sport news CFB Games of the Week - Week 4: Wisconsin-Ohio State, Clemson-Wake, ... trends now
Before we begin, there's something that needs to be said about some of the traditional 'blue blood' college basketball powerhouses and their football programs. For the sake of this, we'll bring up Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, Kansas, UNC, UCLA, and Syracuse.
These schools have not been known much for their gridiron dominance. Of the seven listed above, they have a combined 40 college basketball titles. Yet, only the 1954 UCLA Bruins and the 1959 Syracuse Orange have been recognized as consensus national champions in football. Kentucky claims the 1950 title, but Oklahoma was consensus champion that year.
Of these schools only Syracuse running back Ernie Davis has won the Heisman Trophy as the best college football player in America.
All this is to say, they all have provided more for college athletics on the court than the football field.
Yet, for the first time in history (as pointed out by CBS's Matt Norlander), all seven are 3-0 going into week 4. While Kansas-Duke will prevent one of those seven from being perfect, Syracuse takes on Virginia, Kentucky plays Northern Illinois, Indiana visits Cincinnati, UNC hosts Notre Dame, and UCLA travels to Colorado.
Syracuse QB Garrett Shrader has been named ACC QB of the Week for two weeks in a row
With that little quirk in the matrix out of the way, our Game of the Week pick for last week was spot on, with Miami and Texas A&M producing a close, hard fought contest that led to the Aggies making the home crowd happy.
Elsewhere among our picks, Washington upset Michigan State at home, Penn State may prevent Auburn from ever inviting a Big Ten team to the Plains again, NC State silenced a threat from Texas Tech, and Oregon put away a pesky BYU team with ease.
In our honorable mentions, Notre Dame finally got their first win of the Marcus Freeman era, Florida State won a Friday night thriller in Louisville and Oklahoma further embarrassed Nebraska.
This Saturday has some tantalizing matchups. We finally open the keg on big-time rivalries with two top-25 contests in the SEC, an ACC clash in the Carolinas, and a possible preview of the Big Ten Championship game.
Welcome to Week 4 of the college football season. Here are the Dailymail.com picks for games to keep an eye on...
Honorable Mentions
Minnesota Golden Gophers (3-0) @ Michigan State Spartans (2-1) (Saturday @ 3:30 ET / Big Ten Network/ Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI) I've been dying to talk about Minnesota for weeks now. They have the 2nd best offense in the country by yards-per-game-average AND the 2nd best defense in the country by the same metric. They also are 4th in points-allowed-per game and 8th in points-scored-per-game. While the three games they've played were against weaker opponents, a win over Sparty should put them into the top-25. Stanford Cardinal (1-1) @ No. 18 Washington Huskies (3-0) (Saturday @ 10:30 pm ET / FS1/ Husky Stadium, Seattle, WA) Following last week's big upset over Michigan State, Michael Penix Jr. and company welcome a relatively easier team to Seattle. Stanford's only blemish is a loss to a top-10 USC team, which could provide trouble for the Huskies. Both teams want to prove they're legitimate and Stanford could do that with an upset. For Washington, this is resume building territory as they try to sneak into the playoffs. No. 17 Baylor Bears (2-1) @ Iowa State Cyclones (3-0) (Saturday @ Noon ET / ESPN2 / Jack Trice Stadium, Ames, IA) This could be a trap game for the Bears, who suffered a home loss to BYU a few weeks ago. Baylor has a slightly better offense than Iowa State, but the Cyclones have the top defense in the Big 12 and a top-10 defense in the country in yards allowed. One matchup to keep an eye on is Baylor's running game vs. Iowa State's run defense. Baylor averages 235 rushing yards per game, while Iowa State has allowed an average of only 60 rushing yards per game.Game 1: No.22 Texas Longhorns (2-1) @ Texas Tech Red Raiders (2-1)
Saturday at 3:30 (ESPN) / Jones AT&T Stadium, Lubbock, TXAllow me, if you will, to travel back to the most important game between these two teams - and the last time the Red Raiders beat Texas at home in the rivalry known as the Battle for the Chancellor's Spurs.
Both teams were 8-0 coming into the matchup on November 1, 2008. The No. 1 ranked Texas seemed destined for the BCS title game in a few weeks. But Tech was ranked No. 7 in the country and determined to win its first game over the Longhorns since 2002.
With Texas up 33-32 with eight seconds remaining, the ball was in the hands of Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell after leading a drive to the Texas 28 yard-line. Harrell snapped the ball and looked toward sophomore Michael Crabtree.
" class="c9" scrolling="no"
Crabtree pulled away from Longhorns CB Curtis Brown and waltzed into the end zone to give the Red Raiders their first - and so far only - win over a No. 1 ranked team. The win dashed Texas's hopes of going to the BCS Championship game that season - one they almost certainly would have made if not for the loss. Instead, they settled for the title game next year, where a loss to Alabama kicked off their dynasty.
Outside of the greater context, the Longhorns got revenge over Texas Tech with a six-game win streak in their next few meetings.
Since 2008's win, Texas Tech has only beaten the Longhorns twice, with both games being close affairs. This season, Tech has shown an aptitude for an upset, with a week 2 win over No. 25 Houston in double OT. Last week, they lost by about two touchdowns to No. 16 NC state.
On the other hand, Texas took a then-No. 1 ranked Alabama team to the wire in Austin, losing a 20-19 nail biter. There's one major piece missing from that squad which almost stopped the Crimson Tide. Texas QB Quinn Ewers suffered a joint sprain projected to miss as much as six weeks.
Backup Hudson Card won last week's match against UTSA, but a win over Texas Tech might be too much to ask from him. Ewers is back in practice with the Horns and will travel with the team, but it's not likely he plays in Lubbock.
Texas may need to use backup Hudson Card (L) in their road trip to face Texas Tech
Game 2: Wisconsin Badgers (2-1) @ No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes (3-0)
Saturday @ 7:30 ET (ABC) / 'The Horseshoe' Ohio Stadium, Columbus, OHWe haven't discussed these two teams all that much, but as things stand right now, we could see them play each other again in the Big Ten Championship game.
Ohio State fell back from No. 2 to No. 3 in the rankings after their close, yet unconvincing win over then 5th ranked Notre Dame in their season opener. Since then, dominations over Arkansas State and Toledo haven't inspired enough eyeballs to tune in.
That's not to say they haven't tried. QB C.J. Stroud threw for 367 yards and five TDs against Toledo - then let backup Kyle McCord grab 115 yards and a TD of his own through the air. Three different players - Emeka Egbuka, Jayden Ballard, and Marvin Harrison Jr. - all caught for over 100 yards and each got at least one TD catch.
The
