The college football season is beginning to wind down. For us Irish fans, thanks goodness right? We’re now in that weird part of the season where a few of the big national rivalries are just around the corner and most of the country is busy playing out the string with their league games.

Enemy Watch

THURSDAY

#17 North Carolina (-10.5) at Duke

SATURDAY

Tulsa (-1.5) at Navy

Rutgers (+14.5) at Michigan State

NC State (-5) at Syracuse

Miami (-10.5) at Virginia

Georgia Tech (+14) at #14 Virginia Tech

Stanford (-3.5) at Oregon

Navy is an underdog in most places in Vegas which is a little strange given their performance last week. Perhaps there is a big chance for a let down game following their Super Bowl?

Michigan State still hasn’t won since beating Notre Dame. Nope, doesn’t make me feel any better. Incredibly, they lost to Illinois last week. That’s 7 straight losses posted by Mark Dantonio. He only lost 5 games from 2013 to 2015!

You’re all on scouting duty this week against Virginia Tech who come to South Bend next weekend. The Hokies are still on track to fight it out for the ACC Coastal and a chance to upset (likely) Clemson during the post-season.

Stanford–despite their trash offense not even averaging 20 points per game–has stabilized a little bit with victories in the last two weeks. Oregon was blasted by USC last week so that’s losses in 6 out of their last 7 games. The Ducks defense giving up nearly 43 per game going against the Cardinal offense is going to be fascinating.

Raised Eyebrow Game

South Florida (-3) at Memphis

I have my eye on this game primarily because Willie Taggart is quietly Doing Good Things™ and the Bulls are facing a key set of games down the stretch to try and win the AAC. They need Temple to lose, though.

Double Raised Eyebrow Game

South Carolina (+11.5) at Florida

The return of Muschamp! Not only would it be hilarious to see the Gators lose this one but it would increase the odds we see a 4-loss team in the SEC Title Game.

National Spotlight

Baylor (+15.5) at #11 Oklahoma

#16 West Virginia (+2) at Texas

Minnesota (+7) at #19 Nebraska

#20 USC (+8.5) at #4 Washington

Baylor will be without Shock Linwood and let’s pray they lose by 14 million points.

Even though it doesn’t feel like it the Sooners are still unbeaten in Big 12 play and in a weird twist might enjoy the fact that there isn’t a conference title game this year, should they be able to sneak into the playoffs. Unlikely still, but not altogether crazy. Should OU lose that opens the door for West Virginia.

Minnesota and Nebraska need to tussle to figure out some stuff in the Big Ten, which yup, is exactly what you’d expect from the Big Ten West.

College GameDay is headed to Seattle as Washington’s quest to remain undefeated and punch their ticket to the playoffs. It’s go time for Chris Petersen who has to face a resurgent Trojan squad and then will have to travel on the road in the Apple Cup before a (likely) rematch with USC in the post-season.

The Huskies lost Joe Mathis to a foot injury which pretty much sucks. The good news is that Washington’s defense is built to get pressure from a variety of players. A total of 18 players have tackles for loss, and 9 players have at least 3 TFL’s. That’s impressive.