With the weather across the country starting to feel like winter, the biggest college football game of the weekend will be played in the heat and humidity of suburban Miami, with the 10th-ranked Miami Hurricanes, in the midst of a renaissance season under second-year Head Coach Mark Richt, welcoming the once-beaten, 3rd-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The game, on ABC, will kick at 7 o’clock, one of two games featuring top-ten teams to kick in that window. In Norman, Oklahoma, the 5th ranked Sooners host the 8th ranked TCU Horned Frogs, in a battle of elite Big 12 squads with losses to Iowa State blemishing their resumes.
In other Top 25 matchups, two Pac-12 teams will play on “The Farm” in northern California on Friday night, with #12 Washington playing at #21 Stanford at 9:30.
On Saturday, #11 Oklahoma State travels to Ames, Iowa to meet the #15 Iowa State Cyclones, with an 11 o’clock kick from Jack Trice Stadium. In the Big 10, #6 Ohio State, reeling after last week’s blowout loss at Iowa, look for a rebound in Columbus, hosting #24 Michigan State at 11 o’clock. Also in the Big 10, unbeaten Wisconsin, ranked 9th, hosts the 25th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes at 2:30 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.
In SEC top-25 games, #2 Alabama travels across state lines to Starkville, Mississippi, where the #16 Mississippi State Bulldogs host the Crimson Tide at 6 o’clock.
Other games involving the “Top 25” will be #20 North Carolina State at Boston College at 11, Arkansas at #19 LSU at 11, Rutgers at #7 Penn State at 11, UConn at #18 Central Florida at 11, #13 Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech at 11:20, Florida State at #4 Clemson at 2:30, #17 USC at Colorado at 3, #25 Washington State at Utah at 4:30, and Oregon State at #22 Arizona at 9:15.
Listen to the “Fearless Forecasters” give their predictions of this weekend’s games, with six selections, including the Tennessee at Missouri game, Friday night at 5:30 on KTTN FM 92.3!
Photo credit – Matt Cashore / USA TODAY Sports Images / South Bend, IN and Miami Gardens, FL