Last week’s slate of college football wasn’t stellar, but the Saturday games ended up being much more entertaining than most of us would’ve expected thanks to some major struggles from Power 5 teams against what should’ve been vastly inferior opponents (sup Nebraska?). This week’s slate isn’t exactly loaded with top 25 match-ups either, but the start of conference play in the major conferences promises a long list of very watchable games. Let’s dive in.

Thursday

Things get started tonight with Temple at #21 South Florida and South Carolina State at North Carolina Central. USF/Temple kicks off at 6:30 on ESPN and SCS/NCC kicks off at the same time on ESPNU. Thursday is, of course, light due to the NFL matchup between the Rams and the 49ers, which kicks off at 7:25 on NFL Network. Iowa fans may have a particular interest in catching some of these 49ers games, says our own JP Scott. Maybe this could be the night C.J. Beathard is unleashed to the NFL for real.

Friday

Friday brings us a pair of televised games to compete with your high school football slate. Virginia is at Boise State at 7 on ESPN2. FS1 has your late night Pac 12 craving covered with #23 Utah at Arizona starting at 9:30.

Saturday

As usual, the Saturday games get kicked off at 11am CT. Somehow though, the full slate of games in the morning time slot includes only one Big Ten game. That’s #10 OSU hosting UNLV on BTN. ABC and ESPN2 will be mirroring based on location so check your local listings. You’ll find #12 Florida State hosting NC State and Texas Tech at Houston on one of those two channels. ESPN has Texas A&M at Arkansas and ESPNU will have West Virginia at Kansas.

In the early afternoon, you can catch Maryland hosting UCF on FS1. That kicks off at 2pm CT. In the standard 2:30 window, you have #1 Alabama at Vanderbilt on CBS. ABC has #5 USC at Cal. Over on ESPN you can catch probably the best matchup in the time slot in #16 TCU at #6 Oklahoma State. The Cowboys and QB Mason Rudolph have looked like the real deal so far.

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ESPN2 has Boston College at #2 Clemson. BTN has a split of Georgia Southern at Indiana and Rutgers at Nebraska in the first annual Dumpster Fire Trophy Game. ESPNU has Duke at UNC if you’re into watching really good basketball schools play football.

Continuing the trend of different start times, FOX has #8 Michigan at Purdue starting at 3pm CT. Purdue has looked damn good to this point so this could be an interesting one to follow.

The early evening gives us #3 Oklahoma at Baylor on FS1. That kicks off at 5:30 CT. At 6pm, ESPN has #17 Mississippi State at #11 Georgia. At the same time you can catch Syracuse at #25 LSU on ESPN2. A half hour later, you’ve got #15 Auburn at Missouri on ESPNU (for the math majors, that’s a 6:30 p.m. CT kick).

As with all other weeks this year, the prime time slot on ABC changes start times depending on the conferences involved. You should all be aware of who’s playing in that slot this week. It is, of course, your Iowa Hawkeyes hosting the #4 Penn State Nittany Lions. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT, given it’s a Big Ten game.

At 7, NBC Michigan State plays host to Notre Dame on FOX. In the late games, you’ve got #7 Washington at Colorado kicking off at 9pm CT on FS1. ESPN2 has Hawaii paying a visit to our old pal Josh Allen and the Wyoming Cowboys at 9:15. At 9:30, UCLA is at Stanford on ESPN.

Sunday

Whoa, thought you were done on Saturday? Not so fast, my friends! Don’t ask me why, but there is a college football game this Sunday and you better believe the folks at ESPN are here for that money grab. At 11am, right at the tail end of that NFL in London matchup between the Ravens and Jaguars (kickoff at 8:30am CT but isn’t on TV - you need the NFL Mobile app or can watch online here), ESPNU will bring you East Carolina at UCONN (because, you know, they wouldn’t want to put that on the mothership and move around the NFL countdown show). I could get used to Sunday morning football, be it NFL in Europe or the college variety. It’s a bit strange this week, but I’m all in on more football.

Here is a full listing of all the games and where to watch. Note that all times listed here are EASTERN.

On to the drinking portion of this weekly journey (you did wait to drink until now, right?). This one’s a night game, so I recommend pacing yourself for the Iowa game. Either drink something light on the ABV or just mix in some water here and there. If you’re going to be in Iowa City, as I am, that’s especially true. Temps are expected to be in the 90s again throughout the day. I’d expect game time temps closer to 80 (with a high of 92 yesterday, it was 85 and muggy at 6:30), so hydration is key.

But, as you get closer to game time (or perhaps post-game), it may be good to just go for it. I’m hopeful Iowa can hang with Penn State and Saquon Barkley, but I have my doubts. So inebriation may be warranted.

Image via pikfly.com

Luckily, Bell’s Third Coast Old Ale is a Barley Wine (maybe we can call it a Barkley wine?) that packs a punch with an ABV north of 10. Just enough to help you forget if things go south or really have a good time if they don’t.

Oh, and I dig the Old Ale name for a matchup with an old power like PSU who is back on the rise. Hopefully Iowa can use some of their old magic against the Nittany Lions and other top 5 teams to pull out a W. Happy drinking and go Hawks!