After
two weak slates Week 10 brings the thunder, headlined by LSU-Alabama. That said
10/11 undefeated teams are playing, two are playing each other, two are playing
for a huge advantage in the division, two are trying to avoid trap games before meeting, three are playing average or worse Big Ten teams, and the last gets Alabama. Do you need to know anything else?
Undefeated:
Houston (AAC), Memphis (AAC), Clemson
(ACC), TCU (BXII), Oklahoma State (BXII), Baylor (BXII), Michigan State (B1G), Ohio State (B1G), Iowa (B1G), Toledo
(MAC), and LSU (SEC)
Tuesday,
November 3rd, 2015
#MACtion Northern
Illinois at #20 Toledo, 7:00 pm
ESPN2 #MACtion
Tuesday
and Wednesday night #MACTion this week and it’s shaping up to be real good.
Northern Illinois isn’t the dominant force in the MAC this year but they’re
still real good. Toledo is undefeated with a win over Arkansas, Iowa State, and
Arkansas State in the non-conference slate. NIU needs to win this to stay in
the divisional race at 3-1 already and both WMU and Toledo at 4-0 and CMU at 4-1.
I think Toledo is just too
strong for this version of NIU, 31-14.
Wednesday,
November 4th, 2015
#MACtion Ohio
at Bowling Green, 7:00 pm ESPN2 #MACtion
Bowling
Green has a really good offense and a 2 game lead over the entirety of the MAC
East and this game gives them a chance to practically put away the division
with 3 games to play. Ohio doesn’t have the offense to keep up with Matt
Johnson and company. Bowling Green
48-24.
Thursday,
November 5th, 2015
#FunBelt Arkansas
State at Appalachian State, 6:30 pm ESPNU #FunBelt
Thursday
brings us to Fun Belt time and a really great matchup that could give App State
a great advantage in the conference race. An Arkansas State win sets up a great
Ark State-Georgia Southern matchup late in the season. I think App State is too good on offense
and has enough defense to escape Thursday with a win, 38-27.
Friday,
November 6th, 2015
#23
Temple at SMU, 7:00 pm ESPN2
Temple
isn’t undefeated anymore and SMU has offense to galore, but that Mustangs
defense isn’t up to snuff and Temple will be looking to show they won’t go away
even with a mark on the record. Give me Temple,
27-16.
Saturday,
November 7th, 2015
Duke
at #21 North Carolina, 11:00 am ESPN2
Vanderbilt
at #11 Florida, 11:00 am ESPN
#8
Notre Dame at Pittsburgh, 11:00 am ABC
#9
Stanford at Colorado, 12:00 pm
The
early games are a good toe dip with the chance for some excitement. If North
Carolina can beat Duke this week they all but wrap up the Coastal with win the
win advantage over Pitt and Duke. If Duke wins? #CHAOS Give me Duke and chaos in the ACC
Coastal, 31-28. A defensive battle
is brewing in Gainesville between the surprising Gators and the very good
defensively Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt is going to scare Florida but I trust
McElwain to pull out the victory. Florida,
24-16. Ditto, for Notre Dame against
Pitt where I think Pitt has enough to tease the Fighting Irish fans, 27-21.
Stanford-Colorado seems like a trap game with Oregon on the horizon and not
knowing which Kevin Hogan will show up any particular game. Stanford wins, but early on the West
Coast has its follies, 24-23.
#17
Florida State at #3 Clemson, 2:30 pm
ABC
Arkansas
at #19 Ole Miss, 2:30 pm CBS
#10 Iowa at Indiana, 2:30 pm ESPN
Rutgers
at #16 Michigan, 2:30 pm BTN
#5 TCU at #12 Oklahoma State, 2:30 pm FOX
Cincinnati
at #18 Houston, 2:30 pm ESPN2
The
2:30 slot is absolutely loaded, we’ve got any type of game you might want to
watch. We got, a top 20 matchup, a top 15 matchup, heavy sets vs. spreads,
#ChaosTeam, Harbaugh, and a shootout. Let’s start with the Harbaughs who almost
lost two in a row and got help from Goldy last week. Rutgers is the cure for
the common relapse and will put Michigan
in the right direction, 42-13. The other
game involving non-undefeated teams is Arkansas-Ole Miss. Arkansas has looked much more like the team that finished
last season after some horrid luck early in the year. Ole Miss is an enigma
rapped inside an illusion shrouded in mystery. This seems like a very Bert-y
upset, 31-27. Now to that juicy
juicy meat of the schedule. Iowa heads to Bloomington where #CHAOSTEAM is ready
to bring just the most worry to Iowa. Yes, this Iowa team has been able to
score, but Indiana just finds a way to keep games close this year whether
against good or bad teams. I think this one stays true to that form close and
stupid 38-35 Iowa. The
underrated game here is the shootout in Houston where Cincinnati at Houston.
Houston has been surprisingly great with Tom Herman, but they get a stiff test
for their defense in Tuberville’s Bearcats. I think the Houston offense is too
much for Cincy in the end but this should be a barn burner on a loaded Saturday.
This game is also a look ahead spot for Houston with Memphis on the schedule
next week. Houston 45-42. Who
would have thought that Clemson-Florida State would be the third or fourth most
important game this week? Florida State losing hurt this matchup but not much.
Clemson is looking to take the mantle at least for a year from the Seminoles
and almost assuredly need to win this one for an ACC representative to make the
playoff. Maybe. I think Clemson has the defense to stymie that young Florida
State offense but will Watson and co. have enough weapons to tear through that
stout Florida State defensive backfield. I say no, Clemson 38-27. Lastly, TCU-Oklahoma State playing in what we
all thought preseason was going to be the second most important game of the Big
XII season. The winner here still has Baylor and Oklahoma, but eliminates one
undefeated from the picture and cements themselves as the early favorite for
the conference crown. I’d feel like a fool betting against Boykin and Oklahoma
State has gotten lucky to be at this point without any blemishes, give me TCU 48-38.
Navy
at #15 Memphis, 6:00 pm ESPN2
Iowa
State at #14 Oklahoma, 6:00 pm ESPNU
#6 Michigan State at Nebraska, 6:00 pm
ESPN
#13
Utah at Washington, 6:30 pm
#4 LSU at #7 Alabama, 7:00 pm CBS
Minnesota
at #1 Ohio State, 7:00 pm ABC
After
a great afternoon slate the evening slate has LSU-Bama, and a bunch of
intriguing but under the radar games in week 10. Iowa State is heading to Norman,
off a shutout of Texas, and no. Just no. Oklahoma
38-10. Utah heads to Seattle, in what would have been a laugher 7 weeks
again, but Washington is playing much better and should be a stiff road test
for a Utah team that can suffer no slip-ups if they want to represent the
Pac-12 South in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Give me Utah in a sloppy one 24-21.
The first and least interesting of the undefeated games is Ohio State-Minnesota.
Ohio State is coming with dysfunction, Minnesota is coming in with dysfunction,
and it’ll be the game lost amongst a great Saturday. Ohio State 31-10. Let’s stay in the Big Ten with Michigan
State-Nebraska, a game that is going to be weird. Nebraska is in disarray and
needs a win to, I don’t know, maybe keep their coaches job. Michigan State is
going to slip up before Ohio State and that means a loss here or a loss to
Maryland and, well, when choosing between Maryland and Nebraska you choose
Nebraska. Nebraska 16-13.
Memphis is undefeated with a win over Ole Miss, Bowling Green, and Cincinnati
so far, but Navy is a classic look ahead game for Memphis with Houston and a
chance to beat an undefeated team on the road. Navy runs the triple option and
Memphis is going to have to be careful not to blow this opportunity. Give me Memphis in a game that’s too
close for comfort, 27-26. The
headliner for the week is a rivalry that hasn’t always been pretty recently but
has been exciting. LSU comes in undefeated (just like everyone expected) and
brings one of the best running backs in the country against the best front
seven in the country. The key for LSU is going to be the play of Brandon Harris
who has been surprisingly good this season and added a second dimension to LSU’s
game. Bama is going to need score points, and for Kiffin to not get too cute.
Henry vs Fournette is going to be fun and this game is going to be lamented for
lack of scoring. LSU 17-14.
It’s
going to be a great week of football and that 2:30 slate is going to make you
wish you had half a dozen TVs.
