Five days of college football goodness

College football is back with games starting tonight with 16 games. Here is a breakdown of the action. While the top 25 showdowns are there, the number of potential FCS upsets over FBS schools is what I am looking for. Look for three to five FBS schools to embarrass themselves.

PAC-12 gets time to shine in week 4

Here is your viewer’s guide or what I call a navigation solution for week 4.

Big week in the PAC-12 with two games between ranked teams. TCU has a dangerous trip to Texas Tech as Big-12 play revs up as well.

Michigan and Texas have an opportunity to prove they can return to glory Saturday afternoon.

Budget games Week 1

Possible new logo for the Sun Belt Conference this week

College football is back, and while some match-ups are enticing this weekend, others are a cakewalk. Here are some games where a powerhouse football program is paying a FBS mid-major in need of funds (typically around $1 million) to take a beating.

Arkansas State at No. 8 USC

The Red Wolves went 7-6 last season and played in its fourth straight GoDaddy Bowl. That’s an impressive achievement for the ASU program. Unfortunately, the University of Southern California doesn’t really care about that. The Trojans see a Sun Belt program that should go down easy.

Arkansas State might actually make USC nervous for tiny bit but the Trojans should be able to score at will in this one. Three of ASU’s top four tacklers are gone from a year ago and that’s big problem against USC. Trojans roll.

Louisiana-Monroe at No. 9 Georgia

The good news for Louisana-Monroe is that it defeated a power conference school last season. The bad news is that was Wake Forest. The Warhawks went 4-8 last year and was held to under 100 yards in it’s 31-0 loss at LSU. ULM also lost at Kentucky 48-14. So I doubt Georgia will have much fear here.

Throw in the fact Georgia has won 17 of its last 18 home openers and you have a very long day for ULM in Athens.

Texas State at No. 10 Florida State

Texas State has been bowl eligible the past two seasons (did not get selected) and has a great chance to finally get in. That might not be seen in its opener at Florida State. The Seminoles are 10-1 all-time against current Sun Belt teams.

Florida State is in transition with a new quarterback so maybe Texas State can hang around in this game for a quarter or two. Eventually though, the Bobcat defense with four of its five best tacklers gone from last season will collapse. It won’t be pretty when it does.

First Saturday of Spotlight for College Basketball

This is the first Saturday of the season where basketball is in full control of the sports calendar. Sunday will be taken up by the NFL playoffs but will still have some fun games.

Saturday is expected to be a great day in the middle of the country as three Big 12 games between top 25 teams will take place. There will be bedlam in Oklahoma and West Virginia will make the journey to Texas. The nightcap will be Kansas at Iowa State to face some Hilton Magic.

Duke at Louisville is losing luster quickly after the Blue Devils took some losses in ACC play. Kentucky traveling to Alabama will be the game with the most upset potential as the Wildcats have been shaky on the road in SEC play so far.

Here is my navigation solution for wall-to-wall basketball this weekend.