College football Week 4: 5 can’t-miss games of the week
Week of the college football season is here and these are the games you can’t afford to miss this weekend.
Managing the remote control on college football Saturdays is basically a sport in itself. I have multiple TV’s on, an Ipad and the laptop that’s capable of streaming four games at the same time. This isn’t bragging, this is par for the course for my fellow college football die-hards. But I also know time is precious and not everyone can be like me and devote 16 hours on Saturday to watching as many games as possible. As a result, the common fan needs to know what games to avoid and what games are appointment TV. That’s why I’m here to represent the voice of the common fan and these are the five cant-miss games of the week.
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5. UCLA at Stanford – 10:30 p.m. EST – ESPN
On paper, Washington-Colorado is the better game as both teams are 3-0 and it’s a rematch of last year’s Pac-12 Championship Game won by the Huskies. However, I’m going with an unconventional pick suggesting a UCLA team that lost to Memphis last week playing a Stanford team that’s lost back-to-back games. I’m watching because I need to see which team rebounds and gets the win and which team loses because the loser could already be done for the year. I want to see Josh Rosen against this veteran Cardinal secondary that wants to avoid getting burned again like USC’s Sam Darnold did two weeks ago. And I’m curious to see how UCLA defends Keller Chryst after getting torched for five touchdowns by Riley Ferguson last week. Order a pizza, have a cold beverage of your choosing and enjoy #Pac12AfterDark.
4. NC State at No. 12 Florida State – 12:00 p.m. EST – ABC
It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve seen Florida State on the field. The Seminoles have been off for two weeks after their season-opening loss to Alabama. After a bye week, they were off last week due to the hurricane postponing their game against Miami. The extra time off may prove beneficial because of the season-ending injury to quarterback Deondre Francois. The added time allowed James Blackmon to get some valuable practice and mental reps so the freshman can get acclimated to the game situations he’s being thrown into. NC State has won two in a row after dropping the opener to South Carolina, and they should brace for a hungry FSU team in their home opener.
3. 4. Penn State at Iowa – 7:30 p.m. EST – ABC
Most weeks, this would be the site of College GameDay as the primetime game on ABC. However, ESPN decided to take their show off campus this week and will be at Times Square in New York City. Their loss as the Hawkeye fans will present a raucous environment for the visiting Nittany Lions who are looking to assert themselves as the class of the Big Ten. Behind Saquon Barkley, who may be the best player in the country and quarterback Trace McSorley, they may be. Iowa is undefeated three games into the year and has proven capable of pulling off an upset over top-ranked teams, as they did only last year to No. 3 Michigan. Could another upset be on tap on Saturday night when Penn State comes to town? Better tune in and find out.
2. No.17 Mississippi State at No. 11 Georgia – 7:00 p.m. EST – ESPN
Another game featuring a pair of undefeated teams from the SEC. After last week’s upset over LSU, Mississippi State has to be feeling confident they can hang with Georgia and may be the second-best team in the West, behind Alabama. Quarterback Nick Fitzgerald is one of the most underrated players in the country and putting up numbers comparable to Dak Prescott when he was lighting up the SEC. This could serve as another “legitimizer” for the Bulldogs as they look to knock off the SEC East favorites at their own place. Georgia needs to get Nick Chubb and Sony Michel going early to lessen the pressure on true freshman Jake Fromm, who has played admirably in place of the injured Jacob Eason. This is a relative coin flip and should go down to the wire, so be sure you’re locked in.
Next: College football player rankings - Week 4
1. No. 16 TCU at No. 6 Oklahoma State – 3:30 p.m. EST – ESPN
This is going to be a fun game to watch. There will be plenty of points scored in this Big 12 showdown featuring a pair of 3-0 teams. The winner of this game will have picked up their biggest win of the year to this point. TCU is one of the few Big 12 teams that enjoy playing defense and is committed to playing both sides of the ball, so they may present the stiffest test for Pokes quarterback Mason Rudolph so far. But I don’t think it’s going to be enough to slow Rudolph and his cast of weapons. Rudolph is coming off a 497-yard effort and has 11 touchdowns to only one interception on the year. He’s not gonna replicate last week’s numbers, but he’ll remain firmly near the top of Heisman Trophy candidates.