Week 13 college football TV schedule and open thread: Thanksgiving holidays

Happy Thanksgivingl Alligator Army readers. I hope you’ll enjoy some good food and family this holiday week.

The Florida Gators host Florida State in their season-ending rivalry clash this weekend, but there is one college football game on Turkey Day this week, as well as several on deck for Friday. (And, I’d be remiss not to mention, Mike White’s Gators are in Portland for the PK80 Invitational those days as well.)

Feel free to hang out in this thread while watching any of Thursday or Friday’s games, or just to hang out, even.

Here are our picks for this week’s viewing windows:

Thursday, November 23

Ole Miss at Mississippi State (7:30 p.m., ESPN/WatchESPN): This is the only viewing option on Thanksgiving Day - well, the only Division I college football option anyway. This year’s Egg Bowl - the 114th edition - finds the No. 16 Bulldogs visiting the rival Rebels. Meeting for the 29th time on Turkey Day itself, Mississippi State will be playing for their ninth win, while Ole Miss hopes to end their season with a sixth. Even if the Rebels reach .500 on the year, they won’t be bowling due to a self-imposed postseason ban.

Friday, November 24

Games abound on this Friday after Thanksgiving, which is the day before the last regular season Saturday of the 2017 college football season. This isn’t the most inspired slate, but there are some potentially interesting match-ups - namely USF vs. UCF in the afternoon.

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

Miami at Pittsburgh (12:00 p.m., ABC/WatchESPN): The No. 2 Hurricanes hope to knock off the Panthers and finish the regular season undefeated for the first time since 2002. Four-loss Pitt doesn’t have much left to play for, and might not put up too much of a fight against the visiting ‘Canes - despite taking Virginia Tech down to the wire last week.

Missouri at Arkansas (2:30 p.m., CBS): The four-win Razorbacks, who will probably be in the market for a new coach shortly, host the bowl eligible Tigers in this recently contrived SEC East-West rivalry. Mizzou won just one of their first six games, before picking up five straight victories in which they averaged 52 points per game.

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

South Florida at Central Florida (3:30 p.m., ABC/WatchESPN): I’m actually going to be at this game, so while I’m selfishly hoping that this turns out to be the best game of the day, on paper it should be. The undefeated No. 13 Knights are hosting the one-loss No. 22 Bulls in the “War on I-4” with the AAC East Division on the line, as well as potentially a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl. The interest for Gator fans (ones who haven’t completely talked themselves into Chip Kelly or bust, anyway) is that this game pits two rumored and/or potential Florida coaching candidates against one another.

Iowa at Nebraska (4:00 p.m., FS1): Since the Huskers joined the Big Ten in 2011, they have met with the Hawkeyes on the Friday after Thanksgiving each year for the Heroes Trophy. Will this be Mike Riley’s last game at Nebraska? Which Iowa team will show up for this game - the one that trounced Ohio State, or the one that lost to Purdue?

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

Virginia Tech at Virginia (8:00 p.m., ESPN/WatchESPN): The Cavaliers gave Miami a scare last week, at least for a half, and are a surprisingly bowl eligible team this season. Virginia will look to build on that success by attempting to snap their 13 game losing streak to the visiting No. 24 Hokies. With Virginia Tech dropping two of their last three, and eking out the lone win among that trio, the ‘Hoos should be excited to potentially end their longtime rivalry skid.

Texas Tech at Texas (8:00 p.m., FOX): These two Lone Star State-based teams meet with some things on the line. For the Red Raiders, a win would make them bowl eligible, and potentially take some heat off of Kliff Kingsbury; who is much beloved by the locals, but has never won enough games to stave off concerns about his job security. The Longhorns already have collected six wins, but another would make Tom Herman’s first season at the helm a winning one, and that would give him a little more breathing room in Austin.

And here’s your schedule table.