College Football

Full college football TV schedule guide, Week 6: Big Ten, Pac-12 rule the night

The afternoon's pretty meh, but your remote will be getting a workout during a loaded evening slate.

By Adam Jacobi Oct 3, 2013, 9:20am EDT

We've removed the weeknight games, which have already happened.

Saturday

Early shift


11:30 AM ET	Air Force	at	Navy	CBS
12 p.m. ET	Eastern Michigan	at	Buffalo	ESPN Regional, ESPN3.com
12 p.m. ET	25 Maryland	at	8 Florida State	ESPN
12 p.m. ET	Penn State	at	Indiana	Big Ten Network
12 p.m. ET	Michigan State	at	Iowa	ESPN2
12 p.m. ET	20 Texas Tech	at	Kansas	FS1
12 p.m. ET	Illinois	at	Nebraska	ESPNU
12 p.m. ET	Rutgers	at	SMU	ESPN News
12 p.m. ET	7 Louisville	at	Temple	SNY, WHAS, Altitude
12 p.m. ET	Ball State	at	Virginia	CSN-BALT, FSN, ESPN3.com
Noon ET	Lehigh	at	Fordham	CBSSN
Noon ET	New Hampshire	at	Towson	CSN
Noon ET	Gardner-Webb	at	Charlotte	WCCB
12:21 p.m. ET	Georgia State	at	1 Alabama	SEC Net, MSG, ESPN3.com
12:30 p.m. ET	North Carolina	at	Virginia Tech	ACC Network, ESPN3.com
1 p.m. ET	Army	at	Boston College	ESPN3.com
1 p.m. ET	Central Michigan	at	Miami (Ohio)	ESPN3.com
1 p.m. ET	South Alabama	at	Troy	ESPN3, Sun Belt Net, CSS
2 p.m. ET	Ohio	at	Akron	ESPN3.com
2 p.m. ET	UTSA	at	Marshall	Time Warner Cable

Best option: No. 25 Maryland at No. 8 Florida State

Announcers: Dave Pasch, Brian Griese and Tom Luginbill
Odds: Florida State -14.5
Weather: Low 80s, cloudy

If you haven't watched FSU QB Jameis Winston, you really should. If you haven't watched Maryland WR Stefon Diggs yet, you really should.

Plan B: Illinois at Nebraska, No. 20 Texas Tech at Kansas

Noon games in the Big Ten are generally low-scoring, dull affairs, but hold onto your butts for Illinois-Nebraska, as both teams have explosive offenses and borderline criminally inept defenses. Illinois QB Nathan Scheelhaase is healthy and delivering on his mammoth potential. And if you just want to watch someone get lit up, Texas Tech can do that for you.

Keep it in mind: Air Force at Navy, Penn State at Indiana

Option-based service academy vs. option-based service academy. Big Ten chucker vs. Big Ten chucker. Hey, could be fun stuff here.

In case of emergency: Michigan State at Iowa

MSU-Iowa will be ugly, ugly football—last year's game was a sloppy, god-forsaken mess—but whoever wins is probably waltzing into the Top 25. If ogres can waltz, anyway.

Afternoon shift

3 p.m. ET	Western Michigan	at	Toledo	ESPN3.com
3 p.m. ET	FAU	at	UAB
3 p.m. ET	Southern Illinois	at	South Dakota State	ESPN3.com
3 p.m. ET	Jacksonville State	at	UT-Martin	ESPN3.com
3:30 p.m. ET	Massachusetts	at	Bowling Green	ESPN3.com
3:30 p.m. ET	Northern Illinois	at	Kent State	Time Warner Sports, ESPN3
3:30 p.m. ET	Georgia Tech	at	14 Miami	ESPNU
3:30 p.m. ET	Minnesota	at	19 Michigan	ABC/ESPN2
3:30 p.m. ET	East Carolina	at	Middle Tennessee	FSN-FL, DET, SportSouth
3:30 p.m. ET	Kansas State	at	21 Oklahoma State	ABC
3:30 p.m. ET	3 Clemson	at	Syracuse	ABC/ESPN2
3:30 p.m. ET	6 Georgia	at	Tennessee	CBS
3:30 p.m. ET	North Texas	at	Tulane	FOX College Sports
3:30 p.m. ET	Rice	at	Tulsa	CBSSN
3:30 p.m. ET	NC State	at	Wake Forest	RSN, CSN-BALT, FSN-S
3:30 p.m. ET	Portland State	at	Montana	ROOT
4 p.m. ET	Washington State	at	California	FS1, ESPN3.com
4 p.m. ET	FIU	at	Southern Miss	CSS, CSN-HOU
4 p.m. ET	McNeese State	at	Central Arkansas	Southland TV
4:05 p.m. ET	Northern Arizona	at	Montana State	Maxmedia
4:30 p.m. ET	UCF	at	Memphis	ESPN3.com

Best option: No. 6 Georgia at Tennessee

Announcers: Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson and Tracy Wolfson
Odds: Georgia -10.5
Weather: 70s, partly cloudy

It's a surprisingly slim slate of afternoon games this week, which is weird; 3:30's usually the sweet spot for action. But Georgia-Tennessee is a marked step down from LSU-Georgia, and there isn't another game on the docket that looks to fill that void. Eh, we'll still take Verne and Gary calling a top-10 team on the road in the SEC, even if Tennessee's probably a year or two away from making its push.

Plan B: Georgia Tech at No. 14 Miami, No. 3 Clemson at Syracuse

Miami has to contend with GT's option attack, but it also needs to figure out its QB situation after star Stephen Morris left the South Florida game early with an aggravated ankle injury. If he can't go, Ryan Williams is fine as a backup, but he's not Morris. No such QB situation exists for Clemson, as Tajh Boyd will lead his guys into battle against a stout Syracuse defense. The Tigers are mighty, mighty fun to watch.

Keep it in mind: Kansas State at No. 21 Oklahoma State, Minnesota at No. 19 Michigan

Kansas State and Oklahoma State both need to stop the bleeding after rough Septembers, and Minnesota and Michigan play for the Little Brown Jug. How often do you think people drink out of the jug? Like, this isn't a rivalry that either team cares much about, so it's not like they carry the thing around like the Stanley Cup, but it's a jug, you know? Seems like you're defeating the purpose if it just sits unused in a trophy case.

In case of emergency: Washington State at California

Look at it this way: Cal can't possibly fumble on its first four possessions again, right?

Evening shift


5 p.m. ET	23 Fresno State	at	Idaho	KSEE 24
6 p.m. ET	2 Oregon	at	Colorado	Pac-12 Network
7 p.m. ET	24 Ole Miss	at	Auburn	ESPNU
7 p.m. ET	Arkansas	at	18 Florida	ESPN2
7 p.m. ET	Texas State	at	Louisiana-Lafayette	ESPN3.com
7 p.m. ET	10 LSU	at	Mississippi State	ESPN
7 p.m. ET	New Mexico State	at	New Mexico	ROOT-NW, RM
7 p.m. ET	TCU	at	11 Oklahoma	FOX
7 p.m. ET	Cincinnati	at	USF	ESPN3.com
7:05 p.m. ET	Weber State	at	Eastern Washington	SWX
7:30 p.m. ET	22 Arizona State	vs.	Notre Dame	NBC
7:30 p.m. ET	Kentucky	at	13 South Carolina	FSN-S, DET, SunSports
7:30 p.m. ET	Louisiana Tech	at	UTEP	CBSSN
7:30 p.m. ET	Missouri	at	Vanderbilt	CSS, SportSouth
8 p.m. ET	West Virginia	at	17 Baylor	FS1
8 p.m. ET	4 Ohio State	at	16 Northwestern	ABC

Best option: No. 4 Ohio State at No. 16 Northwestern

Announcers: Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit and Heather Cox
Odds: Ohio State -5
Weather: 50s, clear

This will be practically a neutral-site location for the Buckeyes. While Northwestern fans should be boisterous (and aren't nearly the joke they were a decade ago), nobody travels like the Buckeyes. There's a considerable OSU fanbase already in the Chicago area, to boot. Northwestern's 4-0 this year and 18-5 dating back to the last week of October 2011, and a win in this one would be enormous for program reputation. Both offenses are versatile and creative, and both defenses are aggressive and ball-hawking. This game could—could—be a lot of fun to watch.

Plan B: No. 22 Arizona State vs. Notre Dame at Cowboys Stadium, West Virginia at No. 17 Baylor

The Sun Devils are fresh off ending Lane Kiffin's USC career while Notre Dame is reeling from getting thoroughly outplayed by Oklahoma, so you'd think Arizona State's the easy pick. Notre Dame gets up for big games, though, and it should bring plenty of partisans to Arlington for the contest. Meanwhile, Baylor is criminally underrated at No. 17, schedule be damned, and the last time it faced West Virginia the two teams scored 133 points in regulation. Another shootout may be coming.

Keep it in mind: TCU at No. 11 Oklahoma, Arkansas at No. 18 Florida, No. 10 LSU at Mississippi State, No. 24 Ole Miss at Auburn, Kentucky at No. 13 South Carolina.

The SEC is coming correct with this late schedule (we couldn't have gotten Arkansas-Florida in the 3:30 slot instead?), and with four ranked teams on the docket, someone's probably going down to an unranked foe this week.

In case of emergency: No. 2 Oregon at Colorado

There's virtually no way this stays close, but hey: sometimes you just want to see a defense burn.

Late-night shift


10:30 p.m. ET	15 Washington	at	5 Stanford	ESPN
Midnight ET	San Jose State	at	Hawaii	Oceanic PPV

Best option: No. 15 Washington at No. 5 Stanford

Announcers: Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe
Odds: Stanford -6.5
Weather: 60s, clear

Probably the best game of the day, in terms of overall quality. Steve Sarkisian has the Washington Huskies back to a level of quality it hasn't seen since Rick Neuheisel was stalking the sidelines, and Stanford still might be the best team in the Pac-12 this year, Oregon be damned. There's lots of NFL-caliber talent on both sides of the ball here; count on

Plan B: San Jose State at Hawaii

This game starts at midnight ET, so if you've ever wanted to watch a guy with an NFL arm while you're delirious from sleep deprivation, check out SJSU QB David Fales vs. the army of sentient mutant pineapple trees wait hang on you're hallucinating, so, is this awesome? [y/n]