Stormin' Around the Big XII & Week 4 Open Thread

Only one Top 25 match up this weekend which is between Stanford and Arizona State.  This weekend has such a dearth of exciting match ups on paper that Gameday is currently in Fargo, ND visiting the home of North Dakota State University.  Nevertheless it's still football season, and fall is beginning to show up, so settle in, grab the remote, grab a beer, and join us in our weekly open thread.

Your Week 4 College Football Listings

	12 p.m. ET	Florida A&M	at	4 Ohio State	Big Ten Network
	12 p.m. ET	FIU	at	7 Louisville	WHAS, ESPN Regional
	12 p.m. ET	Wake Forest	at	Army	CBSSN
	12 p.m. ET	Toledo	at	Central Michigan	ESPN Regional, ESPN3.com
	12 p.m. ET	North Carolina	at	Georgia Tech	ESPN
	12 p.m. ET	Louisiana Tech	at	Kansas	FS1
	12 p.m. ET	Vanderbilt	at	Massachusetts	ESPN News
	12 p.m. ET	San Jose State	at	Minnesota	ESPN 2
	12 p.m. ET	Marshall	at	Virginia Tech	ESPNU
	12 p.m. ET	Middle Tennessee	at	FAU	CSS, CSN-HOU, BAY
	12:01 p.m. ET	Western Michigan	at	Iowa	Big Ten Network
	12:21 p.m. ET	North Texas	at	9 Georgia	SEC Network, MSG
	12:30 p.m. ET	Pittsburgh	at	Duke	ACC Network
	12:30 p.m. ET	Tulane	at	Syracuse	RSN, MSG+, FSN-S, FSN-DET
	1 p.m. ET	Ball State	at	Eastern Michigan	ESPN3.com
	2 p.m. ET	Jacksonville State	at	Georgia State	ESPN3.com
	2 p.m. ET	Austin Peay	at	Ohio	ESPN3.com
	3 p.m. ET	Idaho State	at	17 Washington	Pac-12 Network
	3 p.m. ET	Panhandle State	at	Montana	Max Media
	3 p.m. ET	Houston	vs	Rice	FSN-FL, MW, MASN2, MSG+
	3 p.m. ET	Northwestern State	at	UAB	UABSports.com
	3 p.m. ET	Stony Brook	at	Villanova	CSN
	3:30 p.m. ET	Maine	at	18 Northwestern	Big Ten Network
	3:30 p.m. ET	Tennessee	at	19 Florida	CBS
	3:30 p.m. ET	Michigan State	at	22 Notre Dame	NBC
	3:30 p.m. ET	Purdue	at	24 Wisconsin	ABC/ESPN 2
	3:30 p.m. ET	Murray State	at	Bowling Green	ESPN3.com
	3:30 p.m. ET	West Virginia	vs	Maryland	ESPNU
	3:30 p.m. ET	South Dakota State	at	Nebraska	Big Ten Network
	3:30 p.m. ET	Kent State	at	Penn State	Big Ten Network
	3:30 p.m. ET	Arkansas	at	Rutgers	ESPN
	3:30 p.m. ET	Utah State	at	USC	ABC/ESPN 2
	3:30 p.m. ET	VMI	at	Virginia	ESPN3.com
	3:30 p.m. ET	Delaware State	at	North Dakota State	ND NBC, ESPN3.com
	4 p.m. ET	ULM	at	20 Baylor	FS1
	4 p.m. ET	Cincinnati	at	Miami (Ohio)	ESPN3.com
	4:30 p.m. ET	Arkansas State	at	Memphis	ESPN3.com
	6 p.m. ET	Bethune-Cookman	at	8 Florida State	ESPN3.com
	6 p.m. ET	Louisiana-Lafayette	at	Akron	ESPN3.com
	6 p.m. ET	Lafayette	at	Penn	LSN, ESPN3.com
	6 p.m. ET	Lehigh	at	Princeton	NBCSN
	7 p.m. ET	23 Arizona State	at	5 Stanford	FOX
	7 p.m. ET	Colorado State	at	1 Alabama	ESPN 2
	7 p.m. ET	Savannah State	at	16 Miami	ESPN3.com
	7 p.m. ET	SMU	at	10 Texas A&M	ESPNU
	7 p.m. ET	Texas State	at	25 Texas Tech	FSN-FL, MSG+, SportSouth
	7 p.m. ET	Eastern Illinois	at	Northern Illinois	ESPN3.com
	7 p.m. ET	Morgan State	at	Western Kentucky	ESPN3.com
	7 p.m. ET	Montana State	at	Stephen F. Austin	Max Media
	7 p.m. ET	Rhode Island	at	William & Mary	CSN
	7:30 p.m. ET	Troy	at	Mississippi State	FSN-S, SunSports
	7:30 p.m. ET	Oregon State	at	San Diego State	CBSSN
	7:45 p.m. ET	Auburn	at	6 LSU	ABC/ESPN
	8 p.m. ET	15 Michigan	at	Connecticut	ABC
	8 p.m. ET	Missouri	at	Indiana	Big Ten Network
	8 p.m. ET	Kansas State	at	Texas	ABC/ESPN
	8 p.m. ET	UTSA	at	UTEP	FOX College Sports
	8:05 p.m. ET	Hawaii	at	Nevada	Oceanic PPV
	9 p.m. ET	Western Illinois	at	UNLV	KWWN
	10:15 p.m. ET	Wyoming	at	Air Force	ESPNU
	10:15 p.m. ET	Utah	at	BYU	ESPN 2
	10:30 p.m. ET	New Mexico St	at	13 UCLA	Pac-12 Network
	10:30 p.m. ET	Idaho	at	Washington State	Pac-12 Network

Big XII Predictions

Louisiana Tech @ Kansas - Saturday 9/21, 11:00 AM CDT - FS1

Line: KU -10.5

Kansas is looking for its first win against an FBS opponent since 2011 and there doesn't come a better match up than hosting Skip Holtz and Louisiana Tech.  Tech isn't the same after head coach Sonny Dykes and offensive coordinator Tony Franklin left for Cal and this this is not nearly as likely to be as dangerous for Kansas as it would have been last year.

The lone bright spot for Kansas last year, the running game, is suffering from new offensive line starters and Jake Heaps hasn't been as advertised throwing the football.  A few more games with lackluster performance and he's likely going to be Dayne Crist 2.0.

No matter in this one.  Skip Holtz sucks worse.

Kansas 24, Louisiana Tech 13

Maryland @ West Virginia (Baltimore, MD) - Saturday 9/21, 2:30 PM CDT - ESPNU

Line: Maryland -5

Another test for West Virginia as Maryland ha been solid early this season under second year head coach Randy Edsall.  Ford Childress remains at the helm for West Virginia and facing real FBS competition will show whether or not last week's offensive explosion against George State was a fluke.

Maryland's best competition so far this season has been against Connecticut and it will be interesting to see how their 10th overall offense matches up against a West Virginia defense that is even more athletic than last year and better coached.  Whichever offense gets going early will take this one and so far I like what I've seen out of West Virginia's defense.

West Virginia 27, Maryland 21

UL-Monroe @ Baylor - Saturday 9/21, 3:00 PM CDT - FS1

Line: Baylor -29.5

Last year's game was a Friday night classic on ESPN and Kolton Browning and most of ULM's offense returns.  But then enter Baylor who is averaging 70 points a game behind weapon after weapon and an experienced offensive line.  You want another shootout here but it just isn't happening.  Baylor looks better now than they did with RGIII in 2011.

Baylor 56, ULM 21

Texas State @ Texas Tech - Saturday 9/21, 6:00 PM CDT - FSN

Line: Texas Tech -27.5

Texas Tech just keeps doing it and it doesn't matter who the quarterback is.  After starter Baker Mayfield went down with an injury in the 4th quarter against TCU Davis Webb came in and led the Tech offense on two scoring drives.  At some point you think the offense will slow down, but it won't happen against a Texas State squad that ranks 107th in passing defense and that's after playing an awful Southern Mississippi squad.

Texas Tech 48, Texas State 14

Kansas State @ Texas - Saturday 9/21, 7:00 PM CDT - ABC

Line: Texas -5.5

Texas hasn't beaten Kansas State since 2003 and hasn't started 1-3 since 1956.  Much has been written about the terrible defensive performance against the run and if this were the Kansas State teams led by Collin Klein I'd put this down as a three touchdown victory by Kansas State.  However, Kansas State has struggled to run the ball with any consistency this year behind an experienced offensive line and a quality back like John Hubert.  The currently rank a pedestrian 67th nationally in rushing and the only sustained success they've had on the ground has involved quarterback Daniel Sams.

These problems also effect the defense.  Kansas State's monstrous time of possession the past two seasons has allowed a defense to stay fresh and attack opposing offenses, but with the struggles on the ground this season the defense has been on the field more.  That won't bode well with the return of David Ash to Texas' offense and the likely attempts to run the ball even more to keep their own defense off the field.

The quickest way to tell if Kansas State is serious about winning this game will be the involvement of Sams early.  If Bill Snyder commits to Sams' ability to make plays with his legs then Kansas State runs away with this game.  If not, Texas rebounds, and I think that's exactly what happens here.

Texas 34, Kansas State 28

Bonus Beer Pick of the Week

Just because Iowa State is off this weekend doesn't mean there isn't beer to be drank.  My choice for the nice beginning to fall is the Staghorn Octoberfest from Wisconsin based New Glarus Brewing Company.  It's hard to go wrong with anything from New Glarus and this beer is no exception.