Unfortunately, I may not be able to watch too many college football games this Saturday. It’s Jen’s birthday, and she wants to go to Johnstown FolkFest. FolkFest may be Western and Central Pennsylvania’s premier jazz festival, but it is definitely Central Pennsylvania’s best party (screw you, RiotFest). And it has the best Slavic foods anywhere.

[The Cambria City neighborhood of Johnstown sits across the Conemaugh from the steel mills (which were never town down), and is packed with one massive Catholic or Orthodox church after another. Each one was built by a different immigrant group, has masses in its original language, and could architecturally be a cathedral if it was located anywhere else. And during FolkFest, each one’s cadre of immigrants’s daughters in their 70s sells old world, homemade halushki, halupki, and pierogies (if you don’t know what those are, you didn’t go to Pitt and you can find your own damn school’s blog here) in a vicious competition with every other church’s cadre of old ladies. The result? At least 10 pounds of weight gain.]

But I digress… (obviously, my little Nittany Lion isn’t the only one who likes FolkFest) Here’s the games I would most like to watch this Saturday.

The Scandal Bowl (Washington (+9) at Ohio State): Which is worse? Losing your often overrated but always shady head coach, or losing your often overrated but frequently shady tailback? I suspect that it’s the former, and that Ohio State will be OK without Clarett for this one (they were fine without him for three games last season, and he didn’t do much in the Fiesta Bowl). Nevertheless, I’m giving the points. I’m guessing that Washington’s aerial attack will keep it close.

And I will be watching that one, as it is on later Saturday night.

The States Towards the End of the Atlas Bowl — or the Head Coaches with Oddly Hispanic Sounding Last Names Bowl (Wisconsin (-3) at West Virginia): I like Rich Rodriguez. I think that he may be about the only guy that could distinguish Mountaineer Football enough to actually make decent recruits want to live in and be associated with the State of West Virginia (which has an even worse and more unfounded reputation problem than Pittsburgh does). That being said, I can’t help but think that Rodriguez and his Mountaineers — even more than Walt Harris and his Panthers — get a little overhyped. They never really impressed me last year, even when they were beating Pitt. So I’ll take the always-solid Washington County native Barry Alverez and his Badgers here.

But if the Hoopies can beat a legitimate Big Ten contender like Wisconsin, I will finally be impressed.

The Two Schools with Absolutely Nothing in Common Bowl (Southern California (+4) at Auburn): If I strongly disagree with Trev Alberts over how overhyped Kansas State is, I strongly agree with him over how overhyped Auburn is. I’m taking the admittedly depleted Trojans.

And finally, the At Least We Aren’t the Only School in PA Who Schedules Cupcakes Bowl (Temple (+24.5) at Penn State): I highly suspect that this may be the worst Penn State team in decades. They graduated most of their skill positions and offensive linemen. The Lions almost certainly will surprise at least one Big Ten contender. But they will not have their A game for Temple. Temple, meanwhile, often seems to play in-state opponents tough (see Pitt last fall). So I’ll take the 24.5 here.

Hail to Steel Town Halushki and the First Real Weekend of College Football