The weekly explanation of this post:
On his college hoops ratings website, Ken Pomeroy has an algorithm called ‘FanMatch’, in which “games are rated for competitiveness and level of play with a lean towards higher-scoring games”. It is a way to rate the potential watchability of various basketball contests. There is just a touch of whimsy involved, which makes it even better…
Mimicking this idea, I’ve created a ridiculously complex and decidedly opaque formula to produce game ratings; it is called “Tingle Factor”, or TF. The higher the TF, the better.
I’ll list the top 15 TF games of Week 3, excluding The Citadel-East Tennessee State, because comparing that much-anticipated matchup to less interesting games would be pointless.
Sometimes the best games of the week are the anticipated, high-profile contests, but often under-the-radar matchups are well worth watching. This include FCS games.
To access a Google Document that has a complete schedule of televised/streamed D-1 college football games (including all the announcing teams), see this post: Link
Here are the top 15 games for Week 3. All of them are being played on Saturday (as was the case last week).
| Road Team | Home Team | Gametime (ET) | TV/Streaming | TF |
| UCLA | Memphis | 9/16, 12:00 pm | ABC/ESPN3 | 86.1 |
| Kansas State | Vanderbilt | 9/16, 7:30 pm | ESPNU | 84.2 |
| Clemson | Louisville | 9/16, 8:00 pm | ABC/ESPN3 | 84.1 |
| LSU | Mississippi State | 9/16, 7:00 pm | ESPNU | 81.9 |
| North Dakota | South Dakota | 9/16, 3:00 pm | MidCo/ESPN3 | 81.4 |
| Purdue | Missouri | 9/16, 4:00 pm | SEC Network | 81.2 |
| Kentucky | South Carolina | 9/16, 7:30 pm | SEC Network | 80.0 |
| Arizona State | Texas Tech | 9/16, 8:00 pm | FSN-National | 78.9 |
| Tulsa | Toledo | 9/16, 7:00 pm | ESPN3 | 76.4 |
| Mississippi | California | 9/16, 10:30 pm | ESPN | 75.3 |
| MTSU | Minnesota | 9/16, 3:30 pm | BTN/BTN2Go | 74.7 |
| Stanford | San Diego State | 9/16, 10:30 pm | CBS Sports Net | 72.7 |
| Troy | New Mexico State | 9/16, 8:00 pm | FSN-AZ+/ESPN3 | 70.1 |
| Texas | Southern California | 9/16, 8:30 pm | FOX/FS-Go | 68.2 |
| Central Michigan | Syracuse | 9/16, 3:30 pm | ACC Digital Network | 67.8 |
Additional notes and observations:
– The three CBS/CBS Sports Network games will also be streamed on CBS Sports Digital.
– The games on the ESPN “Family of Networks” will also be streamed via WatchESPN.
– The two BTN games will also be streamed on FS-Go.
– As was the case last week, none of the top 15 matchups are on the Pac-12 Network. Thus, most college football fans will be able to watch all of these games.
– Arguably the biggest surprise in this week’s rankings is the North Dakota-South Dakota game, which checks in at #5. It is the only matchup this week between ranked FCS teams.
– Several games in the top 15 have the potential to be very high-scoring, if a check of betting lines is any indication. Per one source that deals in these matters, the over/under of the Purdue-Missouri game at 77.5.
Other over/unders of note: Arizona State-Texas Tech (76), UCLA-Memphis (73), Mississippi-California (72), Central Michigan-Syracuse (67.5), Tulsa-Toledo (67.5), Texas-Southern California (67.5), Troy-New Mexico State (63).
– South Carolina is involved in a top 15 TF game for the third week in a row.
– The Tennessee-Florida game did not make the top 15, which may say something about the current state of those two programs.
—
This week, there aren’t quite as many high-profile matchups as last week, but plenty of gridiron goodness will still be on display. As always, the weekend can’t get here soon enough.
Filed under: Football | Tagged: Arizona State, California, Central Michigan, Clemson, Kansas State, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, New Mexico State, North Dakota, Purdue, San Diego State, South Carolina, South Dakota, Southern California, Stanford, Syracuse, Texas, Texas Tech, TF, Tingle Factor, Toledo, Troy, Tulsa, UCLA, Vanderbilt | Leave a comment »
The Sports Arsenal 