College Football Viewing Guide: Week 5

So the Hawkeyes lost last week. They don’t play this week. We’re all sad and miserable and want nothing to do with college football now Iowa isn’t undefeated and likely isn’t heading to Indianapolis. Just cancel the rest of the damn season and get us to hoops!

Image via pastemagazine.com

Yeah, no. There’s a ton of football left to be played and I, for one, am still excited to watch as much of it as humanly possible (my lovely wife and kids permitting, of course).

This week, we get to forget about Iowa and that loss to Wisconsin as neither team is in action (that goes for a few other Big Ten teams as well). But there’s still a (relatively) full slate of games spanning the entire weekend to get us by. And there’s at least a handful of pretty solid matchups as well as some tremendous ones to cap off the day.

So let’s dive in.

Note: All times are as the good Lord intended, in the central time zone. For that is where the college football Mecca known as Kinnick Stadium lies.

Thursday Game

Things get started tonight with a matchup on ESPN. You get an underachieving UNC team at #16 Miami. Kickoff is at 7pm CT. That should tie you over until the Vikings and Rams kick off at 7:20 on FOX and the NFL Network ( ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

Friday Games

Friday night brings us a pair of games, neither of which are terribly compelling, but hey, it’s football and it’s on TV. Things get started at 7pm CT with Memphis at Tulane. That’s on ESPN2. That’s followed up with UCLA at Colorado. You can catch that one on FS1 at 8pm CT.

Saturday Games

Saturday’s slate, as usual, kicks off at 11am CT. The early games give us a few ranked opponents, though not likely many really good games.

The exception to the rule is #12 West Virginia at #25 Texas Tech. That should be pretty entertaining. You can catch it on ESPN2. Elsewhere, #21 Michigan State looks to continue their baseless ascent up the polls as they host Central Michigan. That’s on FS1.

#3 Clemson could be in for a test as they face an undefeated team this week. Or they could not, since that undefeated team is Syracuse. It might be worth tuning into ABC for a few minutes to see.

It may also be worth flipping over to the SEC Network from time to time. Not that there’ll be a decent game there, but there is a decent chance Alabama hangs 100 on Louisiana and I’m all for seeing that.

ESPN’s 11am game features Texas A&M and a turrible Arkansas team. That should make for bad TV.

And the BTN has Indiana at rutger. Hooray.

The afternoon slate kicks off at 2:30 with Tennessee at #2 Georgia. That’s on CBS. Over on ESPNU, you have Pitt at #16 UCF. ESPN2 has Florida State at Louisville, yuck. BTN is carrying Purdue at LOLbraska. #18 Texas is at Kansas State on FS1. ABC is showing Baylor at #6 Oklahoma.

At 3:30, you get some staggered viewing with FOX kicking off coverage of #14 Michigan at Northwestern, who lost their leading rusher Jeremy Larking for the season as he’s giving up football due being diagnosed with cervical stenosis. Tough break and wish the kid the best.

In the early evening, you’ve got Florida at #23 Mississippi State on ESPN. That kicks off at 5pm CT. At 6pm, ESPN2 will have Virginia Tech, fresh off their loss to Old Dominion, at #22 Duke. You’ve also got Iowa State at TCU on ESPNU.

Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

The primetime games kick off a bit early this week, with both ABC and NBC showing their marquee games at 6:30. NBC as #7 Stanford at #8 Notre Dame. That one should be excellent. It’s kind of shame that ABC has #4 Ohio State at #9 Penn State at the exact same time. It may be the perfect night to go ahead and set up that extra TV in the man cave.

The action continues later in the evening as FOX has a 7:30 kick for #20 BYU at #11 Washington. ESPN also has an 8pm kick for Ole Miss at #5 LSU.

In the night cap, you’ve got a pair of #PAC12AfterDark games with #19 Oregon at #24 Cal on FS1. That’s a 9:30 kick. USC at Arizona is at the same time over on ESPN2. There’s also Toledo at Fresno State on ESPNU at 9:30 if you need a commercial break filler.

And that’s that.

Here’s a look at the full schedule for Saturday.

---

As for the beverage, I dunno man. What does one drink when they’re trying to fill the void of Hawkeye football following that loss a week ago?

Hit me with your suggestions in the comments. Seriously, I’m going to need them. Between the football and the 4-year old’s birthday party, Daddy needs a drink.