How to spend your college football Saturday

Hello Coug fans. Normally, this would be the spot where I come up with three bold predictions for the Washington State Cougars and the Stanford Cardinal. Alas, COVID-19 did the thing it’s been doing to communities and college football teams across the country and the one game I picked us to win is officially “no contest.” Bummer.

Now that you don’t have a Cougar football game to prepare for, your entire Saturday is now open, I presume. It was pretty open before the cancellation, given that WSU and Stanford weren’t scheduled to kick off until 7:30 p.m. PST, well after most of the college football world was asleep. No problem! We have your plans for Saturday already set, just in case you needed an excuse for your significant other or significant hopeful.

First, you have to tune in to ESPN’s College GameDay to see where Ol’ Crimson is flying from this weekend. Then, the 9 a.m. window (we’re using Pacific Standard Time from here on out) has a great matchup for Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff from Columbus, Ohio as the Ohio State Buckeyes welcome the suddenly good Indiana Hoosiers and their quarterback named Penix (giggles).

If non-Big Ten undefeated teams are your thing, flip to ESPN 2 where you’ll catch the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers take on Appalachian State. Clemson and Florida State are also playing then, as well as Army and Georgia Southern if the triple option is your thing.

The Pac-12 gets going during the 12:30 p.m. window with the UCLA Bruins and Oregon Ducks. But the game you want to see is the CBS Game of the Week, featuring....San Diego State and Nevada? Yep, no SEC on CBS this week. Get your eyeballs, Mountain West.

Cal and Oregon State also play during this window.

The Kansas State Wildcats and Iowa State Cyclones kick off at 1 p.m. so you can look at the media darlings from Ames. Oh, and undefeated Cincinnati will have also kicked off by then.

The 4:30 p.m. window is when the games really start cooking with gas. We have Bedlam between the Oklahoma Sooners and Oklahoma State Cowboys. Here’s hoping Tay Martin finally wins a rivalry game, though if the past is any indication, the odds are against him. That’s why they play the games!

Our old pal Mike Leach and whatever is left of his Mississippi State Bulldogs team travels to Georgia on the SEC Network at 4:30 p.m. as well. Michigan and Rutgers play on the Big Ten Network if you’re a masochist.

The Arizona Wildcats play the Washington Huskies at 5 p.m., and if you want your Pac-12 After Dark fix even without our Cougs, USC and Utah get going at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. If you’re nocturnal, the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors host the Boise State Broncos on the CBS Sports Network at 8 p.m., the original kickoff time for WSU and Stanford.

Those games and more can be found in a nice, handy grid here.

So there you go. Your Saturday is planned. Those leaves will be there for your next week when you want to get away from your family on Thanksgiving.

Links

Football, WSU and otherwise

John Blanchette: Washington State's COVID-caused cancellation is disappointing, terrible, heartbreaking ... but mostly inevitable | The Spokesman-Review
That asterisk we're putting next to the 2020 college football season? How about an exploding emoji instead?

Washington State's game against Stanford canceled, declared no-contest | The Spokesman-Review
One day after it was learned starting quarterback Jayden de Laura had come down with COVID-19, Washington State's game against Stanford was canceled and declared a no-contest due to the Cougars falling below the 53-man scholarship requirement, the Pac-12 Conference confirmed in a statement Friday afternoon.

The path to the College Football Playoff for Indiana and Northwestern
OK yeah 2020 is definitely weird now.

Best college football prank Harvard Yale MIT balloon
In 1982, during the middle of The Game between rivals Harvard and Yale, a third player entered the game when MIT students pulled the greatest prank in college football history.

Basketball

Washington State men: Veteran leadership, exceptional recruiting class mean high ceiling for Cougars | The Spokesman-Review
The offseason came with mixed results for Kyle Smith.