While you wait for Ohio State vs. Penn State, there are other games to watch today

Alright, fam, the day is finally here. The No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes are in State College, Pa. to take on the No. 9 Penn State Nittany Lions. By the time the regular season is over, this game might be the one that we look back upon as the turning point between a season of what could be and a season of what could have been. This game is the biggest in the country, and could be the biggest of the season for these two teams. I don’t need to tell you, but this game is critical, this game is exciting, this game is important.

However, another thing to remember is that this game is at 7:30 p.m. ET, which means, much like with the TCU game earlier this season, we’re gonna have to wait through a litany of less critical, less exciting, less important games until we get to the game that we are all anxiously awaiting.

So, below is the complete schedule for today’s games, and I am going to highlight the few that could raise my pulse before OSU’s 7:30 kickoff.

12:00 noon ET Window

No. 12 West Virginia at No. 25 Texas Tech | ESPN2

Come for the points, stay for the points, and while you’re there, enjoy the points, points, points, points, points. I have no idea what the over is, but take it!

Syracuse at No. 3 Clemson | ABC

There is no reason to expect the Orange to upset Dabo’s Tigers for the second year in a row (although I am quickly becoming the president of the Dino Babers Stan Club), but considering that this is the first career start for Trevor Lawrence, following the transfer of Kelly Bryant, it will be interesting to see how Clemson handles the emotions of the moment.

3:30 p.m. ET Window

Pittsburgh at No. 13 UCF | ESPNU

I’m not saying that Pitt is going to upset the defending national champions, but this feels like the kind of game that could be tricky for the Knights. Save the 51-6 blowout against Penn State, the Panthers have played fairly well this season, but haven’t put it all together to have a great game yet. This would be a pretty good spot to finally do that.

Purdue at Nebraska | BTN

Could the Cornhuskers actually go winless in the first month of the Scott Frost era in Lincoln? Yes, yes they could. After Purdue had a rough start to their season losing their first three games by a combined eight points, they finally broke through with a huge 30-13 win over then-No. 22 Boston College. Next week Nebraska goes to Madison, Wisc., which likely is another L, so if the Huskers want to get into the win column before mid-October, they better do it today.

7:00-8:30 p.m. ET Window that you won’t watch, but could have on a second screen

Virginia Tech at No. 22 Duke | ESPN2 | 7:00 p.m.

No. 7 Stanford at No. 8 Notre Dame | NBC | 7:30 p.m.

No. 20 BYU at No. 11 Washington | FOX | 8:30 p.m.

Pac-12 After Dark Window

No. 19 vs. No. 24 California | FS1 | 10:30 p.m.

Hopefully by the time that this one is into the second quarter, we will all be celebrating another big Ohio State victory. If not, perhaps a bit of #Pac12AfterDark craziness will help cure our sadness. Since Hawaii is playing on the mainland today, this will be our last chance for that college football goodness that we all crave this week.