Friday night gives us a small appetizer before the full Week 4 college football slate arrives, and there are five games on the board tonight. One of them features the defending National Champions, Indiana, hosting Northwestern.
Another brings Navy into an American Conference matchup with UAB. And in the ACC, Clemson and California line up in a game that looks more like a grinder than a shootout.
The cleanest play on the board is Navy laying the points against UAB. The reason is simple: stopping the run is the whole ballgame against a service academy, and the Blazers have not shown they can do it.
UAB ranks 95th in opponent yards per carry, allowing 4.7 yards per rush. That weakness has already shown up in ugly fashion, including last week’s 21-14 loss to Louisiana, when UAB was outgained 335 yards to 218.
Navy should have the kind of night where it controls the game and keeps moving.
The other side that stands out is Northwestern catching 21 points against Indiana. Indiana has rolled through three big wins over non-power conference teams, but that run has likely pushed the betting market a little too far.
Northwestern has already tested itself against a power conference opponent in Colorado and responded with a 34-point win. The Wildcats have also held up defensively, giving up only 5.8 yards per play.
Indiana may still win comfortably, but 21 points is a hefty number, even with the defending champs.
For Clemson and California, the better move is on the total, not the side. The UNDER 50.5 is the play.
Both offenses have been slow out of the gate. Clemson sits 111th nationally in yards per play at 4.5 per snap, while California is even lower at 120th at 4.4.
The scoring numbers back that up: Clemson put up just 10 points against LSU in Week 1 and 22 against Georgia Southern in Week 2. California has managed 24 points against UCLA and 21 against Syracuse.
On the other side of the ball, both defenses have done enough to keep things tight, and Clemson’s group has been especially sharp, allowing just 6.3 yards per play behind players like Will Heldt and Sammy Brown.
That points to a night where defense does the talking in Clemson-California, and where Navy and Northwestern each have paths to cashing tickets in very different ways.
In Other News...
Clemson Heads To Cal With A Defensive Problem Getting Worse
Clemson heads to California with its defense already stretched thin and now missing two more starters. Nickel corner Corian Gipson and defensive tackle Devarrick Woods were both downgraded from questionable to out in the latest ACC availability report, adding to the Tigers depth concerns before a long trip and another conference test.
The biggest issue sits inside, where the defensive tackle room has been hit hard by injuries and suspension and the rotation has been shrinking for weeks. With those absences piling up, Clemson will need to piece together snaps in the middle of the defense while trying to keep pace in a game that suddenly comes with a lot more uncertainty. [Read more 🡒]
Clemsons Cal Trip Revives One Of The Weirdest Kickoff Debates Yet
Clemsons trip to California has already managed to stir up one of the odd little debates that follows college football around: just how late is too late for kickoff. The Tigers ACC game against Cal is set for 10:30 p.m. ET, which is plenty late for a school and fan base used to more conventional start times, but it still fits within a history that has occasionally pushed the clock far beyond normal.
The program has dealt with late nights before, including two games this season that were pushed back by weather. And while this one will test patience on the East Coast, it will not stand as Clemsons latest start on record, leaving a bit of historical trivia in the background as the Tigers head west for an unusual conference trip. [Read more 🡒]
Clemson Walks Into A Strange Road Atmosphere For First Berkeley Trip
Clemsons first trip to Berkeley is shaping up as more than just another road game, with California coach Tosh Lupoi trying to build a primetime atmosphere around the visit to California Memorial Stadium. Lupoi, hired by Cal on Dec. 4, 2025, has been encouraging students to show up and make the stadium feel like a proper college football stage when the Tigers come to town.
The backdrop in Berkeley is a little unusual, though, because the program is still operating without Lupois contract or term sheet finalized nearly 10 months after his hiring. For Clemson, it adds one more layer to a matchup that already carries the novelty of a first-ever Berkeley trip, with the setting likely to matter as much as the chess match on the field. [Read more 🡒]