We’re back for another season of picking games, and with a good chunk of this weekend’s action beginning before Saturday afternoon, we’ll get to the picks early.

The home team is listed in ALL CAPS

BIG SOUTH GAMES

Thursday’s game
WAKE FOREST 44, Presbyterian 7

Saturday’s games
#21 LIBERTY 34, St. Francis 10
CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 35, North Greenville 9
WEST VIRGINIA 38, Coastal Carolina 7
GARDNER-WEBB 45, Brevard 14
SOUTH FLORIDA 27, Stony Brook 7
VMI 41, Lock Haven 14

THE SPORTS NETWORK/FATHEAD.COM TOP 25 GAMES
Thursday’s games
#16 DELAWARE 41, West Chester 6
#5 SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 54, Quincy 0
NEVADA 38, #13 Eastern Washington 14

(and just for fun…)
GEORGIA STATE 35, Shorter 7

Friday’s game
TEMPLE 24, #1 Villanova 20

Saturday’s games
#10 NEW HAMPSHIRE 27, Central Connecticut State 17
BOSTON COLLEGE 41, #19 Weber State 13
#25 HOLY CROSS 28, Howard 6
#2 MONTANA 51, Western State (Colo.) 7
#3 Appalachian State 26, CHATTANOOGA 20
#24 MONTANA STATE 48, Fort Lewis (Colo.) 7
MISSISSIPPI 23, #17 Jacksonville State 10
#4 William & Mary 21, MASSACHUSETTS 10
#15 JAMES MADISON 44, Morehead State 0
#22 COLGATE 19, Monmouth 7
VIRGINIA 26, #6 Richmond 6
#7 Elon 20, DUKE 17
TEXAS A&M 37, #8 Stephen F. Austin 23
#12 McNEESE STATE 41, Lamar 7

Sunday’s game
#20 Prairie View A&M 27, Texas Southern 17

****

—Check in Thursday’s News & Advance for a story on Korrey Davis’ return to Liberty after a year at Massachusetts. Davis will be a major part of the Flames’ running back rotation, along with SirChauncey Holloway.

—Nothing major of note to report from practice today, though coach Danny Rocco seemed to be in a much more chipper mood than he was Tuesday. I’ll post a full injury report after tomorrow’s practice, along with a transcript of my interview today with St. Francis head coach Chris Villarrial.

—Stony Brook will remain an associate member of the Big South Conference through the 2015 season, the league said in a release today. The quotes of note from the release:

* Big South commissioner Kyle Kallander: “Stony Brook has been an outstanding football member for the Big South Conference. They have strong leadership, are a class act, and obviously are very competitive. We are thrilled to extend our relationship with the Seawolves.“

* Stony Brook coach Chuck Priore: “We are excited about continuing our relations with the Big South Conference. During the past two years, I’ve been priveleged to work with quality coaches and student-athletes from the various schools.“

* Stony Brook athletics director Jim Fiore: “Stony Brook is excited and honored to continue our relationship with the Big South Conference. We have a tremendous amount of respect for the administrators, coaches and student-athletes who represent the conference. I continue to be impressed by their commitment to succeed at the highest level of FCS football and look forward to competing with our colleagues for the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.“

—According to an LU release, the Flames’ football television footprint continues to grow. Seven of the Flames’ 11 regular-season football games will have regional or national television coverage on various networks during the 2010 season.

All five of Liberty’s home games will be on regional or national TV networks, and road games at VMI and Coastal Carolina will be televised.

The Flames Sports Network—shown locally on WTLU (Liberty Channel) and WRTN 13.2 (WSET’s Digital 2 station)—will cover the five home games. In addition, the St. Francis game will be shown live on MASN. Games against Charleston Southern, VMI and Gardner-Webb will be shown on MASN on a tape-delayed basis.

The Stony Brook game on Nov. 20 will be shown live on MASN as part of the Big South’s TV package. The Nov. 13 game at Coastal Carolina can be seen online on ESPN3.com, as part of the Big South’s expanded relationship with ESPN’s family of networks.

Like last year, the Flames’ broadcasts will also be picked up by FamilyNet, and Liberty will also get exposure on the Christian Television Network (CTN), which is a regional faith-based network with roughly 15 million households in the state of Florida.

—And a few links of note:

* There’s more on the injury to Marty Patterson at Gardner-Webb in Ryan Young’s Big South notebook in the Myrtle Beach Sun News. Young also touches on VMI and Presbyterian in the notebook.

* The Chanticleers, much like Liberty last year, are trying to find a way to slow down West Virginia tailback Noel Devine, Young reports.

* Coastal is going to scale back its football schedule in the future, Young writes. This year’s slate is particularly brutal, with games against WVU, Richmond and Georgia Southern before Big South play begins.

* The Charleston Post & Courier’s Big South preview capsules can be found here.

* The injuries at Gardner-Webb are disheartening, the Shelby Star’s Alan Ford writes.

That’s all for today.