College football’s first big October weekend has a little bit of everything, and the setup starts with a travel-heavy Friday slate before Saturday turns into a showcase of ranked matchups across the country.
The week opens in the usual Thursday lane with Sun Belt, American, and C-USA action, including South Alabama at Arkansas State, South Florida at UTSA, and Missouri State at Western Kentucky. From there, the real spotlight shifts to Friday night, when the power conferences take over.
Iowa and Iowa State are both in the mix under the lights. No.
20 Iowa heads to Washington, where all signs point to a very limited role, if any at all, for Hank Brown. That opens the door for a full game of Jeremy Hecklinski, and the Hawkeyes are chasing their first regular-season win in the Pacific time zone since 1987 over Arizona.
Later, Iowa State has its own late-night test at No. 8 BYU.
The Cyclones are coming off a thriller against West Virginia, a game in which Aiden Flora scored three touchdowns by himself, and they’ll need that kind of production again against a Cougars defense that ranks 21st nationally against the run and 9th in rushing defense.
Another Friday game with major implications comes in Lincoln, where No. 7 Indiana visits Nebraska.
Someone is leaving with a first loss of the season. Nebraska has cruised through a softer schedule, but the path gets much rougher after this week with trips to Oregon and Iowa later on, plus Ohio State in between.
The quarterbacks in this one have already put up big numbers, combining for 28 touchdowns, 2,243 yards, and only two interceptions.
Saturday brings the heavyweight stuff. The Red River Rivalry is back with No.
1 Texas facing Oklahoma, and this year’s version looks more tilted than usual. Texas is coming off a bye, while Oklahoma sits at .500, but it is still one of the sport’s best rivalries and earns its place on the calendar every time.
The SEC, though, has the headline game of the weekend: No. 2 Georgia at No.
6 Alabama. Both teams have rolled through the first half of the season with very little resistance, with Alabama’s 50-36 win over Florida State standing as its closest call.
Texas sits at the top of the AP rankings for now, but whoever wins in Tuscaloosa could end up with the edge in the SEC race, especially with the Longhorns facing five straight AP-ranked opponents after this week.
The Big Ten answers with a strong Saturday of its own. It begins with No.
21 UCLA at No. 13 Oregon in the afternoon.
UCLA has turned into one of the season’s surprises, opening 4-0 for the first time since 2023 and doing it under a first-year head coach for the first time since 1949. Oregon, meanwhile, still does not have Dante Moore, who suffered a terrifying concussion against USC.
In his place, Nebraska transfer and Family Dollar Patrick Mahomes, Dylan Raiola, stepped in and delivered, finishing 19-of-25 for two touchdowns.
At night, NBC gets the white out in Happy Valley for No. 19 USC at Penn State.
The Nittany Lions have already given the Iowa and Iowa State fanbases a shared dose of schadenfreude, with Matt Campbell’s team sitting at 0-2 in Big Ten play. Whether that reflects Iowa State being overrated or Wisconsin and Northwestern being better than expected, USC should present a much stiffer challenge than either, and Campbell will need that white out crowd to show up Saturday night.
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