Greetings oh great and wonderful college football fans. There are 35 games on the schedule this weekend (less than half a normal year slate), but it’s a new 2020 record so let’s get excited about it!!! Only two games were postponed for this week: Rice at Marshall and Troy at South Alabama (there were 6 last week). Another oddity: it’s week 5 and there is exactly one game involving teams that have played at least 3 games when a surprising 3-0 UTSA travels to take on 2-1 UAB. More on this game in a minute. There are also 5 teams making their 2020 debut. In the FBS, Air Force is hosting 1-1 Navy, and FAU is hosting 0-1 Charlotte. In the FCS, Jacksonville State visits 0-2 Florida St, N Alabama travels to meet 2-0 Liberty, and defending champion North Dakota St hosts 2-1 C Arkansas.
…..
Tonight there are 2 games: FCS Campbell (0-3) vs Wake Forest (0-2) in the “someone has to get a win” game at 7:00 (all times Eastern). At 9:00, the opposite “someone has to lose” game as BYU hosting LA Tech (both are 2-0). Both will be, at least, interesting for different reasons.
…..
At the early games tomorrow, the best game looks like NC St (1-1) at Pittsburgh (3-0). They haven’t played in 3 years. Pitt’s opponents are a combined 2-7 so they haven’t really been tested. The Wolfpack edged Wake Forest but lost to Virginia Tech. Granted it’s not a great match up, but it is the best of the hour. Runners up: Baylor at West Virginia, and Arkansas St at Coastal Carolina.
…..
The mid-afternoon games offer a little more excitement and for the winner, I’m shifting to the serious in need of help Big 12: Texas Tech at Kansas State. Both teams are 1-1 with Tech losing a heartbreaker in OT against Texas and State coming off a stunning victory at Oklahoma (after losing to the Sun Belt’s Arkansas St (1-1) who lost to Memphis). Which team is going to show up. The Big 12 has been a holy mess with only 3 teams (Oklahoma St 2-0, Texas 2-0, and Baylor 1-0) have yet to lose. 3 of the losses were against the normally lowly Sun Belt. Runners up: Texas A&M at Alabama, North Carolina at Boston College, and Memphis at SMU.
…..
The evening games are led by Auburn at Georgia. Both won their openers handily after a slow start. Are they ready for a big game? Will someone break out early? Were the first 3 quarters of week one (2 1/2 for UGA) just rust? This game has playoff implications for sure. Don’t miss this G’s Game of the Week. Runners up: Navy at Air Force, and Oklahoma at Iowa St.
…..
So I mentioned the UTSA/UAB game earlier. It’s the only game with enough data for the GCR to even pretend to predict. Vegas has UAB in a rout at -21. The GCR agrees with a UAB win at 58.2%.
…..
That’s it for today. Happy Watching and may your favorite team do well. Please comment or ask questions and, most importantly, please share with others. G
