Today's Schedule of Games
This isn't just a bye week for Michigan, it's also a bye week for quality matchups. Not much to plan on ahead of time. This is a week to do chores, er, a week to keep an eye on the scoreboard and see which matches wind up actually being compelling as they are already underway.
So today is a day for some creative watching:
At noon I will be doing the same thing as the entire Michigan coaching staff and all of the Michigan players: Watching Michigan State - Indiana to see how good MSU really is / really is not. Indiana is not a useful surrogate for Michigan as a comparable opponent, but it's all we've got.
Also at noon, a random stew of curious ingredients: Oklahoma State - Texas could be interesting. If nothing but to see what Mr. Worthy does. *sigh*. I'll check in on UCF - Cincinnati to see how the Bearcats handle success. I will also keep a side eye on Florida - LSU. I sense a surprise there. Meanwhile, Texas A&M - Missouri is the trappiest of trap games. But sometimes a team is just better (A&M) even at a half-assed pace. Also Nebraska - Minnesota. Nebraska will beat Minnesota even though they will still trip over themselves in the process.
At 3:30, the "headline" game: Kentucky - Georgia. But I'm not sure if the headline-level interest of this game even lasts until halftime. Georgia slowly and methodically strangles Kentucky.
At night at 7:30: TCU - Oklahoma could be a surprise. Oklahoma has still not come down to earth. And they will have to deal with the off-the-bench-QB thing where a QB comes off the bench with no notice, wins a big game, and looks like a star . . . and then gets a week to think about it when he realizes he is the starter now. A lot of those don't end up well.
Also at night at 7:30: I think I'll check in on the first 5 minutes of 'Ole Miss - Tennessee to see how pleasantly the Vol's welcome back their 'Ole buddy Lane Kiffin.
Also at night at 8:00: I will NOT watch Army - Wisconsin. If for some bizarre reason I feel the need to check in on it, I will listen to it with my Grandpa's 1952 vacuum tube RCA radio, the way God intended.
Late night at 10:00: Your Pac 12 After Dark Special - meaningless, crazy football just for the fun of it - Arizona State - Utah. This is the kind of game where Utah gets them in 3 OTs.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 16, 2021:
AWAY HOME TIME TV
UCF at #3 Cincinnati 12:00 PM ABC
#10 Michigan State at Indiana 12:00 PM FS1
#12 Oklahoma State at #25 Texas 12:00 PM FOX
Auburn at #17 Arkansas 12:00 PM CBS
#20 Florida at LSU 12:00 PM ESPN
#21 Texas A&M at Missouri 12:00 PM SECN
Nebraska at Minnesota 12:00 PM ESPN2
Rutgers at Northwestern 12:00 PM BTN
Yale at UConn 12:00 PM CBSSN
Tulsa at South Florida 12:00 PM ESPNU
Ohio at Buffalo 12:00 PM ESPN+
Duke at Virginia 12:30 PM ESPN3
Ball State at Eastern Michigan 2:00 PM ESPN+
Akron at Miami (OH) 2:30 PM ESPN+
Troy at Texas State 3:00 PM ESPN+
#11 Kentucky at #1 Georgia 3:30 PM CBS
Purdue at #2 Iowa 3:30 PM ABC
#19 BYU at Baylor 3:30 PM ESPN
Western Kentucky at Old Dominion 3:30 PM ESPN3
UAB at Southern Miss 3:30 PM -
Miami at North Carolina 3:30 PM ACCN
Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech 3:30 PM ESPN2
Toledo at Central Michigan 3:30 PM CBSSN
Bowling Green at Northern Illinois 3:30 PM ESPN+
Kent State at Western Michigan 3:30 PM ESPNU
Arizona at Colorado 3:30 PM PAC12
Fresno State at Wyoming 3:30 PM FS2
Vanderbilt at South Carolina 4:00 PM SECN
Texas Tech at Kansas 4:00 PM BIG12|ESPN+
Rice at UTSA 6:00 PM ESPN+
#5 Alabama at Mississippi State 7:00 PM ESPN
Liberty at UL Monroe 7:00 PM ESPN+
Colorado State at New Mexico 7:00 PM -
Utah State at UNLV 7:00 PM CBSSN
TCU at #4 Oklahoma 7:30 PM ABC
#13 Ole Miss at Tennessee 7:30 PM SECN
#22 NC State at Boston College 7:30 PM ACCN
Iowa State at Kansas State 7:30 PM ESPN2
Stanford at Washington State 7:30 PM ESPNU
Army at Wisconsin 8:00 PM BTN
UCLA at Washington 8:30 PM FOX
Louisiana Tech at UTEP 9:00 PM ESPN+
Air Force at Boise State 9:00 PM FS1
#18 Arizona State at Utah 10:00 PM ESPN
Hawai'i at Nevada 10:30 PM CBSSN
October 16th, 2021 at 4:01 PM ^
In terms of potentially bad performances I agree about Rutgers but that was one bad half of football and don't agree about Nebraska. Just because they may have thrown in the towel this week doesn't mean they weren't a decent desperate team last week playing at home at night pulling out all the tricks in the playbook.
Neither MSU or UM has much to brag about in wins, but MSU's performances vs. Nebraska and IU makes their offense look straight up terrible.
October 16th, 2021 at 4:38 PM ^
I don’t think we can rely on any kind of transitive property to prove anything. The logic here says that Colorado would probably give Alabama a game and Minnesota could potentially run Bama off the forked.
Overall team talent, emotion, general focus and execution and matchups seem to dictate games week to week. Coaching too obviously, but more in a grand scheme of a season or several years than week to week from what I can tell. Coaches can only control emotions and focus/execution so much. I think our team’s talent is great, our emotion level seems to be on point at every stage this season minus the 2nd half vs Rutgers, our execution overall on defense and the o line has been pretty superb I think, and I think we mostly match up well with MSU with a slight edge to their receivers on our DB’s. But given what Walker has done against the 2 best front seven’s he’s played, I think we contain him too.
October 16th, 2021 at 4:45 PM ^
No surprise you have another trash take against M. You’re either a miserable person or a MSU fan.
October 16th, 2021 at 3:51 PM ^
MSU has gotta be the only team in FBS history to be ranked in the top 10 in week 7 to finish three games outgained by teams with losing records.
October 16th, 2021 at 5:03 PM ^
Michigan State didn't look all that good today but they'll bring their best against us.
October 16th, 2021 at 5:46 PM ^
Welcome to the big boy table Iowa. Shitty teams play really hard against you when you’re ranked high. I know it sucks.