Week 6 Football: What to Watch

NC State is on a bye week, so it’s a nice opportunity to catch up on a bunch of other teams around college football and see how the landscape stacks up. It’s a good week for it, too, especially for the 3:30pm Saturday games. Let’s take a look!

Hey, did you know it’s MLB Playoff time? The wildcard games have already happened, and both were very entertaining, including a walk-off win for Trea Turner’s Dodgers squad. There will be plenty of MLB Playoff games sprinkled throughout the weekend, but also some mid-day games on Thursday and Friday. Check ‘em out!

Also Thursday are a few less-than-thrilling matchups, including Coastal Carolina vs Arkansas State and Houston vs Tulane. The Rams and Seahawks also play Thursday night, if you need your Russell Wilson fix.

Friday also has a trio of college games, although the best one doesn’t start until 10:30pm when Stanford, fresh off a victory of Oregon, plays Arizona State. Stay up late and watch it - it’s not like you have to get up early for tailgating on Saturday.

Speaking of Saturday, the day starts off with the Red River Shootout, so you know it’s going to be a good day. I’m taking Oklahoma in this one, even though they haven’t looked all that good this season.

Arkansas and Ole Miss also play at noon. Both teams had huge games versus Georgia and Alabama, respectively, last week... and both teams got rolled in the process. This should be a very good game, though.

West Virginia vs Baylor is another noon game that should be highly entertaining.

Now we get to the best part of Saturday: the mid-day games.

Virginia-Louisville, Georgia-Auburn, Boise-BYU, and Penn State vs Iowa. These are all going to be fantastic games, and that doesn’t even make mention of some of the other games during that timeslot, including an awful game that I’m kinda geeked up about...

UConn and UMass square off in the worst FBS match-up of the week. There are only four remaining FBS teams without a win on the season, and this game will feature half of those teams. There are a whopping 60 FCS teams ranked ahead of both UConn and UMass. That’s almost half of the 128 FCS teams. I might have to tune in just to see how bad it is.

Go Seminoles!

In the evening, Michigan-Nebraska gets the primetime ABC slot, but... meh. Michigan always underwhelms and I still can’t take Nebraska seriously until they actually do something worth noting. And, no, that does not include losing to Illinois.

In that evening slate, I’m watching TCU-TTU, LSU-Kentucky, and Notre Dame vs Virginia Tech. That Wyoming-Air Force game could be very good, but isn’t going to do much for the casual fan. I don’t think Texas A&M can keep up with Bama, but it is in College Station, so maybe Jimbo Fisher can work some of his magic and pull the upset.

It’s gonna be a good weekend of sports!

Rankings for SP+ Ratings and Sagarin Ratings listed, respectively, ahead of each team’s name.

Thursday

[MLB] White Sox @ Astros - 4:07pm - FS1

29/43 Coastal Carolina @ 123/134 Arkansas State - 7:30pm - ESPNU

65/63 Houston @ 88/111 Tulane - 7:30pm - ESPN

[MLB] Red Sox @ Rays - 8:07pm - FS1

[NFL] Rams @ Seahawks - 8:20pm - FOX/NFLN

Friday

[MLB] White Sox @ Astros - 2:07pm - MLBN

[MLB] Braves @ Brewers - 4:37pm - TBS

98/129 Temple @ 11/8 Cincinnati - 7:00pm - ESPN

111/119 Charlotte @ 115/162 Florida International - 7:00pm - CBSSN

[MLB] Red Sox @ Rays - 7:02pm - FS1

[MLB] Dodgers @ Giants - 9:37pm - TBS

85/46 Stanford @ 14/19 Arizona State - 10:30pm - ESPN

Saturday

7/3 Oklahoma vs 27/10 Texas - 12:00pm - ABC

28/23 Arkansas @ 16/15 Ole Miss - 12:00pm - ESPN

73/59 South Carolina @ 19/32 Tennessee - 12:00pm - ESPN2

40/44 West Virginia @ 36/34 Baylor - 12:00pm - FS1

24/31 Michigan State @ 62/55 Rutgers - 12:00pm - BTN

21/54 Maryland @ 3/5 Ohio State - 12:00pm - FOX

58/68 Georgia Tech @ 84/98 Duke - 12:30pm - ESPN3

47/56 Virginia @ 60/65 Louisville - 3:30pm - ACCN

1/2 Georgia @ 18/18 Auburn - 3:30pm - CBS

56/50 Boise State @ 42/24 BYU - 3:30pm - ABC

52/21 Wake Forest @ 64/80 Syracuse - 3:30pm - ESPN2

63/97 Florida State @ 9/28 North Carolina - 3:30pm - ESPN

130/197 UConn @ 127/188 UMass - 3:30pm - NESN

6/7 Penn State @ 15/4 Iowa - 4:00pm - FOX

57/33 Oregon State @ 82/74 Washington State - 4:00pm - PAC12N

[MLB] Braves @ Brewers - 5:07pm - TBS

93/85 East Carolina @ 44/70 UCF - 6:00pm - ESPN+

48/37 TCU @ 51/48 Texas Tech - 7:00pm - ESPN

72/62 Wyoming @ 66/66 Air Force - 7:00pm - CBSSN

8/6 Michigan @ 22/40 Nebraska - 7:30pm - ABC

20/11 Notre Dame @ 33/47 Virginia Tech - 7:30pm - ACCN

46/26 LSU @ 45/20 Kentucky - 7:30pm - SECN

2/1 Alabama @ 17/29 Texas A&M - 8:00pm - CBS

23/42 Utah @ 34/30 USC - 8:00pm - FOX

69/78 Memphis @ 74/107 Tulsa - 9:00pm - ESPN2

[MLB] Dodgers @ Giants - 9:07pm - TBS

32/39 UCLA @ 110/123 Arizona - 10:30pm - ESPN