Without a full slate of games each weekend, and with so much of the playoff field feeling preordained, the college football on the field has felt, at times, to be of less consequence than the off-field questions of which games will happen and what the committee will think of them. The big development this week was that we got rankings. We didn’t learn a ton from them. We did learn that there’s a lot of uncertainty and inconsistency within them, which means Tuesday night will be another night of interest, as we wait to see whether the inconsistency lessens, continues to rise, or stays the same.
In the meantime, though, there are, in fact, games to be played. So, here are the games that matter, plus the games that might.
Games that Matter
Notre Dame @ North Carolina (Friday, 3:30 PM EST, ABC)
If this is easy for Notre Dame, it will come as a surprise.
UNC’s had some bad, bad showings. They also have one of the best offenses in college football. Notre Dame’s the better team, but the game being played in Chapel Hill isn’t inconsequential, and Sam Howell’s going to be a handful. This is a good, old-fashioned upset-in-the-making, like the ones we used to get in the BCS era before Alabama and Clemson and Ohio State took over the last half-decade.
Oregon @ Oregon State (Friday, 7:30 PM EST, ESPN)
Oregon’s not out of this, though things may look grim. Continue to not lose, and do more not-losing in the style they found against Stanford and Washington State than the one from the white-knuckler over UCLA, and they become an option, especially because for how inevitable Ohio State and Alabama feel, even they could theoretically lose.
Games that Might
Ohio State @ Illinois (Saturday, 12:00 PM EST, FS1)
Auburn @ Alabama (Saturday, 3:30 PM EST, CBS)
Pittsburgh @ Clemson (Saturday, 3:30 PM EST, ABC)
Well, maybe not this week. (Kidding!) No, these are just the don’t-mess-up games for contenders.
Kentucky @ Florida (Saturday, 12:00 PM EST, ESPN)
Maryland @ Indiana (Saturday, 12:00 PM EST, ESPN2)
Northwestern @ Michigan State (Saturday, 3:30 PM EST, ESPN)
LSU @ Texas A&M (Saturday, 7:00 PM EST, ESPN)
And here are the don’t-mess-up games for contenders-in-waiting. And yes, we’ve included Indiana, because their path to having a chance is actually kind of easy to describe (Ohio State wins out, Indiana wins out, Alabama and Notre Dame win out, A&M loses).
Coastal Carolina @ Texas State (Saturday, 3:00 PM EST, ESPN+)
Finally, our undefeated Group of Five participant, who gets some attention for being undefeated, even if they aren’t a factor.
