Week 10 Football: What to Watch

Who’s ready for some spooky football?!

This is a great week of gridiron matchups, with Saturday obviously taking center stage.

MACtion returns in all its midweek glory for this Halloween. Of the Tuesday and Wednesday games, the only one you should really care about is that Buffalo @ Toledo game. The Bulls are a half-game back of Miami (OH) in the East Division standings while Toledo is a game up of Northern Illinois in the West. The Rockets are the clear favorite considering their only loss was a 2-point season opening defeat at Illinois, but Buffalo can make things crazy in the MAC with a win tonight.

The Kent State vs Akron game on Wednesday night pairs the current two lowest ranked teams via SP+. Must-watch football!

Thankfully, the return of multiple good Thursday night games returns this week. That TCU-TT game should be fantastic, and while Wake is down and Duke’s offense decided to completely disappear last week against Louisville, that game should be fun to watch. Don’t sleep on South Alabama vs Troy. The Trojans hold a one game lead over four other teams in the Sun Belt West division, including the Jaguars.

Friday gets an interesting ACC game between Boston College and Syracuse. The Eagles started off 1-3 with the one win being a 3-point squeaker over FCS Holy Cross, but they have won their last four in a row. Syracuse started off 4-0, but has lost their last four with each of those four losses coming by at least three scores.

Saturday starts off with a bevy of great games. Rutgers could throw a huge curveball into the Big Ten East - and national title - race by knocking off Ohio State, but that’s unlikely to happen. Kansas State and Texas are two of the five teams tied atop the Big 12 standings. Texas A&M could end Ole Miss’s hope for a SEC West title, while Ole Miss could push Jimbo Fisher closer to the door in College Station. Notre Dame at Clemson should be interesting, too, even if it has nowhere near the hype now as it did before the season started.

In the mid-day games, Missouri could take control of the SEC East if Eli Drinkwitz can pull the road upset. If Georgia wins, it effectively wins the division (again). Penn State has to beat Maryland to keep alive hope of a three-way finishing tie atop the Big Ten East division. Louisville will host a surging Virginia Tech squad also.

The primetime slot should be amazing, so get the multiple watching devices ready.

Kansas and Iowa State won’t move the needle much nationally, but they are two very evenly matched teams in terms of total strength, but their individual strengths are polar opposites. That’ll be entertaining.

Washington looks to remain perfect against a USC team that has an amazing offense but a defense that makes UNC’s look like the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. LSU can force a three-way tie atop the SEC West if they can beat Alabama.

Then, of course, there’s Miami’s trip to Raleigh to take on NC State. There will be plenty more to say about that game around these parts, but Carter-Finley should be rocking for that one under the lights.

Boise State at Fresno State and UCLA at Arizona are two phenomenal nightcaps for your viewing pleasure. Hopefully the adrenaline of a Wolfpack victory will still be coursing through your veins to keep you awake for those ones.

Go Wolfpack!

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

Tuesday

98/94 Northern Illinois @ 123/123 Central Michigan - 7:00pm - ESPNU

108/114 Buffalo @ 53/65 Toledo - 7:30pm - ESPN2

Wednesday

125/132 Ball State @ 113/110 Bowling Green - 7:00pm - ESPN2

133/181 Kent State @ 132/173 Akron - 7:30pm - ESPNU

Thursday

28/28 TCU @ 34/37 Texas Tech - 7:00pm - FS1

70/74 Wake Forest @ 29/35 Duke - 7:30pm - ESPN

54/67 South Alabama @ 45/50 Troy - 7:30pm - ESPN2

Friday

81/85 Boston College @ 65/76 Syracuse - 7:30pm - ESPN2

106/109 Colorado State @ 91/83 Wyoming - 8:00pm - CBSSN

Saturday

3/2 Ohio State @ 50/48 Rutgers - 12:00pm - CBS

13/9 Kansas State @ 5/5 Texas - 12:00pm - FOX

17/16 Texas A&M @ 16/113 Ole Miss - 12:00pm - ESPN

9/10 Notre Dame @ 21/25 Clemson - 12:00pm - ABC

FCS/189 Campbell @ 22/24 North Carolina - 12:00pm - ACCN

73/82 Georgia Tech @ 85/86 Virginia - 2:00pm - CW

20/31 Missouri @ 2/4 Georgia - 3:30pm - CBS

8/8 Florida State @ 67/73 Pittsburgh - 3:30pm - ESPN

10/7 Penn State @ 31/40 Maryland - 3:30pm - FOX

11/12 Oklahoma @ 33/19 Oklahoma State - 3:30pm - ABC

59/57 Virginia Tech @ 24/22 Louisville - 3:30pm - ACCN

39/51 James Madison @ 72/90 Georgia State - 3:30pm - ESPN2

38/30 Kansas @ 37/26 Iowa State - 7:00pm - ESPN

7/15 Washington @ 14/18 USC - 7:30pm - ABC

12/11 LSU @ 6/3 Alabama - 7:45pm - CBS

23/34 Miami @ 52/55 NC State - 8:00pm - ACCN

18/17 Oregon State @ 77/66 Colorado - 10:00pm - ESPN

55/54 Boise State @ 47/59 Fresno State - 10:00pm - CBSSN

19/21 UCLA @ 32/32 Arizona - 10:30pm - FS1