Week 9 college football TV schedule and open thread

The Florida Gators will be back on the field today after their bye week hiatus, but there are a multitude of games for you to peruse before and after that one.

This week, conference play abounds and for whatever reason, several ranked games are situated in the 3:30 p.m. time slot, including a top-six tango between Penn State and Ohio State. Of course, Florida will face Georgia in that same section of the day, in a game from Jacksonville which will air on CBS.

Feel free to hang out in this thread while watching any of today’s games.

Here are our picks for today’s viewing windows:

Early (12:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Eastern)

Oklahoma State at West Virginia (12:00 p.m., ABC/WatchESPN): Nearly every week this season I’ve made some comment in this post about the legions of wistful Gator fans watching Will Grier with the No. 22 Mountaineers. I know it isn’t everyone, but there are generally always a few comments around the interwebs about his play in contrast to the Gators’ after his outings with WVU. The Grier-eers are the showcase game of the noon slot today, so I’m sure many longing (or angry) eyes will be cast upon West Virginia as they host the No. 11 Cowboys, in the time slot right before Florida faces likely one of the strongest Georgia teams they have seen in recent memory.

Arkansas at Ole Miss (12:00 p.m., SECN / WatchESPN): The rest of the noon schedule isn’t so hot, as evidenced by my including the battle for the bottom of the SEC West here. Bret Bielema’s squad is winless in the SEC and has suffered a rash of injuries which see them without starters at QB, WR, C, and RB. The Rebels lost their starting signal caller themselves last week, and will turn to a junior college transfer against the Razorbacks.

Louisville at Wake Forest (12:00 p.m., ACCN / WatchESPN): Each of these ACC teams has three losses and similar records. The Cardinals still have a potentially potent offense with Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson, and Wake Forest has been solid all season, even in their losses. This game may not bring the excitement of other match-ups, but it may prove competitive.

In other games: No. 8 Miami visits one-win North Carolina (12:00 p.m.), and a Texas team searching for a win plays at winless Baylor(12:00 p.m.).

Afternoon (3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern)

You’ll obviously be watching Florida take on Georgia in Jacksonville, at 3:30 p.m. on CBS.

In other games: The 3:30 p.m. slot is the hot spot this weekend for whatever reason, with three ranked-on-ranked match-ups in that time slot. No. 2 Penn State visits No. 6 Ohio State, No. 4 TCU heads to No. 25 Iowa State, and No. 14 NC State is at No. 9 Notre Dame.

Evening (7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Eastern)

Mississippi State at Texas A&M (7:15 p.m., ESPN/WatchESPN): The Bulldogs and Aggies meet in a fight for the eventual second spot in the SEC West. State has been uneven, falling flat against Georgia and Auburn, before blowing out an abysmal BYU squad and a decent Kentucky team. The Aggies boast two losses themselves, a collapse to UCLA in their opener and a better-than-expected showing against Alabama. Texas A&M will be sporting alternate uniforms for the occasion.

Tennessee at Kentucky (7:30 p.m., SECN/WatchESPN): This is a particularly tricky spot on the Butch Jones farewell tour. There has been speculation that Jones might not make it back to Knoxville with his job if the Vols, who are winless in conference, drop this one. It doesn’t help that the Volunteers’ leader in rushing and receptions, RB John Kelly, is suspended. The Wildcats haven’t defeated Tennessee since 2011, and would become bowl eligible with a win.

Texas Tech at Oklahoma (8:00 p.m., ABC/ESPN2/WatchESPN): You can watch the Red Raiders visit the No. 10 Sooners for the offense, or for the repeated mentions of former Texas Tech walk-on QB Baker Mayfield’s sometimes contentious journey to Oklahoma. Other connections you’ll certainly hear about - OU head coach Lincoln Riley was also once a Red Raider walk-on (for Mike Leach), back when current Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury was a senior signal caller there.

In other games: Georgia Tech visits No. 7 Clemson (8:00 p.m.), and the late late shift features No. 15 Washington State at Arizona (9:30 p.m.) and No. 21 USC at Arizona State (10:45 p.m.).

And here’s your schedule table.