Ranked vs. ranked
No. 3 Notre Dame vs. No. 12 Syracuse in New York: The most significant college football game at Yankee Stadium maybe since the 1940s.
No. 19 Cincinnati at No. 11 Central Florida: ESPN’S “College Gameday” comes to Orlando, Florida, allowing Knights fans to complain about their team’s ranking in person.
No.18iowastateatno.13 Texas: Both teams can still reach the Big 12 championship game. Oklahoma’s playoff hopes, one must address the elephant in the room — the Sooners’ porous defense. Despite changing defensive coordinators a month ago, Oklahoma has allowed 93 points, 1,113 yards and a 7.0-yards-per-play average in wins over Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.
Money isn’t everything, especially when it comes to making a coaching change.
Louisville (2-8) is mired in its worst season in more than two decades and athletics director Vince Tyra had seen enough, making the decision to fire coach Bobby Petrino on Sunday despite reportedly having to pay a $14 million buyout. Petrino becomes the fourth coaching casualty this season.
Washington State’s Gardner Minshew deserves Heisman consideration.
The Cougars have put together one of their best starts in more than a decade, climbing into the playoff semifinal discussion thanks to the hot play of Minshew, who despite leading the nation in attempts (523), completions (364), passing yards (3,852) and total yards (3,938), isn’t garnering much attention for college football’s top prize.
All eyes will be on Central Florida this Saturday.
UCF fans have long wondered what the program would need to do to garner some national respect, arguing the No. 12 Knights are overlooked despite owning the nation’s longest win streak spanning 22 games. That changes this week as ESPN brings its popular “College Gameday” to Orlando, Florida, putting the national spotlight on the Knights’ matchup with No. 19 Cincinnati.
Alabama-birmingham’s Bill Clark should get coach of the year honors.
UAB went from being on the verge of extinction in 2015 to claiming the Conference USA West Division title Saturday night and none of it would have been possible without Clark, who stuck with the program throughout, going from building the football program back up after it was shut down in 2015 to winning nine games and now playing for a conference championship.