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...
Texas Faces A New SEC Reality As Remaining Schedule Shifts
Texas is heading into the stretch run with a clearer picture of just how different the SEC can look from week to week. The latest look around the league turns to Oklahoma, Florida, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Missouri, all of which sit somewhere on the Longhorns remaining path. Recent results, shifting rankings and a few injury questions have changed the tone of those matchups, making the back half of the schedule feel less like a static gauntlet and more like a moving target.
For a No. 1 Texas team, that matters because the margin for error in November can shrink fast when opponents are trending in different directions. Some of these teams are coming off uneven performances, others are dealing with personnel concerns, and coaching comments suggest there is still plenty of uncertainty left to sort out before kickoff. The Longhorns cant control any of it, of course, but the evolving shape of the schedule adds another layer of intrigue to a race that already has plenty on the line. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Special Teams Carry One Big Concern Into Oklahoma
Special teams have quietly become one of the early-season stress points for Texas, and the issue is hard to ignore with the Red River Rivalry next on the schedule. Through the first four games, the Longhorns have not been as sharp in the kicking game as they need to be, and that area matters even more in a matchup like Oklahoma, where field position and hidden yardage can swing the tone of the day.
Steve Sarkisian has already pointed to the need for more depth on special teams, especially to keep defensive starters from doing too much work there. Texas also carries a reminder of how quickly things can turn against it, after the Tennessee game featured a long punt return touchdown and a late onside-kick recovery, the kind of sequence that can change a close game and one the Longhorns cannot afford to repeat in Dallas. [Read more 🡒]
Easton Royal Is Putting Texas Fans Through One More Stressful Month
Five-star wide receiver Easton Royal has been committed to Texas for more than 10 months, but the recruiting spotlight around him has hardly gone dark. The Longhorns have continued to stay engaged, and Texas coaches Steve Sarkisian and Chris Jackson recently made a trip to see him in Louisiana during the teams bye week, a reminder that this race is still being managed with plenty of attention.
Royal has also lined up additional game-day visits to Florida, Texas, and LSU over the coming weeks, with stops set for October 10, October 17, November 7 and November 14. For Texas fans, it is the kind of late-fall recruiting drama that can make a pledge feel a lot less settled than it once did, even if the Longhorns remain firmly in the mix for one of the biggest names on their board. [Read more 🡒]