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Most of the commentary this week isn’t really necessary for NC State fans. It all really boils down to this: root for State to beat Syracuse and root for Clemson to beat Wake Forest. The rest of the landscape doesn’t really mean much.
That being said, there’s still plenty of good football to watch this week, so let’s take a look.
There was some Tuesday night MACtion again this week, but aside from Eastern Michigan kicking Western Michigan to death (literally... with five field goals), you didn’t miss much. Also, there’s a good chance you missed the NC State men’s basketball win over Central Connecticut State because it was on some obscure overly-priced internet-only streaming service.
Wednesday night has some more MACtion on tap, as well as an NC State basketball game you should be able to watch. Yay! Progress!
On Thursday night, Louisville takes on another MAC-level team, while there’s also an NFL game.
There’s a whole slew of Friday games this week, for some reason, but the two to focus in on are Memphis vs Houston and Air Force vs Nevada. Memphis has been a hit-or-miss team this year, while Houston has been a bit of a surprise.
The Saturday noon slot is probably the best of the day. Michigan State vs Ohio State actually has meaning for the first time in a long time. Go Clemson! Iowa State, as you can see from the advanced metrics, is way better than their record indicates (not that many Cyclones fans will be appeased by that fact), and Oklahoma is not as good as Sooners teams of late. Oklahoma very well could drop their second straight.
Florida State vs Boston College is also very interesting, even if the only thing riding on it is for FSU to stay alive in the quest for bowl eligibility.
NC State needs to beat Syracuse to stay alive in the Atlantic Division race, although we’ll know by kickoff just how meaningful that game is. In other midday ACC action, Virginia and Pittsburgh square off for control of the Coastal Division race.
Not that you’ll be watching any other games in the midday slot, but there are some interesting ones. SMU might actually be the team to hand Cincinnati their first loss of the season. The Bearcats really haven’t played that well since the early part of the year, which has continued to dent their argument for inclusion in the College Football Playoff.
UAB-UTSA is basically a CUSA West Division title game. Still hard to believe that UTSA is 10-0. Somewhere, Larry Coker is shedding a tear.
Louisiana-Liberty is another interesting one. Hugh Freeze is almost surely on the move, and while some might be worried about him and his team being distracted in this one, I’m sure Freeze sees this game as an interview, of sorts, and will come out throwing the whole kitchen sink at the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Not a lot of great Saturday night matchups. Oregon-Utah is good, but the next best game is VT-Miami? Yeesh.
It’s still football, and I’ll be there watching it.
Go State!
Rankings for SP+ Ratings and Sagarin Ratings listed, respectively, ahead of each team’s name.
Wednesday
106/94 Northern Illinois @ 105/117 Buffalo - 7:00pm - ESPN2
92/87 Central Michigan @ 98/86 Ball State - 7:00pm - ESPNU
[MBB] NC State vs Oklahoma State - 8:00pm - CBSSN
Thursday
37/41 Louisville @ 99/122 Duke - 7:30pm - ESPN
[NFL] Patriots @ Falcons - 8:20pm - FOX/NFLN
Friday
119/173 Southern Miss @ 107/112 Louisiana Tech - 8:00pm - CBSSN
71/82 Memphis @ 38/39 Houston - 9:00pm - ESPN2
109/111 Arizona @ 70/51 Washington State - 9:00pm - PAC12N
64/47 Air Force @ 66/50 Nevada - 9:00pm - FS1
47/52 San Diego State @ 114/115 UNLV - 11:30pm - CBSSN
Saturday
18/25 Michigan State @ 2/3 Ohio State - 12:00pm - ABC
35/18 Wake Forest @ 7/17 Clemson - 12:00pm - ESPN
12/14 Iowa State @ 11/7 Oklahoma - 12:00pm - FOX
FCS/214 Tennessee State @ 31/24 Mississippi State - 12:00pm - ESPN+
53/64 Florida State @ 60/63 Boston College - 12:00pm - ACCN
FCS/211 Wofford @ 26/42 North Carolina - 12:00pm - ESPN3
110/123 South Florida @ 93/116 Tulane - 12:00pm - ESPN+
76/84 Georgia Tech @ 10/5 Notre Dame - 2:30pm - NBC
34/29 Arkansas @ 3/2 Alabama - 3:30pm - CBS
33/38 SMU @ 6/9 Cincinnati - 3:30pm - ESPN
43/48 Virginia @ 9/21 Pittsburgh - 3:30pm - ESPN2
52/76 UAB @ 49/43 UTSA - 3:30pm - ESPN+
80/80 East Carolina @ 112/104 Navy - 3:30pm - CBSSN
65/74 Syracuse @ 20/19 NC State - 4:00pm - ACCN
54/57 Louisiana @ 36/49 Liberty - 4:00pm - ESPNU
13/15 Baylor @ 30/26 Kansas State - 5:30pm - FS1
14/12 Oregon @ 21/16 Utah - 7:30pm - ABC
44/62 Virginia Tech @ 32/44 Miami - 7:30pm - ACCN
16/4 Oklahoma State @ 59/67 Texas Tech - 8:00pm - FOX
19/27 Arizona State @ 57/46 Oregon State - 10:30pm - ESPN
Sunday
[MBB] Texas Southern @ NC State - 6:00pm - ACCNX