The biggest week of the college football season thus far is upon us, as there are three matchups of top-20 teams and another that would’ve been had one team not lost to Minnesota last week. Conference play is in full swing, and while conference realignment has plenty of drawbacks and rightful criticisms, we can at least enjoy some of the elite matchups we now get thanks to the newly formed super conferences. Week 7 the start of a pretty incredible run of Saturdays, and the headliner is a No. 2 vs. No. 3 matchup in the Big Ten that should be an absolute dandy.
The Game Of The Year (Of The Week): No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 3 Oregon (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC)
If this game is anything close to what we got out of Georgia and Alabama in our first top-5 matchup of the season, we are in for a treat in Eugene. This game is fascinating for a bunch of reasons, starting with the fact that neither of these teams has faced anyone even close to the caliber of opponent as they will on Saturday night. While both arrive here undefeated, Ohio State has been more impressive in mowing down lesser opposition. Jeremiah Smith looks the part after being touted as the best wide receiver prospect maybe ever. The defense is absolutely terrifying. And their running back tandem is as good as it gets in the nation. The one question lingering out there has been about quarterback Will Howard and whether he’s dynamic enough as a passer to take full advantage of Smith, Emeka Egbuka, and the very talented OSU receiving corps against elite pass defenses. Last week’s performance against Iowa (which took a bit to get going but became a second half onslaught) was a really good start to quieting any concerns. If he can do something similar to Oregon on the road, the Buckeyes will cement their spot as a (perhaps THE) title favorite.
On the other side, Oregon is 5-0 but it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing to this point. They opened the season in a dog fight with Idaho and followed it up by narrowly escaping a shootout with Boise State. In fairness, no one has tackled Ashton Jeanty all season, so that Boise performance looks more understandable the further we go along. They took care of business in the Civil War, thumping Oregon State, and cruised to a win over Michigan State (albeit, with some concerning turnovers). With Ohio State coming to town, Oregon is going to need to play a more complete and clean game than they have all season. Dillon Gabriel and the offense have taken some time to get on track, and he is going to have to be on his A-game for the Ducks to get this win. They have been boom or bust offensively, but given the way this Ohio State offense can wear on you, they need to find ways to sustain drives in order to keep their defense from tiring out. On defense, they will probably want to go back to that Boise tape and figure out what they messed up against the run, because you can bet the Buckeyes will be taking a close look at that and trying to find ways to exploit the Ducks on the ground.
All that said, the Ducks at home are no joke and Ohio State has not faced a real stiff test this season, much less a road atmosphere like Eugene. How they respond and their ability to execute in a hostile environment against the best athletes they’ve seen will be very interesting to watch.
Lock Into This One: No. 9 Ole Miss vs. No. 13 LSU (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
This game is about as close as we’ll get this early in the season to a Playoff eliminator matchup. At the very least, a loss here means each team will have to be near-perfect after both suffered early losses to teams that aren’t in the playoff picture currently (LSU to USC, which just lost to Minnesota, and Ole Miss to Kentucky). That adds even more juice to a game that figures to be a lot of fun. Prior to the season, a shootout in Baton Rouge was expected, and we still may get that but Ole Miss’ offense has looked stuck in second for two straight weeks. Last week they leaned on their defense to smother South Carolina and their loss to Kentucky was a low-scoring affair as well. LSU, meanwhile, just wants to put up points in bunches and try to outscore you, because the defense remains a question, they just haven’t faced anyone since USC that could exploit that enough. If LSU can put up 34+ on this Rebels defense, that’ll be quite the statement, while Ole Miss will be looking at the Tigers as a chance to get back on track when it comes to creating explosive plays.
Under-The-Radar Banger: Arizona vs. No. 14 BYU (4:00 p.m. ET, FOX)
The Big 12 has been absolutely wild this year, as there are some big surprises at the top of the standings early on, with Texas Tech leading the way at 3-0 in conference play and 5-1 on the season. Arizona fell victim to the Red Raiders last week and now the Wildcats head on the road to Provo to take on the second-highest ranked team in the conference, No. 14 BYU. The Cougars were not even on the board before the season as a Big 12 contender, finishing 13th in the Big 12 preseason poll, but they’ve gone 5-0 to start their season with a particularly impressive win over Kansas State a couple weeks ago. Arizona hasn’t been able to put it all together early in the season, but their offense led by Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan has big play potential at all times. They could be the biggest test this Cougars team has faced so far, and this has a chance to be a very fun midday game.
Message Board Meltdown Game Of The Week: No. 4 Penn State vs. USC (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS)
Sadly, as a Nittany Lion, I must admit that my people are on Message Board Meltdown
watch this week. Penn State is a better team than USC, but this would add fuel to the “James Franklin can’t win big games” fire that envelops all of my fellow Penn Staters after every single loss, particularly since USC is coming off of a loss to Minnesota. But Penn State aren’t the only ones on meltdown watch, because while the Trojans clearly were gonna take a step back this year, I’m very interested in what the vibe would be around Lincoln Riley if they fall to 3-3 with back-to-back losses (and three losses in four games) on the heels of an 8-5 season, particularly if their offense can’t put up big numbers.
Who Won The Heisman Last Week?: Diego Pavia, QB, Vanderbilt
On one hand, the answer is Ashton Jeanty again, because went for 13-186-3 and got the second half off as Boise State beat Utah State by 32. But you know what? Diego Pavia absolutely kicks ass, he’s a little guy who transferred up and has radioactive levels of Dog In Him. He (and the ‘Dores) came awfully close to knocking off Mizzou in double overtime a few weeks back, and on Saturday, he put up nice numbers (16-for-20, 252 yards, two touchdowns, 20 carries, 56 yards) to stun Alabama, 40-35. Salute to you, Diego Pavia.
Best Bet (2-3): Vanderbilt (+13.5) at Kentucky (7:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network)
Look, I get it. This is the letdown spot of all letdown spots for a Vandy team that just beat a No. 1 opponent for the first time in program history. However, as Bill noted in the section above, Diego Pavia has a crazy amount of Dog In Him and I buy Vandy as just being a competitive team, week in and week out in the SEC this year. So far, they have yet to play in a game against any FBS opponent that has that hasn’t finished as a one score game, win or lose. I think that can continue against a Kentucky team that plays about as slow as anyone in the country. The Cats know what they want to do, which is limit possessions, run the ball, and lean on their very good defense. With the makeup of this roster, that’s the right thing to do, but that also isn’t typically the formula for covering two touchdown spreads. I like the ‘Dores to avoid a total letdown and keep this thing fairly close in Lexington.