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We’ve only got a couple of weeks left in college football’s regular season before we start hitting bowl time, and the next couple of weeks are going to play a vital role in who will be spending their post-seasons where.
The local football team is no exception, as the Minnesota Golden Gophers are playing for bowl position in the B1G. Today, the maroon and gold play their final home game of the season, as they will play host to the Northwestern Wildcats at TCF Bank Stadium. Minnesota has a better overall record than the Wildcats do (7-3 vs 5-5), but both teams are 4-3 in the Big Ten, so today’s game could play a big role for both teams. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network, with kickoff slated for 2:30 PM Central time. You can check out all the coverage from our friends over at The Daily Gopher.
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 are playing their regular season finale this afternoon. They will be taking to the road to go head-to-head with the Coyotes of South Dakota. There are still three teams vying for the Missouri Valley Football Conference championship. NDSU needs a victory today and a loss from South Dakota State (who beat the Bison a few weeks ago) to win the conference title. If SDSU wins at Northern Iowa, they’re the champions. If both NDSU and SDSU lose today, Youngstown State can sneak away with the conference title with a win over Missouri State. Today’s Bison game is set to kick off from Vermillion, South Dakota at 2:00 PM Central, and will be shown on NBC stations throughout North Dakota as well as ESPN3.
Looking for matchups between Top 25 teams, there aren’t a lot of them to be found today. The marquee matchup of the day comes to us from the Big 12 Conference, and it’s going to take place in Morgantown, West Virginia. The 14th-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers will be playing host to the Oklahoma Sooners, who are ranked #9 in the country. Oklahoma is a slight favorite in this one, and it should be a pretty solid contest. The game will be televised on ABC, and will kick off at 7:00 PM Central time.
There’s a good one scheduled in the Pac 12 this afternoon as well. Folsom Field in Boulder is the setting for this one, as the Colorado Buffaloes take their #10 ranking into a battle with the Washington State Cougars, who come into this one ranked #22. This one will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1 FOX and will get underway at 2:30 PM Central time.
One final matchup between Top 25 opponents will take place today in the SEC. If you have the SEC Network and aren’t doing anything at around noon Central time, you can tune in and watch the 16th-ranked LSU Tigers play host to the 23rd-ranked Florida Gators. This is the game that was rescheduled when Hurricane Matthew blew through in early October.
Let’s take a look at the current playoff standings.
- Alabama Crimson Tide (10-0)
- Ohio State Buckeyes (9-1)
- Michigan Wolverines (9-1)
- Clemson Tigers (9-1)
- Louisville Cardinals (9-2)
- Washington Huskies (9-1)
- Wisconsin Badgers (8-2)
- Penn State Nittany Lions (8-2)
- Oklahoma Sooners (8-2)
- Colorado Buffaloes (8-2)
Louisville currently sits at #5, but they’re in for a significant drop after getting throttled by Houston on Thursday night by a score of 36-10. Last week, the teams that were ranked #2 (Clemson), #3 (Michigan), and #4 (Washington) in the country all suffered losses, leaving Alabama and Western Michigan as the last undefeated teams in the country. It should be an interesting final two weeks of college football.
If you’re going to be keeping an eye on any other games or any particular players, you can hang out here and talk about all of it with your fellow Minnesota Vikings fans. Enjoy the college football action, folks!