Week 4 is where the season starts sorting itself out, and for a few playoff hopefuls, there’s no more room for a soft landing. The 12-team format gives contenders a little more breathing room than before, but it does not erase the damage of stacking early losses. With six ranked matchups on Saturday’s slate, the pressure is already real.
Some teams can survive a stumble. These ones probably can’t.
Michigan gets Iowa at home in a game that figures to be about trench warfare more than fireworks. The Wolverines are 3-0, but the record doesn’t tell the full story.
Their Week 1 win over Western Michigan is the kind of result that won’t carry much weight with the playoff committee, and while they do have a win over Oklahoma, that one has lost some shine with the way the Sooners have opened the season. Michigan still hasn’t put together the kind of complete four-quarter performance that makes the rest of the country sit up.
Iowa gives them a chance to change that. A loss would crank up the pressure heading into Big Ten play, with Penn State, Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State still looming.
A win would help Michigan put a shaky start behind it and build real momentum.
Texas A&M and LSU are staring at a game that already feels like an elimination round. By the time the dust settles Saturday night, one of them will be 2-2 overall and 0-2 in SEC play.
Texas A&M is trying to bounce back from an ugly loss to Kentucky, a game that made the Aggies look a long way from playoff material. LSU comes in after a hard-fought defeat to Ole Miss, but the Tigers have questions of their own after their first-half showing in that one, Sam Leavitt’s play, and the fact that their big Week 1 win over Clemson is looking less impressive now.
The schedule doesn’t get easier for either side, which is what makes this matchup so critical. The loser will have a steep climb and almost no margin left if the playoff conversation is going to stay alive.
Oregon is in a surprising spot for a team that entered the year with the kind of buzz reserved for the very top of the sport. The Ducks head to USC trying to avoid a 2-2 start, and that alone tells you how fast the ground has shifted.
USC, under Lincoln Riley, has been waiting for a statement win in a game like this, and it has a prime shot at home against an Oregon team that has already shown cracks. For Dan Lanning’s group, a loss would be the sort of setback that can send a season sideways in a hurry, especially with Ohio State still on the schedule.
After all the preseason hype, Oregon is suddenly in a must-win spot in September.
In Other News...
Ohio State Is At The Center Of Another FOX Debate
FOXs Big Noon Kickoff is heading to Ohio Stadium this weekend to preview Illinois against No. 7 Ohio State, and the choice has already stirred up the familiar conversation around how often the network seems to plant its flag in Columbus. Some fans have pointed to the shows coverage of 11 Ohio State games since the start of the 2024 season as evidence that the Buckeyes keep getting the spotlight, especially when other top games are on the schedule.
That frustration is part of why this weekends assignment drew attention beyond the matchup itself, since the show is passing on the No. 20 Oregon vs. No. 12 USC game. For Michigan fans, it is another reminder of how heavily Ohio State sits at the center of the national broadcast conversation, even when the rest of the Big Ten has plenty of intrigue of its own. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Has A New No. 44 With Familiar Expectations
Max Bredeson is headed into the NFL, and Michigans old No. 44 leaves behind the kind of standard that tends to outlast the player wearing it. A former fullback and two-time captain, Bredeson built his reputation on physical play and steady leadership, the sort of presence younger teammates notice long before they fully understand what it takes to carry it. For Eli Owens, who now takes over the number, that history matters more than the jersey itself.
Owens and Bredeson overlapped in 2025, giving Michigan a brief but meaningful bridge between the old and new wearers of 44. Owens has already said he wants to model his game after Bredesons, and he has leaned on that example as he settles into the role. The number brings expectations in Ann Arbor, and Owens enters with a clear idea of what it is supposed to represent. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Edge Depth Suddenly Faces A Bigger Iowa Test
Michigans edge rotation has picked up an early-week wrinkle with Dom Nichols listed as questionable for the upcoming game against Iowa. Nichols has been part of the Wolverines plan up front, and his status matters even more in a matchup where staying disciplined at the point of attack is going to be essential against an Iowa offense that wants to lean on the run.
If Nichols cant go, or is limited, Michigan may have to turn more heavily to freshmen Tariq Boney and Carter Meadows in the pass-rush mix. That would put a bigger spotlight on the staffs ability to tweak the front and keep pressure coming without losing integrity against Iowas ground game, a challenge that can quickly become central to how the defense holds up over four quarters. [Read more 🡒]