Photo by Chris Acuna / credit below
IT’S BEEN A WHILE since graduation, right? When’s the last time you got out and enjoyed our nation’s fall Saturday pastime? We’re talking about college football. It’s not just for students, you know.
We’re pretty sure that no matter where you, there’s a game within a reasonable drive. But we’re going to do better than that. We’re going to give you (what we think are) the best 10 games going on this Saturday.
If you can’t get to one, we bet there’s one of these games on TV. We tried to represent each region of the country. Sorry northeast, you might have gotten a bit of the shaft on this one. According to us, the southeast U.S. is the place to be.
Head out (or sit back and relax) and enjoy some college football.
10. San Jose St. at Boise St.: The BCS-hopeful Boise State is hoping to keep their big-bowl hopes alive. This one should be a blowout, but it’s worth the trip just to look at that damn blue turf.
9. Southern Miss at Houston: Southern Miss is almost always a favorite to win C-USA’s East, and Houston is the lone school from the conference to hold a ranking. Both teams come in with good conference positions.
8. Miami at Wake Forest: Wake Forest is one of the best venues to watch an ACC football game. Miami is the ranked team in this matchup, but both squads hold 2-2 conference marks.
7. Purdue at Wisconsin: Another matchup where both teams hold the same conference record, but it’s a Big Ten matchup that always promises some big hits and smashmouth style football.
6. Weber St. at Montana: Both in the FCS, No. 13 Weber St. travels to No. 2 Montana looking for not only an upset, but the upper hand in the Big Sky Conference.
5. Ole Miss at Auburn: It’s not one of the more touted rivalries in the SEC, but it’s a good solid second-tier matchup. Mississippi will have trouble holding onto thier No. 24 ranking visiting a tough Auburn squad.
4. South Carolina at Tennessee: Just to prove that almost every matchup in the SEC is worth watching, here’s another that features a storied history. SC is ranked No. 21 and Tennessee is pretty down this year, but you know what they say, “When these two teams get together …”
3. USC at Oregon: Both teams have 6-1 overall records. Oregon is 4-0 in Pac-10 play while USC is 3-1. Yet, USC is the higher-ranked team because, well, they’re USC. Despite being at home and holding the better conference record, the Ducks are going for the “upset” against the Trojans. This is a game that’s been circled on West Coast football fans’ calendars for a while now.
2. Texas at Oklahoma St.: A barn-burner in the Big 12; both No. 3 Texas and No. 13 Oklahoma State are unbeaten in the South Division. In fact, they’re the only remaining unbeaten teams in Big 12 play. This is a winner-take-all game with the victor likely going to the Big 12 title game and the loser likely ending up on the outside looking in.
1. Georgia vs. Florda (at Jacksonville, Fla.): They don’t call it “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” for nothing. When Georgia and Florida come to Jacksonville, Fla., every season for this neutral-site rivalry, probably the biggest tailgating scene in college football occurs at Jacksonville Landing (on the St. Johns River). Both schools’ students pretty much take off from Thursday-Sunday, with some even showing up in Jacksonville as early as Wednesday. This game is good football, too … but we’re talking about a good time.
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Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mangoandpeaches/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
