The interest in week six of the 2021 College Football season starts a little early this week with three ranked teams playing on Thursday & Friday. The first team looking to boost their resume is Coastal Carolina, who has what looks on paper anyway like a winnable trip to Arkansas State. A team on a four-game losing streak despite scoring 30 points plus per game on average.
The Chanticleers are 20 point favourites in this one and they should win it fairly easily in what could be a high scoring game.
Friday Night Lights
Friday has two ranked games with the highlight being No 5 Cinncinati travelling to fellow AAC side Temple. The Bearcats have built on their excellent 2020 campaign and are coming off of an impressive defensive win over then No 9 Notre Dame. A big win here could potentially see them move into the playoff places as something will have to give in the Big Ten.
In the other ranked game, Arizona State has the chance to make a move as their opponents Stanford are fresh off of a good win over Oregon. The Sun Devils are not heading for the playoffs but they will have their eye on the PAC- 12’s Rose Bowl slot.
Saturday All Eyes On The Big Ten
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The Big Ten takes centre stage on Saturday headed by the weekend’s biggest game Iowa vs Penn State. A win for either will probably not advance them in the rankings much (barring a shock or two in the SEC). However, the result will leave the winner with their destiny very much in their own hands.
Also vying for position will be No 7 ranked Ohio State who has bounced back from that Oregon loss. It shows just how highly the voters rate them as despite that loss they are ahead of both Michigan & Michigan state who are both 5-0. Right now only the Spartans have a win over a ranked opponent yet they are 11th while Michigan are 9th.
All three are favourites but MSU & the Wolverines both have tricky road trips. It will be interesting to see if the voters take account of this assuming all three end up winning.
In the Big Ten’s only other game Wisconsin who was ranked 12 pre-season will be desperate to stop the rot. At 1-3 and with a tough schedule ahead they know a loss here could end their hopes of making a decent Bowl Game. A loss and they might not get to go to one at all.
Plenty Of Action In The SEC
The top two teams in the country Alabama & Georgia both have tricky conference games and both are on the road. The Tide go to Texas A&M who after a bright start has dropped their last two against conference rivals and are now unranked after starting the season at No 6.
The omens are not good for A&M as they have lost their last eight meetings and Alabama is on a 100 game winning streak against unranked opponents.
Georgia look like Alabama’s only serious rival this year thanks largely to their awesome defense. They have only conceded 23 points so far and have shut out their last two opponents. They made a big statement last week dominating the then No 8 Arkansas and although a road trip to Auburn will not be easy they should prevail.
Speaking of Arkansas, they have a chance to bounce back if they can beat No 17 Ole Miss on the road. This could end up being the most entertaining game in the SEC this week as they are quite evenly matched. Ole Miss will be hard to beat at home though and they are good at protecting the ball having not thrown an interception so far this year.
The final two ranked games in the SEC sees one of the season’s surprise teams Kentucky travelling to LSU. If they come away from Death Valley with a win we will have to start taking them seriously. While in the other Florida have the chance to get back to winning ways against Vanderbilt. The Gators may be 3-2 but both losses have been one-score affairs and those opponents are still unbeaten!
Red River Rivalry Oklahoma v Texas
In the Big 12 the action is at the Cotton Bowl where Texas will be hoping to put a dent their biggest rivals playoff hopes, as well as get back into contention for the B12 Championship themselves. The Sooners are 5-0 but have struggled against FBS opposition with all four wins being by one score or less.
In the conferences, other games Texas Tech & Baylor will be rooting for Texas as they are both 4-1 and that would leave them all tied at 5-1 if they all win. The Oklahoma State Cowboys are not playing this weekend but remain undefeated.
The Other Possible Contenders
BYU travel to Boise State and a win should keep them at 10. They would need a few results to go their way to move any higher, but we are sure that they would have taken that pre-season. It would be interesting to see how the CFP deals a 12-0 BYU. Our guess is they would miss out but who knows.
Oregon ware still the PAC-12’s only realistic playoff contender. They are having a week off to reflect on last weeks debacle. They will still be wondering how they ended up losing to Stanford, but with that win over Ohio State, they still have a chance.
Other Games To Look Out For
Oregon State travel to Washington State on the back of a 4 game winning streak which has seen them go top of the PAC-12 North. They could end up entering the rankings if they manage to take the Cougars down. The Beavers have been averaging 436 yards of offense and 36 points a game, but are not great on Defense so this one could be a fun watch.
In the ACC things are looking a bit bleak this year with only Wake Forest & NC State figuring in the rankings, and both are in the lower reaches. NC State is having the week off but Wake Forest could sneak a little higher as they have a road game against Syracuse.
Outside the Power Five, we will be watching UTSA who have quietly moved on to 5-0 and they have a couple of nice wins amongst them. They face a bit of a challenge in their trip to Western Kentucky despite what the records show. The Hilltoppers are on a three-game skid, but two of those losses were by 5 points combined and in their last outing, they made Michigan State work for the win. If UTSA comes away from this one with a win and doesn’t sneak into the top 25 we will be surprised.
Top 25 Games
This weeks games featuring the top 25 teams are below with the all ranked ones highlighted in blue. We have also taken a stab at predicting the winners and the margins.
Thursday, Oct. 7th
No. 15 Coastal Carolina @ Arkansas State
Prediction CCU to win by 30 points +. You can check our preview here.
Friday, Oct. 8th
No. 5 Cincinnati @ Temple
Prediction Cincinnati by 7-10 points
No. 22 Arizona State @ Stanford
Prediction Arizona State by 3-7 points
Saturday, Oct. 9th
No. 1 Alabama @ Texas A&M
Prediction Alabama by 14 points +
No. 2 Georgia @ No. 18 Auburn
Prediction Georgia by 3-7 points
No. 3 Iowa @ No. 4 Penn State
Prediction Penn State by 3 points or less
No. 6 Oklahoma @ No. 21 Texas
Prediction Texas by 3 points or less
No. 7 Ohio State @ Maryland
Prediction Ohio State by 14 points +
No. 9 Michigan @ Nebraska
Prediction Michigan by 3-7 points
No. 10 BYU @ Boise State
Prediction BYU by 10 points +
No. 11 Michigan State @ Rutgers
Prediction Michigan State by 5 points or less
No. 13 Arkansas @ No. 17 Ole Miss
Prediction Ole Miss by 3-5 points
No. 14 Notre Dame @ Virginia Tech
Prediction Notre Dame by 3-5 points
No. 16 Kentucky @ LSU
Prediction LSU by 3-7 points
No. 19 Wake Forest @ Syracuse
Prediction Wake Forest by 3-5 points
No. 20 Florida @ Vanderbilt
Prediction Florida by 17 points +
No. 24 SMU @ Navy
Prediction SMU by 14 points +
No. 25 San Diego State @ New Mexico
Prediction San Diego by 21 points +
Live Scores
You can keep up to date with the games here.
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