College Football Weekend Preview

Conference schedules go into full gear this weekend, with some interesting noncon storylines sprinkled in. Let's get to the times and listings.

Thursday
Texas A&M at Miami is a very interesting macthup. Miami needs to assert itself and regain some confidence after getting pasted by Oklahoma. The Aggies want a nice notch in their belts and some momentum going into the Big 12 South schedule. Coverage at 7:30pm on ESPN.
Friday
Oklahoma goes into Tulsa, which could be a trap game for the Sooners. Bob Stoops will not have his team overlooking this Golden Hurricane club, but they could cause some problems at 8pm on ESPN2.
Saturday
South Florida hosts North Carolina, will the success continue for the Bulls? Noon coverage on ESPN. Indiana hosts Illinois and look to stay unbeaten at noon on Big Ten, Lousiville needs to come back from a tough loss at Kentucky and will do so be humiliating Syracuse at 12, and Clemson takes its unbeaten mark down south to underachieving NC State at 12. Virginia is already 2-0 in the ACC, and Georgia Tech wants to come back from a loss to BC, noon coverage from Charlottesville on ESPNU. West Virginia hosts feisty East Carolina on ESPN2 at noon, Florida will play at Ole Miss at 12:30, ditto for Nebraska at home against Ball State.
BC and Matt Ryan will be getting some coverage, they host Army at 1 on ESPN Classic. Duke is at Navy at 1 on CSTV. VaTech hosts William & Mary at 1:30, Missouri hosts Illinois State at 2, and 3-0 Air Force has a huge game at 3 on the road at slumping BYU.
All eyes will be on the Irish at 3:30 on NBC when they try to finally win a game at home against Michigan State. The Spartans will look to pillage South Bend. All the eyes of the smart ones will tune in to the game of the week in the SEC as South Carolina plays its biggest game in the Steve Spurrier era at LSU at 3:30 on CBS. An upset win for the Gamecocks would be monumental for the program and would change the landscape of the SEC this year and open it up for teams like SC, Florida, and even Nick Saban's Tide. Some would argue that Michigan hosting Penn State is better (3:30pm ABC) but those people are most likely Mickey Mouse execs and not rational college pigskin fans. Maryland would like to come back from a loss to WV, they head to Winston Salem to play Wake at 3:30 on ESPNU. Northwestern lost to Duke last week, good luck at Ohio State at 3:30pm on ESPN. Texas Tech is 3-0 they play at OK State. Colorado State and Houston at 4:30pm on CSTV.
At 6pm, the amazing resurgence of Kentucky could take a hit as they battle Darren McFadden and Arkansas at 6 on ESPN2. Take that Pac 10. At that same time, Cal will host Arizona. UConn and Pitt like to think that they're up and coming in the Big East, they face off at 7pm on ESPNU. Texas hosts Rice at 7, the Longhorns have struggled against inferior competition despite their untarnished record.
The SEC also has the 2nd best game of the week, with Georgia looking to get back in the SEC race at 3-0 Alabama who's back in the polls for the first time seemingly since the Bear Bryant days. Coverage at 7:45 on ESPN. Regional ABC coverage at 8pm, some will see Wazzu get spanked by USC, others will see boring yet efficient Wisconsin host Iowa. Didn't boring yet efficient describe the Spurs? SMU is at TCU at 8:30 on CSTV. 3-0 Purdue is at sad Minnesota at 9pm on ESPN2. 3-0 Arizona State hosts Oregon State, Oregon is at Stanford, and Washington plays UCLA in an intruiging affair. 3-0 Hawaii hosts Charleston Southern, Colt Brennan will only play 1 half and throw more TD's then Tarvaris Jackson's INT's.