The first big game of the day can be found in the Big Ten, where No. 10 Wisconsin heads to Iowa in desperate need of a win (on ESPN).
Losers of two in a row, the Badgers are already going to need help to win the West division, and a loss to the Hawkeyes would put them two games back of Iowa and potentially three behind still-undefeated Nebraska.
Meanwhile, Iowa still controls its own destiny despite hitting a rough patch over the last few weeks.
Also at noon: N.C. State travels to No. 7 Louisville (ABC) as an underdog of 19.5 points one week after nearly upsetting Clemson.
Indiana plays at Northwestern on BTN in a game that has high entertainment potential.
Mid-afternoon is full of ranked teams in action with the biggest game by far No. 6 Texas A&M at No. 1 Alabama.
Vegas is not too impressed with the Aggies, who are 18-point underdogs for the game on CBS.
On ESPN2 (in Big Ten country), No. 12 West Virginia host TCU. The Mountaineers are still hanging around looking to move into playoff contention as other teams fall by the wayside.
Two top 10 Big Ten teams are huge home favorites as No. 8 Nebraska hosts Purdue (ABC) and No. 3 Michigan gets a visit from Illinois (BTN).
During the interminable wait for Ohio State’s game at Penn State to kick off some time after 8 p.m. on ABC, check out No. 17 Arkansas at Auburn beginning at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
At 6:30, Oregon State is at No. 5 Washington on the Pac-12 Network nobody gets.
No. 23 Mississippi as at No. 25 LSU at 9 p.m. on ESPN if you need something else to help pass the time during those long night-game commercial breaks.
Everyone playing in the 10 p.m.-or-later window has at least two losses, so it’s not so much of a shame the Ohio State-Penn State game will probably not be over by midnight anyway.
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