A big slate of college football gives us plenty to be thankful for this weekend. These dashboards present the college football watchability index, which highlights the most- and least-watchable games of the week. The absolute value of the point spread is on the horizontal axis and this represents a measure of uncertainty of outcome. Lower point spreads, in absolute value terms, are expected to be closer games. The total (over/under) is plotted on the vertical axis, with higher totals representing games that are expected to be higher scoring. The shape of the point representing each game represents day and start time. The color of the point is differentiated by the use of Sagarin Ratings for each team and sums them for the two teams playing in the game. Gold represents a combined high sum (could be 2 good teams or a dominant team in the game) and Red represents a combined low sum (not among the better teams playing in the game).
There are 3 dashboards presented this weekend, one for games Thursday and Friday, one for Saturday early, and the last one for the rest of the day Saturday. The most-watchable games are typically in the upper-left hand quadrant, where games are anticipated to be close and high-scoring, typically followed by the lower-left hand quadrant where games are expected to be close, but relatively lower-scoring. The best teams often are seen in the upper-right hand quadrant, which feature big point spreads and totals.
For the Thursday/Friday slate of games, Notre Dame-North Carolina is a terrific game which not only promises to be close (at least according to the oddsmakers), but high-scoring. Other good games on these dates are Iowa St.-Texas, Nebraska-Iowa, and Oregon-Oregon St. The MAC-tion game between Central and Eastern Michigan could be an under-the-radar fun game to watch as well.
For the early Saturday slate of games, Maryland-Indiana (in the upper-left quadrant) looks to be a fun matchup as does the contest between Penn St. and Michigan, despite both having disappointing seasons to date. This time slot also features heavy favorites in Ohio St. (on the road at Illinois) and Florida (hosting Kentucky). Some additional MAC-tion and SMU give some additional options to watch if you want to see some scoring (and add some players for your daily fantasy teams).
The rest-of-the-day Saturday does not feature any stellar anticipated close and high-scoring affairs, although Arizona-UCLA and San Jose St.-Boise St. should be fun, but Oklahoma-West Virginia and Northwestern-Michigan St. provides some important contests, but with lower anticipated scoring than other matchups. The top game on this visualization is Auburn-Alabama, despite its high point spread, the Iron Bowl has important playoff ramifications.
Have a great and happy Thanksgiving and enjoy some great college football action!
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