How to watch Michigan vs. Northwestern, other top games in Week 8

The No. 6 Michigan Wolverines are coming off a bye and have their first home game in a month. Standing undefeated at 6-0, they’ll have to deal with the 3-3 Northwestern Wildcats to remain unbeaten before heading to East Lansing next week to face 7-0 Michigan State.

Here’s how to watch Michigan on Saturday, as well as a couple other games of interest.

Northwestern Wildcats at No. 6 Michigan Wolverines

• Date & Time: Saturday, Oct. 23, 12 p.m. ET
• Channel: FOX
• Location: Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Weather: 53 degrees, partly cloudy
• Betting Line: Michigan -23.5 -1.0, O/U: 51

Michigan is the heavy favorite, and for the right reasons. Northwestern has the No. 117 ranked rushing defense while Michigan has the 7th best rushing offense — quite a disparity. Northwestern got whooped 56-7 by Nebraska, but played better last week in a 21-7 win over Rutgers. Still, Michigan’s defense should get their licks in and the running game should flourish.

No. 8 Oklahoma State Cowboys at Iowa State Cyclones

• Date & Time: Saturday, Oct. 23, 3:30 p.m. ET
• Channel: FOX
• Location: Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa
• Weather: 58 degrees, partly cloudy
• Betting Line: Iowa State -7 O/U: 47

Iowa State is 4-2, Oklahoma State is 6-0. Iowa State is 16-2 in October since 2017, but both of those losses were to Oklahoma State. Iowa State’s losses have been to Iowa and Baylor, two decent teams, but is home field advantage enough for them to be the favorites in this one? I’m not so sure. Oklahoma State beat above mentioned Baylor, OSU head coach Mike Gundy just received a ‘perpetual’ five-year contract extension, so don’t expect the Cowboys to go down softly in this one. Cyclones’ QB Brock Purdy has shown flashes of being a quality NFL Draft prospect, but he’s had too many stinker games as well. This all could boil down to which Brock Purdy shows up.

No. 5 Ohio State at Indiana Hoosiers

• Date & Time: Saturday, Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m. ET
• Channel: ABC
• Location: Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana
• Weather: 65 degrees, partly sunny
• Betting Line: OSU -21 O/U: 59.5

Indiana quarterback Jack Tuttle single-handedly gave Michigan State a win last week, he fumbled, threw two picks, and looked downright atrocious. If Tuttle just didn’t cough it up or throw a pick six, the Hoosiers wouldn’t have lost 20-15. Ohio State hasn’t looked great this year, IU head coach Tom Allen knows how to get his team prepared, but they haven’t beat the Buckeyes since the late 80’s and it would take a miracle for that to change on Saturday. Still, this is an interesting matchup for a Michigan fan to watch because the Wolverines will be facing both squads in November.

Honorable mentions

• No. 22 San Diego State at Air Force (CBSSN, 7 p.m. ET): Former Michigan head coach Brady Hoke has SDSU competitive and undefeated at 6-0 and are playing a 6-1 Air Force team coming off an impressive road win against Boise State. Expect a whole lot of running in this one, but it could be a very fun and highly competitive game.
• USC at No. 13 Notre Dame (NBC, 7:30 p.m. ET): Yes, this is a rivalry. No, USC isn’t good anymore, but they could still beat an overrated ND team.
• Oregon at UCLA (ABC, 3:30 p.m. ET): Oregon is 5-1, UCLA is 5-2. Former Michigan running back Zach Charbonnet has been having a great season for the Bruins, Oregon beat Ohio State this year and are wearing ‘egg shell’ uniforms in this one. These are good enough reasons to check the game out for a minute or sixty.