Saturday’s college football slate will not only have implications in the Big Ten but also in the race for the playoff, as the first batch of rankings are set to come out on Tuesday evening.
With that, games worth keeping an eye on this weekend include No. 6 Michigan at No. 8 Michigan State (12 p.m. on FOX), No. 9 Iowa at Wisconsin (12 p.m. on ESPN), No. 1 Georgia vs Florida in Jacksonville (3:30 p.m. on CBS), No. 10 Ole Miss at No. 18 Auburn (7 p.m. on ESPN) and No. 20 Penn State at No. 5 Ohio State (7:30 p.m. on ABC).
This marks the first meeting between the Spartans and Wolverines where both teams are ranked in the top 10 since 1964, and the winner will walk away as the biggest threat to end the Buckeyes’ four-year reign atop the Big Ten.
Both teams are excellent in the run game, with Michigan’s Blake Corum and Hassan Haskins combining for 1,331 yards and 20 touchdowns and Michigan State’s Kenneth Walker second in the nation with 997 yards and nine touchdowns. This game could come to which team is able to make the critical play through the air, though.
Despite looking utterly helpless on offense in losses to Penn State, Notre Dame and Michigan earlier this fall, the Badgers are lurking just one game back in the Big Ten West Division with the Hawkeyes coming to town. The key has been keeping it on the ground and not allowing quarterback Graham Mertz to make critical mistakes.
Iowa, meanwhile, made its way all the way to No. 2 before it mustered just seven points in a loss to unranked Purdue two weeks ago. If those struggles carry over to Saturday, the Hawkeyes slim College Football Playoff hopes will quickly disappear.
The Bulldogs continue to impress defensively, allowing just 6.6 points and 208.3 yards per game, but face their stiffest test so far this season in a Gators offense that nearly upset Alabama last month.
On the other hand, Florida hasn’t looked the same in the weeks since that game, with losses to Kentucky and LSU. A lot of that has to do with the shuffling between Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson at quarterback, so settling on one might be the key to getting back on track.
With one conference loss apiece, the Rebels and Tigers are tied with the Crimson Tide in the SEC West. Saturday’s meeting serves as a de facto elimination game, especially for the former given their head-to-head loss earlier this season.
Ole Miss is among the nation’s best with 41.9 points and 543.6 yards per game behind quarterback Matt Corral. Auburn will need an all-time game from its own signal-caller, Bo Nix, who was more efficient than he’s been all season in a win over Arkansas two weeks ago (21-of-26 for 292 yards and two touchdowns).
The evening wraps up with a game was viewed as can’t-miss until the Nittany Lions dropped consecutive games at Iowa and at home against Illinois in nine overtimes, the longest game in college football history.
Penn State must have quarterback Sean Clifford at full strength this week in order to keep up with the Buckeyes’ potent offense, which is averaging a nation-leading 49.3 points and 559.7 yards per game behind quarterback C.J. Stroud. Will this be a blowout or closer than expected, as the last five meetings have been decided by an average of 5.8 points per game? We'll see.
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