Saturday’s college football slate has a handful of games with real weight attached, and most of it lands squarely on the home side. From Provo to Bloomington to Knoxville, the pressure isn’t subtle.
Start with BYU, where No. 2 Notre Dame walks into what could be the biggest home game in Cougars history.
BYU fans have long circled the 1990 win over No. 1 Miami as the benchmark - the one that helped send Ty Detmer toward the Heisman Trophy.
This one carries even bigger staging. It’s the first top-10 matchup ever played in Provo, with the Cougars ranked No. 8, and the College Football Playoff implications loom for both teams since neither has faced a ranked opponent yet.
There’s also Big 12 pride on the line, with Oklahoma State’s win over Oregon still the league’s only true headline nonconference victory. College GameDay is coming for the first time since 2009.
The call here: Notre Dame 21, BYU 12. The expectation is a grind, with both defenses sitting near the top 10 nationally in total defense and scoring defense, and the Irish having the edge in both firepower and defense.
Indiana gets its own kind of spotlight in Bloomington, where No. 5 Ohio State visits for the first matchup of top-five teams the Hoosiers have ever hosted.
The closest comparison in program history might be the 1967 Old Oaken Bucket game against No. 3 Purdue, when Indiana pulled a major upset on the way to its first Rose Bowl - and only Rose Bowl until last season.
Past Ohio State trips to Bloomington have felt like Buckeye home games because of the visiting fan takeover, but that won’t be so easy this time with Indiana’s football fever in full bloom. The pick: Indiana 23, Ohio State 21.
Jeremiah Smith is still a nightmare matchup, and he showed that last year in the Big Ten championship with eight catches for 144 yards, though no touchdowns. Indiana’s goal-line defense decided that game, and it may have to do the same again.
There’s also an unexpected Big Ten meeting in Los Angeles, where undefeated, 12th-ranked UCLA hosts Wisconsin. The Bruins are averaging 31,446 fans at home, which ranks 72nd nationally and trails nine schools outside the Power 4.
Wisconsin’s lone loss came to Notre Dame in the opener, and Luke Fickell would clearly benefit from another win here. If UCLA loses, Bob Chesney might be asked to coach the Chargers, too.
The line could shift if the reported news on Nico Iamaleava holds, since he is reportedly out for the season. Cal Poly transfer Ty Dieffenbach is part of the story after stepping in at Oregon and making his first FBS game action in four years as a collegian.
Even so, Wisconsin’s defense - which has given up just one rushing touchdown - may be able to slow UCLA’s ground game. Pick: Wisconsin 17, UCLA 14.
Then there’s Knoxville, where the aftermath tends to be loud when Alabama comes to town. Tennessee fans tore down goalposts in 2022 and tossed one into the river outside Neyland Stadium, then brought another down in ’24 but never got it out of the stadium.
The school has paid SEC storming fines before, but the current price is now a half-million per incident. Alabama enters off a controversial loss to Georgia, and Tennessee’s offense remains shaky.
Kalen DeBoer has never lost back-to-back games at Alabama, and he has only done it twice in 150 games as a college head coach. Pick: Alabama 27, Tennessee 17.
The Sunflower Showdown doesn’t carry the same national stakes, but it has its own history. Kansas State has owned Kansas for a long stretch, and the Wildcats are trying to make it 18 straight wins in the series.
Kansas last won in 2008, when current K-State coach Collin Klein was a redshirt freshman sitting out the season. With both teams 0-2 in Big 12 play, the league race isn’t really the point here.
Avery Johnson has been up and down, but he has produced against Kansas the past two seasons and is expected to do it again. Pick: Kansas State 35, Kansas 28.
There are also three reunion games on the board: Oregon vs. Nebraska in Eugene, Mississippi vs.
Missouri in Oxford, and Northwestern vs. Pat Fitzgerald’s Michigan State team in East Lansing.
The lines are Oregon by 7.5, Mississippi by 6, and Northwestern by 7.5. The picks: Oregon 24, Nebraska 17; Ole Miss 38, Missouri 35; Northwestern 31, Michigan State 21.
Iowa heads to Minnesota with Floyd of Rosedale on the line, and that kind of game tends to bring out the best in Kirk Ferentz. The Hawkeyes are 5-1 after pounding Washington, and they’ve won the bronze pig 10 of the last 11 years.
The week also brought a harsh swing for Florida State. On Friday night at Louisville, Mike Norvell’s team led 14-0, then faced a fourth down inside the 5-yard line. Rather than kick to make it a three-score game, the Seminoles went for it, got stopped, and watched Louisville strike with a 97-yard run one play later on the way to a 44-20 blowout.
And if you find yourself in Atlanta and want something good to eat while watching the games, The Dash points to Clay’s Sports Cafe in Sandy Springs, where the wings and cajun fries come with a sauce that stands out.
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Kirby Smarts Leaked Message Adds Sting To Alabama Loss
A locker room speech from Kirby Smart has added a fresh layer to Alabamas latest painful loss, after the Georgia coach confirmed a leaked message that surfaced from inside the Bulldogs postgame celebration. The speech, delivered with plenty of fire and strong language, was aimed squarely at the Crimson Tide before Georgias 20-17 win, and it quickly became another talking point around a game that already carried plenty of weight.
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For Alabama, the task is not just about getting after the quarterback. The Tide also have to be sharp against Tennessees rushing game, because that is the area where the Volunteers can still create problems even when the passing game is uneven. Alabama has already spent time adjusting defensively with that in mind, and the outcome could shape both the game and where the Crimson Tide stand when the playoff picture gets clearer. [Read more 🡒]