What to Know
- We rank up each game with our NBC 6 not-so-scientific system
The holiday season is approaching across South Florida with Thanksgiving coming up in less than a week – and while the college teams in the area still have plenty to be thankful for, the pro team in the 305 is not exactly ecstatic about what the 2019 season has been.
Still, there is plenty of season left in the NFL – and the Miami Dolphins know they have to win every single one of those games just to make it back to .500 for the season. At the same time, the two major college teams in Miami-Dade County meet up at the site of their first meeting – the one that everyone talks about based on a dirty moment in the third quarter.
At the same time, the other big powers are enjoying the week off before their rivalry showdown – while the biggest FCS game in the state takes place with one team looking to win both the two hour long halftime show as well as their first game in the series for nearly a decade.
What are the best games of the week? Well, we rank up each game with our NBC 6 not-so-scientific system…this week with a little help from two members of the NBC 6 morning producer team, Kate Hovan and Alexxis Lopes (who combined know their alma maters have a football team, but that’s about it.)
Miami Hurricanes vs. FIU Panthers (Saturday)
Local
The battle in Little Havana takes place at the site of the former Orange Bowl stadium – where the teams first met in 2006, a game that was marred by an all out brawl in the third quarter – as Marlins Park will play home to the game with the Panthers being the home team for the first time in their four meetings.
Miami, the winners of three straight games, become bowl eligible in their last game before having a bye week – something fans of the Canes may be worried about based on play of late after the bye week. That would be the best of news for the Panthers, who at 5-5, need to win at least one game in their final two games to make it to a third straight bowl game.
Miami Dolphins at Cleveland Browns (Sunday)
Any minor hope that the Dolphins could turn this God awful season around went away with a big time lost last weekend at home – meaning the Dolphins are a lot closer to having double digit losses than a winning season and making sure that this rebuilding campaign of new head coach Brian Flores is not going to be easy.
The good news is that the Browns, who were thought to be a team that could contend for a deep playoff run this season, have been much more disappointing and limp into this game without star player Myles Garrett after the end of their last game – and with the hot and cold play of quarterback Baker Mayfield, anything could be possible in this one.
FAMU Rattlers vs. Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (in Orlando) (Saturday)
While games like Miami vs. FSU and the Seminoles taking on the Gators are the ones everyone knows in the state, the annual Florida Classic could be the best game in the state this season in part because of the fact that the orange and green come in with a 9-1 record – and yet fans are still worried because they haven’t won in the series since 2010.
Other State Games
While both FSU and Florida are off this week, UCF and USF are in action with the Knights at Tulane and the Bulls at home against Memphis. FAU has their final road game of the regular season when they take on Texas-San Antonio with a chance to win the C-USA East Division still in the picture.
In the NFL, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on the road in a must win game when they take on the Atlanta Falcons while the Jacksonville Jaguars are also on the road when they take on their own divisional rivals, the Tennessee Titans.
