This Week’s Drama: The Best College Football Games on TV Today

Despite rising to sixth overall in both of the major polls from a preseason ranking of nineteen, it doesn’t seem like a lot of people are taking the Wisconsin Badgers seriously as a top contender. Sure, they’re undefeated, but there’s a big psychic break between the way the top five are discussed and the way this team is.

They’ll have a chance to change that when they face off against undefeated Big Ten rival Ohio State in Week 9, but in the meantime, they might just continue to do something really special. Because you see, the boys from Madison have been really, really good on defense. Historically good, even. Through six games, they’ve allowed a grand total of 29 points. That’s the lowest total any team has allowed through the first half of the season since the 1993 Florida State Seminoles (who would go 12-1 and be named consensus national champions). That almost doesn’t do their achievement justice! The fourteen points they allowed to Michigan in Week 3 were after the game was unquestionably out of hand, and the same holds for Northwestern’s final six the following week. This team has pitched four shutouts in six games, and basically surrendered nine points when they’ve actually been trying.

So, uh, good luck with that, Illinois? Yeah, the Illini are in trouble. They’re 2-4, with those wins coming against two of the worst teams in FBS in Akron and Connecticut. They’re not good, and there’s a good chance they might not score a single point against Wisconsin this weekend.

But look on the bright side: at least they didn’t schedule this as their homecoming game.

[thinks]
[drums fingers on desk]
[looks up when they scheduled homecoming]

OH NO ILLINOIS WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? YOU HAD CONNECTICUT ON THE SCHEDULE. THAT’S WHY PEOPLE SCHEDULE CONNECTICUT, SO YOU CAN MAKE HOMECOMING FUN. YOU’VE RUINED HOMECOMING.

Anyways, appreciate the savage beauty of what Wisconsin’s doing here, and think about how it might matter if they can knock off Ohio State the next weekend.

Here’s the thing about the ACC: Clemson is, once again, very good. They stumbled a little in a close win over North Carolina, but recovered last week to beat the living daylights out of Florida State, pushing their nation-leading winning streak to 21 and quelling any doubts about the beeline they’re making for a fifth straight playoff appearance.

Hey, they’re not in the game that I’m talking about! Weird. Why would I be talking about Clemson when I’m actually profiling this game featuring two other ACC teams? Well, the Tigers may have a death-grip on the Atlantic Division, but due to a long-running quirk of conference rules, someone also has to win the Coastal Division.

But wait, it gets worse! Thanks to the ironclad conference tie-ins set up by the so-called “New Year’s Six” major bowl games, and the overwhelming likelihood that Clemson does indeed make the playoff again, the winner of the Coastal Division is very likely to be slotted into the Orange Bowl. And there’s a good chance it’s one of these two teams!

Virginia’s improved year-over-year since hiring Bronco Mendenhall to clean up the mess of the Mike London era, but they could be hampered against dual-threat quarterback Quentin Harris and Duke’s high-octane offense by the absence of star cornerback and presumed first-round pick Bryce Hall, who suffered a season-ending injury in a Friday night game against Miami.

If one of these teams does end up atop the division standings, appreciate it while it lasts: they’re probably going to be slotted against a very good and very mad SEC team to start their 2020.

Meanwhile, in conferences that actually have compelling competitions between good teams, there’s this spicy matchup between the Temple Owls and the Southern Methodist Mustangs. Both teams enter undefeated in American Conference play, with SMU a clean 6-0 on the season. SMU’s ranked for the first time in over three decades, and Temple’s lurking right on the cusp of being ranked as well. To appreciate how special that is, we have to look at where these programs have come from.

From 1991 to 2004, Temple was a member of the Big East, back when it was a relevant football conference — one that included national powers like peak Miami and Virginia Tech. How’d they do? So badly that they were kicked out of the conference! They won fourteen conference games in fourteen years and were asked to leave by a unanimous vote by their fellow conference members, who were tired of beating them.

[elbows the Big Ten]
Psssst. See? It can be done. You kept the receipt on Rutgers, right?

Anyways, then there’s SMU, who had one of the most fun, high-scoring and charismatic programs of the 1980s, behind such stars as Eric Dickerson and Craig James. How’d they do it? Rampant cheating! Even after they were repeatedly told to stop! Yes, in 1986 the NCAA made a cautionary tale of the Mustangs, suspending the program for two years in the last usage (probably ever) of the so-called “death penalty” against a major football program.

Both languished for years after these indignities, and only got a second chance when the Big East-turned-American Conference got desperate after most of its teams left for bigger, better homes. They’ve made the most of the opportunity. Former Cal head coach Sonny Dykes has turned around SMU in his second year in Dallas, and Temple’s maintained a steady beat despite losing two coaches in three years (Matt Rhule to Baylor and Geoff Collins to Georgia Tech).

Depending on the performances of other top AAC teams like Cincinnati, UCF and Tulane, this game could have major implications for the conference title — and if Boise State stumbles out west, on the Group of Five bid for the New Year’s Six bowls.

There are two widely-held expectations regarding the Pac-12 this season. First, that the winner of the conference title is going to come from the North Division — either Oregon or Washington — and second, that that team isn’t going to make the playoff.

What this preview presupposes is: what if one of those assumptions is wrong? Well, then this game matters quite a lot. Utah’s been playing angry since a disappointing loss to USC, and they look to keep pace in the Pac-12 South with a rowdy, loud crowd at their backs in Salt Lake City as they take on Herm Edwards’ inexplicably-still-decent Sun Devils. Arizona State’s a relatively young team, and the boisterous road crowd could rattle true freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Southern Cal’s right atop the division with this pair, but given the Trojans’ level of consistency in the Clay Helton era [SCENE MISSING], it’s likely that the winner of this game could find themselves in one of the worst environments in college football (the Pac-12 championship game at the soulless, sound-deadening and utterly unpleasant Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara) with one shot at playing their way into the absolute best environment in college football (The Grandaddy Of Them All in Pasadena).

We’ve talked a lot about assumptions so far this week, including the assumption that the Big Ten East belongs to the Ohio State Buckeyes, who’ve looked as good as they ever have in their first six games under full-time head coach Ryan Day. The Buckeyes will have that aforementioned clash with Wisconsin in Week 9 (you can go ahead and pencil that matchup in for College Gameday now), but there’s also a couple other pretty darn good teams who control their destiny in the East Division, and they’ll be staking their positions in one of the most dramatic settings possible: a primetime “whiteout” game in Happy Valley.

Michigan’s recovered from their embarrassing loss to Wisconsin with three straight victories of varying character — a head-clearing blowout against Rutgers, a tight-as-nails defensive struggle against Iowa, and a relatively easy cruise against Illinois. Imported starting quarterback Shea Patterson hasn’t shown consistency week-to-week, and Penn State’s punishing defense is likely to challenge him much as the Badgers did a month prior.

The undefeated Nittany Lions have a bit of scheduling luck on their side — they avoid Wisconsin in the regular season, so a win here could leave Ohio State as their only significant hurdle on a potential playoff path. (Sorry, Minnesota, I don’t believe you yet. I’m willing to be convinced, but I’m not there yet.)

Let’s not count out the Wolverines, though. While Jim Harbaugh’s teams have struggled in big games against ranked opponents throughout his tenure in Ann Arbor, a win here could re-write that narrative overnight and put them on a collision course with the hated Buckeyes for Big Ten East supremacy.

This may all seem like a stretch, but Ryan Day’s inherited a deep, talented team from Urban Meyer. If he’s also inherited the former Buckeyes head coach’s maddening propensity for completely boofing a random game each year, a lane could open for the winner of this game to change the entire complexion of the 2019 college football season.

That, my friends, is some real drama. Enjoy the games.

HOW TO STREAM: You can live stream on ABC via the “watch live” section on the ESPN website or the ESPN app, which you can download on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon. To access an ESPN live stream, you’ll need a proper cable login or a subscription to an over-the-top internet service that carries ESPN (Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, AT&T TV NOW, and PlayStation Vue).

Scott Hines is an architect, blogger and internet user who lives in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife, two young children, and a small, loud dog.