Most people think of the NFL when they think of Thanskgiving football but there are a lot of great college games on the schedule. We’ll have college action all week starting on Tuesday (with the MACtion) and then follow through to Saturday. Here are the best Thanksgiving games to keep an eye on:
No. 16 Navy Midshipmen @ No. 19 Houston Cougars
Friday, 12:00 PM ET
Navy extended its win streak with a win over Tulsa this past week and now they are the top-ranked team from the Group of Five in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings. Keenan Reynolds has looked almost unstoppable in the Midshipmen’s triple-option offense and suddenly Navy looks like a team that can make some real noise if it can reach one of this year’s New Year’s Six bowls. The Midshipmen will have to beat Houston on the road this week, win the AAC title game and then beat Army in order to get there. It starts with Houston this Saturday and they could be facing a sour Cougars unit. The Cougars had their perfect season ended at Connecticut this past week and we’ll have to see how they rebound. On one hand, they could be down in the dumps and play with the hangover or they could bounce back and make this one of the more intriguing matchups of the week.
Miami Hurricanes @ Pittsburgh Panthers
Friday, 12:00 PM ET
Pittsburgh continued to roll with a 45-34 win over Louisville to improve to 6-1 in ACC play and now they get the opportunity to improve their bowl standing by hitting the nine-win mark for the first time since 2009. They host the Hurricanes this Saturday afternoon and Miami has won three of its last four since its embarrassing loss to Clemson. Three of its four losses this season have come against ranked opponents, so maybe their season hasn’t been so embarrassing after all. The Hurricanes can leapfrog the Panthers in the ACC Coastal with a win this weekend, so there should be plenty of fireworks at Heinz Field this Friday.
Washington State Cougars @ Washington Huskies
Friday, 3:30 PM ET
The rivalry between Washington and Washington State should produce plenty of fireworks again this weekend. The Apple Cup hasn’t meant a whole lot in recent years as both teams have been down, but it looks like both programs are on the rise. The Cougars are coming off three straight wins to improve to 8-3 on the season while the Huskies are coming off a lopsided 52-7 win over Oregon State. Washington State owns the best passing attack in the country but the Huskies have morphed into a quality defensive team, so this lines up as a very interesting rivalry game. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that Washington needs this win to become bowl eligible.
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No. 10 Baylor Bears @ No. 18 TCU Horned Frogs
Friday, 7:30 PM ET
Baylor’s impressive 45-35 win at Oklahoma State kept the Big 12 title on the table but in order for the Bears to stay in the mix, they will have to win their second road game against a rival ranked opponent in as many weeks. This time, they visit TCU on Saturday. Third-string quarterback Chris Johnson helped spark last week’s 700-yard performance against the Cowboys and now Baylor will try to stay hot against a Horned Frogs’ side that could get quarterback Trevone Boykin back but is still without top receiver Josh Doctson. TCU hung around with the Sooners before eventually falling short in a 30-29 loss at Norman last weekend but they are back at home with an offense that is still loaded with firepower. That should mean another thrilling Big 12 showdown that goes down to the wire against the Bears on Saturday evening. These two teams are ranked 10th and 18th in the college football playoff rankings but they aren’t quite relevant in the conversation since Oklahoma and Oklahoma State – who square off this week – are sixth and seventh.
