Gameday Week #8

The halfway point in the college football regular season has arrived and today's edition of ESPN's College Gameday was in Clemson, South Carolina, for what is arguably the most important ACC  game in recent memory.  For the first time since 2005, two top five Atlantic Coast Conference teams will play each other in a game that may determine who represents this conference in either the Orange Bowl or even in the BCS National Championship game.   Today's feature game between #3 Clemson and #5 Florida State will kick-off tonight at 8:00 PM Eastern on ABC. 

At the time that I am writing this post, another game between ranked opponents is taking place in Columbia, Missouri, where #14 Missouri is hosting #22 Florida.   While Missouri's offense has averaged 45.7 points per game, the absence of the Tigers' starting QB James Franklin, who was injured in last week's game against Georgia, may make it difficult for the Tigers to overcome a Gator defense that has only allowed 13.0 points per game so far this season.  Today's slate also has two more games between ranked opponents.  At 3:30 PM Eastern on CBS, #7 Texas A&M will host #24 Auburn and, in the PAC-12, #13 Stanford hosts #9 UCLA in a game that may very well be a rehearsal for the upcoming PAC-12 championship title game. 

It seems that all four games between ranked opponents feature teams that could win their respective conference divisions.  Whether they have a chance to appear the BCS Championship is anybody's guess.  As for the teams currently favored to be in the National Championship, #1 Alabama and #2 Oregon, both of them are playing at home today.  Alabama is hosting Arkansas tonight at 7:00 PM on ESPN, and Oregon is playing Washington State at 10:00PM on FOX Sports 1.  As for the rest of today's games, there are plenty of interesting match-ups.  In the Big XII, #16 Texas Tech currently leads West Virginia 13-0 in Morgantown; #21 Oklahoma State is ahead of TCU, 7-0; #18 Oklahoma vs. Kansas will kickoff on ESPN at 3:30; and Iowa State travels to Baylor for their game against the #12 Bears at 7:00 on ESPNU.  As for the Big Ten Conference, Minnesota is tied 7-7 with Northwestern (ESPN2), and Michigan State is ahead of Purdue 7-0 (Big Ten Network).  The Big Ten's top-ranked team, #4 Ohio State, will host Iowa later today at 3:30 (ABC/ESPN2).  At the same time, the Indiana Hoosiers will play Michigan today in Ann Arbor.  Though Michigan is favored by 9 points, Indiana brings an offense that has averaged 41.7 points per game (15th in the country).  #24 Wisconsin travels to Champaign to play Illinois tonight at 8PM on The Big Ten Network.

Finally, today's schedule also features USC at Notre Dame in a clash between cross-country rivals.  Unlike last year's game, neither team will be playing for the right to be in the National Championship.  But they will be playing for the Jeweled Shillelagh trophy, which looks like this:

 Special Thanks to Sports Illustrated for this image. 

Tonight's game from South Bend, Indiana, starts at 7:30 on NBC.  Enjoy the day, Everybody!!