Bubble Watch: Are you OK, Oregon?
Sorry to keep saying this, but: It is extremely cool we now get to do 12-team bubble watch throughout the entire college football season. The tumultuous conference realignment of the last two years has its downsides, but this is not one of them.
Our full Week 3 Bubble Watch is here, and I want to highlight three games this weekend that could have a huge impact:
1. No. 9 Oregon at Oregon State
Can the Ducks keep getting away with close wins? They were expected to romp through the regular season, and in an extremely plausible alternate timeline, they are 0-2 right now. And these Beavers are better than Idaho. Oregon can definitely withstand a loss and still make the Playoff, but I’m becoming less sure they can make it through this schedule unscathed.
2. No. 20 Arizona at No. 14 Kansas State
K-State was also a pundit favorite heading into the year and barely escaped Tulane last weekend with a win. Arizona is 2-0 and has a superstar pairing of QB and WR. Our metric has the purple Wildcats as “in the mix” for a CFP berth, with the red Wildcats in the “keep an eye on” category. Whoever wins might get bumped up a spot.
3. No. 16 LSU at South Carolina
Look, I wish my Tigers weren’t here. The Gamecocks looked great in a blowout road win over Kentucky last weekend, but LSU didn’t really pass the eye test in a win at home over Nicholls State. Considering upcoming schedules, the loser here is all but out. Pressure. Sigh.
On the other side of pressure? USC, who beat LSU in the season opener and suddenly has a new outlook on life in the Big Ten. Plus the 2-0 Trojans are off this weekend.
P.S. A definitely weird quirk of our realignment reality: The Apple Cup, traditionally played around Thanksgiving between two Pac-12 teams, is now happening Saturday between the Pac-2’s Washington State and the Big Ten’s Washington. Feels off.
Watch and Listen
📺 WNBA: Aces at Fever
7 p.m. ET on NBA TV
Amid all the Caitlin Clark hullabaloo, Indiana has turned into one of the best teams in the league. They are 11-4 since July 1, and here comes the presumptive MVP, A’ja Wilson.
📺 MLB: Royals at Yankees
7:05 p.m. ET on Prime Video
New York is in a tight division race, Aaron Judge is trying to beat his own home run record and Kansas City still has a shot at a division title. Click.
Stream games like these here and get tickets here.
🎧 The “No Dunks” gang drafted the best NBA players 21 and under, which was very fun. Listen here.
