College Football Week 10 Open Thread

We’re finally into November, ladies and gentlemen, and that means the final full month of college football’s regular season. There’s a playoff race to concern ourselves with at this point as well, so let’s get into a look at this week’s college football action.

As far as the local team, the Minnesota Golden Gophers got themselves bowl-eligible with their victory over Illinois last week, and will remain in the friendly confines of TCF Bank Stadium for a matchup against the Purdue Boilermakers this week. Purdue has had a rough season, sporting a 1-4 mark in B1G play and having already fired their coach this season. The Gophers are a huge 17-point favorite (for entertainment purposes only, of course), but as we’ve seen from this team, nothing comes easy. This one will kick off at 2:30 PM Central time, and will be televised on the Big Ten Network. Our friends at The Daily Gopher have all of the info you need leading up to this one.

If you’re interested in watching the five-time, five-time, five-time, five-time, five-time reigning and defending FCS Champions, the North Dakota State University Bison, they will be back in the Fargodome this weekend, as they’ll be playing in the Harvest Bowl against Youngstown State. Youngstown State is a Top 15 team in FCS and has had a solid season so far, so hopefully the Bison can stay ahead of them in their push for the FCS playoffs. This one will also be kicking off at 2:30 PM Central, and will be shown on ESPN3 as well as NBC stations throughout the state of North Dakota.

As far as matchups between Top 25 teams, there are only two of them today. The first one is a matchup that could go a long way towards deciding a potential Bowl Championship Series representative out of the Big Ten. Columbus, Ohio will be the site for this one, as the 10th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers will take to the road to battle the #6 team in the nation, the Ohio State Buckeyes. Both of these teams are currently sporting 7-1 records, so the loser would see their odds of becoming a playoff team out of the B1G get significantly longer. This one is scheduled to kick off at 7:00 PM Central time, and will be broadcast on ABC.

The other Top 25 matchup comes to us from the Southeastern Conference, and will take place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The 13th-ranked LSU Tigers will play host to the top team in the land, the Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama is the easy #1 in the first BCS playoff standings, and I’m not sure if LSU has a shot at disrupting them, but they have their opportunity this evening. This game is also scheduled for a 7:00 PM Central time kickoff, and will be broadcast on CBS.

Speaking of the BCS playoff standings, here is the Top Ten from the first release of the standings this week.

1. Alabama Crimson Tide (8-0)


2. Clemson Tigers (8-0)
3. Michigan Wolverines (8-0)
4. Texas A&M Aggies (7-1)
5. Washington Huskies (8-0)
6. Ohio State Buckeyes (7-1)
7. Louisville Cardinals (7-1)
8. Wisconsin Badgers (6-2)
9. Auburn Tigers (6-2)
10. Nebraska Cornhuskers (7-1)

I’m not an expert on these things, but I’m not entirely sure how a 7-1 Texas A&M team is ahead of an undefeated Washington team, although A&M’s only loss was to the team currently ranked #1. If the season were to end today, our College Football Playoff would see Alabama taking on Texas A&M in the Peach Bowl and Michigan vs. Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl, with the winners meeting in the National Championship Game on 9 January.

That’s a look at the college football action for today, folks. If you have players or games you’d like to discuss, feel free to talk about it here with your fellow Minnesota Vikings fans!