We’ve got an absolutely beautiful week of college football ahead of us, one that figures to drastically reshape the race for the College Football Playoff. Technically speaking, we’re in the midst of the week already, because we’ve had games played from Tuesday through Friday. And some of those games happening Friday evening might even help us figure out who is going to win a conference and who will end up getting a chance to compete in the Playoff this season.
Let’s start going through some of the biggest college football games of the week, starting with some of the honorable mentions that absolutely deserve a watch even if they don’t drastically shake up the CFP picture.
Honorable mentions, in kickoff order
- Iowa State vs. No. 8 BYU: Friday, Oct. 9, at 10:15 p.m. ET
- UCF vs. No. 18 Oklahoma State: Saturday, Oct.10, at noon
- South Carolina vs. No. 16 Florida: 12:45 p.m.
- No. 22 Houston vs. Kansas State: 3:30 p.m.
- Stanford vs. No. 3 Notre Dame: 3:30 p.m.Â
- No. 9 Ole Miss vs. Vanderbilt: 3:30 p.m.
- Maryland vs. No. 5 Ohio State: 4:15 p.m.
- No. 15 Tennessee vs. Arkansas: 4:15 p.m.
- Kansas vs. No. 12 Utah: 10:15 p.m.
I have a lot of appreciation for this collection of games, though I don’t expect there to be a ton of shakeup with the College Football Playoff picture here. In the event of an upset, things could be monumental, but that just doesn’t feel overly likely with some of these teams.Â
I suspect the closest chance for an upset would be between the UCF Knights and the Oklahoma State Cowboys or the South Carolina Gamecocks and the No. 16 Florida Gators, but I could be totally off-base on that assumption.
Now let’s start counting things down with the 10 biggest games of the weekend.
North Carolina vs. No. 25 Pitt (Saturday, Oct. 10, 12 p.m. ET)
Technically someone has to win the ACC. Might as well be Pitt, right? The Panthers technically have a Playoff path, but a lot of things need to go right (and that includes taking care of business at home against odd teams like North Carolina).
If Pitt is going to challenge the Miami Hurricanes for the top spot in the conference, being able to beat the Tar Heels is a good place to start. Or, rather, to keep building momentum. Those wins over UCF, Syracuse and Virginia Tech are worth enjoying.
North Carolina looked interesting for a bit against Notre Dame a week ago, but it’s clear that the Tar Heels aren’t to where they need to be just yet. Should they find a way to get Bill Belichick a big win on the road, that will do a lot to dim Pitt’s hopes of sneaking into the Playoff this season.
No. 19 USC vs. Penn State (Saturday, Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m.)
What an underwhelming start to the season for both of these Big Ten teams. The Nittany Lions have been an absolute mess through the first five weeks and very few things are going right in the first year of the Matt Campbell era.Â
USC, on the other hand, has been surviving games by the skin of its teeth. The Trojans suffered a deflating 14-point loss to Oregon a few weeks back and also managed to somehow suffer a series of deflating wins against Louisiana, Rutgers and Washington.Â
Lincoln Riley is on the hot seat and also somehow not on the hot seat, and nobody knows what’s going to happen there. He can’t afford to lose to Penn State. If he keeps winning, the Trojans will be on the bubble for the College Football Playoff (and that’s not a bad place to be).
Texas A&M vs. No. 14 Missouri (Saturday, Oct. 10, noon)
Like a few other teams we’ve discussed so far, Texas A&M hasn’t been all that impressive through the first few weeks of the season. The Aggies desperately need a win, and they could cause a little bit of CFP chaos if they can go on the road to beat the Missouri Tigers.
For Eli Drinkwitz, his No. 14 Missouri team has managed to really look solid through the first month or so of the season, with their only loss coming on the road at the hands of Kamario Taylor (a legit Heisman hopeful) and the Mississippi State Bulldogs. That’s nothing to be ashamed of, and should Missouri beat A&M, the Tigers will keep moving in the right direction towards a spot in the CFP.
No. 23 Boise State vs. Fresno State (Saturday, Oct. 10, 10:30 p.m.)
Is there a better G6 team than the Boise State Broncos? I can’t think of one right now. The Broncos are doing well and have only lost to the Oregon Ducks so far (who might be good and also might be underwhelming, we really don’t fully know yet).
The Broncos aren’t going to have many high-profile opportunities to really prove themselves to folks who don't already hold the G6 in high regard, so they’ll need to take every possible opportunity to beat up on comparable teams from their level. And given how Fresno State has only lost to USC and has won four games in a row, they’re a good candidate for that.
For the Bulldogs, though, a win over Boise State is the last opportunity for them to really get recognition so they can find a way to sneak into the College Football Playoff hunt themselves. A good game to watch if you have coffee and appreciate underdogs.
No. 7 Indiana vs. Nebraska (Saturday, Oct. 10, noon)
Over in Lincoln, the Cornhuskers are looking to prove that they’re actually a serious team in the Big Ten this season. The Huskers happen to be unbeaten, but they’re not getting a ton of respect just yet. But with Curt Cignetti and the defending national champs rolling into town, Nebraska might have a good opportunity to make the Big Ten picture pretty interesting.Â
Especially considering how Indiana gets the Ohio State Buckeyes in Bloomington next week while the Huskers head to face the Oregon Ducks. The Big Ten race is going to be fascinating to watch over the next couple weeks.
This Hoosiers team hasn’t been as clearly dominant as the Fernando Mendoza-led group from a season ago. That said, they’re still unbeaten and still avoiding dumb mistakes. They could still be a great team. Nebraska gives them a chance to prove that.
No. 1 Texas vs. Oklahoma (Saturday, Oct. 10, 3:30 p.m.)
Arch Manning and the Longhorns offense really could benefit from a great performance. The Sooners could benefit from just simply getting a win to stop the bleeding. And this weekend’s iteration of the Red River Shootout will be fun to watch because of that.Â
The Longhorns need to avoid losing to a pretty underwhelming Oklahoma team, but with the way UT’s offense is struggling to produce, the Sooners might have a chance to pull off an upset this weekend (that would drastically shake up the CFP picture). That is assuming that Oklahoma could find any sort of offense of its own over the bye week.
I don’t anticipate Oklahoma winning, but dumber things have happened in this wonderful sport.
No. 10 LSU Tigers vs. Kentucky (Saturday, Oct. 10, 7 p.m.)
Man, it will be absolutely fascinating to see just how focused and healthy the LSU Tigers are coming out of their bye week. There’s so much potential for Lane Kiffin’s team, but they can’t be looking past this Kentucky Wildcats squad. Will Stein has made the Wildcats into a legitimately fun football team that is able to put up points.
Can Stein’s offense find a way to score on LSU’s defensive front? That’s a huge question mark for this game. And I really don’t know the answer; but if they do, and if they upend the Tigers, that’ll be two road losses against conference opponents for Kiffin and LSU in his first season in Baton Rouge. And that would be a huge ding against a CFP resume for them.
No. 21 UCLA vs. No. 13 Oregon Ducks (Saturday, Oct. 10, 3:30 p.m.)
The biggest game in the Big Ten this weekend. Oh, and the second biggest game of the weekend overall. The UCLA Bruins and the Oregon Ducks deserve plenty of attention as they meet up in Eugene this Saturday afternoon.Â
It’s a shame we won’t get to see Dante Moore compete against the Bruins, but with the way Dylan Raiola has been performing, the Ducks offense might still be able to move with ease. And at the same time, the Bruins are unbeaten and they’ve managed to take care of business without stumbling at all. UCLA hasn’t really faced anyone yet, so this is an intriguing test to see just how legit they are this season.
No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 6 Alabama (Saturday, Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m.)
And in the biggest game of the weekend, potentially impacted by an early October hurricane, the Alabama Crimson Tide get to welcome the Georgia Bulldogs to Tuscaloosa. Both of these teams are unbeaten. Both of these teams are vying for the top spot in the Southeastern Conference. Both of these teams are aiming to prove that they’re indeed the best team in the country.
Oh, and it’s absolutely worth mentioning that both of these teams have Heisman contenders.
It’d be shocking to see the loser of this game end up on the outside looking in of the College Football Playoff (for better or worse, that’s just the landscape of this sport in this day and age), but this game will certainly determine who has the inside track to the highest seeding in the CFP standings.
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