Week 8 Football: What to watch

Half the ACC teams are on byes this week, so that lightens the schedule greatly, but of course, (aside from the ACC Championship Game - and actually, maybe including it) the ACC Game of the Year is on this weekend with NC State battling Clemson in Death Valley.

In the early slate of games, Michigan @ Michigan State should be a good one, although Mark Dantonio probably already spent his one ‘WTF Win’ card last weekend. Virginia @ Duke will likely eliminate the loser from ACC Coastal Division contention.

The mid-day games feature - ah, heck, who am I kidding? Everyone reading this knows exactly what they’re going to be watching at 3:30pm this Saturday. Let’s not pretend otherwise. Besides, what else are you going to watch? Wake Forest @ Florida State? Ha. I, too, appreciate good jokes.

Everyone will be watching Mississippi State @ LSU for the nightcap, except the ESPN College Gameday crew and the people in the stands for Oregon @ Washington State (oddly enough, the ESPN crew will have to watch it broadcast on FOX - ha!).

One more-interesting-than-it-appears game in the nightcap for ACC fans will be Ohio State @ Purdue. With rumblings of Louisville potentially splitting ways with Bobby Petrino after the season, the odds-on favorite for the job is Purdue head coach (and former Louisville QB) Jeff Brohm. Brohm is basically the Scott-Frost-to-Nebraska level hire that almost makes too much sense not to happen.

Also, North Texas @ UAB features a pair of 6-1 teams that play a (at least relatively) entertaining brand of football. It’s a shame that game can’t even get ESPN3 coverage, yet garbage like SMU @ Tulane gets ESPNU coverage and the aforementioned Wake Forest @ Florida State game gets air time on ESPN2.

(Note: F/+ (a combination of FEI and S&P+ rankings) and Sagarin rankings listed for each team. For D1-AA/FCS teams, only the Sagarin ranking is listed.)

Thursday

124/126 Georgia State @ 96/96 Arkansas State - 7:30pm - ESPNU

33/26 Stanford @ 53/47 Arizona State - 9:00pm - ESPN

Friday

106/118 Colorado State @ 43/43 Boise State - 9:00pm - ESPN2

90/71 Air Force @ 105/132 UNLV - 10:00pm - CBSSN

Saturday

6/5 Michigan @ 20/24 Michigan State - 12:00pm - FOX

3/4 Oklahoma @ 45/27 TCU - 12:00pm - ABC

91/99 North Carolina @ 48/50 Syracuse - 12:20pm - ACCNE

47/53 Virginia @ 19/25 Duke - 12:30pm - ACCNE

86/95 Florida Atlantic @ 68/94 Marshall - 2:30pm - [no TV]

122/154 Charlotte @ 99/107 Middle Tennessee - 3:00pm - ESPN3

13/18 NC State @ 2/3 Clemson - 3:30pm - ESPN

41/39 Colorado @ 7/8 Washington - 3:30pm - FOX

116/130 Coastal Carolina @ 117/143 UMass - 3:30pm - [no TV]

112/121 Louisiana-Lafayette @ 22/23 Appalachian State - 3:30pm - ESPN+

98/79 Wake Forest @ 69/59 Florida State - 3:30pm - ESPN2

15/13 Mississippi State @ 8/9 LSU - 7:00pm - ESPN

17/31 Central Florida @ 108/131 East Carolina - 7:00pm - ESPN2

4/2 Ohio State @ 34/42 Purdue - 7:30pm - ABC

35/34 Oregon @ 31/30 Washington State - 7:30pm - FOX

38/61 North Texas @ 63/74 UAB - 7:30pm - [no TV]

37/40 USC @ 32/14 Utah - 8:00pm - PAC12N