College Football Viewing Guide – Week 10
12pm
Lunch Date with Your Best Gal
I’m not trying to muffle my own horn here … but if you are reading this preview looking for a good 12pm ET game to watch while recovering from your Friday night hangover, then Week 10 is not for you. Week 10 is for all the couples out there. It’s the perfect week to take your significant other to the local Farmer’s Market to pick out some fresh fruits and veggies. Or maybe you take him/her (DefPen.com does not assume gender), to a 12pm matinee. Every week can’t be filled with top tier college football games from noon to midnight, so take advantage of the Week 10 lull to gain some brownie points. Just make sure you get yourself in front of a television around 3pm … by that point, you’ll have accrued enough good boyfriend/girlfriend points to vegetate on the couch and watch College Football until you literally dissolve into the crevasse of your sofa.
Considering the fact that we don’t have many “high profile” games this weekend, I think we should take a moment to appreciate the release of this year’s first set of College Football Playoff Rankings …
- Alabama
- Clemson
- Michigan
- Texas A&M
- Washington
- Ohio State
- Louisville
- Wisconsin
- Auburn
- Nebraska
- Florida
- Penn State
- LSU
- Oklahoma
- Colorado
- Utah
- Baylor
- Oklahoma State
- Virginia Tech
- West Virginia
- North Carolina
- Florida State
- Western Michigan
- Boise State
- Washington State
Now, as much as we would all like to slam these rankings until we’re blue in the face, let’s all take a deep breath, and remember that they mean absolutely NOTHING. We’ve only played 9 weeks worth of games. We all know that Texas A&M at #4 is a Richard Pryor caliber joke, the Big 12 is getting snubbed harder than Westbrook snubbed Durant the other night, and J.T. Barrett is not even worthy of holding Lamar Jackson’s jock strap. But, none of that matters. There’s a TON of football left to play this year.
Week 10 College Football Viewing Guide … LET’S GO!
12:30pm
Georgia Tech (+10) @ North Carolina — ACC
In case you don’t have a woman to go out with this Saturday, I suppose you can watch Georgia Tech face off against North Carolina. I’ll admit, this is a reach, but there are not a whole lot of options early Saturday afternoon. Does Georgia Tech still run the Triple Option? I think so. I’m sure as heck going to find out at 12:30pm.
On a more serious note, North Carolina is tied with Virginia Tech at the top of the ACC Coastal Division at 4-1, but Virginia Tech holds the tiebreaker over the Tarheels. The ACC Coastal is a toss up right now. Even Pitt has a chance with a 2-2 in conference record. It is an entertaining division, but whoever comes out on top will most likely have to face Clemson or Louisville in the ACC Championship game
Will this be an exciting game? I sure hope so. Because I certainly do not have a woman in my life to entertain until 3:30pm.
3:30pm
11 Florida (-4) @ Arkansas — CBS
Coach Jim McElwain and the Florida Gators will all but clinch the SEC East title with a win over Arkansas this weekend, but a Gators loss would make things very interesting. Who is challenging Florida for the SEC East title, you ask? Well, it’s BBN. The Kentucky Wildcats. That’s right. John Calipari and the .. oh wait … that’s basketball. The Kentucky Wildcats are literally the only threat the take the SEC East football crown from the Florida Gators. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s really not that farfetched, The Gators are 4-1 in the conference with 3 SEC games remaining (@ Arkansas, Home vs. South Carolina, and @ LSU). The Wildcats are 4-2 with only 2 SEC games remaining (Home vs. Georgia, and @ Tennessee).
Realistically, discussing the SEC East is probably as irrelevant as discussing the MAC East, because whoever wins the division is going to get smoked in the conference championship by Alabama and Western Michigan (Shoutout to #MACtion). However, the fact that Kentucky has a realistic chance to play for the SEC Championship is pretty fascinating in its own right. If Arkansas wins this game, and Kentucky finds a way to beat Georgia this week, the SEC might just spontaneously combust. An Alabama vs. Kentucky Championship game would be … something …
TCU (+7) @ 17 Baylor — FOX
Nice little rivalry game here in the 3:30 slot. TCU and Baylor DO NOT like each other one bit. After suffering their first loss to the Texas Longhorns last week, Baylor dropped from all the way down from #8 to #17 in the nation. However, they remain just one game out of first place in the Big 12. To borrow a phrase from every little league baseball tournament I played in as a child, “Baylor controls their own destiny”. If they win out, they will be the Big 12 champions. It is certainly a long shot. But still, the Bears are arguably the Big 12’s best shot at a playoff team this year.
5:30pm
Keyshawn Johnson may be broadcasting a Pop Warner game on ESPN The Ocho. If that doesn’t peak your interest, use this time to grab some wings in preparation for the 8pm games.
8pm
1 Alabama (-7.5) @ 13 LSU — CBS
Despite the fact that nobody has written a, “Can Alabama beat the Cleveland Browns?” piece yet, Alabama is still ridiculously good. They even have a quarterback this year. The Fighting Sabans are clearly the best team in College Football through 9 weeks.
That being said … I’d like to make a few points on behalf of LSU … if you’ve read this College Football Viewing Guide before, you know what is coming …
LSU INTERIM COACH ED ORGERON IS A CAREER 9-2 AS AN INTERIM HEAD COACH. I can’t stress the word INTERIM enough.
LSU IS PLAYING A HOME GAME AT NIGHT. Baton Rouge is basically a foreign country. Actually, it’s more like a foreign planet. There is nothing normal about playing a game in Death Valley. Especially at night.
LEONARD FOURNETTE IS THE BEST RUNNING BACK IN ALL OF FOOTBALL. NFL INCLUDED!
Alright … I may have gotten carried away with that Leonard Fournette take. But all jokes aside, Interim Coach Ed Orgeron refuses to lose. Nick Saban owned Les Miles, but he as no clue what to do with Coach O’s LSU squad. Don’t forget, as impressive as Jalen Hurts has been, he’s still a Freshman Quarterback. This may be the biggest game of his life. Death Valley at night is going to be absolutely wild. Expect LSU to play old school smash mouth football like the forward pass hasn’t been invented yet. Classic SEC battle. Classic Rivalry. Sure to be a great game.
10 Nebraska (+17.5) @ 6 Ohio State — ABC
Ohio State is as confusing of a team as any right now. J.T. Barrett looked like a Heisman candidate early in the year, but now we have Buckeye fans who want him benched after a loss to Penn State and a narrow victory at home over the 4-4 Northwestern Wildcats. If Ohio State were any other team but Ohio State (I hate myself for even typing that), I would lock Nebraska as a +17.5 point underdog.
DISCLAIMER: I’m very biased against Ohio State. I’ve been watching them whoop on every team I cheer for since I was a child, so take everything I say in regards to the Buckeyes with a boulder of salt.
I’m gonna throw this out there … If Ohio State still only has 1 loss going into the Michigan game, and Ohio State wins, and Penn State finishes with only 1 conference loss as well, what happens? This is a serious question. I have no idea. They will all have 1 loss in the Big Ten. All losses will be to each other — Michigan over Penn State, Penn State over Ohio State, Ohio State over Michigan … Just something to think about.
