After two insane weeks of college football action, the madness continues beginning with a big Thursday night showdown.
Are we loving the fact that college football is back? It was expected that things would be entertaining and exciting, but it was hard to gauge just how crazy things would be. And here we are gearing up for Week 3 with some intriguing primetime TV games.
The sixth-ranked Houston Cougars have shattered the Top 25. After a blockbuster upset of the Oklahoma Sooners to start the season, the Coogs returned with a lopsided thrashing of Lamar this past week. Now on a short week, Tom Herman and company head north to Cincinnati to face the Bearcats. Both teams head into Thursday night’s showdown with a 2-0 record, but U of H can make some huge headlines as they face a big challenge. ESPN will have the broadcast beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.
On Friday night, #21 Baylor heads down to Houston to face the Rice Owls. It’s the final non-conference tuneup for the Bears, before Big 12 play begins. They’ll face a Rice team that got shelled by the Longhorns over the weekend in what was their only contest with a Power 5 opponent this season. The bad news for the Owls is that they have lost 24 consecutive games to ranked opponents. Baylor looks to make it 25 when ESPN goes on the air at 8:00 p.m. ET from Rice Stadium.
As mentioned earlier, Oklahoma got a rude awakening to open the season with a loss to Houston. The Sooners get a chance for redemption on Saturday, with a major national showcase game against #3 Ohio State. The Sooners have dropped to #14 as a result of that loss, and will welcome the undefeated Buckeyes to Gaylor Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. JT Barrett racked up over half of Ohio State’s 417 yards last week against Tulsa, and continues to impress as Ohio State eyes another trip to the National Championship. FOX will carry the broadcast at 7:30 p.m. ET in Norman.
Also on the primetime board for Saturday will be #12 Michigan State traveling to South Bend to face #18 Notre Dame. This will be of major importance to both teams, as a loss could potentially crash any plans these two teams have of reaching the College Football Playoffs. The Irish lost a heartbreaker to Texas two weeks ago, and Michigan State was barely able to hold off unknown Furman. This will be the first meeting for those two teams since 2013, and Michigan State needs to beware— Notre Dame owns them in their all-time series.
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Depending on where your collegiate allegiance stands, there are plenty of primetime games this weekend. Here’s a full list of all the games for what is shaping up to be an incredible week of college football madness.