The slate during daylight hours appears modest, but a noticeable lull arrives in mid-afternoon. There’s only one matchup of ranked teams (Missouri-South Carolina) among the games that kick off between noon and 7 p.

Some might be scared by the hook, but I wouldn’t be. Purdue was outscored 146-7 in losses to Ohio State, Oregon and Notre Dame. Expect something similar. The pick: Penn State -28.5

One of the more fascinating subplots in the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff is how all of these realigned and suddenly crowded conference races are factoring into that Playoff picture.