A Great Weekend of College Football Matchups

I know this is a Michigan focused blog but some of us just enjoy the entire landscape of college football and for those folks, this is an exciting weekend of matchups.  One benefit of the playoff seems to be (generally ...excluding much of the SEC) some better inter conference matchups.  So with this website stocked full of analysis of Utah-Michigan all day Friday and overflowing into Saturday I'll sneak this in today, and give some thoughts on the bigger matchups of the weekend.  Share what games you are looking forward to and why if you wish.  I expect to overdose on CFB this weekend!

Thursday (EST)

• 6:00 PM  North Carolina v South Carolina - something to keep us busy starting @ 6 PM.  ACC v SEC.
• 8:30 PM  The only game that matters
• 9:00 PM  TCU v Minn - I expect TCU to bring the Gopher hype train to a rude stop.  With the loss of Mad Maxx and Cobb, Minnesota's offense has no way to keep up with the Boykin machine that is TCU's offense (which itself was totally revolutionized in the 2013 offseason from a plodding run based system).  Big 12 v Big 10.

(Local flavor - CMU takes a road trip to what should be a much better Oklahoma State squad)

Friday

• 7:00 PM  MSU v Western Michigan - MSU went hardcore with their scheduling, with a MAC team.  Of course WMU disrespected MSU by deciding to actually play this game rather than foreit.  I do expect MSU's defense to give up pts in this game as Western has a QB better than 80% of what the Big 10 has to offer, and a stud WR.  But MSU should dominate the trenches and dominate WMU's defense.  Projecting a 45-21 type of game that will be relatively close at halftime and raise blood pressure before it turns into a 2nd half blowout.
• 7:00 PM Baylor v SMU - another strange road game for a top 5 team.  While in state you'd thnk Baylor was at the point SMU would come to them.  Expect a score of 150ish-30 as Baylor breaks in a new QB.
• 8:00 PM Weber St v Oregon State - a turrible game by all accounts but if you want to preview what could be the Pac 12s worst team this year (competing with Colorado), and Michigan's 2nd week opponent here is your chance.  Oregon St will be breaking in a new QB, and a new defense that was bad last year and lost almost every starter.
• 10:15 PM Washington v Boise State - A mid tier Pac 12 goes on the road to take on what could end up an undefeated squad this year in BSU.  Don't adjust your television sets, that's the correct color field.  Pac 12 v Mountain West.

Saturday

• Noon  Stanford v Northwestern - A rare decent noon game in the modern era.   Stanford's offense should be better than the crap show that showed up last year, and combined with its now annual solid defense will prove a big test for Northwestern in its raucous home field.  Pac 12 v Big 10
• 3:30 PM  Louisville v Auburn (@ Georgia Dome)  -  Petrino is an awful human being but a darn good coach.  Auburn breaks in a new QB but brings in one of the best DCs in the country to help balance their team as they make a push to get back to the SEC title game.  Root for Petrino if you like Gary to UM!  ACC v SEC.
• 3:30 PM  BYU v Nebraska - this is my UPSET SPECIAL of the week.  Taysom Hill and that prolific offense is going to overwhelm the blackshirts, who are adjusting to Mike Riley and lose Randy Gregory from what was a not great defense last year (amiright Wisconsin?)  With a not very accurate QB in Armstrong Jr and Abdullah gone I suspect Nebraska is going to have a very difficult time keeping pace with the offense output BYU will deliver.   Nebraska fans will politely thank BYU for beating them after the game.  Watch this game for Taysom Hill alone.  Ind v Big 10.
• 7:00 PM  Arizona State v Texas A&M - this could be the most entertaining game of the day.  Both offenses should be a fireworks show and A&M hired one of the best defensive coordinators in the country after Sumlin figured out following the Rich Rod model at UM doesn't really work very well.  Defense is no longer optional at A&M but we'll see how long it takes for Chavis to impact that side of the ball.  If Arizona State did not play in such a tough division where everyone will beat each other up they'd be my darkhorse for the 4th playoff spot.  Pac 12 v Big 12 SEC duh.
• 7:30 PM  Texas v Notre Dame -  Charlie Strong had to clean out the stink left over from the Mack Brown era and his "2013 Michigan like" offense last year was not a thing of beauty.  He did immediately have Texas (usually) playing very good defense and I'd expect the longer he is there the more frightful that defense becomes at Texas.  Can the offense do anything this year?  Notre Dame brings back a ton of starters and a purple faced coach.  To hell with Notre Dame.  Big 12 vs Ind...errr ACC.
• 8:00 PM   Wisconsin v Alabama (@Jerry Jones Dome)  - Not the mismatch most think it is IMO.  Alabama lost almost it's entire offense and yes they are all 4-5 stars to replace the old 4-5 stars but still no Cooper to bail out the offense, and the OL is being rebuilt.  This is the perfect time for a relatively veteran team to play a very young Bama.  Wisconsin is tough in the trenches and should give Bama a good battle there.  Wisconsin is built like Arkansas and Arkansas gave Bama all it could handle last year without a good QB themselves.  If Stave can do anything in this stage and Clement is half the hype they have made him out to be, this could be a very close game to the end. 

Monday

• 8:00 PM Some Random Team south of Michigan v VA Tech -  VA Tech wins with defense and special teams.  Random team wins with 18th string QB.   Hopefully history repeats itself.  Big 10 v ACC.