The Weekend Watch List

Jake Arrieta will try to help make sure the Cubs are playoff ready this weekend.

Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

So the weekend is finally just around the corner and if you are anything like me, you don't know exactly how you want to spend your time, but you know that it should have something to do with sports. Well, I'm here to help! I have looked at all of the TV listings for sports this weekend and have decided to put together a handy list of games that you should be watching if you find yourself sitting around with nothing to do on a weekend day or night.

Here are a few rules I tried to stick with while choosing these games:

1). Only one game was chosen per time slot. I am under the assumption that we would actually like to focus on a good game rather than flip our focus between many but not actually understand what's going on.

2). I tried my best to keep any sport or team bias out of the choosing. All sports are on the for these lists.

3). I did not just pick the best team. I tried to find games that would actually provide great entertainment value for the entirety of the game.

4). I tried to choose only nationally televised games. There are some games that I think could be very good that are on ESPN3 or some other streaming website. Those were left out. Sometimes this was difficult since different regions have different televised programs.

Without any further ado, here is what to watch this weekend!

Friday

Cardinals at Cubs - 2:00pm EST (11:00am PST) ESPN - Leake vs Arrieta

I know that most of us will still be at work when this game comes on, but I wanted to include just in case our bosses decided to give us a half day. Last year's NL Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta will be taking the MLB-best Chicago Cubs into the weekend hoping to help lead them to 100 wins for the first time since 1935, and it can be done with a sweep of the Cardinals. The Cardinals will be looking to end their troubles and make a wild card spot this year, believing that they just need to make it in to be able to win the whole thing. Luckily for the Cardinals, the Mets and Giants have shared in the Cardinals troubles and the wild card race continues to be wide open. I think this game will be pretty low scoring but the Cubs will prevail in the end and kick off the weekend the right way.

Yankees at Blue Jays - 7:00pm EST (4:00pm PST) ESPN2 - Mitchell vs Liriano

I added this game simply as a buffer to tie us into the night time football game. Friday night TV is not that great this weekend and this game will not be much better. It is, however, a chance for the Blue Jays to put one more nail in the Yankees coffin for this year as the Pinstripes inch closer and closer to missing the playoffs. I will definitely be flipping the channel to football as soon as it begins.

USC at #24 Utah - 9:00pm EST (6:00pm PST) FS1

I'm not sure if FS1 is nationally televised or not. If it's not, then the ESPN prime time game is TCU vs SMU. This will be a much more entertaining game though. Utah has climbed into the Top 25 behind a very aggressive defense that goes after the football. The Utes racked up 10 sacks in their last game against San Jose State. USC will have their hands full as they will be starting a new QB, Sam Darnold, to try to turn around their 1-2 start. Don't let the 1-2 start fool you though, because a lot of teams will be losing to Stanford and Alabama before the season is over with. I think that USC will fight tooth and nail for this game but that Utah will ultimately prevail.

Saturday

#11 Wisconsin at #8 Michigan State - 12:00pm EST (9:00am PST) BTN

I'm aware that the Big Ten network is not nationally televised, but it's a complete and utter shame that this game is not the one on ESPN (No offense to UGA-Ole Miss). This will be one of the better games of the entire weekend and it will be the epitome of Big Ten football. Both teams have already notched big wins this year with Wisconsin beating LSU at Lambeau Field and Michigan State beating Notre Dame at South Bend. This will kick off the conference for both teams and the winner will be the team with the best chance to unseat OSU or Michigan as the top dogs of the conference. I think that the game will stay close throughout but that Michigan State will pull ahead in the 4th quarter, and that Wisconsin will not have the firepower to overcome it.

#19 Florida at #14 Tennessee - 3:30pm EST (12:30 pm PST) CBS

This game could be one of two things: an absolute stunner that keeps us on the edge of our seats the entire game, or an absolute laugher with two overrated teams slapping each other with wet noodles. The Gators will be trying to beat the Vols for the 12th straight time, but will have to do it with a quarterback that is, should we say, unproven. Let me rephrase that: The Gators QB, Austin Appleby, is extremely proven. He has just proven to be the wrong thing. Namely, a loser. Appleby was 2-9 as a starter at Purdue before becoming a graduate transfer to the University of Florida. Luckily for Appleby, the Gators have looked better than they have in recent memory so far this year and will hope to ride a stellar defense throughout this game. Tennessee has looked more overrated than anyone in the Top 25 through their first 3 games, with near losses to Appalachian State and Ohio University sandwiching a good win over Virginia Tech. Tennessee is favored to win this one, but I believe that Florida's defense will once again dominate and send Tennessee of into the sunset staring into a 12 game losing streak in this rivalry.

Russia vs Canada - 7:00pm EST (4:00pm PST) ESPN2

As you take a short break from football between the afternoon and night games, be sure to switch it over to ESPN2 for some hockey action. If you are a fan of hockey, then you may have already seen plenty of the Alex Ovechkin vs Sidney Crosby rivalry since they became back to back top overall picks in 2004 (Ovi) and 2005 (Sid), but it's not every day that you get to see Crosby take on his Penguins teammate Evgeni Malkin. The Russian coach does not like to match lines, but hopefully we will get to see plenty of Sid vs Geno in this game. Ovechkin has seen way too much of Canada winning in hockey including the last Olympics where Canada won on the Russian's home ice while Russia could not even make it out of the quarterfinals. Revenge will be big on the Russian's mind and I think they pull off a huge upset to beat the highly favored Canadians and earn a berth in the championship game.

#17 Arkansas at #10 Texas A&M - 9:00pm EST (6:00pm PST) ESPN

With all due respect to Christian McCaffrey and the Stanford Cardinal, their game to watch will come next weekend as they take on Washington. This night will belong to two unlikely SEC foes. Arkansas and Texas A&M would not be anyone's first pick for an SEC game of the week (UGA-Ole Miss and UF-Tennessee even have a say for this week) but I think that this game will be much better than expected. Both teams have already beaten a ranked opponent this year, with both of them needing overtime to do it. These offenses are both very capable of scoring points and, in the end, they should outscore the over/under line of 49 points. I think that A&M wins this one in a thriller with an amazing play on offense to seal the deal.

Sunday

Vikings at Panthers - 1:00pm EST (10:00am PST) FOX

There aren't a lot of amazing matchups this weekend but I find this one to be very intriguing. Both teams lost their starting running backs, but both teams have the element that they are truly known for and what keeps them winning. Carolina is led by the MVP of last year, Cam Newton. Cam is not only a fantasy football monster, but he's actually pretty good at the real thing as well. Minnesota on the other hand has been led by a fiesty defense that pretty much shut down Tennessee and Green Bay in the first two weeks. This will be a great game as the top scoring offense in Carolina goes against one of the top scoring defenses in Minnesota, but in the end, I believe that the MVP and his team prevail.

Steelers at Eagles - 4:25pm EST (1:25pm PST) CBS

I almost chose the Chargers at the Colts for this game based on the fact that there should be points scored in bunches but I just feel like this will be the better game. No offense to the Browns or Bears, but I am calling this the first real test for Carson Wentz, and even that is a stretch with Pittsburgh being the second worst pass defense only ahead of a historically bad Oakland team in the early going. What I think will make this more of a challenge for Wentz is that he will actually need to put points on the board because Big Ben and Antonio Brown will not be denied points. I think both teams will end up winning their respective divisions, but I think that the Eagles will be the team that ends up 3-0 from this game as they come away with a huge win.

Cardinals at Cubs - 8:00pm EST (5:00pm PST) ESPN

I am going to close this weekend off the exact same way that it started. I know that most people dedicate their entire Sunday to football, but there is a WNBA playoff game (Atlanta Dream vs Chicago Sky) that I could have picked for this slot over a Bears vs Cowboys stinkfest. Luckily for us, ESPN decided it would show us the chase for 100 that the Chicago Cubs are having. The Cubs could be sitting at 99 wins going into this game and if that is the case, this game becomes more watchable than it already is. I am not sure that the Cubs will sweep the Cardinals and I think they will have to wait for possible Cy Young winner Kyle Hendricks to bring them their 100th win Monday night in Pittsburgh, but I really hope for the sake of the fans that the Cubs will finish off a sweep at get to win 100 in their final home game of the regular season.