Our Honor Defend

It’s a busy week for me, and it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to watch much college football at all this weekend.  That doesn’t mean you can’t, though.  Here are some games of interest for you throughout the week.

Wednesday

• Hawaii @ Louisiana Tech (ESPN2, 8:00PM ET).  Hey, that’s today.  Wednesday (and even Thursday) strikes me as an unnecessary evil, especially Wednesday.  It’d make sense only around a holiday weekend (Thanksgiving, for example).  Both teams aren’t doing something so reckless, though, as both played their last games on the 19th of this month (giving them ample time for rest).  When I get off work, I may head to the bar and watch what’s left of this.  It’s about an hour from kickoff as I type.

Thursday

• Colorado @ West Virginia (ESPN, 7:30PM ET). This is the return leg in a wild game played by in an interesting intersectional matchup of two teams coached by incompetent half-wits.  As such, you’re required to watch no matter how poor the quality of football is.  Both are coming off byes.  West Virginia lost a shootout in a monsoon @ Auburn whereas Colorado got their first win of the season, against Wyoming.

Friday

• Pittsburgh @ Louisville (ESPN2, 8:00PM ET).  Big East football. Oh. boy.
• Utah State @ Brigham Young (CBS College Sports?, 9:00PM ET).  This happened in week 6 last year.  ESPN gets some crappy matchup of BCS conference bottom-feeders while CBS College Sports gets the Mormons against Utah State. Do. Not. Want.

Saturday

• Michigan @ Michigan State (Big Ten Network, 12:00PM ET).  This is one of the better rivalries in the Midwest¹.  It doesn’t belong on Big Ten Network.
• Wisconsin @ Minnesota (ESPN, 12:0PM ET).  This… this belongs on Big Ten Network.  Buckeye fans know about Justin Boren, right? You’re anticipating how the commentators are going to beat that issue into the ground during The Game later this year, right? Well, expect to hear a lot about Kim Royston this game.
• Arkansas State @ Iowa (ESPN2, 12:05PM ET).  Iowa has been strutting around after Saturday’s game at Penn State like they’re the cock of the walk… and they are.  They’re certainly the team of the month in the Big Ten and the only conference member to win a bowl game last year².  Next week is Michigan, but this week they get a cool intersectional patsy.
• Alabama @ Kentucky (“SEC Network”, I’d imagine, 12:21PM ET).  The South is a little slow.  Everyone else kicks off at noon; the South just kind of… lags.  Still, if I could watch this game, it would be out of deference to Taylor Wyndham… an SEC football player we can believe in.
• LSU @ Georgia (CBS, 3:30PM ET).  Rematch of last year’s ass-kicking made more surprising by the fact that Georgia wasn’t really that good last year.  They’re even worse this season.  Afterwards: LSU’s yearly game with the Gators, in Baton Rouge.
• Penn State @ Illinois (ABC, 3:30PM ET). Penn State gets to rebound from their loss to Iowa by taking on whatever’s left of the Illini that survived the hurricane of Ohio State’s defense last week.
• UCLA @ Stanford (ABC, 3:30PM ET). Don’t expect to get this if you’re not on the West Coast (I bet you’ll get Florida State and Boston College instead).  If you do, watch and cherish Stanford’s band.
• Washington @ Notre Dame (NBC, 3:30PM ET).  I don’t know why so many people pencilled this as an automatic win for a “BCS-bound” Notre Dame team.  Are they thinking that way now?
• Ohio State @ Indiana (Big Ten Network, 7:00PM ET).  I won’t get to watch this (I’m not expecting that I will), but, in spite of being the main attraction for this week, Buckeye fans probably aren’t sweating it too much.  The Buckeyes got to see the flexbone triple-option against Navy, the spread against Toledo and Illinois and, now, will get their first taste of the pistol.
• South Carolina State @ South Carolina (ESPN Classic, 7:00PM ET).  Another odd turn in the SEC-ESPN love affair.  Is this really a “family of networks” game? Especially when Georgia Tech is going on the road to Mississippi State 30 minutes later?
• Texas A&M @ Arkansas (ESPN2, 7:30PM ET).  Ah, finally, a good non-conference matchup.  I remember the good ol’ days when this used to be a conference matchup.  It really should be.  Fayetteville, Arkansas is almost in Oklahoma.  A coworker of mine took a wrong turn last year en route to going to the Alabama-Arkansas game and ended up in Oklahoma.  For an interconference matchup, this one just feels right.
• Auburn @ Tennessee (ESPN, 7:45PM ET). ESPN, the flagship, thinks you should watch this.  First one to 10 wins. “SEC on ESPN”, yo.
• UC Davis @ Boise State (ESPN360.com, 8:00PM ET).  Pad that BCS resume, Boise State.
• USC @ California (ABC, 8:00PM ET).  Everyone was real excited about this matchup until recently.  Wonder why that is.  This will be an interesting game for USC.  They’ll have Barkley and they’ll have their premier back McKnight, but they’ll be without their “closer” Stafon Johnson because of that freak weightlifting accident.
• Oklahoma @ Miami (FL) (ABC, 8:00PM ET). The return-leg of a two-game series and the only other interesting interconference matchup of the day.  It’s also Oklahoma’s return to Miami where, in January of the same year, Florida won a national title at their expense.  Sam Bradford may or may not play while Jacory Harris looks to rebound from getting housed by Virginia Tech in the previous week.  Oklahoma comes off a bye.

1. after Ohio State-Michigan, the bottom really falls out, but still… [↩]
2. Sigh… Anderson Russell… [↩]