Ohio State opens Big Ten Play in Week 2 of College Football action

It’s Saturday, and that means another full slate of honest to goodness, college football action! Obviously you don’t need me to tell you that the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes will open up their conference season when they take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at 3:30 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network, but there are a slew of other interesting games here in Week 2.

The first window of games is a little thin this week, but two of OSU’s biggest Big Ten competitors will be in action, so if you flip over to BTN at 12:00 noon ET, you’ll see B1G West favorite, No. 5 Wisconsin hosting New Mexico. Last week, the Lobos beat something called Incarnate Word 62-30, but will likely get a better game from the Badgers.

Then over on FS1, the No. 21 Michigan Wolverines will look to break their four-game losing streak when they host in-state directional rival Western Michigan. Like TTUN, the Broncos lost their Week 1 game, falling to Syracuse 55-42. While this seems like a mismatch on paper, don’t forget that Western Michigan has a history of playing Big Ten teams close in recent years. Last season— also in Week 2—, they lost just 28-14 in East Lansing, and in 2016 they beat both Northwestern and Illinois on the road, and fell to No. 8 Wisconsin 24-16 in the Cotton Bowl behind quarterback Zach Terrell.

So, I’m not saying that TTUN is going to drop its fifth straight game, but I’m not not saying that.

If you’re rocking a multi-screen set up for today’s action, obviously you’ll have OSU and Rutgers on the main screen, but you’ll probably want to have one of the others tuned to CBS as No. 3 Georgia travels to Columbia, S.C. to take on the No. 24 Gamecocks. Believe it or not, this is the only ranked vs. ranked matchup until we get to 8:30 p.m. ET. So, keep an eye on the SEC battle. The Bulldogs are a trendy pick to make the College Football Playoff for the second straight year, even if they don’t win the conference title. So, an early season loss should clear the way a little bit for the Buckeyes with a lot of football still to be played.

As afternoon turns to evening, on ABC No. 13 Penn State will try to reclaim some of its dignity after the Week 1 overtime win over Appalachian State as they visit Heinz Field to take on their in-state rival Pitt. Then at 8:30 p.m. ET on FOX, the aforementioned matchup between two ranked teams, as the Pac-12 season gets cooking when No. 17 USC visits the Farm to take on No. 10 Stanford. Both teams got comfortable, but not overly impressive, wins against Mountain West schools last week. This should be a good game as the squads try to assert some dominance against their inter-division foe.

And then, if you still need a late-night CFB fix, the No. 15 Michigan State Spartans will visit the Fightin’ Herm Edwardses in Tempe, Ariz. at 10:45 p.m. ET on ESPN. There was an entire offseason of jokes about Herm being hired at Arizona State, but his Sun Devils looked pretty good against an overmatched UTSA last week in a 49-7 victory. If ASU plays to win the game, and upsets Sparty— who struggled against Utah State in Week 1— some college football fans might need to find some crow to eat, and quickly.