College Football Late Saturday: #3 Notre Dame Looks to Complete the Fall of Troy

Hi everyone! How’d the game go? I don’t know right now because I’m writing this in the past where nothing bad has happened yet. Anyway, time to talk about the late games on this most glorious of Hate Weeks.

The big game that UCLA fans will be watching features the #3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish heading into the Mausoleum to face the Southern Cal Trojans. Rumors have been swirling all week regarding the job status of Trojan head coach Clay Helton, but the bigger issue is that the Trojans could miss out on a bowl game if they don’t win this one. And it’s going to be a big ask, as Notre Dame will be treating this as a playoff game. With a win, the Irish will almost-assuredly be guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playof, and, with no game left on the schedule, you can bet the Irish will be focused. Get out the popcorn for this one and maybe go hug a Trojan fan. They’re going to need some positive vibes after Clay Helton is fired and replaced with Jack Del Rio.

There are a ton of other fun rivalry games on the table in the late shift. You have the Palmetto Bowl between the #2 Clemson Tigers and the South Carolina Gamecocks, which could be close if only because South Carolina coach Will Muschamp lives to turn every football game into a rock fight. At 4:30 pm PT, the #7 LSU Tigers will take on the #22 Texas A&M Aggies in a “rivalry” game, but really one that has some implications for the New Year’s Six bowl games should LSU lose.

The late shift has two intriguing match-ups. Let’s start with the true rivalry game first, because WE GOT US ANOTHER EDITION OF HOLY WAR Y’ALL! Put the #17 Utah Utes and the BYU Cougars in one location and a whole lot of bad blood is bound to explode out. Plus, Utah now knows its opponent in the Pac-12 Championship Game, and could be looking ahead to a rematch with Washington. Also, I’m sure Utah fans won’t remind their BYU counterparts that they still have another game to play because they belong to a major conference and the Cougars don’t.

The other big match-up features the #21 Utah State Aggies on the road against the #23 Boise State Broncos. This one is pretty simple: winner wins the Mountain West Mountain division and goes on to a probable match-up with Fresno State next week in the Mountain West Championship game. Utah State has been a surprise this year, as they’ve been beating the pants off of teams all year, but Boise State is the best team they’ve played since Michigan State back in Week 1, a game the Aggies lost. It should be fun!

Here are all of the late games left:

This is your College Football Late Saturday open thread.


Go Bruins!