Countdown To Chaos: Disappointment Ahead?

Wow! We begin the proceedings with three almost-interesting Thursday nighters followed by a Saturday schedule that will leave you reaching for that bag of Butterfingers you're supposed to hand out to kids but will polish off by mid-afternoon, leading to that last minute replacement candy run.

Tennessee @ Kentucky – Sorry, but...and so the Vols begin their climb to 8-4 with a win over that team that always seems to be turning the corner until they find out that that signature win against [pick one: Missouri, South Carolina, USC (last year)] wasn’t quite as program-definingly impressive as they thought it was.

TCU @ West Virginia – WVU looked like it was back in the saddle again…until it started playing Big 12 games. This might be a good time to check out for a few weeks, Eers fan, and just come back when they get to that Iowa State-Kansas double at the end of next month.

North Carolina @ Pitt – The winner gets Duke next month for the ACC Coastal and the right to get stomped by Clemson in Charlotte. Holy ****! It's a Thursday game that actually kinda matters, and from these two, no less! Just one question: how come, as we write this, there are tickets available for $9 on Stubhub? Sometimes seeming to matter isn't the same thing as actually mattering.

Oregon @ Arizona State – 4-3 Arizona State is favored. Against Oregon. In primetime. Just let that sink in for a minute. That jolt you just felt was the West Coast spinning off its axis.

Florida @ Georgia – Sure, the WLOCP is the best game of a less than scintillating day, but outside of whomping Ole Miss – who've beaten Bama and lost to Memphis (meaning who freaking knows whether they're awesome, awful, or just very, very confused) – the Gators haven't exactly been spectacular. Georgia's best win is, what, Mizzou? In other words, the winner gets dusted by the LSU/Bama winner in the Georgia Dome.

Nebraska @ Purdue – Here's a sign of how bad things have gotten in Lincoln: the Huskers are 10-point favorites. Whaddya think the spread would've been back in the good ol' days? 30 points? 40? Half a hundred?

Stanford @ Washington State – Ready to have your mind blown? This is an actual, real live serious football game! No, really. It might even be for the Pac-12 North. Okay, so you know who's taking the P12 North. At least there will be points aplenty, plus some fascinating Mike Leach facial expressions of disgust.

The rest of this week's Countdown To Chaos can be found here.