Weekend Game Guide: Liftoff

The Big Ten Season is upon us, and Michigan is kicking things off with one of their biggest matchups of the year—Wisconsin. Outside the Big Ten, there are other marquee matchups to watch including a Top-10 showdown in prime time.

B1G Games to Watch

No. 11 Michigan vs No. 13 Wisconsin. We’ll have plenty of preview coverage of Michigan’s matchup today and tomorrow, but let’s make one thing clear—this is the matchup this weekend in the Noon slot, and it’s the matchup of the weekend for Michigan fans. Wisconsin is a Top-10 team in the SP+, holds a Top-10 SP+ defense, and the No. 16 SP+ offense. Michigan checks in at No. 16 in the SP+, with the No. 1 defense but the No. 74 defense. Will Michigan pass its first big test of the season? We’ll find out starting at Noon on Fox.

Michigan State vs Northwestern. Northwestern is coming off a bounceback win against UNLV and Michigan State is coming off their first loss to Arizona State. Can Michigan State be the ones to bounce back when they go on the road to Northwestern? They’ll certainly need more offense, after mustering just seven points last week. If Northwestern jumps out to an early lead, they very well may be able to ride that advantage to victory. However, Michigan State has one of the best defenses in the country—so the ability of Northwestern to create opportunities and score points against that defense will likely decide this game. This game kicks off at Noon on ABC.

Nebraska vs Illinois. Based on the first few weeks of the season, it doesn’t appear likely that either of these teams will be key players in the race for the Big Ten West. With that being said, this game still figures to be a fun one to watch. Both Illinois and Nebraska have been able to put points on the scoreboard, with the teams averaging a little over 34.5 and 37.5 points per game, respectively. Both teams also tend to have trouble stopping opposing offenses as well. If you’re looking for a shootout in the 8:00 p.m. slot, this one shouldn’t be a bad bet on BTN.

National Games to Watch

No. 8 Auburn vs No. 17 Texas A&M. The rankings would suggest that Auburn is the better team in this matchup, but I’m not convinced that’s the case. Auburn didn’t look that great the first two weeks of the season, with only a six point win over No. 16 Oregon and then only an 18 point win over Tulane. I think they’re vulnerable here, and Texas A&M may just be the team to pull the upset. Texas A&M bounced back nicely from their 24-10 loss to No. 1 Clemson during Week 2 with a dominant win over Lamar last week. Maybe Auburn finds a way to pull out a win, but I like Texas A&M here in a close game. This game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. on CBS.

No. 7 Notre Dame vs No. 3 Georgia. In the only matchup of two Top-10 teams this weekend, Notre Dame and Georgia will face off at 8:00 p.m. on CBS. Notre Dame looked anemic at times in their opening matchup against Louisville before bringing the wood against New Mexico. Georgia looked pretty good against Vanderbilt before dominating more hapless opponents in Murray State and Arkansas State. Ultimately, I think Georgia wins this one—probably by multiple scores. Regardless, there are worse ways to spend your Saturday evening than watching these two teams face off.

The Grid

Just because we’ve highlighted the five games above doesn’t mean they’re the only ones on TV this weekend. Below, we have a list of every Big Ten and Top-25 game taking place this weekend. All games take place on Saturday, unless noted.

Think we missed a game that deserved to be highlighted? Sound off in the comments with the game and why.