How To Football: Week 12

Thanks to Florida being a bunch of punks, LSU and Florida is contractually obligated to kick off at noon Central time, the time we live in. So for the first time in forever, we will have a pre and post tailgate. Here’s how to watch the later shifts.

Frug Solich Shift

Tuesday night’s #MACtion features The Ohio University of Ohio (OH)-Central Michigan and Kent State-Bowling Green. Ohio is in charge of the MAC East while Western Michigan is sailing away with the West.

Hump Day #MACtion Shift

Lost in all the Western Michigan craze is that Toledo is having a hell of a year: currently 8-2 and their only conference loss is a 31-26 loss to The Ohio University of Ohio (OH). Toledo is trying to keep pace with Western Michigan, whom they play next week. There’s your plotline. Northern Illinois and Eastern Michigan - bowl eligible Eastern Michigan - is your alternate.

H-TIIIINE Shift

Houston has long been laughed at and dismissed from the Top 25 altogether for losing to SMU and Navy, but they’re still an incredibly talented and well coached team that simple was struck down by the injury bug. The Cougars are still 8-2 and playing good football and still pose a major threat to everybody’s favorite bird with teeth. Thanks to the football version of the The Big One, Louisville has fronted their way back into the playoff discussion so there’s that extra motivation for the Cardinals to stay perfect and hope Clemson trips up elsewhere. Arkansas State and newly minted top 25 Troy, the first time the school has ever appeared in the ranking, are your alternates.

Friday At Tubb’s Shift

Memphis has a bowl trip clinched up, Cincinnati needs to beat Memphis and Tulsa in order to reach a bowl. Thanks to UNLV beating Wyoming 69-66 (nice), Boise State is in the midst of a three way tie for the Mountain West Mountain Division, which can be broken Friday. UNLV needs to beat Boise and Nevada in order to go bowling.

It Is Saturday Afternoon In Death Valley

Oklahoma State is trailing Oklahoma by a game in the Big 12, and they can set up a winner-take-all Bedlam matchup with a win against TCU. Despite their 5-4 record the S&P+ likes TCU, dropping them in at 23rd overall, some 14 slots above Oklahoma State.

Ohio State gets to beat up on Michigan State. (Sparty just beat up on Rutgers 49-0 for their third win on the year. Alright!)

Kansas State-Baylor, Wisconsin-Purdue, Maryland-Nebraska, the rest of the shift is your standard noon trash. Gotta eat your veggies to eat your sweets.

WE’RE ROWIN’ TO YAW CITAY Shift

GameDay will be broadcasting live from Kalamazoo, Michigan for some good old fashioned boat rowing against Buffalo. Here’s the thing: I like that GameDay is showing our mid-major darling some love, but Western Michigan is good and Buffalo is not, so in all likelihood this game will not be good or close. If GameDay was going to be broadcasting from any game this week, it should be in Boulder as Washington State takes on Colorado which as of now would be your PAC-12 Championship Game. A Colorado loss drops them behind USC while a Washington State loss sets up a winner take all Apple Cup.

Michigan rebounds from their upset at the hands of Iowa with Indiana. The Hoosiers have kinda moved away from their Team Chaos moniker, but they’re still not a team that is fun to play with your season on the line. I say they’ve moved away from the Team Chaos bit, but Indiana can make a hard left and create chaos that ripples across the landscape.

Missouri-Tennessee, Florida State-Syracuse, and Texas-Kansas. Not that much else going on in this shift.

Almost Heaven Shift

We have already established that Oklahoma is in command of the Big 12 and Oklahoma State is right there in the slipstream, but West Virginia is also hanging tough tied for second. They get Oklahoma at home this weekend and can take destiny in their own hands by beating the Sooners in Morgantown. There will be moonshine.

A week after giving Louisville hell for 75% of the game, Dave Clawson’s Wake Forest squad pull up on Clemson with intentions to complete the mission and really throw a wrench into this college football season.

Over on FOX, Washington tries to save some face against Arizona State after falling against USC.

There’s also some meaningless SEC games between Arkansas and Mississippi State then Ole Miss and Vandy, both on the SEC Network. The Bama plays Chatanooga.

The Monopoly Is Over! Shift

Everybody’s favorite color on color game, USC vs. UCLA, dominates the late night shift. New Mexico-Colorado State & Air Force-San Jose lay in it’s wake.