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There have only been three Top 25 Matchups through the first 3 weeks of the season. Week 4 is about to make up for that. Seven Top 25 matchups are a huge part of this week's 67-game slate .
The football weekend kicks off on Thursday with Georgia State at Coastal Carolina. It continues with four good games on Friday as Air Force visits San Jose State, Boise State goes to San Diego State, NC State visits Virginia, and Wisconsin travels to Purdue.
On Saturday, one of those Top 25 matchups sends Colorado to Oregon and the Buffaloes will be missing one very important player. Two-way star Travis Hunter was not only knocked out of the game on Saturday, but had to be taken to the hospital where it was determined that he had a lacerated liver. Though the injury was said to not be terribly serious, he is definitely out this week and could miss 3 or 4 weeks altogether. Colorado hosts USC next week, and visits Arizona State after that. His expected return timetable is for the Stanford game in Boulder on October 13.
(ALSO SEE: Schedule, Picks, Odds)
Using the Coaches' Poll as the guide, these are the 7 Top 25 matchups this week.
(19) Colorado at (11) Oregon - Colorado won a 43-35 double-overtime thriller over Colorado State after a furious 4th quarter rally that culminated in a 98-yard drive and successful 2-point conversion that tied the game with 36 seconds to play in regulation.
The game drew 9.3 million viewers for the fifth-highest rating in ESPN history, even though it began at 10 p.m. eastern time.
It is not really known whether or not Hunter received the injury on a late hit by Henry Blackburn, but that didn't stop overzealous fans from making death threats to Blackburn and his family, which Deion Sanders condemned when he learned about it through the media. Hunter, who briefly returned to the game, said "That stuff happens" on his YouTube show on Monday. Sanders' son and QB, Shedeur, said, "He's on offense and defense so it's like you're losing two players in one so that was pretty rough." Hunter is a former No.1 recruit who signed to play for Coach Prime at Jackson State and followed him to Boulder. He has played nearly 90% of the snaps at receiver and cornerback.
Our opinion is we can not fathom how Blackburn wasn't ejected, though a personal foul was called in addition to an interference penalty on another Colorado player. But death threats have no place in the game and have unfortunately happened in the past, especially to kickers after missing what would been a walk-off game-winner.
As for this week's game, the Ducks opened as 21.5-point favorites, and the Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com have the spread at a whopping 41.22 points. The Congrove Computer Rankings only have Colorado ranked 87th, but the Buffs started the year at No. 125. Colorado was a consensus pick to finish last, or next-to-last, in the PAC-12. The Oregon game this week is the conference-opener for both teams.
(3) Florida State at (23) Clemson - Once upon it a time, it was the "Bowden Bowl" with the legendary father Bobby squaring off against his son, Tommy. Dad won 5 of the 9 games played. The schools first met in 1970 and FSU's edge has been narrowed to 20-15 during the Tigers' current 7-game winning streak. This week's game marks the first time that the 'Noles are the higher-ranked team since 2014. Out of the 35 games played, one of the two teams has been ranked in the top 5 a total of 16 times.
(4) Ohio State at (9) Notre Dame - A pair of strong candidates for the national title in 2023 will collide in South Bend as the 2-year home-and-home agreement ends. The Buckeyes were 21-10 winners last year on opening weekend in Columbus. Ohio State opened as a 3.5-point favorite for Saturday's game, while the computer has it under that amount but still likes the Buckeyes by 1.59. The game is one of this week's feature picks.
(22) Iowa at (7) Penn State - Iowa junior tight end Luke Lachey suffered a right ankle injury Saturday's 41-10 victory over Western Michigan. He had surgery Tuesday and will "most likely" miss the rest of the season, according to head coach Kirk Ferentz. The schools met 9 times before becoming conference rivals in 1993 with Penn State winning 6 of those. Each program has won 11 of the 22 Big Ten matchups.
(25) UCLA at (10) Utah - UCLA snapped a 5-game losing streak to the Utes last year, but that game was in Pasadena and the Bruins had Dorian Thompson-Robinson at QB and Zach Charbonnet at running back. DTR is now a backup QB with the Cleveland Browns, and Charbonnet is with the Seattle Seahawks. The Utes opened at the sportsbooks as a 4.5-point favorite while the computer raises that number to 7.56
(16) Ole Miss at (12) Alabama - 'Bama has settled on Jalen Milroe after quarterback after playing QB rotation among three players through the first 3 weeks. Milroe started the first two games, but got benched in week 2 and saw no action at USF. Saban now says Milroe deserves to be the starter, but it's more of a case that no one else stepped up when they had the chance. The computer has the Tide by less than a point (0.38) while they opened as 7-point favorites at the sportsbooks.
(15) Oregon State at (24) Washington State - The two left behind members of the PAC-12 collide on the Palouse with the visiting Beavers favored by 2.50 at the sportsbooks and 12.48 by the computer.
(SEE: Complete Super 16 poll)
No. 1 Georgia hosts UAB
No. 2 Michigan hosts Rutgers
No. 3 Texas at Baylor
No. 4 Florida State at Clemson
No. 5 USC at Arizona State
No. 6 Ohio State at No.9 Notre Dame
No. 7 Washington hosts Cal
No. 8 Penn State hosts Iowa
No. 9 Notre Dame hosts No. 6 Ohio State
No. 10 Oregon hosts No. 15 Colorado
No. 11 Utah hosts UCLA
No. 12 Alabama hosts Ole Miss
No. 13 LSU hosts Arkansas
No. 14 Oklahoma at Cincinnati
No. 15 Colorado at No. 10 Oregon
No. 16 Oregon State at Washington State
Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker continues to be suspended without pay, and the school has given him an ultimatum to show cause as to why he should not be fired now.indefinitely and without pay.
Harlon Barnett, the secondary coach, has assumed the duties of interim head coach while former head coach Mark Dantonio (2007-2019) will serve as the team's interim coach.
The suspension came just days before the Spartans had to play one of their toughest games of the season, which the lost in a landslide, 41-7, to Washington.
They will host Maryland on Saturday as they try to right the ship before it sinks entirely. The Terps opened as 6.5-point favorites, but the computer is actually favoring Michigan State by 1.83 points to pull off the upset.
This season has 117 of the 133 FBS schools facing one FCS opponent, and Army playing two such games for a total of 118 FBS-FCS matchups.
Of the 16 FBS schools that do NOT play a FCS program, 7 are in the B1G (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue, Wisconsin). 6 more are evenly split between the Big 12 (Houston, Oklahoma, Texas) and Pac-12 (Colorado, USC, Washington). The other three are Liberty (CUSA) , UTSA (American), and Virginia Tech (ACC).
FBS schools were 20-1 this past weekend and are 97-4 this year against the FCS schools. Over-all, the FBS is a collective 1,783-152 (.922) since we began tracking this in 2003.
There are only 4 such games this week.
Here are the FCS wins in 2023, so far:
September 9: Idaho 33, Nevada 6
September 9: Southern Illinois 14, Northern Illinois 12
September 9: Fordham 40, Buffalo 37
September 16: Sacramento State 30, Stanford 23
GEORGIA - Won 21 straight home games, 20 straight over-all, and 11 straight true road games.
Last: 24-14 home win over South Carolina on Saturday, September 16.
Next: Hosts UAB on Saturday, September 23.
MICHIGAN - Won 15 straight conference games.
Last: 31-6 home win over Bowling Green on Saturday, September 16.
Next: Hosts Rutgers on Saturday, September 23.
NEVADA - Lost 13 straight over-all, and 7 straight home games.
Last: 31-24 home loss to Kansas on Saturday, September 16.
Next: Visits Texas State on Saturday, September 23.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS - Lost 6 straight home games.
Last: 35-11 road loss to Nebraska on Saturday, September 16.
Next: Hosts Tulsa on Saturday, September 23.
USF - Lost 13 straight conference games, 18 straight FBS games, and 19 straight road games.
Last: 17-3 home loss to Alabama on Saturday, September 16.
Next: Hosts Rice on Saturday, September 23.