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! Matty D and I put up this week’s episode of the podcast a little early so hopefully, you’ve had a chance to listen to it by now. We go deep into how the final weeks of the season might play out–as it could go every which way You definitely need to check it out and here’s the iTunes link to go subscribe. This weekend is full of MEGA matchups that you’re not going to want to miss. LET’S FIIIIRE IT UP!

Last Week’s Record:

8-6-1 ATS, 51-62-2 in 2017. First week above .500 for me in a long time! Let’s keep it going…

Friday Night Knockoff

Bryce Love returned to the Stanford Cardinal and they took down the final one-loss Pac 12 team. If it wasn’t official yet, it is now: the Pac 12 Conference is DONE. Love left the game a couple time watching his ankle and still managed to get 30 carries for 166 yards and 3 touchdowns. The conference being out of playoff contention doesn’t open up any new opportunities as they were basically priced out of it anyway, but it ensures no “back-door covers” into the CFP-as MPD put it on the podcast. The Stanford/ND game, however, will be a MUST WATCH in a couple weeks.

Best Saturday of 2017

HERE WE GO. By far the best College Football Saturday we’ve had all season. Five matchups of teams ranked within the top 15-four of which are top 10 foes. Things are about to shake up. #14 Penn State and #18 UCF are both MEGA favorites so we’re not going to pick their games-they should win. Let’s get right to today’s slate:

• #12 Michigan State (+17) at #13 Ohio State at noon on FOX–17 points is WAY too many here. OSU played terribly last week, which you can’t expect this week but MSU’s defense is no joke as they’ve shown. OSU wins but doesn’t cover.
• #15 Oklahoma State (+6.5) at #21 Iowa State at noon on ABC–Iowa State has shown time-and-time again that they are here to stay. That defense will truly be tested against Mason Rudolph, Justice Hill, and the Cowboy offense. The spread being less than a touchdown is enough for me: OK State wins and covers.
• #23 NC State (-3) at Boston College at noon on ESPN2–NC State is in a bit of a downward spiral at the moment. The Wolfpack have a great opportunity for a huge bounce-back game here. NC State wins and covers.
• Arkansas (+17.5) at #24 LSU at noon on ESPN–Derrius Guice has a monster game here as LSU has seemed to point themselves in the right direction. LSU wins and covers.
• #17 Virginia Tech (+3) at Georgia Tech at 12:20 on ACC Network–That GT defense is good, but Josh Jackson is better. VT wins and covers, BIG.
• #1 Georgia (-2.5) at #10 Auburn at 3:30 on CBS–Let’s. GOOOOO. Georgia has gotten by a few opponents by the hair of their chin while Auburn has been steamrolling foes since losing to the inconsistent LSU. Look out for Auburn RB Kerryon Johnson to have a big day as Auburn wins outright.
• Flordia State (+15.5) at #4 Clemson at 3:30 on ESPN–Seems like a low line considering how poor FSU has played this year. Kelly Bryant goes off for a monster game as the Tigers continue to roll. Clemson wins and covers.
• #20 Iowa (+12) at #8 Wisconsin at 3:30 on ABC–Iowa is getting fewer points now because of their huge win over Ohio State. Two touchdowns seem to be the right number for the Badgers. Wisconsin wins and covers.
• #11 USC (+14) at Colorado at 4:00 on FOX–Intriguing line here. The Trojans are incredibly inconsistent while Colorado has been disappointing this season. I’ll take the inconsistency on the road to be the difference: USC wins but doesn’t cover.
• #19 Washington State (-1) at Utah at 5:30 on Pac-12 Network–Woah. Woah. Woah. The Cougars haven’t been the best road team but I’m not so sure about this one. Could be dead wrong since the Utes play ranked teams tight but I’m taking WSU to win and cover.
• #2 Alabama (-13.5) at #16 Mississippi State at 7:00 on ESPN–Alabama has all the tools to continue their conquest to the SEC Championship undefeated. However, MSU QB Nick Fitzgerald and the Bulldog Defense have the tools to trip up the Tide. Alabama wins but doesn’t cover.
• Purdue (+4) at #25 Northwestern at 7:00 on ESPN2–Seems like a weird line because of Purdue’s record but they’ve been hanging in against tough opponents and the Cats keep going to overtime. I think this is when NW breaks out: Wildcats win and cover.
• #3 Notre Dame (-3.5) at Miami at 8:00 on ABC–This one will be a lot of fun to watch. ND has looked more and more solid as the season has gone on while Miami’s defense is outstanding. What makes the difference here is the Irish defense against the Miami offense–ND holds them juuust enough to pull it out. ND wins and covers.
• #6 TCU (+6.5) at Oklahoma at 8:00 on FOX–The potential Big XII title preview will also be a ton of fun but for more offense-related reasons. When TCU smoked OK State, they easily hammered the over/under–so should this game as it has an O/U of 61. Baker Mayfield continues his march to the Heisman as Oklahoma wins and covers.

Lehigh (3-1 in the Patriot League) returns home to face Holy Cross (3-2 in PL play). As HC lost to both Colgate and Lafayette (both 3-1 and playing each other today) a Crusader win over our Mountain Hawks wouldn’t get them the tiebreaker given a Co-Champions situation. Lehigh’s offense has continued to gain more and more steam each week while their defense continues to be solid. A win today combined with Lafayette beating Colgate would make next week’s 153rd matchup the defacto Patriot League Championship game. That would make the best weekend of the year of so much more fun. We’ll talk more about that on the next podcast.

(cover photo via)