The best games to tune in for while the Aggies rest up this weekend
It’s Texas A&M’s bye week again, but college football takes no week’s off. And with the Aggies currently at No. 14 in the College Football Playoff rankings, there’s no better time for scoreboard watching. But to ensure you don’t miss anything the rest of the way, I’ve put together a viewing guide for the Aggies’ bye week, with the most important games for each time slot. Enjoy.
11 a.m. timeslot
- Purdue at No. 2 Ohio State (FOX)
- No. 4 Miami at Georgia Tech (ESPN)
- Florida at No. 5 Texas (ABC)
While none of these just SCREAM upset alert (the point spread is in double digits for all three), crazy things can happen in college football, and a top five team losing to an unranked one would certainly qualify. In particular for Ohio State and Texas, a second conference loss would not only hurt their playoff resume, but also create a much more difficult path to their respective conference championship games.
2:30 p.m. timeslot
- No. 3 Georgia at No. 16 Ole Miss (ABC): Easily the biggest game of the day. Georgia needs the win to stay in the thick of the SEC championship game hunt, while Ole Miss needs the win simply to stay in the Playoff at-large discussion.
- Michigan at No. 8 Indiana (CBS): Indiana still has to play Ohio State, so winning this game feels like a must in order to keep their Big Ten championship/Playoff hopes thriving.
- No. 17 Iowa State at Kansas (FS1): Iowa State lost last week. If they lose again, you can kiss any hope of an at-large Playoff big goodbye.
- No. 25 Army at North Texas (ESPN 2): This one may be a stretch, but I’m keeping Army in this conversation as long as they’re still undefeated. Win this and their game against Notre Dame will loom quite large.
6 p.m. timeslot
- Mississippi State at No. 7 Tennessee (ESPN): The Vols are heavily favored, but as they are a fellow 1-loss SEC team, it’s worth at least keeping an eye on the score in this game.
- 6:30 p.m. – No. 11 Alabama at No. 15 LSU (ABC): A true Playoff elimination game. The loser of this game gets their third loss, seemingly taking them out of the running for an at-large spot, while the winner gets a huge resume boost. LSU is also still fighting for a potential spot in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta.
- 7 p.m. – Washington at No. 6 Penn State (Peacock): Washington has notched wins over Michigan and USC (albeit at home vs on the road) and Penn State, despite being 7-1, has looked vulnerable at times this season. With no marquee games left on the schedule (and no signature win to speak of), Penn State likely needs to win out if they hope to get an at-large Playoff spot.
- 9:15 p.m. – No. 9 BYU at Utah (ESPN): As the lone remaining undefeated in the Big 12, BYU may be the only team in the conference who could get in as an at-large if they lose the conference title game. But I think they need to go undefeated in the regular season to do that. While Utah has been a disappointment this season, a home game with the opportunity to wreck your rivals’ season is a great shot at redemption.