Well, here we are. It’s a bye week and for the first time in a month and a half there’s no Hawkeye football to soak up this weekend. For some of you, that might mean a chance to spend some more time with family, get some stuff done around the house/yard or whatever else it is you do with your free time.

But it doesn’t mean the college football world is on standstill. So for those of you who will spend that precious free time planted in front of a TV taking in as much football as possible, we have you covered with this week’s slate of games. There aren’t a ton of great ones, but there are a lot of decent ones. So let’s go.

Wednesday

Oh hey look, there was football last night. I would say nobody cares, but there was actually a team on TV that you may have heard of: the Trojans of Troy. The same Trojans of Troy who took down LSU two weeks ago. How did they look in their first game since that emotional victory? They lost at home to Georgia State 19-8. Yikes.

Thursday

Thanks to the Georgia Tech at Miami matchup being postposted (more on that later), there’s only one lonely matchup for tonight and it isn’t exactly a premier one. ESPNU has Texas State at Louisiana kicking off at 6:30pm CT. Enjoy.

Friday

Things heat up in a big way tomorrow night with a pair of games featuring ranked teams. Had it not been for the USF game being cancelled, there would have been a trio. In any event, things get started at 6pm CT on ESPN with #2 Clemson at Syracuse. If you managed to lose your remote, don’t fret as ESPN is showing the second game as well as #8 Washington State travels to Cal for a 9:30pm CT kickoff.

Saturday

While there’s no marquee matchup of ranked opponents Saturday, there’s a laundry list of games that have the potential to be really good. As usual, things get started at 11am CT. ESPNU brings you #24 Texas Tech at West Virginia. Over on ESPN2 you can watch Florida State try to get their season on track at Duke. ESPN has South Carolina at Tennessee. On BTN, there’s a football game you can make your kids watch if they misbehave. Just make sure they have on proper eye protection, don’t want anybody going blind watching Rutgers at Illinois. ABC has #17 Michigan at Indiana. And FS1 is carrying #6 TCU at Kansas State.

Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images

The afternoon games get started at 2:30 CT. BTN has a really good one in Purdue at #7 Wisconsin. CBS has #10 Auburn at LSU. For some reason, the Red River Rivalry isn’t kicking off at 11 am this year. You can watch #12 Oklahoma at Texas on ESPN at 2:30 instead. ESPN2 has Northwestern at Maryland if you’re wanting to do some scouting for next week. The ABC matchup is that Georgia Tech at #11 Miami game that was postponed from Thursday. And FS1 has Baylor at #14 Oklahoma State.

I like seeing a staggered start thrown in here too. Memphis is hosting #25 Navy on ESPNU starting at 2:45. It’s always nice to have a little stagger in there so you don’t end up with all your games at halftime at the same time.

The evening slate kicks off at 6pm CT with Texas A&M at Florida on ESPN2. Another stagger here as Arkansas heads to #1 Alabama at 6:15 on ESPN. Are they really going to have to pay Bret Beilema all that buyout money?

At 6:30, #9 OSU is at Nebraska on FS1. You can also catch Cincinnati at #18 USF (this game replaces the USF matchup with UMASS originally scheduled for Friday night) on ESPNU. At 7, you have #21 MSU at Minnesota on the BTN. ABC has Utah at #13 USC.

The late slate gets started at 9:15 CT with Nevada at Colorado State on ESPN2. At 9:45, ESPN has #5 Washington at Arizona State. I’m sure Chris Peterson will be pleased with the time and TV arrangements. Unfortunately, that’s all we have for the late games. Oregon is at #23 Stanford starting at 10, but no TV for that one. Such is life in the Pac 12.

Here’s a look at the full listing of games for this weekend:

On to the drinking! Honestly guys, I don’t know. Without Hawkeye football, things could go a couple different ways. I’d love to sit here and say I’m going to get crazy with now Iowa game to pay attention to, but that would be a lie. It’ll likely be time with the kiddos, some casual football and a Halloween party to hit in the evening. So, I’m calling my shot now and saying the only thing I’ll be drinking is Busch Light, because that’s what happens when you’re a parent who ends up at a Halloween party.