College Football Week 9 Viewing Guide

Week one of the Big Ten season went off without any major hitches and on brand for 2020, delivered some craziness (Iowa’s mental mistakes notwithstanding). Now we’re entering week 9 of the college football season, which is week two of the Big Ten season, and the schedules are really heating up.

The new cadence is to have several games on both Thursday and Friday night with the full lineup on Saturday, though we’re still light on the Saturday night cap as we wait for the return of the Pac-12.

Here’s a look at this week’s games and where to find each one.

Thursday, October 29th

There are two games on Thursday, though neither are terribly compelling. At 630pm CT you’ve got South Alabama at Georgia Southern on ESPN. Then the late game features Colorado State at Fresno State on CBS Sports Network.

Wedged between those two you’ve got the Falcons and Panthers on FOX in the NFL.

Friday, October 30th

Things heat up on Friday night with three games in total, but the key one for Iowa fans is the weekly Big Ten matchup. That features Minnesota at what looks like a miserable Maryland. That’s a 6:30pm CT kick and you can catch the action on ESPN.

Then at 8pm you’ve got East Carolina at Tulsa on ESPN2. Things wrap up with Hawaii at Wyoming at 8:45. That’s on FS1.

Saturday, October 31st

The real action is of course on Saturday. Things get kicked off at 11am as usual and there are several matchups featuring ranked teams. ABC has Boston College at #1 Clemson. Kentucky is playing host to #5 Georgia on SEC Network. Memphis is at #7 Cincinnati on ESPN. Michigan State is at #13 Michigan on FOX. ESPN2 has #16 Kansas State at West Virginia. ESPNU also features #20 Coastal Carolina at Georgia State and #23 Iowa State is at Kansas on FS1 to round out the action involving ranked teams. The other game of note is Purdue at Illinois on BTN.

There are a few staggered starts that could be interesting if you need to fill some dead space at halftime of the early games.

In the afternoon, we get some more quality action in the 2:30 slot. Of course, you’ve got Iowa hosting Northwestern on ESPN. If you’re needing something to fill commercial time, there’s also #4 Notre Dame at Georgia Tech on ABC, #17 Indiana at Rutgers on BTN and LSU at Auburn on CBS.

There are a couple more staggered starts kicking at 3pm. You’ve got Texas at #6 Oklahoma State on FOX, as well as Ole Miss at Vanderbilt on the SEC Network and Virginia Tech at Louisville on the ACC Network.

The evening slate gets started early with #25 Boise State at Air Force at 5pm. That one’s on CBS Sports Network. Then at 6pm you’ve got Mississippi State at #2 Alabama on ESPN.

The primetime slot at 6:30 features #3 Ohio State at #18 Penn State on ABC. The SEC Network has Arkansas at #8 Texas A&M with Missouri at #10 Florida on an SEC alternate. You’ve also got Navy at #22 SMU on ESPN2.

Then at 7pm you’ve got #15 North Carolina at Virginia on the ACC Network while #24 Oklahoma is at Texas Tech on FOX. We’ve also got America’s team, the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns at Texas State on ESPNU.

The night cap gets rolling at 8:30 with San Diego State at Utah State on CBS Sports Network. At 9:15 Western Kentucky is at #11 BYU on ESPN. And things wrap up at 9:30 with Nevada at UNLV on FS1.

And that’s it for this week. Here’s a look at the full slate of games this weekend.