Welcome back to the Funvee Tailgate BLOG, The THUNDERBLOG’s Weekly College Football Series. If you noticed the emphasis on BLOG, that is because this season we have the podcast tying in as well! This week, I brought on my buddy Kenny Floyd and he was AWESOME! We ran through a lot of theories for the CFP, building off my emergency post from last Sunday. You definitely need to check it out and here’s the iTunes link to go subscribe. A lot of HUGE games in primetime this weekend. LET’S FIIIIRE IT UP!

Last Week’s Record:

4-9 ATS, 34-42 in 2017. I got BLOWN out last week. Need to turn it around.

Thursday Night CFB:

Memphis is the lone Top 25 team to have played on a weeknight and the Tigers continued their strong run on the road in Houston. Riley Ferguson tossed for 471 yards as Memphis just gets by Houston 42-38. The American is a strange conference where it sits in the landscape of the FBS. It’s capable of having multiple ranked teams but NONE could get close to the playoff.

Satrday Slate:

A LOT of great games today: a few rivalry games, a few between ranked teams, and a few that GREATLY impact the CFP. #1 Alabama, #4 TCU, and #5 Wisconsin are all HUGE favorites and should win. It’s worth noting that Bama is facing Tennessee for the 100th time-too bad the game shouldn’t be that good. Let’s look at the rest of the Saturday Slate:

• #10 Oklahoma State (-7) at Texas at noon on ABC–7 points seems too low here. Texas has been too shaky for me to take the points. OK State wins and covers.
• Syracuse (+17.5) at #8 Miami at 3:30 on ESPN–A hot pick here, especially for ATS. Miami barely won last week and the Cuse pulled off the massive upset. Both teams revert back to their former selves: Miami wins and covers.
• UNC (+20.5) at #14 Virginia Tech at 3:30 on ESPN2–What had been a great game over the past couple years has become what should be a tough one to stomach. Josh Jackson has a MONSTER game and Va Tech wins and covers.
• Indiana (+6.5) at Michigan State at 3:30 on ABC–MSU has been playing exceptionally well as of late as has Indiana. The only difference is that Sparty beat Michigan while the Hoosiers fell in OT last week. I like Indy to bounce back big: Indiana wins outright.
• #20 UCF (-7.5) at Navy at 3:30 on CBSSN–UCF comes in undefeated while lost for the first time last week. Look out today for Navy’s Zach Abey and UCF’s first loss: Navy wins outright.
• #9 Oklahoma (-14.5) at Kansas State at 4:00 on FOX–Oklahoma’s bounce-back last week helped both their CFP hopes and Baker Mayfield’s Heisman resume. I gave KSU a lot of credit last week as a tough out at home. I still like that here: Oklahoma wins but doesn’t cover.
• #16 South Florida (-11.5) at Tulane at 7:00 on ESPN2–Seems low, very low. Not a matchup of QBs here with neither looking impressive and Tulane’s Dontrell Hilliard helps bring that line in. South Florida wins but doesn’t cover.
• #24 LSU (-7) at Ole Miss at 7:15 on ESPN–Derrius Guice is looking like he’s all that he’s cracked up to be but the Rebels have their own star in QB Shea Patterson. I like him to go off big tonight: Ole Miss wins outright.
• #19 Michigan (+9) at #2 Penn State at 7:30 on ABC–it was exactly one year ago this weekend that I sat in an RV in State College, PA writing this same post. The #2 team lost that night in a whiteout at Penn State and that could happen. As a fan of the Michigan, I hope it happens again. Objectively, I think Michigan’s defense contains Trace McSorley but struggles with Saquon. Penn State wins but doesn’t cover.
• #11 USC (+3.5) at #13 Notre Dame at 7:30 on NBC–Kenny loved this game to expose USC. I agree with him. USC has been incredibly shaky all year and Notre Dame seems to be getting better and better every week. I’m not sure if ND gets through their gauntlet unscathed but tonight will show us A LOT. ND wins and covers.
• #21 Auburn (+15.5) at Arkansas at 7:30 on SEC Network–Auburn looks to bounce back after their upset by LSU last week. A lot of points that they’re giving so I don’t like that but I think the Tigers right the ship: Auburn wins but doesn’t cover.
• #23 West Virginia (-9.5) at Baylor at 8:00–terrible line. Will Grier soars past the Bears. WVU wins and covers.
• Colorado (+10) at #15 Washington State at 10:45 on ESPN–Don’t let Colorado’s record fool you, they are a solid squad. If this was at home, I’d actually take the points. Luke Falk is pretty good at home, though. WSU wins and covers.

Forgot to mention Lehigh in last week’s post but the Mountain Hawks did take down Georgetown to move to 2-0 in Patriot League. The team is on their bye this week as they will look to build on this momentum.

(cover photo via)