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Notre Dame at Georgia, 8 p.m. ET Saturday on CBS: We go between the hedges in Athens, Ga., in our weekly Outland Trophy sojourn for our feature game. But beyond highlighting the Fighting Irish and Bulldogs, we offer a delicious tripleheader of games this week featuring a combined 14 Watch List members stacked up for national viewing. If you like watching interior line play, this Saturday is your day.
Georgia’s 20-19 win in South Bend in 2017 was a catalyst to eventually reaching the SEC Championship Game and a near-miss against No. 1 Alabama and the College Football Playoff. Junior left tackle Andrew Thomas (#71, Lithonia, Ga.) started as a freshman (at right tackle) in that game along with quarterback Jake Fromm, and Thomas has been an anchor up front of one of the country’s top offenses ever since. This is a matchup of two top-10 offenses with Notre Dame averaging 50.5 points per game (seventh) and Georgia ninth at 49.3 per game.
Thomas was named the SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week in the Bulldogs’ 30-6 win at Vanderbilt in the season opener. Next to him are other Watch List members junior left guard Solomon Kindley (#66, Jacksonville, Fla.) and on the other side is sophomore right tackle Isaiah Wilson (#79, Brooklyn, N.Y.). The bulkiest starting offensive line ever at Georgia – averaging 6-5 and 328.6 pounds – has allowed only one sack all season while leading the nation’s eighth-best rushing offense at 286.7 yards per game. Wilson, a former freshman All-American, has been sidelined the last two games due to a lower leg injury, but as of Thursday is listed to return as the starter at right tackle.
Notre Dame counters with senior right guard Tommy Kraemer (#78, Cincinnati, Ohio) and senior left tackle Liam Eichenberg (#74, Cleve-land, Ohio) up front for an offense that enters Saturday a perfect 8-for-8 in the red zone with seven touchdowns. Their protection will be a key, as the Irish are 19th nationally in passing at 313.5 yards per game going up against a Georgia defense that is third in the nation in scoring defense, giving up only 7.7 points per game
Michigan (2-0) at Wisconsin (2-0), 12 p.m. ET Saturday on FOX: This is our first mention of Michigan and its four Watch List members, tied with Oregon for the most of any school. The big news coming into the game is the expected return of senior left tackle Jon Runyan (#75, Philadelphia, Pa.), who has dressed and warmed up for Michigan’s two wins but has not played with an undisclosed injury. Head coach Jim Harbaugh said last week Runyan was ready and could have played two weeks ago against Army but was held out as a precaution. Our four Watch List members all received All-Big Ten honors in 2018. Runyan is joined on the left side by senior left guard Ben Bredeson (#74, Hartland, Wisc.), who returns home one final time as Michigan’s two-time captain (35 career games played).
The right side features right guard Michael Onwenu (#50, Detroit, Mich.) with Cesar Ruiz (#51, Camden, N.J.) at center, part of an offensive line that paved the way for the fifth-best yardage total in school history in 2018 with 5,457 yards, almost perfectly balanced with 2,804 on the ground and 2,653 through the air.
Wisconsin boasts one of the top centers in the nation in Tyler Biadasz (#61, Amherst, Wisc.), a two-year letterman and the lone returning offensive line starter for the Badgers. Biadasz leads a line whose success is marked by its consistency – the Badgers lead the nation in time of possession (37:13) and third-down conversions; on the scoreboard, the Badgers are the first FBS team since South Carolina in 1980 to score at least 100 points and not allow a point in its first two games; and by the success of running back Jonathan Taylor, who is averaging 151.0 yards from scrimmage with a national-best eight touchdowns. Taylor needs 592 yards to join Georgia’s Herschel Walker (5,596), Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne (5,091) and Oregon’s LaMichael James (5,082) as the only players to rush for more than 5,000 yards through their junior season.
Michigan leads the series 51-15-1 but has lost the last four in Madison, the last win coming in 2001.
Washington (2-1) at BYU (2-1), 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ABC: Here’s a game that might tip either team’s season. For the Huskies, they wel-comed back senior left tackle Trey Adams (#72, Wenatchee, Wash.) for the final four games of 2018, and after starting each game this season, he is back for a fifth season after two career-shortening knee injuries that saw him miss the first 10 games of 2018 and the first seven games of 2017. He was a second-team FWAA All-American at left tackle in 2016. Adams and center Nick Harris (#56, Inglewood, Calif.) are veterans who have helped transfer (from Georgia) quarterback Jacob Eason get off to a record-breaking start to the season.
BYU sports our lone defensive player in this week’s package in junior nose tackle Khyiris Tonga (#95, West Valley, Utah), who started against Utah and again last week, getting his first sack of the season against USC. Brady Christensen (#67, Bountiful, Utah) is one of the youngest members of the Watch List, but the sophomore has helped the Cougars win in overtime the past two weeks with an efficient passing game.