Wisconsin-MSU, several SEC clashes highlight CFB weekend viewing guide

Can this first month of college football get any better? There’s only one way to find out.

We must watch as much football as possible this weekend.

After previewing the NFL schedule, here's your college football viewing guide.

NOON WINDOW

In continuing a season-long theme, there are ranked teams involved in intriguing games right off the bat Saturday.

Wisconsin travels to Michigan State, where the Spartans are five-point favorites in a game that might not actually feature any scoring on Big Ten Network.

RELATED: 7 things to know about the start of Big Ten conference play

It will be interesting to see how Wisconsin copes with playing a real conference team after skating by with weak crossover matchups the last couple of seasons. Will MSU suffer a hangover from its big win at Notre Dame last week?

Meanwhile, somehow-still-ranked Mississippi (No. 23) hosts No. 12 Georgia on ESPN.

MATINEE MATCHUPS

At 3:30, only two games feature ranked teams: No. 19 Florida at No. 14 Tennessee (CBS) and Penn State at Michigan (ABC).

If you’re a certain age you can remember when the Gators and Volunteers provided must-see television. Now they are threatening to set football back a few years before the loser slinks back into being less overrated, at least for one week.

The Nittany Lions travel to Ann Arbor hoping not to be run over by Jim Harbaugh’s team, which figures to have a huge advantage in the trenches and might be in a bad mood after starting slowly against Colorado.

Skill players such as Saquon Barkley could give PSU a puncher’s chance, but James Franklin’s teams have done very little to prove they can hang with the good teams in the Big Ten yet.

EVENING VIEWING

No. 18 LSU plays at disappointing Auburn at 6 p.m. on ESPN. Watch Leonard Fournette try to punish those other Tigers again at least until Stanford-UCLA start at 8 on ABC. The McCaffrey-Josh Rosen matchup at the Rose Bowl is intriguing.

At 9, No. 17 Arkansas goes to 10th-ranked Texas A&M in an early tone-setter in the SEC. Can the Aggies sustain their early momentum this time around?

MIDNIGHT MADNESS?

No. 9 Washington plays at Arizona at 10:30, but you probably can’t watch it since it’s on the Pac-12 Network.

Cal-Arizona State (10 p.m. on ESPN2) could be a good consolation.

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