Nov 23, 2011

College Football Viewer's Guide Thanksgiving Weekend Smorgasbord

Games ranked on a scale of what you must do to watch it
0* - Truly insufferable games that will be blowouts. The only way you do watch is if you go to the game in person (even this can be a stretch) or if something is going horribly awfully wrong for the favored team (think Michigan against Appalachian St.).
1* - Games that really shouldn't be televised. Likely some sort of grizzly blowout or a low quality game that is only on basically because it can be. Hard even for people like me to stomach for the entire game.
2* - Casual fans should only watch if its their team or they are watching with hardcore fans. Hardcore fans, you know you will watch, but if other plans get in the way then so be it.
3* - A solid matchup that has the potential to have an impact. The hardcore college football fan will watch no matter and the casual fan will find quite a bit of enjoyment out of this game.
4* - Well worth building a day around and if you are a fan of a specific team these can trump a five-star game. Most weeks have at least one of these if not two or three, sometimes more depending on the circumstances.
5* - Everything possible. If this means watching on your phone at a wedding, you do it. If this means working all night on either a work or school project on Friday and/or Saturday, you do it. There aren't too many of these in any given year. Last season included all of four regular season games that fit (Boise St.-Virginia Tech, Oregon-Stanford, Auburn-LSU, Auburn-Alabama). These are rare indeed.

All games are Saturday unless otherwise noted and times are PACIFIC TIME

As a note, rivalry games on rivalry week get an extra start unless that star would promote the game the game 5*. Games must earn 5* on their own. Be sure to check the game days in addition to the times as there are a lot of Friday games over Thanksgiving. Also, with so many games on over the weekend, many announcers will pull double duty, working games on both Friday and Saturday.

5* Games
LSU vs Arkansas, CBS 11:30AM Fri; Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson

4* Games
Tulsa vs Houston, FSN 9AM Fri; Ron Thulin, J.C. Pearson
Michigan vs Ohio St., ABC 9AM; Dave Pasch, Chris Spielman
Virginia vs Virginia Tech, ABC/ESPN2 12:30PM; Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore (sorry Va Tech, you're obviously going to lose because of the presence of Tessitore)
Georgia Tech vs Georgia, ESPN 9AM; Mark Jones, Ed Cunningham
Wisconsin vs Penn St., ESPN 12:30PM; Sean McDonough (assuming he gets back from Hawaii with his voice still intact after the Maui Invitational), Matt Millen
Auburn vs Alabama, CBS 12:30PM; Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson
Stanford vs Notre Dame, ABC 5PM; Brent Musberger, Kirk Herbstreit
South Carolina vs Clemson, ESPN 4:45PM; Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge
Florida vs Florida St., ESPN2 4PM; Bob Wischusen, Bob Davie
USC vs UCLA, FSN 7PM; Craig Bolerjack, Joel Klatt

3* Games
Texas A&M vs Texas, ESPN 5PM Thur; Rece Davis, Craig James, Jesse Palmer (The Craig James penalty is in full effect)
Nebraska vs Iowa, ABC 9AM Fri; Bob Wischusen, Bob Davie
West Virginia vs Pittsburgh, ESPN 4PM Fri; Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore
Oklahoma vs Iowa St., FX 9AM; Gus Johnson, Charles Davis

2* Games
South Florida vs Louisville, ESPN2 8AM Fri; Dave Lamont, Ray Bentley
Northern Illinois vs Eastern Michigan, ESPNU 8AM Fri; Justin Kutcher, Tom Luginbill
Oregon vs Oregon St., ABC/ESPN2 12:30PM; Carter Blackburn, Brock Huard
Wake Forest vs Vanderbilt, ESPNU 12:30PM; Rob Stone, Danny Kanell
Missouri vs Kansas (in Kansas City), FSN 12:30PM; Joel Meyers, Brian Baldinger
Northwestern vs Michigan St., BTN 9AM; Eric Collins, Chris Martin
Kentucky vs Tennessee, SEC Network 9AM; Dave Neal, Andre Ware
Ole Miss vs Mississippi St., ESPNU 4PM; Clay Matvick, Brian Griese
Baylor vs Texas Tech (in Dallas), FSN 4PM; Bill Land, Dave Lapham
Washington vs Washington St., Versus 4:30PM; Ted Robinson, Glenn Parker (a crew that is likely happy to be out of the ghetto that is the Pac-12 South, where this crew has resided for most of the season)

1* Games
Miami vs Boston College, ABC 12:30PM Fri; Rob Stone, Danny Kanell
Utah vs Colorado, FSN 12:30PM Fri; Craig Bolerjack, Joel Klatt
Arizona St. vs Cal, ESPN 7PM Fri; Mike Patrick, Craig James (James penalty in effect)
Central Florida vs UTEP, CBS Sports 4PM Fri; Dave Ryan, Doug Chapman
Connecticut vs Rutgers, ESPN2 9AM; Beth Mowins, Mike Bellotti
Marshall vs East Carolina, CBS Sports 12:30PM; James Bates, Aaron Taylor
SMU vs Rice, FSN 9AM; Ron Thulin, J.C. Pearson
Minnesota vs Illinois, BTN 12:30PM; Tom Hart, Derek Rackley
Indiana vs Purdue, BTN 12:30PM; Matt Devlin, Glen Mason
NC State vs Maryland, ACC Network 9:30AM; Tim Brant, Dave Archer

0* Games
none

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