Five Intriguing Games This Weekend – From The Bird’s Nest

When you get right down to it, pickings are a big slim in college football this week.  But there are a few worth noting.

(18) UCF (4-1, 1-0) (-4) at CINCINNATI (3-1, 0-0) FRIDAY 7pm ESPN--Yes, Cincinnati got blown out at Ohio State, but so has everyone else.  They've got a win over UCLA and they're capable of putting up some points.  UCF has finally lost a regular season game.  It's blackout night at Nippert Stadium and the winner of this game gets a leg up in the AAC East.  This could make for some pretty good Friday night viewing.

(14) IOWA (4-0 1-0) (+3') at (19) MICHIGAN (3-1, 1-1) 11:00am FOX--Michigan got dominated by Wisconsin for their first conference loss and this week won't be a walk in the park either.  The Hawkeyes have kind of flown under the Big 10 radar so far and this would certainly help Iowa's West title chances.  Can they win at the Big House against College Football's most overrated program?  We'll see.

TULANE (3-1) (-3) at ARMY (3-1)  11:00 am CBSSN--This one has plenty of layers to it.  Jeff Monken was a great coach at Georgia Southern.  Tulane's Willie Fritz was Monken's replacement.  There are members of the Tulane staff that were on Monken's staff at GS.  Both teams run the option, but run it differently.  Tulane definitely has more throwing capability.  Michie Stadium in October.  It doesn't get much better than this.  This is probably the non-Power 5 game of the week.

(7) AUBURN (5-0 2-0) (-3) at FLORIDA (5-0, 2-0) 2:30pm CBS--Both teams are about to get into the meat of their schedule.  I've been saying there are six teams with a legitimate chance to reach the College Football Playoff.  These two teams are in the second tier.  The Tigers have the toughest of all the SEC schedules, playing both Florida and Georgia along with the SEC West.  This is the battle for the "best of the rest."

(10) CENTRAL ARKANSAS (3-1, 1-0) (+2') at (15)  NICHOLLS (2-2, 1-0)  3:00pm --Along with Southeastern Louisiana, these are the best the Southland has to offer.  UCA has an FBS win over Western Kentucky and an out of conference win over Mark Hudspeth's Austin Peay team.  Chase Fourcade is a dynamic quarterback to lead the Colonels.  Amazingly, this is the first home game of the year for Tim Rebowe's club.  This is as good a matchup as their is in the FCS this week.