WAKE UP! Saturday Morning schedule, viewing guide, and why-to-watch

As the subhead says, “stuff is gonna’ happen today.” And stuff already happened this week. We should have known what kind of week it would be when 1-win South Alabama went to Sun Belt favorite Troy and dominated on Thursday. Then, last night No. 2 Clemson got dominated on the road by .500 Syracuse. The game was not as close as its 27-24 final. THEN in the #Pac12AfterDark segment, No. 7 Washington State went on a relatively tame roadie to .500 Cal and were absolutely demolished in every way imaginable, 37-3. And Wazzu forced five turnovers. Yikes.

Best news? This weekend slate is one that sets up for a whole lot more weirdness. Gameday is...hell, I don’t know where Gameday is this week. Turn on ESPN. Below is your schedule in Eastern Time. Here’s what we’re watching this morning and why — it is surprisingly full of import.

No. 6. TCU at Kansas State (+6.5) 12 EST

The Frogs have had a whole lot of time to read about how good they are lately. And, after a two-week swing that saw them dethrone WVA and Okie Lite, they draw an extremely frustrating road game against the Wildcats. Snyder almost got a pelt last week with its molasses style of play. TCU was vulnerable to physical, deliberative play against the ‘Eers. This is an obvious upset candidate.

No. 17. Michigan at Indiana (+7.5) 12 EST

The Wolverines were dismantled last week in the rain at home by Sparty. They’ve not fared well on the road under Dadbaugh as it is. Worse, today’s road game is against the consummate pain in the butt known as the Hoosiers. The passing game needs to get healthy and the defense has to rebound quickly. Can IU, after years of flirting with the huge upset, finally get one? Wolvie has to have this game — it likely won’t be easy.

No. 24 Texas Tech at West Virginia (+3.5) 12 EST

This is a really intriguing game. The pollsters finally got around to acknowledging our point: Tech is surprisingly good this season. WVU has dropped two heartbreakers on the road against two teams with one-combined loss. Fortunately, this one is in the hostile couch-burning, rootin’ tootin’, liquor-fueled Morgantown valley. This is easily one of the hardest road swings in the Big 12. How far has Kliff come? Can Holgo rebound and get a ranked win under his belt? If the Tech D holds, this could be a surprisingly low scoring, hard hitting affair -- and I never thought I’d say that about a Kingsbury team. Don’t look to handicappers either: oddsmakers see this as essentially a pick ‘em, with WVU getting the 3ish-point home nod.

Florida State at Duke (+7.5) 12 EST

Reminder: Duke still has four Power Five wins. Florida State has one. It would be easy for the ‘Noles to give up on the season after the utter heartbreaker against the Canes last week, where FSU DC Kelly called a shallow cover-one press coverage with :06 left (and, predictably, Da U capitalized.) Et tu, Jimbo? For Duke, this is a needed win to try and position itself for a better bowl. FSU needs this game to make a bowl. You could not have convinced me that this was a season-making/breaking game in Labor Day. Yet, here we are.

South Carolina at Tennessee (-3) 12 EST

I love seeing the Vawls on the JP game, for the record. The Gamecocks are up and down but have shown a lot of promise at times. The Vawls gutted out a surprising win over GT in the season-opener, but it’s been all downhill from there. UT is coming off a bye, which was needed when Georgia walked in and ripped their sac off in Neyland. USC is coming in after demolishing Arkansas in as thorough a beating you’ll see in a cross-divisional SEC-East win. Safe to say, Butch Jones absolutely has to have this one at home. Meanwhile, the rebuild has begun in earnest in Columbia. Like Tech-’Eers, the oddsmakers have pegged this rivalry as a pick ‘em with the FG nod to the home Vawls. This is a classic case of two teams heading in opposite directions: Do the trends continue or can UT somehow reverse its coach-killing slide into the toilet?

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I’ll be back around 3:00 EST with our afternoon thread, viewing guide, and why-to-watch. Tell us which game you’re going to watch with the most interest this morning and take the poll...I’m genuinely curious about the results of this one.