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The college football week kicks off with a lone game on Wednesday, followed by two games each on Thursday and Friday. The remaining 48 contests will take place on Saturday, including two games that pit FBS schools against FCS programs.
Three games this week match teams from the Super 16 Poll against each other as No. 3 Alabama visits No. 6 Tennessee in an SEC showdown, No. 5 Michigan hosts No. 10 Penn State in a massive Big Ten tussle, and No. 8 Oklahoma State visits No. 12 TCU in a battle for Big 12 supremacy.
Get the complete weekend Schedule and Picks.
The Tide are favored by 6.68 over the Vols in the Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com. In the preseason, 'Bama was favored by 8.98 points. The line at FanDuel Sportsbook, as of Monday at Noon, was Alabama at -7.5.
Tennessee is looking to end a string of 15 straight losses to its SEC cross-division rival, all of which have come against Nick Saban . Before the streak began, the series was close with the Tide leading 44-37-8. Alabama's last loss to Tennessee occurred in Knoxville in 2006 when the Vols outscored the Tide 10-0 in the final quarter for a 16-13 victory over Mike Shula's troops. Shula was fired at the end of that season and the Saban era began the following year.
This game pits the nation's top-performing offense of Tennessee against the No. 6 defense of Alabama, but flip sides and this becomes a battle between the No. 7 offense of Alabama and the No. 87 defense of Tennessee. Clearly, the Vols will have to step it up big time on defense or simply hope they can prevail in a shootout.
Bryce Young is fully expected to return at quarterback for Alabama which means this game will feature the reigning Heisman winner against a current top 3 Heisman favorite in Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker, according to the latest Heisman odds at FanDuel,com.
Both teams are undefeated and essentially share first place with Ohio State in the eastern half of the Big Ten. The winner clearly has a better shot of remaining in the hunt for the division title. The Nittany Lions host the Buckeyes on October 29 and, of course, Michigan and Ohio State close out the season on November 26th with this year's match taking place in Columbus.
This week, the computer has Michigan favored by a whopping 16.12 which is 4.17 points lower than the preseason margin of 20.29. Meanwhile, the line at FanDuel is just 6-1/2.
Penn State has won 3 of the last 5 meetings, but Michigan took a 21-17 win in Happy Valley last year. The Wolverines have won just 3 of the last 5 home games against the Nittany Lions, including a 27-17 setback in 2020 when these schools last met in Ann Arbor.
These are the only teams in the Big 12 that are undefeated in conference play AND over-all. Kansas State is also unbeaten in Big 12 games, but is 5-1 over-all. The conference plays a pure round-robin conference schedule (everyone plays everyone else). TCU hosts Kansas State next week while Oklahoma State goes to Kansas State on October 29. Kansas State is idle this week.
In the preseason, the computer had Oklahoma State projected to finish 2nd, with Kansas State 4th and TCU 6th. The computer spread on this game was 11.48 in the preseason, but has dropped to just 5.43 this week. That actually puts the trend line ever-so-slightly in favor of the Horned Frogs. The line at FanDuel on Monday favored TCU by 3.5.
TCU has the nation's No. 3 total offense and scoring offense, while Oklahoma State ranks 105th in total defense and 58th in points allowed. The Cowboys rank 21st in total offense and third in scoring, while the Horned Frogs are 93rd in total defense and 54th in points allowed.
Five teams have fired their head coach this year because he wasn't producing w's - Arizona State, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Nebraska, Wisconsin. Last Saturday, four of those teams played and all four interim head coaches came away with victories.
Arizona State handed Washington a 45-38 loss in front of a delighted home crowd to give Shaun Aguano his first win (1-2). The Sun Devils are idle this week.
Georgia Tech's Brent Key is now 2-0 after a 23-20 home win in overtime against Duke. The Yellow Jackets are also idle this week.
Nebraska is 2-1 under Mickey Joseph and tied for first in the Big Ten west following a 14-13 win at Rutgers. As we mentioned earlier, that win halted Nebraska's 10-game futility streak in one-score games as the 'Huskers rallied from a 13-0 deficit for the win. Nebraska visits Purdue this week as a whopping 18.81-point computer underdog.
Wisconsin, which had just fired Paul Chryst six days earlier, pummeled Northwestern 42-7 in Evanston to get Jim Leonhard off to a 1-0 start in the interim role. This week, the Badgers are a 9.45-point road dog to Michigan State.
Colorado and new interim HC Mike Sanford were idle last week and haven't played since Karl Dorrell was fired, but the Buffaloes return to action on Saturday as mere 2.53-point computer underdogs at home versus Cal.
As a whole, the interim HC's are 6-3 after their bosses had gone a collective 5-15.
There are still 15 undefeated FBS teams entering this weekend. In alphabetical order, here's who each plays this week:
Alabama - at Tennessee
Clemson - at Florida State
Coastal Carolina - hosts Old Dominion
Georgia - hosts Vanderbilt
James Madison - at Georgia Southern
Michigan - hosts Penn State
Mississippi - hosts Auburn
Ohio State - idle
Oklahoma State - at TCU
Penn State - at Michigan
Syracuse - hosts NC State
TCU - hosts Oklahoma State
Tennessee - hosts Alabama
UCLA - idle
USC - visits Utah
Two ACC games take place that used to be rivalries on a grander scale as Clemson visits Florida State and Miami heads to Virginia Tech.
Keep an eye on Mississippi State at Kentucky where the Wildcats will try to halt a two-game skid and the Bulldogs will look to remain solidly in the chase for the division title in the western half of the SEC.
Arkansas goes to Brigham Young in an interesting non-conference matchup. The Razorbacks have dropped 3 straight and BYU has lost two of its last four.
LSU visits Florida with pride on the line as Gators can't afford a 3rd conference loss and the Tigers want to bounce back from this past Saturday's 40-13 blowout loss at home to Tennessee.
Oklahoma will try to recover from consecutive losses by 31 or more points when the Sooners host a solid Kansas team. The Jayhawks are looking to get back to their winning ways after suffering its only loss of the season last Saturday at home to TCU, 38-31
Memphis goes to East Carolina as the Tigers strive to stay in the American conference race as the Pirates look to avoid total elimination..
Wisconsin looks to improve to 2-0 without Paul Chryst as head coach when the Badgers visit a Michigan State squad that desperately wants to halt a 4-game losing streak.
Stanford goes to Notre Dame to renew that rivalry. The Irish have taken 3 straight after the Cardinal won the previous three.
Other rivalries are the 109th Victory Bell game with North Carolina at Duke, and the 112th Battle of I-25 with New Mexico State at New Mexico.
There will be 118 FBS vs. FCS matchups this season with App State, Army and Marshall each playing two such games, and 115 other FBS schools playing one apiece.
Two of this season's final 8 FBS-FCS matchups take place this Saturday when Gardner-Webb visits Liberty and Colgate visits Army.
The FBS is 102-8 vs. the FCS this year, and 1,676-148 (.919) since we began tracking this in 2003.
Here are the FCS wins in 2022:
September 2: William & Mary 41, Charlotte 24
September 3: Delaware14, Navy 7
September 10: Weber State 35, Utah State 7
September 10: Incarnate Word 55, Nevada 41
September 10: Holy Cross 37, Buffalo 31
September 10: Eastern Kentucky 59, Bowling Green 57 (7 OT's)
September 17: Southern Illinois 31, Northwestern 24
September 24: Sacramento State 41, Colorado State 10
CLEMSON - Won 12 straight over-all (FBS longest); Won 37 straight home games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 31-3 at Boston College on Saturday, October 8.
Next: at Florida State on Saturday, October 15.
CINCINNATI: Won 18 straight conference games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 28-24 vs. USF on Saturday, October 8.
Next: at SMU on Saturday, October 22.
GEORGIA - Won 9 straight true road games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 42-10 vs. Auburn on Saturday, October 8.
Next: Hosts Vanderbilt on Saturday, October 15.
COLORADO STATE - Had lost 10 straight over-all (was FBS longest). Had lost 9 straight to FBS schools (was FBS longest).
Last: Won 17-14 at Nevada to end both streaks on Friday, October 7.
Next: Hosts Utah State on Saturday, October 15.
MASSACHUSETTS - Lost 9 straight to FBS schools (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 42-24 vs. Liberty on Saturday, October 8.
Next: Hosts Buffalo on Saturday, October 15.
VANDERBILT - Lost 23 straight conference games (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 52-28 vs. Mississippi on Saturday, October 8.
Next: at Georgia on Saturday, October 15.
NEW MEXICO STATE - Lost 21 straight road games (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 21-7 vs Florida International on Saturday, October 1.
Next: Hosts New Mexico on Saturday, October 15.