This week both the Big Ten and Pac 12 announced plans to resume play. CUSA was a league that had stuck with the original plan to play through the pandemic. The return has been a mixed bad, with plenty of cancellations and lots of infections for one reason or another. This week both FAU and Charlotte had to postpone their games against Georgia Southern and North Carolina, respectively.
FAU announced the cancellation yesterday. Charlotte announced on Thursday. Rice’s opener is scheduled for the 24 of October. Things are messy in this league right now. The good news, is that there is a little national TV shine coming.
WKU hosts Liberty
Magnet for controversy Liberty U travels to Bowling Green for the team’s third all-time meeting. Liberty leads 2-0, having won in 1996 the last time these two played. WKU played well in spots against Louisville last week, but this game should be more their speed. They impressed in Ty Helton’s first season in charge, and we should learn a little more about this team in this one.
ESPNU 11am CT
Marshall Hosting #23 App State
Hey, a top-25 team traveling to Huntington, WV for a big game on big CBS. That’s network television y’all. The last time these two played App State was an FCS squad and Marshall hurt them 50-17 in 2002 at the Joan. This should be a great game between two good teams. Marshall shut out EKU 59-0 in the opener, while App State beat CUSA squad Charlotte 35-20.
CBS 3:30 ET
UTSA hosts SFA
The Alamodome is a dome and it could have the largest gathering of people in the United States since the pandemic shut everything down. This could be a precedent in how to manage safe crowd gatherings or a complete disaster.
UTSA won an epic game vs Texas State last week, while the Lumberjacks lost to UTEP in the opener 24-14. This is the first meeting of the two programs.
ESPN3 2pm CT
MTSU hosts Troy
Troy and Middle used to meet all the time as part of the Sun Belt conference. Middle leads 12-8 all time, and the last time they met Middle won 24-21 at home. Perhaps to make up for missed time, (this is a joke) they will be playing twice this season.
ESPN2 3pm CT
North Texas and SMU
The “Safeway Bowl” between two Metroplex programs will be at Apogee. Read a break down here. North Texas is off a bye after beating HBU 57-31. The defense was a concern but after watching HBU put up big yards against Texas Tech, I don’t know. SMU looked rusty against Texas St, but the Bobcats gave UTSA a hard time. This should at least be entertaining.
SMU leads all time 32-6-1 and won last year 49-27 at the hilltop.
CBSSN 5pm CT
Tech vs Southern Miss in a League Game
Tech won 45-30 last year in Ruston, and that “snapped a four-year winning streak by Southern Miss”. This year both teams have little-to-no momentum. USM fired/forced out/accepted the resignation of Jay Hopson after their opening loss to USA, while Louisiana Tech has yet to play a game.
Southern Miss lost a lot of talent to transfer, but still has enough to put a good football team on the field. Tech is always talented but the roster turnover and pandemic postponements will make it difficult to guesstimate at what we will see.
USM leads the all time series 35-16-1.
ESPN2 630pm CT
Meanwhile in El Paso . . .
UTEP will host Abilene Christian. The Miners were embarrassed by UT in Austin last week, but do have a win on their resume. They look to add a second against another FCS squad.
ACU leads the all time series 3-2! They won the last time they met in 1959, 28-22.
ESPN3 7pm MT
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