College Football Week 8 Open Thread

My apologies for my lack of activity over the past few days and things being a little bit disjointed. Hopefully, if the internet can cooperate for a while, we can get all of that sort of thing behind us and get back on the right track.

And what better way to get back on the right track than to talk about what’s happening this weekend in the world of college football? Yes, we’re into late October, so conference races are heating up everywhere. Let’s take a look at this weekend’s action.

As far as the local team is concerned, it’s Homecoming Weekend in the Twin Cities. Coming off of a solid victory over the Maryland Terrapins last weekend, the Minnesota Golden Gophers return home to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Rutgers is. . .well, let’s just say they’ve had a rough season thus far, but since nothing seems to come easy for this Gophers team, we’ll have to see how things shake out. This game is set for a 11:00 AM kickoff, and it will be televised on ESPNU. Our friends over at The Daily Gopher have all of your coverage of this week’s maroon and gold action.

As far as the five-time, five-time, five-time, five-time, five-time reigning and defending FCS Champions, the North Dakota State University Bison, they suffered their first loss of the season last week. The Bison lost the matchup for the Dakota Marker to South Dakota State courtesy of a last-minute touchdown pass. The loss has dropped them to #4 in the nation, and now they have to travel to Macomb, Illinois to take on the team with one of the best nicknames in all of college sports, the Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks. Kickoff for this one will happen a little later, with things getting underway at 6:00 PM Central time. It will be broadcast on ESPN3 as well as NBC affiliates throughout the state of North Dakota.

As far as action that pits Top 25 teams against one another, there are three of them today, and they all feature the Southeastern Conference. We’ll start with the matchup of the lowest-ranking teams in a game that will take place at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, as the 23rd ranked Mississippi Rebels will take to the road to battle the #25 team in the nation, the LSU Tigers. This one is slated for an 8:00 PM kickoff and will be shown on ESPN.

ESPN will also show another SEC Top 25 matchup right before that, as there’s a 5:00 PM Central time kickoff scheduled at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. In that one, the 21st-ranked Auburn Tigers will play host to the Arkansas Razorbacks, who come into this one ranked #17 in the country.

The main event, however, is the earliest matchup of the day in terms of time. Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa is the setting for this one, as the Texas A&M Aggies, the 6th-ranked team in America, come to town to take on the nation’s top-ranked squad, the Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama is a ridiculous 18-point favorite over the Aggies. . .then again, given the way that Alabama has performed this year, perhaps being that big a favorite over another Top Ten squad isn’t that ridiculous after all. This one is set to kick off at 2:30 PM Central, and will be the nationally featured game on CBS.

That’s a quick look at this Saturday’s college football action, ladies and gentlemen. If there are other games and/or individual players that you’re interested in, you can talk about all of that right here with your fellow Minnesota Vikings fans.