Friday Is Stacked: Two WNBA Teams Face Elimination, Five College Games and Hockey Coast to Coast

LAS VEGAS — Friday night is the best kind of sports overload. Two WNBA semifinal series could end before the weekend. Five college football games stretch from Louisville to Provo. The NHL drops a tight four-game slate, the NBA plays breakfast ball in Macau, and baseball — deep breath — takes the night off before a winner-take-all Saturday in Cleveland. Here's how to plan your evening.

Win or go home — twice

The headliner is the WNBA, where both semifinal series sit at 2-0 and both trailing teams are out of margin. First up: the Atlanta Dream visit the New York Liberty at Barclays Center at 4:30 PM PT on ESPN2. The Liberty dropped Game 2 in overtime, 101-98, in a game that ended with a timeout controversy that isn't going away — and now New York's season is on the line at home. Atlanta is whole, playing loose, and one win from the Finals.

Then at 6:30 PM PT on Peacock/NBCSN, the defending champion Las Vegas Aces visit the Golden State Valkyries at Michelob Ultra Arena, also down 2-0. The Aces have to win three straight to survive — a sentence that would've sounded absurd a month ago. Golden State is one win from a Finals berth in the franchise's early years, and the building will be shaking. If you only watch one thing Friday, make it the doubleheader. Full previews: Dream-Liberty Game 3 and Aces-Valkyries Game 3.

Five games of Friday night football

The college slate opens at 4 PM PT with Florida State at Louisville on ESPN — an ACC matchup with real stakes as both teams try to stay relevant in the conference race. Then the 6 PM PT window gets busy: No. 20 Iowa travels west to face Washington in a Big Ten test for the Hawkeyes, Wyoming visits San José State on CBS Sports Network, and Washington State heads to Utah State on The CW.

The nightcap is the one circled: Iowa State at No. 8 BYU at 7:15 PM PT on ESPN. The Cougars are hosting a ranked Big 12 showdown in Provo with playoff positioning on the line, and Friday night in that building is as loud as it gets. Saturday's full slate — headlined by the Red River Rivalry and Georgia-Alabama — gets the hype, but Friday night has a way of producing the weekend's best game.

Four on the ice

The NHL keeps it compact Friday with four games, all in the early window for West Coast viewers. At 4 PM PT: the Kraken visit the Red Wings in Detroit, the Rangers visit the Capitals in Washington, and the Penguins visit the Blue Jackets in Columbus — with Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin both in the early stages of what each has said is a final season. At 5 PM PT, the Ducks visit the Jets in Winnipeg to close the night.

It's a breather after Thursday's ten-game marathon, but the matchups are sneaky good — Rangers-Capitals is always theater, and the Penguins' trip to Columbus comes one night after Pittsburgh and Washington opened the season against each other. Catch up on Thursday's action in our Thursday NHL slate preview.

Breakfast ball in Macau

The NBA preseason starts your day before most of you are awake: Mavericks vs. Rockets at 5 AM PT from The Venetian Arena in Macau, live on NBA TV. It's the first of two China Games between the teams (they meet again Sunday), and the basketball angle is real — Kevin Durant sharing the floor with a healthy Fred VanVleet gives an early look at what Houston's offense could become.

The evening game is Bulls vs. Grizzlies at 6 PM PT in Chicago, where Memphis is turning the page to the post-Ja Morant era behind No. 3 pick Cam Boozer. And if you're wondering about the Lakers and Kings after Thursday's preseason rematch in Los Angeles, read our rematch preview from earlier today.

Baseball takes the night off

For once, October baseball goes quiet on a Friday. Thursday's drama settled everything: the Guardians beat the White Sox 9-5 in ALDS Game 4 in Chicago — José Ramírez's go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth and a six-run sixth inning did the damage — forcing a winner-take-all Game 5 on Saturday at 5 PM PT at Progressive Field in Cleveland on TBS/truTV. The winner gets the Rays, who swept the Yankees, in an ALCS that starts Monday, Oct. 12.

Over in the National League, both tickets are already punched: the Dodgers swept the Braves and the Brewers eliminated the Padres, setting up a Dodgers-Brewers NLCS rematch. Read our NLCS rematch preview and the Guardians-White Sox Game 4 story for the full picture.