CO L L EG E F O OT B A L L TO D AY
The COVID-19 pandemic is packing a punch in college football this week, with six games called off, including three involving top-10 teams: No. 7 Oklahoma
State at Baylor, No. 8 Cincinnati at Tulsa and LSU at No. 10 Florida. Also postponed were Vanderbilt-Missouri, FIU
Charlotte, Southern Miss-UTEP and
Appalachian State-Georgia Southern.
The Eagles hurriedly scheduled a replacement home game against independent Massachusetts.
No. 1 Clemson (4-0, 3-0 ACC) at Georgia Tech (2-2, 2-1), 9 a.m., Ch. 10:
Jahmyr Gibbs. were, the Midshipmen sit atop the week over Temple, Navy piled up a option that is the trademark of the our roster is going to look like.” a 46-27 loss at Georgia Tech. Notre second only to Clemson’s 25.
Leach’s Air Raid offense tossed six
Tide have won five straight against
Ole Miss.
The
last time the Yellow Jackets played at home against a No. 1 team was Nov. 8, 1980, when they tied Notre Dame 3-3.
With QB Trevor Lawrence playing for the
Tigers, it’s unlikely that score will be repeated today. Lawrence has gone 355 pass attempts without an interception, closing in on Russell Wilson’s ACC record of 379 attempts for North Carolina State in 2008-09. Clemson beat Georgia Tech 52-14 last season in Geoff Collins’ debut as Yellow Jackets coach. Tech is rebuilding behind two promising freshmen, quarterback Jeff Sims and running back
Navy (2-2, 2-0 AAC) at East Carolina (1-2, 1-1), 9 a.m., ESPN2:
As odd as this
pandemic-affected season has been and as ugly as losses to Air Force (40-7) and
BYU (55-3) by a combined 85 points
American Athletic Conference with a 2-0 record in league play. In a 31-29 win last season-high 251 rushing yards as the offense looked like the punishing triple program. The Pirates apparently have some COVID-19 issues, with coach Mike
Houston saying, “We won’t have a true picture until the end of the week of what
Louisville (1-3, 0-3 ACC) at No. 4 Notre Dame (3-0, 2-0), 11:30 a.m., Ch. 7/39:
The Fighting Irish have climbed into the
College Football Playoff conversation with three consecutive victories and hope to continue to shake off the rust from a 21-day layoff due to COVID-19 against a Cardinals team that is on the road for the third straight week and has lost three straight ACC games. Louisville
QB Malik Cunningham passed for two touchdowns and ran for two last week in
Dame’s nine-game winning streak is tied with Air Force for the longest in FBS and its 21 consecutive home victories are
No. 11 Texas A&M (2-1, 2-1 SEC) at Mississippi State (1-2, 1-2), 1 p.m., ESPN:
The Aggies aim to follow up an
impressive 41-38 home upset of No. 4
Florida that vaulted them 10 spots in the rankings. They visit a Bulldogs squad reeling from consecutive losses, including last week’s 24-2 loss at Kentucky. The
Wildcats gained just 157 yards but Mike interceptions and gained a season-low 275 yards. Aggies QB Kellen Mond is coming off a 338-yard, three-TD passing performance that upset the Gators.
No. 3 Georgia (3-0, 3-0 SEC) at No. 2 Alabama (3-0, 3-0), 5 p.m., Ch. 8: aging 1.49 yards per carry. Georgia,
The
only matchup of Top 25 teams this week.
As of late Friday it was looking as though
Nick Saban would be able to face off against a former assistant for the second straight week, with Georgia’s Kirby
Smart following Lane Kiffin of Ole Miss.
Alabama got into a scoring contest in last week’s 63-48 win against the Rebels, while Georgia was challenged for part of its game against Tennessee, trailing at half before winning 44-21. The Crimson
Georgia. The Bulldogs’ run defense is best in the nation, with opponents averhowever, hasn’t seen a running back like
Najee Harris, who went for a career-high 206 yards and five touchdowns against