While the aftershocks from Week 7 are still being felt in Happy Valley and elsewhere around the country, it is time to look ahead to what should be another exciting week ahead in the wonderful world of
college football. This week actually gets started tonight with multiple games across Conference USA taking place for the next couple of evenings, in addition to an intriguing one in the Sun Belt (Arkansas State at South Alabama).
Games Of The Week
The American Conference will see Tulsa travel to East Carolina to truly kick off the weekend, before the power conferences join in on the action with three games on Friday night. The ACC has two conference games on Friday, with Louisville battling #2 Miami at 7 PM and North Carolina at Cal for a 10:30 PM kickoff. Both games will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.
Miami has largely lived up to its talent level and is on track to make a deep run in the College Football Playoff, defeating Notre Dame in the season opener before claiming a Florida “state championship” after dismantling strong South Florida, Florida, and Florida State teams. They are 13.5-point favorites at home against one of the stronger ACC teams they will face all season. Miami’s defense includes former Scarlet Knights linebackers coach Corey Heatherman and ex-Rutgers star linebacker Mohamed Toure, who has made an impact for his new team.
Louisville has made its way into the upper tier of the ACC for a few seasons now, reaching the conference championship game in 2023, but has not been able to break through to the next level. An upset win over the Canes would do just that for a Cardinals team that features ex-Rutgers defensive linemen Rene Konga and Wesley Bailey. It may be a reunion of sorts for players and coaches who used to be members of the “Dark Side”.
Big Ten fans will want to be tuned into FOX at 8 PM on Friday, because Nebraska visits Minnesota in what should be a great game. The Cornhuskers are favored by 8.5 points, as they entered the AP Top 25 with a 5-1 record after defeating Maryland 34-31 in College Park.
Nebraska is interestingly 2-1 in one-score games this year, falling to a then-ranked Michigan 30-27 in Lincoln, but taking down currently ranked Cincinnati in the season-opener at Arrowhead in addition to knocking off a feisty and resurgent Terrapins team at The Shell.
Meanwhile, Minnesota is 4-2 on the season, with conference wins over Rutgers and Purdue while faltering against the #1 Buckeyes and losing on the road at California. The Gophers are certainly in play for bowl eligibility with several winnable games left on the schedule, while the Huskers will be looking to clinch six wins on Friday night. This game is also a rematch of their season opener in the 2023 season, with an Athan Kaliakmanis-led Gophers team spoiling Matt Rhule’s Nebraska debut on a walk-off field goal from Dragan Kesich to win 13-10.
The Saturday slate features multiple ranked-vs-ranked and rivalry games, with many fitting both categories throughout the day. With Rutgers taking on Oregon at 6:30 PM for a unique homecoming evening game, Scarlet Knights fans will have time to catch some of the earlier action, which is where I will start.
The SEC features #10 LSU at #17 Vanderbilt (-1.5) in the noon timeslot on ABC, with the Commodores looking to rebound from their first loss of the season at Alabama. Meanwhile, LSU is also 5-1, but failed its first big SEC test by losing at Ole Miss and has looked sluggish in conference play, even against Florida and South Carolina.
#12 Georgia Tech (6-0) is a surprising road underdog at Duke (4-2), with the Blue Devils being favored by 1.5 points. This will be a battle between teams toward the top of the ACC, with Duke’s only two losses coming to Illinois and Tulane. The quarterback matchup between Haynes King and Darian Mensah puts two of the top quarterbacks in the conference against each other as well.
The Big Noon Kickoff game features Washington at Michigan, with the Huskies sitting at 5-1 coming off their 38-19 victory over Rutgers last Friday. Michigan suffered its second loss of the year and first in Big Ten play, falling by the lopsided margin of 31-13 as USC surprisingly dominated on both sides of the line of scrimmage.
Both teams are currently unranked, although the Huskies arguably should be with their lone loss coming 24-6 against #1 Ohio State. Michigan tumbled out of the rankings from #15 after dropping to USC, which returned to the rankings themselves following the victory.
College GameDay is in Athens this week, and for good reason, as #9 Georgia gets ready for a huge afternoon tilt with #5 Ole Miss. The Rebels sit atop the SEC at 6-0 and 3-0 in conference play, while the 5-1 Bulldogs’ lone loss came at the hands of Alabama, per usual. Last year, the Rebels upset the Dawgs in Oxford
Ole Miss will need to get up for this game, as they sleptwalked their way to a 24-21 win over lowly Washington State, with the Cougars being over 30-point underdogs coming in. However, it should be an exciting game that could determine who the representatives will be in Atlanta for the SEC Championship game in December.
Fans at SHI Stadium with eyes on the videoboard will likely notice all the signage for R NIL, but the out-of-town scores during the Oregon game will have some of the week’s heavy-hitters. #11 Tennessee will be at #6 Alabama (-9.5) for the Third Saturday in October, with both teams having 5-1 records going into the contest. The Volunteers have won the last two home games in the series, snapping a 16-year losing skid against the Crimson Tide in 2022 before taking down the Tide again in 2024. Alabama won the last game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Another big evening game features the annual rivalry between USC and Notre Dame (-8.5), with the Trojans ranked #20 while the Fighting Irish are 13th in the latest AP poll. Marcus Freeman’s team has rallied from two straight opening losses, while Southern California’s lone loss came on the road at Illinois, which surprisingly fell out of the poll after losing to Ohio State 34-16.
Although Illinois also has the damaging 53-point loss to Indiana, they were ranked following that loss and had moved back up to #17, so it was strange to see them fall all the way out after hanging tough with the #1 team in the country. Head-to-head inconsistencies are getting tough for AP voters to figure out at this point, resulting in teams popping in and out of the Top 25 seemingly almost at random.
The other candidate for Game Of The Week would be the Holy War between #23 Utah and #15 BYU in Provo. Despite the Cougars being undefeated at 6-0, the Utes are 3.5-point road favorites, likely due to their dominant victory over then-ranked Arizona State to the tune of a 42-10 laugher.
Meanwhile, BYU had a much closer win over a hapless West Virginia and edged out unranked Arizona in double overtime. In addition to Texas Tech and, surprisingly, Cincinnati, the two Utah schools are among the top schools in the Big 12 Conference and will look to make a big statement against their in-state rival on Saturday night.
Around The Big Ten
The other games in the Big Ten also feature some intrigue, with 4-2 Northwestern (-3.5) hosting 2-4 Purdue back on the lakefront field in Evanston (3:00 kickoff on BTN). The Wildcats’ 22-21 win in State College put the dagger into the Nittany Lions’ season and effectively ended James Franklin’s tenure as head coach. Despite initially looking like one of the conference’s worst teams after a 23-3 loss to Tulane to open the season, NU is now tied for fourth in the Big Ten after taking care of Western Illinois and ULM while also defeating UCLA and PSU.
A win in this game is also pivotal for Purdue’s slim bowl hopes, as the Boilermakers are tied for last in the Big Ten with a 0-3 record in conference play and a loss to Notre Dame following a 2-0 start over Ball State and Southern Illinois. However, Purdue has also shown improvement, hanging much tougher than last season in losses to USC, Illinois, and Minnesota, with the Gophers winning by just a touchdown. The Boilers will look to capitalize against Northwestern and/or Rutgers before facing Michigan, Ohio State, Washington, and Indiana in what will likely be a brutal month in West Lafayette (aside from college basketball starting back up).
The #3 Indiana Hoosiers return to Bloomington to take on 3-3 Michigan State (3:30 PM on Peacock), a game in which IU is a whopping 27.5-point favorite. With their 3-0 nonconference start fading farther with every Big Ten loss, MSU played tough at USC and Nebraska before getting manhandled in East Lansing by the upstart UCLA Bruins. It figures to be a long day for the Spartans as they compete for the Old Brass Spittoon against the team that just took down #8 Oregon in Eugene this past Saturday.
Also on Peacock at 7 PM will be a game pitting Iowa against Penn State. What was expected to be a somewhat comfortable yet difficult test for the Nittany Lions has now turned into the first game of the new-look PSU team, led by interim head coach Terry Smith and backup quarterback turned starter Ethan Grunkemeyer. Iowa is a 2.5-point home favorite after thumping a disappointing Wisconsin team 37-0 in Camp Randall, where Luke Fickell may be the next coach to trigger a big buyout.
Kinnick Stadium has been a tough place for ranked opponents and unranked opponents to play, with Iowa taking down Penn State 23-20 the last time the teams met in Iowa City. Although Penn State got its revenge in the 2023 whiteout by shutting out Iowa 31-0, the Hawkeyes will look to take advantage of a damaged Nittany Lions team to secure their fifth win of the season.
Meanwhile, the rest of the year will be all about how Penn State responds. Although the lofty preseason expectations in Happy Valley are gone, Penn State can still make a bowl game if it can string together a couple of wins. With games at #1 Ohio State and home against #3 Indiana coming up, as well as #25 Nebraska still on the schedule, PSU must be able to pull the mild upset to give themselves the best chance for December football.
The final Big Ten game to discuss will be between Maryland and UCLA at the Rose Bowl. Both teams have been surprises, with the Terrapins losing consecutive close games against Washington and Nebraska, but still looking much better than almost anybody expected them to.
The Bruins, meanwhile, proved that they are not one-hit wonders after dominating the game against Michigan State for a 38-13 road victory. Although UCLA will have an uphill battle towards bowl eligibility, if it can keep the wins coming, there is always a chance. Meanwhile, the Terps will look to get back on track for their fifth win of the season before Roman Hemby returns to College Park with #3 Indiana the following Saturday.
Of course, Rutgers will also be hosting one of the top teams in the conference in the #8 Oregon Ducks, as both teams look to get back into the win column on Saturday. The Scarlet Knights started the season 3-0 but have since lost three in a row against Iowa, Minnesota, and Washington, while Oregon was taken down by Indiana 30-20 after starting the season 5-0, which included the now-infamous 30-24 win over former contenders Penn State.
Kickoff against the Ducks is set for 6:30 PM, with the game being broadcast on the Big Ten Network as well as on the airwaves at WFAN and WRSU-FM. Andrew and I will be reporting scores and updates from SHI Stadium, with our usual recap and analysis articles to follow the game. Feel free to share your thoughts on the OTB X account posts, the feed, and the game thread as always!
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