Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 13.

Game of the week: No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-0) at USC Trojans (7-4, 5-4 Pac-12), Saturday, 8 p.m., WJET (ABC).

Pregame rant: This is pretty simple. The Irish win, they’re playing for a national title.

Notre Dame hasn’t won it all since the 1988 season, but hasn’t really contended for one since 1989 when it lost to No. 1 Colorado in the 1990 Orange Bowl.

So for the Irish, this is a long time coming. For USC, this is a season it’d like to forget.

The Trojans have lost four games, their best player – quarterback Matt Barkley – is out with a shoulder injury and they’re coming off a 38-28 loss to in-town rival UCLA.

Beating the Irish would sure wipe the slate clean for USC.

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Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 11.

Game of the week: No. 15 Texas A&M Aggies (7-2, 4-2 SEC) at No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide (9-0, 6-0 SEC), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WSEE (CBS)

Pregame rant: Texas A&M has won seven of its last eight games since losing its opener. The Aggies’ two conference losses are to Florida and LSU.

Those defeats aside,  Texas A&M has made a better adjustment to SEC football than Missouri has. So the Aggies will be ready Saturday. The question is will that matter against the Tide?

Alabama is No. 1 nationally in scoring defense (9.11 points allowed a game), but LSU exposed that D a little bit. The  Aggies are fourth in the nation in scoring offense (44.67 points a game).

If freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel is on his game, the Tide will have their hands full. One of the most exciting players in college football, Manziel has 2,527 yards passing, 922 yards rushing and 31 total touchdowns (16 passing, 15 rushing).

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Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 9.

Game of the week: No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-0) at No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners (5-1, 3-1 Big 12), Saturday, 8 p.m., WJET (ABC)

Pregame rant: This is the Irish’s toughest test yet. Oklahoma’s lone loss was to No. 4 Kansas State, which has risen to the top of the Big 12.

It’s a classic match-up. Oklahoma is averaging 488.17 yards and 44.67 points a game. Notre Dame is allowing just 280.71 yards and 9.43 points a game.

Something has to give.

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Here are three games worth watching in Week 7.

Game of the week: No. 17 Stanford Cardinal (4-1, 2-1 Pac-12) at No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, (5-0), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WICU (NBC).

Pregame rant: The Irish have an offensive-minded coach in Brian Kelly, but have relied on their defense to win games. Allowing 7.78 points a game, Notre Dame is second only to top-ranked Alabama in scoring defense.

The Irish are first in touchdowns allowed with three.

However, Stanford has the type of offense that can grind it out and impose its will on a defense. Stepfan Taylor is 15th in the nation in rushing with 560 yards and five touchdowns. If the Cardinal can consistently block Irish senior stud linebacker Manti Te’o, who has 48 stops, Taylor will have room to run.

If not, it will be business as usual for Te’o and the Irish defense.

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Here are three games worth watching in Week 5.

Game of the week: No. 14 Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0) at No. 20 Michigan State Spartans (3-1), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WJET (ABC)

Pregame rant: First road of the season won’t be an easy one for the Buckeyes in their Big Ten opener. How well sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller handles this will determine if Ohio State remains unbeaten.

Miller has seven rushing TDs, seven passing TDs, but more importantly, he’s completing 61.2 percent of his passes. Last season, he only completed 54.1 percent of his passes.

He may find it much tougher to execute against the Spartans, who have only given up two passing touchdowns. Ranked sixth in the nation in total defense, Michigan State is giving up just 3.94 yards a play.

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The college football season is here.

So you already know the deal. Let’s get to predicting, shall we?

These games are worth watching:

No. 24 Boise State at No. 13 Michigan State (Friday, 8 p.m., ESPN).

Pregame rant: Since stunning Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, the Broncos have been giant killers. They’ve recently had signature victories against Texas Christian (2010 Fiesta Bowl), Virginia Tech (2010 opener) and Georgia (2011 opener).

What do all four of those wins have in common? They were on a neutral field.

The Georgia win was in Atlanta, but that game might have had a different outcome had it been played between the hedges in Athens. With quarterback Kellen Moore now gone, can’t wait to see how Boise State does in East Lansing against the Spartans, who were 7-0 at home last season.

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Sophomore quarterback Casey Pachall has thrown for 2,715 yards and 24 touchdowns this season for TCU./AP Photo.

Too many bowl games. Too many sponsors with long names.

I want a playoff system, but it’s not happening.

Too bad.

What do I get in return? A slew of bowl games that are too tough to call sometimes, but if you think you’re better than me, enter my sixth BCS bowl contest on ESPN.com through Bowl Mania.

Enter the Rankin ETN 2011-12.

Let’s look at Week 1 (Dec. 17-24).

Best match up: San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl – *No. 16 TCU (10-2) vs. Louisiana Tech (8-4), Saturday, 9 p.m., ESPN. See what I mean about the names. Need oxygen to say all that, but don’t sleep on this game. The Bulldogs are riding a seven-game winning streak. Half of their four losses are to team that are currently ranked (L 19-17 at *No. 22 Southern Miss, L 35-34 at *No. 20 Houston). Now TCU should win, but Louisiana Tech won’t go down easily.

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Charles Rush/ETN

Earlier today, Duane Rankin caught up with former Penn State player Charles Rush (2001-05), an Erie native and Cathedral Prep graduate, and asked him about the Penn State situation involving former assistant Jerry Sandusky.

Sandusky has been indicted on charges of sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years.

“I’d say I’m just I’m in complete shock and disbelief,” Rush said. “I first heard about when watching College GameDay (on ESPN) Saturday morning. I saw it and called one of my friends, one of my teammates about it. I was just shocked. Then I went to ESPN.com and read the article about it. I know of Coach Sandusky and I would see him around the weight room or whatever. Talk to him there, but my interaction wasn’t that great with him.”

Rush was a freshman at Penn State in 2001-02. In 2002, Penn State assistant Mike McQueary testified he witnessed Sandusky sexually abusing a boy in the team’s shower. He called his father about before reporting it to Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

Rush said he never heard about this during that time.

“Absolutely not,” Rush said.

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Let us recap Week 8, shall we?

No. 12 Wisconsin (6-1, 2-1 Big Ten) at No. 9 Michigan State (6-1, 3-0 Big Ten)

Pregame rant: Michigan State has the tough team, the tough head coach in Mark Dantonio and it’s got the Badgers in its backyard. Here’s the problem for the Spartans.  Not only can Wisconsin pound the ball down your throat with its running game, it has a quarterback in senior Russell Wilson who can make you pay for selling out to stop the run.

Postgame commentary: The Spartans pulled off one of the greatest finishes in college football history with their Hail Mary touchdown pass to win 37-31. Had that pass fallen incomplete, Wilson would have been the story heading into OT. He overcame throwing two interceptions to throw two touchdowns with the latter one tying the game with a minute, 26 seconds left in regulation.

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Freelance writer Doug Williams wrote a story for ESPN.com about Lock Haven having the nation’s longest active losing skid regardless of division.

The Bald Eagles (0-6, 0-4) lost their 38th consecutive game today, 37-13, at Gannon. They haven’t won since 2007. Lock Haven had minus-15 yards rushing on 36 carries against the Knights (3-4, 2-2 PSAC West) today.

Next week, the Bald Eagles play Slippery Rock (6-1, 4-0), which stands atop the PSAC West after beating No. 14-ranked California (Pa.), 17-3, today.