Today's Schedule of Games
This is a very October college football kind of week, with meaningful conference games in full swing.
At noon: The Red River Shootout (no, not the Red River Rivalry): Texas - Oklahoma. I am going for Texas for two purely selfish reasons:
1) We need strong University of Texas football in Texas. There is no way in a sane world that Ohio State should be able to recruit elite Texas talent the way they do. Keep that talent in Texas.
2) A sound Texas win over Oklahoma may help convince us that Nebraska's close loss to Oklahoma was more about Oklahoma weakness than Nebraska strength.
Also at noon: Arkansas - Ole Miss. The battle of wounded, humiliated teams. The loser will be irrelevant in the SEC. The winner will be . . . irrelevant in the SEC. Ole Miss wins, I guess.
Also at noon: I'll keep an eye on Michigan State - Rutgers. I don't have much faith in Rutgers, it looks like their 2nd half against us was more about us sleepwalking and not taking them seriously than about anything Rutgers. Still, you never know. They have sound schemes and coaching, if not great talent.
At 3:30: Georgia - Auburn will be interesting for a minute. Then the Dawgs will eat the Tigers / War Eagles / Plainsmen for a late lunch.
At 4:00: Penn State - Iowa at Kinnick. Go Hawks! I wish this was a night game (and our game was a 4:00 game). But Kinnick is still Kinnick, and Penn State has struggled there historically. If this game was in Happy Valley, it would be no contest - all Penn State. But give me Iowa over Penn State at Kinnick. It will be night by the time it finishes anyway.
In the evening at 7:30: Michigan - Nebraska. Adrian Martinez is a hand grenade with the pin pulled. It's only a matter of time until something blows up. It may work in your favor, it may work against you, but something is going to go BOOM! When Adrian Martinez goes to pass on the run under pressure, somebody's band is going to play. Until that happens in our favor though, we will need to put up points. Nebraska is the anti-Wisconsin: They are not going to cooperate and merely score 10 points through three quarters while we find ourselves on offense and try to inflict body blows for the fourth quarter. They will get away from us if we try to punt and play defense too much.
At 8:00: Alabama - Texas A&M at Kyle Field. This looked like it could be a big game at the beginning of the season. But like the rest of the supposed-to-be-a-big-game's against Alabama this season, the soul-less 5-star-players-on-the-bench death machine that is Alabama will steamroll.
Finally, late Night at 10:30: Your Pac 12 After Dark Special - meaningless, crazy football just for the fun of it: UCLA - Arizona. I have no idea who will win, and that's the point. But probably UCLA.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 9, 2021:
AWAY HOME TIME TV
NOON:
#6 Oklahoma at #21 Texas 12:00 PM ABC
Maryland at #7 Ohio State 12:00 PM FOX
#11 Michigan State at Rutgers 12:00 PM BTN
#13 Arkansas at #17 Ole Miss 12:00 PM ESPN
Vanderbilt at #20 Florida 12:00 PM SECN
South Carolina at Tennessee 12:00 PM ESPN2
West Virginia at Baylor 12:00 PM FS1
Northern Illinois at Toledo 12:00 PM CBSSN
Akron at Bowling Green 12:00 PM ESPN+
Georgia Tech at Duke 12:30 PM ESPN3
AFTERNOON:
Old Dominion at Marshall 2:00 PM CBSSN
Virginia at Louisville 3:00 PM ACCN
#2 Georgia at #18 Auburn 3:30 PM CBS
Boise State at #10 BYU 3:30 PM ABC
#19 Wake Forest at Syracuse 3:30 PM ESPN2
#24 SMU at Navy 3:30 PM CBSSN
Florida Atlantic at UAB 3:30 PM -
Middle Tennessee at Liberty 3:30 PM ESPN3
Florida State at North Carolina 3:30 PM ESPN
Wisconsin at Illinois 3:30 PM BTN
UConn at UMass 3:30 PM -
Miami (OH) at Eastern Michigan 3:30 PM ESPN+
Ball State at Western Michigan 3:30 PM ESPNU
Central Michigan at Ohio 3:30 PM ESPN+
San José State at Colorado State 3:30 PM FS1
#4 Penn State at #3 Iowa 4:00 PM FOX
North Texas at Missouri 4:00 PM SECN
Oregon State at Washington State 4:00 PM PAC12
EVENING:
East Carolina at UCF 6:00 PM ESPN+
UTEP at Southern Miss 7:00 PM ESPN3
UTSA at Western Kentucky 7:00 PM -
TCU at Texas Tech 7:00 PM ESPN
Buffalo at Kent State 7:00 PM ESPNU
Georgia Southern at Troy 7:00 PM ESPN+
South Alabama at Texas State 7:00 PM ESPN+
Wyoming at Air Force 7:00 PM CBSSN
#9 Michigan at Nebraska 7:30 PM ABC
#14 Notre Dame at Virginia Tech 7:30 PM ACCN
LSU at #16 Kentucky 7:30 PM SECN
#1 Alabama at Texas A&M 8:00 PM CBS
Georgia State at UL Monroe 8:00 PM ESPN3
Utah at USC 8:00 PM FOX
New Mexico at #25 San Diego State 9:00 PM FS1
Memphis at Tulsa 9:00 PM ESPN2
LATE NIGHT:
UCLA at Arizona 10:30 PM ESPN
New Mexico State at Nevada 10:30 PM CBSSN
October 9th, 2021 at 11:13 AM ^
Here's a fancy schmancy schedule link with some nice aesthetically pleasing graphics:
October 9th, 2021 at 11:54 AM ^
Again, thank you M-Dog. The fancy schmancy is my go-to guide for college football.
October 9th, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
Sometimes I just stare at it in awe . . .
October 9th, 2021 at 11:18 AM ^
"But Kinnick is still Kinnick, and Penn State has struggled there historically."
As Lee Corso might say, not so fast, my friend.
Penn State has been VERY GOOD at Kinnick, actually.
https://www.si.com/college/pennstate/football/penn-state-coach-james-franklin-has-had-iowas-number
A 10-5 all-time record there for PSU, too.
October 9th, 2021 at 11:50 AM ^
2 turnovers hurt Iowa two years ago, Penn St won. Then there was that heartbreaker four years ago at Iowa--last minute desperation win by Penn St.
October 9th, 2021 at 11:21 AM ^
"Adrian Martinez is a hand grenade with the pin pulled. It's only a matter of time until something blows up. It may work in your favor, it may work against you, but something is going to go BOOM!"
Well, we can only hope it isn't Martinez himself, otherwise it is that scene from Naked Gun 2 1/2 where Frank ends with, "But if I were you, I wouldn't leave until they've had a chance to shampoo the carpets."
October 9th, 2021 at 11:41 AM ^
The recent games with Penn State as the favorite have been close tight games. Iowa has played up a level from usual "Iowa". I would expect the same today as well.
October 9th, 2021 at 12:10 PM ^
Oops, this belongs to the post above.
October 9th, 2021 at 11:27 AM ^
Even though it’s Kinnick, Iowa still sometimes does stupid things at Kinnick. Like two weeks ago when they trailed a bad 1-3 Colorado State team at halftime.
I hope Penn State still loses because fuck those guys. Iowa has it made in the west division. They can probably lose 3 games and still make the conference title game.
October 9th, 2021 at 11:36 AM ^
I'd like to see Rutger have a bounce back game today.
October 9th, 2021 at 11:56 AM ^
Thanks for this list. The MSU @ Rutgers game will be of interest. Will Sparty be tested if Rutgers gets of the mat from 2 straight losses? The Buckeyes are expected to roll but can Maryland put up a fight, somehow?
PSU @ IA is the big one. It would help if IA wins so that PSU has 1 loss in the East Division of the B1G, so long as Michigan wins tonight (I expect them to do so)
Go Blue!
October 9th, 2021 at 12:20 PM ^
Maryland has probably scored their only points of the first half just now -- nice FG, though.
Final score, still thinking something like 45-13 OSU.
October 9th, 2021 at 12:21 PM ^
Touchdown Rutgers. Alright!
October 9th, 2021 at 1:38 PM ^
Thank you for this gentlemen. Fwiw, one of the best threads so far today.
October 9th, 2021 at 2:47 PM ^
Decent games, could end up with a lot of stinkers or some really good finishes.