We’ve finally reached the one weekend in college football that makes it all worth it. For 364 days, you hate your rival at a distance, taking jabs on social media, laughing at their failure and cursing their successes. Batcut Thanksgiving weekend is when everything comes to a head. Your team takes the field with the sole entity in the college football world you hate the most. These are the games that birth legends and change the entire fortunes of seasons. We can’t wait to watch.
All times Eastern. All games Saturday unless otherwise noted. Watch college football with Fubo.
Definitely good
UTSA vs. Tulane (3:30 p.m., Friday, ABC)
It’s not a rivalry game, but it will decide one spot in the AAC championship game. Both coaches will be hot commodities on the coaching market. A battle between Frank Harris and Michael Pratt that’s a de facto conference semifinal game? We’re in.
Oregon vs. Oregon State (8:30 p.m., Friday, Fox)
The last guaranteed Civil War gives Oregon State the opportunity to do the funniest thing possible. As their ancient blood rival heads to the exits in the Pac-12, what would be sweeter than sending them out with a loss and knocking them out of the conference and national title races at the same time? As if they needed extra incentive to play spoiler, they’ve got it in spades.
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch/USA TODAY NETWORK
Ohio State vs. Michigan (Noon, FOX)
No game has been more anticipated on the college football calendar than this game, and that’s before we add the stakes of Jim Harbaugh’s continued absence. Both teams are undefeated, both teams have designs on the Playoff, and both teams hate each other. It’s rivalry football at the highest level.
Sneaky good (or at least with something of notable intrigue)
Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State (7:30 p.m., Thursday, ESPN)
Few rivalries deliver sheer chaos like the Egg Bowl. After you’re done eating turkey and you’re looking for a nightcap to wind down with, the battle for the Golden Egg is a great way to end your Thanksgiving day.
James Madison vs. Coastal Carolina (3:30 p.m., ESPN2)
James Madison has been riding as high as any team in the country with their righteous crusade against the NCAA for bowl eligibility. There was an under the radar theory that the Sun Belt could just put the Dukes in the conference championship game anyway, but in order for that extremely unlikely possibility to even come to fruition, the Dukes have to qualify for that game. They won’t if they lose to the Chants.
Florida State vs. Florida (7 p.m., ESPN)
No Jordan Travis for Florida State is the gut punch of all gut punches for a Seminoles team that has national title aspirations. They head to Gainesville to play a Gators team that has its own issues at quarterback to sort out. It could be a low scoring game in the Swamp.
Washington vs. Washington State (4 p.m., Fox)
The last Apple Cup in the Pac-12 sees Washington State enter with plenty of lost steam following a promising start to the season. The Huskies are in the Playoff top four for the first time this weekend, and looking to prove they belong there with an emphatic victory.
Clemson vs. South Carolina (7:30 p.m., SEC Network)
The Tigers haven’t had the season they hoped, and last year in some ways the loss to South Carolina was a canary in the coal mine for what was about to come. A loss here would calcify how much ground they’ve ceded in their own state.
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Well, it’s certainly better than watching not football
- Missouri vs. Arkansas (4 p.m., Friday, CBS)
- Air Force vs. Boise State (4 p.m., Friday, FS1)
- North Carolina vs. NC State (8 p.m., ACC Network)
- Notre Dame vs. Stanford (7 p.m., Pac-12 Network)
