This weekend is the kind of college football slate that sorts the contenders from the pretenders. A few of the biggest games on the board carry real weight, and by Saturday night the sport should have a cleaner read on which teams are built for the long haul and which ones are just hanging around.
Start with Alabama and Georgia, because that one has the look of a classic. Kalen DeBoer has already beaten the Bulldogs in each of the last two regular seasons, though that didn’t exactly stick last year when Georgia still took the SEC title and then handled the Tide in the rematch.
This Alabama team, though, has a different feel. The quarterback play is better, the receivers are more explosive, and the defense is making plays.
After some early-season sluggishness, the Tide has come out fast the last two weeks against South Carolina and Mississippi State.
The numbers back up the eye test. Alabama is scoring 49.6 points per game, which even tops the 2020 offense through five games, when that group was at 48.4.
Georgia is right there with it, and maybe even more dangerous under Kirby Smart. The Bulldogs and Tide are 1-2 in the SEC in yards per play and points per game, with Georgia at 7.93 yards per play and 51.4 points per game, and Alabama at 7.22 and 49.6.
A shootout feels inevitable. Dash pick: Alabama 45, Georgia 41.
The Red River rivalry has its own kind of chaos, and Oklahoma is walking into Dallas with plenty of issues. The Sooners are 2-2 and their offense is a mess.
John Mateer has looked lost at quarterback, the run game hasn’t done enough, and the wide receivers haven’t produced enough big plays. Still, this is the kind of game that has a way of jolting one side back to life.
The Dash expects Oklahoma to come out like a team with nothing to lose and keep it tight against Texas’ defense. Dash pick: Texas 19, Oklahoma 17.
Then there’s Nebraska, unbeaten at 5-0, but still hard to trust. The Huskers have beaten three cadavers in nonconference play, and while Michigan State and Maryland were handled by a combined 43 points, those games were heavily influenced by five defensive takeaways.
Indiana doesn’t give away those freebies. If Nebraska has to win without short fields or defensive scores, it gets a lot harder to imagine the Huskers matching the Hoosiers point for point.
Dash pick: Indiana 38, Nebraska 24.
UCLA’s 4-0 start has created some hope that the Bruins might finally be headed for a competitive conference season, but this is a different test entirely. They were 3-6 in each of their first two Big Ten seasons and 4-5 in their last Pac-12 year.
They’re 2-0 in the Big Ten for the first time, but Oregon is a much bigger challenge than Purdue and Maryland. The Ducks have won 11 of the last 12 in the series, and they also beat Bob Chesney’s James Madison team badly last year.
Oregon’s starting quarterback Dante Moore is dealing with a concussion, but the Ducks may have the nation’s best backup in Dylan Raiola. Dash pick: Oregon 31, UCLA 24.
Penn State’s season has already had its promising stretch and its humbling one. The Nittany Lions opened the Matt Campbell era with 3 ½ games of pretty solid football, then followed it with 1 ½ games that brought them back down to earth.
They’ll need the white-out atmosphere to matter here, plus a more focused defense. USC isn’t a juggernaut, but it can cause problems offensively.
Dash pick: USC 30, Penn State 28.
Kentucky-LSU has become the kind of game that can get weird in Lexington, and the Dash is expecting another tight one. Kentucky is 4-1, LSU is 4-1, and the commonwealth has seen its share of late drama in this series.
Jon Sumrall, now Florida’s coach, was on that Kentucky team as a linebacker, though not on the field for the final play. “I was standing on the bench talking to two teammates about how great Two Keys [Tavern] was going to be that night,” Sumrall said.
“Then it wasn’t so great.” Dash pick: LSU 28, Kentucky 27.
There’s also a pair of games that make for perfect couch-watching if you’re in Iowa and ready to root against somebody while your own team plays. Washington gets Iowa, and BYU gets Iowa State.
The Dash goes Washington 23, Iowa 17, and BYU 28, Iowa State 14. That leaves everybody at El Bait Shop sad.
Elsewhere, Purdue finally snapped a long Big Ten drought. For the first time since Nov.
25, 2023-“B.C., or Before Cignetti, in the telling of time in the state of Indiana”-the Boilermakers won a Big Ten game, and it came on the road in a 24-17 win over Illinois. It’s another step in what has been a gradual climb in Year 2 under Odom, and it counts as real evidence that the program is moving forward.
There was also a brutal ending for Montana State after coach Vigen’s timeout against Idaho on Friday night. Vigen, who owns a 66-13 record and the 2025 FCS national championship, called timeout with one second left while Idaho was trailing by seven and rushing to get a final play off. Vigen said he was trying to regroup his defense, but the timeout gave Idaho time to reset, complete a touchdown pass, and then run in the two-pointer for the shocker.
And if you end up in Columbia, Mo., hungry and thirsty, The Dash says to keep it simple: Shakespeare’s Pizza, a panda’s pepper pie, and a Snapper IPA from Logboat.
In Other News...
Dana Altmans Exit Leaves Oregon Basketball Facing Sudden Uncertainty
Dana Altmans retirement landed just before the start of the 2026 season, and it instantly changed the mood around Oregon mens basketball. After spending years as one of the most stable figures in the program, the veteran coach leaves behind a rsum that includes a 382-182 record, multiple conference titles and the Final Four run in 2017 that still stands as one of the defining moments of the modern Ducks era.
Tony Stubblefield, a former DePaul head coach and one of Altmans assistants, will step in as interim head coach for the coming season, giving Oregon at least a temporary bridge through an unexpected transition. The timing makes the situation even more delicate, because the Ducks now have to move forward with little runway and a lot of questions about what the next version of the program will look like. [Read more 🡒]
Dante Moore Gives Oregon Hope With UCLA Still Looming
Dante Moore was back on the practice field for Oregon in helmet and shoulder pads less than two weeks after taking a concussion in the USC game, a sign that the Ducks have at least some reason to breathe a little easier with UCLA on the horizon. Dan Lanning said Moore was throwing during practice, an encouraging step for a quarterback the Ducks have been leaning on as they try to keep their rhythm intact.
Even so, Oregon is not treating his return as a given. Moore still has to finish the concussion protocol and get medical clearance before he can play, and Lanning stopped short of saying whether he will be ready for UCLA. For now, the Ducks can only take the progress for what it is: a positive development, but not yet a finished one. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon Is Counting On Dave Iuli To Solve One Big O-Line Question
The Ducks offensive line has spent the offseason looking more like a work in progress than a finished product, with the 2026 rotation leaning heavily on freshmen and sophomores. In that mix, veteran Dave Iuli has become a stabilizing voice, the kind of presence Oregon needs when so much of the room is still learning how to handle the speed and physicality that come with Pac-12-level expectations.
Iulis value goes beyond snaps, too, because the Ducks are counting on him to help younger linemen settle in and keep the groups standards from wobbling as roles get sorted out. One of the names drawing attention is true freshman Koloi Keli, whose development has already come up for both Dan Lanning and Iuli, and whose long-term outlook suggests Oregon may be watching the early stages of a future starter. [Read more 🡒]