A Sports Filled Weekend Ahead

If you’re going to watch nothing else all weekend, watch Sunday night’s NFL game.

For one, it might erase the bad taste of the Thursday night games. For another, it ought to be good. It’s the Seattle Seahawks (5-2-1) against the New England Patriots (7-1) at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC. This is a rematch of Super Bowl 49 (no, we will not use the Roman numerals), won 28-24 by the Patriots. The Seahawks are 3-0 (III-0 in Roman numerals) in non-conference games. The Patriots are, well, the Patriots.

How best to start your weekend? Ah, by parking your heiner in your recliner and watching…college basketball? Yes. It is that time of year again. There’s plenty to pick from, but we’ll go with (preseason rankings) No. 10 Arizona against No. 12 Michigan State. That’s on ESPN at 7 p.m. on Friday night.

If you prefer a sport with no scoring at all, well, there’s always soccer. The U.S. Men’s National Team opens qualifying for the World Cup in Columbus, Ohio, against Mexico. The U.S. team is 8-0-3 in Columbus and clearly spending too much time there. This pup is on Fox Sports 1 Friday night at 8 p.m.

By now you are probably itching for a college football game. Well, we don’t want you to scratch in public so…

No. 11 Oklahoma got off to a slow start but now has a clear path to the Big 12 title and maybe more. Maybe. The Sooners (7-2) are hosts to slumping Baylor (6-2) for a nooner (heh heh) Saturday on ABC or ESPN2 (check local listings).

No. 23 Washington State (7-2) lives that up-tempo style that makes games seem as if they are moving quickly while actually lasting four hours. The Cougars are home against disappointing Cal (4-5) at 10:30 p.m. on ESPN. Treat yourself to a late-night look (if you are on the East Coast) or an early-night look (if you are on the West Coast) at WSU quarterback Luke Falk (28 TDs, 5 INTs) and receiver Gabe Marks (61 catches, 10 for TDs).

NASCAR’s season is nearly at an end and the final two qualifiers for the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship will be determined at Phoenix International Speedway on Sunday (2:30 p.m., NBC). Kevin Harvick is the favorite, having won there six times since the track was reconfigured in 2011. Once the final four is set, the title will be decided on Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and then we can all forget about making left turns without signaling until Daytona (though this is standard practice throughout Florida on a year-round basis).

As always, watch responsibly.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman