Our Honor Defend

Though the most important game of the week will be played at high noon on Saturday, I guess there’s other stuff you can watch before and after it.  This week of the season is most prominent for Big Ten fans for being the season finale and the inaugural kickoff of the Big Ten’s ridiculously long layoff between last game played and the bowl games.

Wednesday

• Ball State @ Central Michigan (ESPN2, 7:00PM ET).  Ball State is still undefeated and taking on the Chippewas in what’s billed to be the MACocalypse to end all MACocalypses.  Ball State hasn’t played on Saturday in what seems like a month and a half and is on the perimeter of the BCS discussion.  Not sure how I feel about that.  Oh, did you know David Letterman attended Ball State? Did you?

Thursday

• Miami (FL) @ Georgia Tech (ESPN, 7:30PM ET).  Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like ESPN’s presentation of Thursday night college football comes with an implicit apology throughout the entire broadcast.  It seems like the broadcast has an invisible ticker that screams out a tearful apology to college football fans for having to watch a game so uninteresting that it could only be broadcast on Thursdays.  They (ESPN) don’t want to broadcast it; they just have to by some broader holistic agreement that not even they understand.  Such is ACC football.  At least with this broadcast, we get Georgia Tech and Paul Johnson.  Paul Johnson is the man.

Friday

• Fresno State @ San Jose State (ESPN2, 9:30PM ET).  I don’t know why I like the late kickoffs on the West Coast.  I guess I like that they give me some kind of justification for the insomnia.  Hey, remember when Fresno State was thought to be a good team this year? And they were supposed to compete for the WAC title and a BCS spot? I think that was 4 losses ago this season, but still…

Saturday

• Michigan @ Ohio State (ABC, 12:00PM ET).  The least anticipated matchup of The Game in quite some time.  More will be said about this particular affair later, and because too many references of that shall not be further named makes me want to burn something.  That said, at least… at least the WWL had the common decency to honor the rivalry, move it from ESPN/2 to ABC and put Nessler, Griese and Maguire on the coverage.  Regardless of the circumstances and records, this rivalry is just too great for Dave Pasch and Andre Ware to be anywhere near it.
• WVU @ Louisville (ESPN, 12:00PM ET).  A Rodriguez and Petrino ago, this used to be a killer matchup.  Now? Well…
• Indiana @ Purdue (ESPN2, 12:00PM ET).  Since I’ve moved down here, I’ve grown to further appreciate the traditional noontime kickoffs in the Big Ten that get pushed onto ESPN or ESPN2.  Upon first realization of my affection, the justification was that it reminded me of my time as a student at Ohio State how cool the Midwest was.  Now, I just like that the very presence of the two worst teams in the Big Ten playing on ESPN2 for a bucket will probably make the savages down here turn off the TV and, perhaps, read a book maybe?
• Tennessee @ Vanderbilt (Raycom Sports, 12:30PM ET).  I guess Vanderbilt being bowl eligible is supposed to be one of the better stories in the SEC? Or is it just proof positive that the SEC sucks this year and that not even Auburn (pre-season top 10), South Carolina, Ole Miss and (more than likely) Tennessee are good enough this year to beat the nerd school of the conference.  You know, the one that hasn’t been bowl eligible as long as I’ve been alive until just this season?  Yeah… real impressive…
• Citadel @ Florida (SUN, 1:30PM ET).  Way to pad the strength of schedule…
• Syracuse @ Notre Dame (NBC, 2:30PM ET).  Greg Robinson has been fired with two games left in the season and they’re going on the road to play another Big East mid-level power Notre Dame.  You know what? To hell with it.  Against my better judgment about how painful this game will be to watch, I will watch it.  Maybe it’s the masochist coming out in me…
• Washington @ Washington State (FSN local, 3:00PM ET).  There was a period at the beginning of this young century where this was a marquee Pac-10 matchup.  Now? Well… Willingham took what was arguably the Pac-10 program of the nineties and ran it into the ground after the departure of His Coachness.  Washington State, on its end, has not been able to rebound from Mike Price’s decision to defect for Alabama and has gone from the BCS in 2002 to being winless against 1-A competition this year, having been shutout 3 times.  They even lost to Stanford by 58 points, a margin that transcends blowout into the realm of criminal battery.  In anticipation of this game, news outlets are less considering Xs and Os but advising fans on how they can survive this game.  This version of the Crapple Cup will probably decide who goes down in history as the worst Pac-10 team ever.  Per the WSU Football Blog, who deserves some medal of heroism for having endured the past few years on the Palouse, we get this succinct description of this years Wazzu-Washington game…

Mmmm...

• Michigan State @ Penn State (ABC, 3:30PM ET).  The marquee game of the Big Ten this weekend and the de facto conference championship game will be played in Happy Valley this weekend.  Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio made news earlier in the week when he announced that, in spite of his Spartans’ vested interest in a Wolverines victory in *cringe*… the thought of which makes me nauseous… anyways, in spite of that vested interest, he will still be pulling for the Buckeyes.  Of course, we’ll be requiting the favor and pulling for Sparty, albeit for much more selfish reasons.  This game is so momentous that it even got local boy and Mr. Taste of the Town himself out of his usual night games and into this late afternoon game to call it.
• Ole Miss @ LSU (The SEC Network, 3:30PM ET). Most SEC teams are taking the week off, so you can tell CBS is grasping for straws by letting Ole Miss or this year’s LSU team on television.
• Stanford @ California (ABC, 3:30PM ET).  I don’t know if the band will be on the field by the end of this one, but they should be.  Stanford’s band kicks too much ass for it not to be disturbing the peace.
• Boston College @ Wake Forest (ABC, 3:30PM ET).  A week or two ago, the chaotic nature of the ACC made it somewhat interesting to see what combination of the 10 possible of 12 total teams could win the ACC.  Now I just don’t care.
• Cal Poly @ Wisconsin (BTN, 3:30PM ET).  Way to finish out strong there, Wisky…
• BYU @ Utah (The MTN, 6:00PM ET).  Make no mistake, this rivalry is as strongly felt as any in the country.  Simply put, from my experiences, people more partial to BYU and Provo feel that Salt Lake City is a bastion of sin.  The Utes, who represent such filth,  must suffer the consequences.  For Buckeye fans interested in the BCS, a Utah loss gives the Bucks much more bargaining power in securing an at-large bid.
• Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati (ESPN2, 7:00PM ET).  I’ll be pulling for Pitt out of principle.  Should Cincinnati beat Pitt, the Big East crown is basically all theirs.  The thought of Cincinnati making a BCS game and Ohio State not making one makes me ill.
• Iowa @ Minnesota (BTN, 7:00PM ET).  As most Big Ten fans can attest to, Minnesota plays for an axe, a bell, a jug and — in this game — a pig.  Odds are, you couldn’t name any one of those trophies.  As you may also not know, they also used to play for bacon.
• Florida State @ Maryland (ESPN, 7:45PM ET).  Stop putting the ACC at the night slot.  I’m not going to watch it… especially not when Texas Tech-Oklahoma kicks off.
• Texas Tech @ Oklahoma (ABC, 8:00PM ET).  No. 2 on the road against no. 5.  I’m expecting Oklahoma to win this game, but all else equal, I don’t know who would represent the Big 12 South in the Big 12 title game against Mizzou.  There’s be intransitivity among all 3 teams (Texas > Oklahoma > Texas Tech > Texas) with the losses responsible for such intransitivity being the only losses on the season.  I think the highest ranked team would get the nod… I think.  That’d probably be Oklahoma, then.

Sunday

• UConn at South Florida (ESPN, 8:00PM ET).  Big East football: Any Day but Saturday, or Otherwise You Wouldn’t Watch Us and then our Conference Might Die from Lack of Revenue ™.