Notre Dame and BYU walk into Week 7 carrying the kind of stakes that make the College Football Playoff conversation come into focus fast.
The Fighting Irish are trying to stay on track for a finish inside the top 12 of the final CFP rankings, and that means winning one of the two heavyweight tests still ahead of them. BYU is one of those chances.
Miami is the other. For the Cougars, the math is just as unforgiving.
The Big 12 does not offer many marquee chances, so if BYU wants real playoff consideration, it probably needs something big on the résumé beyond an automatic bid through the conference title game. Knocking off Notre Dame would certainly qualify.
That sets up an unusually meaningful top-10 matchup in Provo, where the early line has Notre Dame favored by 11.5 points. It is only the eighth all-time meeting between the schools, and this will be the first one in Provo since 2004. It is also the first time both teams have been ranked in the series history.
Lavell Edwards Stadium should be plenty loud when Notre Dame makes its first visit in more than 20 years, and the Irish are getting their toughest test of the season so far.
The Week 7 board has plenty of other games with serious weight attached.
Ohio State opens as a 3.5-point favorite at Indiana in a rematch of last season’s Big Ten Championship Game. It pairs two top-10 teams and national title contenders, and it will be Ohio State’s first trip to Indiana since Curt Cignetti took over the Hoosiers. Indiana enters at 6-0 and will host its most anticipated home game of Cignetti’s tenure, while Ohio State has rolled since a Week 2 loss at Texas.
Missouri’s trip to Ole Miss comes with a 6.5-point line for the Rebels and plenty of intrigue at quarterback. Former Ole Miss quarterback Austin Simmons is heading back to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium to face the team and the quarterback who replaced him. The Simmons-Trinidad Chambliss matchup leads the way in the ninth all-time meeting between the programs and their third as SEC opponents, with CFP positioning on the line as both teams still have tough schedules ahead.
Alabama is also favored by 6.5 points at Tennessee in a rivalry game that keeps finding ways to matter. Tennessee has won its last two home games against Alabama, but since beating the Crimson Tide in 2024, the Volunteers have dropped four straight home games against ranked teams.
Alabama has not celebrated with its usual postgame cigar inside Neyland Stadium since 2020, and the Tide will be eager to change that after a Week 6 loss to Georgia. Tennessee’s quarterback issues only add to the pressure on the home side.
Elsewhere, Wisconsin heads to UCLA as a 3.5-point underdog after the Bruins’ stunning 17-15 win at Oregon. UCLA is 5-0 and 3-0 in the Big Ten in Bob Chesney’s first season and looking like a serious playoff threat. Wisconsin, meanwhile, is 4-1 and 2-0 in conference play since losing to Notre Dame in Week 1, and the Badgers come in off a bye with a chance to start looking like contenders themselves.
A few other Week 7 lines stand out on the early board: Mississippi State at LSU (-10.5), Florida at Texas (-9.5), Northwestern (-9.5) at Michigan State, Kentucky at Oklahoma (-6.5), Wake Forest (-7.5) at Cal, Auburn at Georgia (-18.5), Nebraska at Oregon (-6.5), Utah (-16.5) at Colorado, Oklahoma State at Houston (-3.5), Florida State at Miami (-20.5), Penn State at Michigan (-5.5), Arizona State at Texas Tech (-12.5), and Virginia at SMU (-7.5).
In Other News...
Georgias Win Was Just Overshadowed By An Ugly Alabama Tunnel Incident
Georgias 20-17 win over Alabama should have been remembered for the football, and in plenty of ways it was. Georgia got a strong rushing effort from Dwight Phillips Jr. and Bo Walker, while quarterback Gunner Stockton threw for 249 yards and a touchdown in a tight game that never gave either side much breathing room.
But the postgame scene near the stadium tunnel turned ugly fast. An Alabama fan physically attacked Georgia linebacker Raylen Wilson, slapping and shoving his helmet in an incident recorded by reporter Reggie Chatman Jr., and witnesses said the fan used a racially degrading term during the encounter. It was an unsettling flashpoint after a rivalry game that had already been decided on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Finebaum Defends Kalen DeBoer After Alabamas Painful Georgia Finish
The conversation around Alabamas narrow loss to Georgia did not end with the final whistle, especially after the late fourth-quarter pass interference no call drew immediate heat. Paul Finebaum jumped in on the officiating, saying the SEC had some explaining to do after what he called a terrible miss in a 20-17 finish that left plenty for Crimson Tide fans to stew over.
Kalen DeBoer also came out of the game with some praise attached to his response in the moment, with Finebaum commending the Alabama coach for how he handled the calls as the pressure mounted. For a program that expected a measuring-stick game and got a painful ending instead, the focus now sits on both the officiating controversy and the way DeBoer carried himself through it. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama's Georgia Loss Turned On One Infuriating Late Sequence
Georgias 20-17 win at Bryant-Denny Stadium was more than another SEC heavyweight fight, because it finally gave Georgia a regular-season victory over Alabama for the first time since 2007. The Crimson Tide had the kind of game that could have gone either way, and Kalen DeBoers choice late in the first half to chase a touchdown instead of taking the field goal loomed as one of the defining decisions on a night when every point felt like it mattered.
Alabama still had a chance to escape with a signature win before the finish turned messy. Instead, the closing sequence left the Tide staring at a controversial no-call on potential pass interference and a personal foul on Dijon Lee Jr. that kept Georgias final drive alive, a brutal ending in a game decided by the smallest margins. [Read more 🡒]