. Wisconsin is still a good football team and defense, but they have flaws. On defense they’re a bit underwhelming athletically and relatively green, on offense they rely far too much on Jonathan Taylor, a fault as infuriating as any but completely understandable. Iowa feels incredibly like Iowa. The defense is fantastic, the offense is meh, and I can’t remember the last Saturday I truly thought about them and their place in this year’s CFB puzzle. This’ll be a slobber-knocker and a generally good game but it’s a discount version of the LSU-Alabama games we hated a few years back.

North Texas at Louisiana Tech (3:00 pm, Find Online)

We talked about the teams chasing La Tech (UAB/SoMiss) above but their matchup with North Texas brings them against the only other divisional opponent who could sneak back into the race. North Texas is a mirror onto La Tech good solid offense with a bad defense. It’s just that La Tech is the better version of that ingredients list. North Texas could have greatly benefitted from this being a home game but it should still be entertaining for when you need something to watch between the end of the 2:30 games and the start of the night games.

Georgia State at ULM (4:00 pm, ESPN+)

Speaking of games in the interim… Georgia State at ULM. ULM is coming off a disappointing loss to Arkansas State that makes their shot at the divisional title much more difficult. Georgia State for its part is now back in divisional contention with the App State loss. This one, like last weeks Arkansas State game should be a close, one score affair that provides plenty of excitement and exuberance.

Evening Slate (5:00 pm to 7:00 pm)

Missouri at Georgia (6:00 pm, ESPN)

Come on Missouri fuck up the SEC East race even more.

Appalachian State at South Carolina (6:00 pm, ESPN2)

The ‘Cocks took out some frustration on Vandy last weekend and now play host to what should be an absolutely pissed off G5 team coming off a loss to a rival with a point to prove. Also, App might be the better team and is certainly on par with South Carolina as far as performance is concerned this season. I’d recommend this one over whatever UGA-Mizzou is going to be.

Utah State at Fresno State (6:00 pm, CBSSN)

This one is pretty simple if either wants a shot at their current divisional leaders (Boise for USU, SDSU for Fresno) they need to win this game. So, you have two teams with their backs against the wall, their conference and divisional aspirations in the balance, and not much between them as far as talent or performance. It’ll get second or third screen treatment, but it’ll be a good one to keep an eye on for late game theatrics.

Iowa State at Oklahoma (7:00 pm, FOX)

This seems like it’s buried on the slate this weekend, and it kind of is, but it should be a pretty interesting game. Oklahoma can probably afford a loss but that would bring them level with their opponent and the winner of KSU and Texas. With Baylor next week a Cyclone victory would make the Big XII a 7-way race for the conference’s two championship game spots. So, yeah go Iowa State, go #TeamChaos.

Late Night Slate (9:15 pm to 10:00 pm)

It’s a MWC Saturday night.

Wyoming at Boise State (9:15 pm, ESPN)

Boise is a game up on Air Force because of the head to head win, with Utah State still on deck, which makes this Wyoming game muy importante. Wyoming is currently tied with Utah State at 3-1 in conference a game back of the Broncos. Boise’s QB Brochmeier came back last week and that is a major boost for a team that has looked wildly inconsistent at different points this season. This one should be a rather low scoring affair with Boise pulling slightly away late.

Nevada at San Diego State (9:30 pm, ESPN2)

With Fresno coming up and only 1-loss in conference a win here puts SDSU in a pretty solid position in the West division, but a loss to what we now know is a pretty underwhelming Nevada team would mean that the Aztecs would be in the middle of a three or four team quagmire in the division. For Nevada this is there chance to get back in the division race and reset a season that had so much promise after an upset of Purdue.

San Jose State at Hawaii (10:00 pm, Find Online)

As always, watch Hawaii late on a Saturday. Also if SDSU loses, and the Rainbow Warriors win we should have a four-way race in the Mountain West West.