Where everyone in the state of Michigan gets mad

It’s been a weird few weeks for Michigan universities and now it all collides on Saturday. Michigan and Michigan State, hate week, things of that nature. Neither university is looking very clean, although I suppose on the field it’s hard to deny the wins that the Wolverines have stacked so far in the season. They’re second in the non-official rankings and garnering first place votes, while the Spartans are circling the toilet.

Both universities have their football programs mired in controversy. Michigan State has the more serious issue, but it’s also in the rear view. Mel Tucker is gone and the search for someone to save the program from controversy and anarchy is on in full even now. This is the hard eating time.

For UM however, the troubles are only beginning, and you best believe they are troubles. I know the operating procedure for fans is to deny this is even an issue, it’s hypocritical, the NCAA is crooked and corrupt—but none of that matters. The NCAA is the one who holds power in this particular matter, not Michigan, and if they say they’re investigating Michigan for violating rules on scouting future opponents, they’re going to do that. It certainly does not help that Jim Harbaugh and the program spent the summer thumbing their nose at the NCAA; it’s nice and good to call them crooked and all, but you’re still under their gaze for the foreseeable future. You can claim moral superiority but it matters little when the judge on the other side is going to come down on you. It would behoove everyone involved to realize where the power lies and how power tends to react poorly when you make yourself a nuisance.

Either way, hate week is going down, Michigan State and Michigan fans are yelling at each other. Meanwhile, Ohio State is facing its toughest opponent yet in Penn State, so this makes the Big Ten something interesting for once this week. Tennessee and Alabama have their requisite rivalry game, Wazzu seeks to play spoiler to Oregon and Duke and Florida State are squaring off. Every conference has some interesting quirks. Also, I expect Utah to crush USC because that would be funny.

Enjoy the games, chavales.

Noon ET

No. 7 Penn State at No. 3 Ohio State — FOX

UCF at No. 6 Oklahoma — ABC

Mississippi State at Arkansas — ESPN

Rutgers at Indiana — BTN

Boston College at Georgia Tech — ACC Network

Memphis at UAB — ESPN2

No. 22 Air Force at Navy — CBS

3:30 p.m. ET

No. 17 Tennessee at No. 11 Alabama — CBS

Washington State at No. 9 Oregon — ABC

South Carolina at No. 20 Missouri — SEC Network

Minnesota at No. 24 Iowa — NBC

Northwestern at Nebraska — FS1

Wisconsin at Illinois — FS1

Oklahoma State at West Virginia — ESPN

7 p.m. ET and onward

No. 13 Ole Miss at Auburn (7 p.m.) — ESPN

Texas Tech at BYU (7 p.m.) — FS1

TCU at Kansas State (7 p.m.) — ESPN2

No. 2 Michigan at Michigan State (7:30 p.m.) — NBC

No. 16 Duke at No. 4 Florida State (7:30 p.m.) — ABC

Army at No. 19 LSU (7:30 p.m.) — SEC Network

No. 14 Utah at No. 18 USC (8 p.m.) — FOX

No. 25 UCLA at Stanford (10:30 p.m.) — ESPN

Arizona State at No. 5 Washington (10:30 p.m.) — FS1