At the start of every season a slew of games are circled as must-see TV, but as the year grinds on, games arise which gain importance from the teams playing them as opposed to reputation and past victories. Here are five of the biggest games left this season that certainly weren’t on anyone’s big-game radar back in August.
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1: CALIFORNIA at UTAH (SATURDAY)
No one pegged California and Utah as the last two undefeated teams in the Pac-12, but that’s just what they are. The Bears will travel east to play the Utes in this weekend’s GameDay game. This game will earn no one a tiebreaker in the league race, but it holds huge national implications. Whichever team wins here will start to entertain serious playoff aspirations. It’ll be a heck of a party in Salt Lake City.
2: IOWA at NORTHWESTERN (OCTOBER 17)
Who would have thought that this game would have the implications it does for the Big Ten West? Iowa has already put Wisconsin away, and Northwestern handled Minnesota with ease this weekend. Nebraska is a mess, leaving the West in an anything-but-familiar position. The Wildcats have a stern test at Michigan this weekend, and Iowa gets a sneaky-good Illinois team in Iowa City. Both teams miss Ohio State and Michigan State in the crossover games, so expect the winner of this one to gain the inside track in the Big Ten West.
3: OLE MISS at MEMPHIS (OCTOBER 17)
October 17 is shaping up to be the biggest Saturday of the month, and this game will be appointment viewing. Scheduled years ago as a giveback by the Rebels to the Memphis community, which features a large Ole Miss alumni base, this has become a contest with big implications for both. Ole Miss can get a nice feather in its cap for beating the class of the Group of Five schools in its yard, and a win by the Tigers keeps them in the running for the four-seed come playoff time. This game could be the 2015 version of the truly epic 2005 game between USC and Fresno State.
4: NOTRE DAME at TEMPLE (HALLOWEEN)
If you say you pegged this game as a big one back in the preseason, I have a bridge to sell you. Temple’s rise continues to grow and snowball by the week. The Owls sit at 4-0, atop the American Athletic Conference’s East division. They have three very winnable games, against UCF, Tulane, and ECU, and could roll into the Notre Dame game 7-0 and ranked nationally. This is a program that was expelled from the Big East just 11 years ago.
Notre Dame plays Navy and USC before Temple and could pick up another loss. Navy’s triple option has given Brian Kelly’s team fits in the past, and the big rivalry game with USC means all bets are off. Either way, this would be the biggest college football game in Temple history if the Owls could enter it 7-0. A fun time will be had at Lincoln Financial regardless, but high stakes will accompany this game.
5: MEMPHIS’S NOVEMBER
Sure, this is a cop-out, but undefeated Memphis has been at the forefront of this exciting American Athletic Conference season, and, if they can survive Ole Miss, the Tigers would step into a November which is essentially a murderer’s row of games. The Tigers host Navy before traveling to Houston and Temple on consecutive weeks. That’s all the other undefeated teams in the AAC at this point in the season, all lined up in a row. The football in Memphis has been top notch this season, and Paxton Lynch has been a star at quarterback.
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California at Utah? Notre Dame at Temple?
Memphis occupying one of several November spotlights?
Isn’t it amazing when a college football season is full of surprises?
