Can we really already be five weeks into the College Football season? So far we’ve seen #3 lose (twice), #4 lose, #5 lose, #6 lose, and #7 lose—so we could be looking at 2007 all over again. Or a Texas/Florida title game, which would make me throw up, because 5 weeks of Tebow/McCoy banter would be terrible. (ESPN would love it and I would do my best to forget the channel for that month).

Now onto Week 5; let us all hope that everyone has at least one loss by Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, September 30^th

ESPN brings us Wednesday night football this week (a week earlier than normal, they usually wait until the baseball playoffs since TBS forced them out of the broadcast contract). Now, this Hawaii/La Tech game will allow Lou Holtz to annoy America for 3 hours and for those hoping to see Boise St lose, you can see if Hawaii has anything at all.

Hawaii @ Louisiana Tech (ESPN2, 8pm) – Rece Davis, Mark May, Lou Holtz, Rob Stone

Thursday, October 1^st

Two games on Thursday, but only one most of America can see, as ESPN rolls the Thursday night party into Morgantown, WV. This game should be terrible because Colorado is terrible. By the way, what is with Erin Andrews? The glasses were apparently a one-time test during the Saturday game in Week 3—or maybe they’re for day games only. (I have no idea why I am fascinated by this, because Wendi Nix looked better in glasses than EA.)

• Colorado @ West Virginia (ESPN, 7:30pm) – Chris Fowler, Craig James, Jesse Palmer, Erin Andrews
• Southern Mississippi @ Alabama-Birmingham (CBS College Sports, 8pm) – Dave Ryan, Akbar Gbaja-Biamila

Friday, October 2^nd

If you haven’t gotten enough you can watch Pitt and Louisville be terrible on ESPN2. I will not watch this, and you should not either. BYU gets relegated to the Mountain West Channel that I have neither seen nor care to.

• Pittsburgh @ Louisville (ESPN2, 8pm) – Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore
• Utah State @ 21 Brigham Young (MTN, 9pm) – Bill Doleman, Blaine Fowler, Toby Christensen

Saturday, October 3^rd

Gameday is in Boston for BC/FSU: ESPN will do a huge feature on BC Linebacker Mark Herzlick and his battle with cancer. This is also like a home game for ESPN and with no huge games this weekend I can see the Finance department driving this decision.

Anyway, there are three interesting games in the early window on Saturday, as the Big 11 takes over the airwaves. First, ESPN gives you another chance to check out TCF Bank stadium as Wisconsin sees if they can win on the road in conference this year. On the Deuce, let’s see if Iowa lets down when Arkansas State comes to Kinnick Stadium; big letdown spot for the Hawkeyes. Finally, Michigan leaves Ann Arbor to go to East Lansing and play the disappointing Spartans who usually play well in this rivalry game, but the noon start might hurt the home-field advantage.

• Wisconsin @ Minnesota (ESPN, Noon) – Dave Pasch, Bob Griese, Chris Spielman
• Arkansas State @ 17 Iowa (ESPN2, Noon) – Pam Ward, Ray Bentley
• Clemson @ Maryland (ESPNU, Noon) – Clay Matvick, David Diaz-Infante
• East Carolina @ Marshall (CBS College Sports, Noon) – Tom Hart, Aaron Taylor
• Michigan @ Michigan State (BTN, Noon) – Wayne Larrivee, Chris Martin, Charissa Thompson
• Northwestern @ Purdue (BTN, Noon) – Ari Wolfe, Anthony Herron, Tony McGee
• Alabama @ Kentucky (SEC Network, Noon) – Dave Neal, Andre Ware, Cara Capuano (Will Air on FS Detroit; CSN Bay Area, Washington; Comcast Network; MSG)
• South Florida @ Syracuse (Big East Network, Noon) – Mike Gleason, John Congemi, Quint Kessenich (Will Air on CST, MASN)
• Virginia @ North Carolina (Raycom, Noon) – Steve Martin, Rick Walker, Mike Hogewood
• Toledo @ Ball State (ESPN Plus, Noon) – Michael Reghi, Doug Chapman
• Virginia Tech @ Duke (ESPN360, Noon) – Dave Weekley, Danny Kanell
• Cincinnati @ Miami-OH (ESPN360, 1pm) – Jim Barbar, Bob Chmiel

In the 3:30 Eastern window, there are three games worth watching (if you have GamePlan you can see all of them). ABC Regional coverage divides the country with the game from Boston that no one should watch, along with Penn State at Illinois another game you should avoid after I overloaded you on Big 11 games early on. So, I would suggest Washington and ND on the Notredame Broadcasting Company or UCLA at Stanford on ABC if you want to scout future USC opponents. Also at 3:30pm eastern the SEC game of the week on CBS is LSU @ Georgia. LSU is the newly anointed #4 team and will they blow a Top 5 match-up next week in Baton Rouge with Florida.

• Kansas State v. Iowa State (FCS Central, 3pm) – Dan McLaughlin, Yogi Roth, Samantha Steele
• Louisiana State @ Georgia (CBS, 3:30pm) – Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, Tracy Wolfson
• Washington @ Notre Dame (NBC, 3:30pm) – Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Alex Flanagan
• Penn State @ Illinois (ABC/ESPN2, 3:30pm) – Mike Patrick, Craig James, Heather Cox
• Florida State @ Boston College (ABC/ESPN2, 3:30pm) – Sean McDonough, Matt Millen, Holly Rowe
• UCLA @ Stanford (ABC, 3:30pm) – Dave Lamont, David Norrie
• New Mexico @ Texas Tech (FSN, 3:30pm) – Bill Land, Gary Reasons, Emily Jones
• North Carolina State @ Wake Forest (ESPNU, 3:30pm) – Todd Harris, Charles Arbuckle
• Air Force @ Navy (CBS College Sports, 3:30pm) – Craig Bolerjack, Randy Cross
• Florida International @ Louisiana-Monroe (Sun Belt TV, 3:30pm) – Todd Kalas, Derek Rackley (Will Air on CSS, CST)
• Western Michigan @ Northern Illinois (CSN Chicago, 3:30pm) – Dave Kaplan, Bob Chmiel, Jim Blaney
• Memphis @ Central Florida (Bright House, 3:30pm) – Drew Fellios, Mark Royals, Dave Baumann
• Central Michigan @ Buffalo (Time Warner-NY, 3:30pm) – Howard Simon, Brian Koziol
• Ohio @ Bowling Green (BCSN, 4pm) – Greg Franke, Tom Cole

This weekend we do not get a late game on FSN so we have three windows of action. In the evening window, there are again 3 games that I would recommend. First, on ESPN2 at 7pm Eastern, Texas A&M and Arkansas from Jerry World in Arlington, Texas. This is the 2nd college game Jerry Jones has bought to bring to his stadium and this one involves his beloved Razorbacks who will see if they can stop the Aggie offense that has been scoring at will against three cupcakes in College Station.

At 8pm ABC screws the country again by regionalizing the OU/Miami game and SC at Cal. Find a place showing both or if you have GamePlan enjoy flipping back and forth. ESPN has an SEC night game; let’s see if Lane Kiffin can win a conference game and prove that Auburn hasn’t really played anyone yet.

• Oregon State @ Arizona State (Versus, 7pm) – Ron Thulin, Kelly Stouffer, Lewis Johnson
• Mississippi @ Vanderbilt (ESPNU, 7pm) – Eric Collins, Brock Huard
• South Carolina State @ South Carolina (ESPN Classic, 7pm) – Bob Wischusen, Brian Griese
• Ohio State @ Indiana (BTN, 7pm) – Craig Coshun, Glen Mason, Rebecca Haarlow
• Texas A&M v. Arkansas (ESPN2, 7:30pm) – Mark Jones, Bob Davie
• Tulsa @ Rice (CBS College Sports, 7:30pm) – Jason Knapp, Akbar Gbaja-Biamila
• Georgia Tech @ Mississippi State (SEC Network, 7:30pm) – Doug Bell, Chris Doering (Will Air on CSS, CST)

Auburn @ Tennessee (ESPN, 7:45pm) – Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge, Erin Andrews

• USC @ California (ABC, 8pm) – Ron Franklin, Ed Cunningham
• Oklahoma @ Miami (ABC, 8pm) – Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Lisa Salters
• Southern Methodist @ Texas Christian (MTN, 8pm) – James Bates, Todd Christensen, Cash Sirois
• UC-Davis @ Boise State (KTVB/CSN California, 8pm) – Mark Johnson, Tom Scott, David Augusto
• Washington State @ Oregon (OSN/CSN Northwest, 9:15pm) – Joe Giansante, Anthony Newman
• Colorado State @ Idaho (ESPNU, 10:30pm) – Carter Blackburn, Jon Berger

As always, thanks to Awful Announcing for this weekend’s schedule.