10. San Jose State (0-1) at No. 7 Texas (0-1), Noon, ABC
Roll your eyes if you want to, or claim a level of enlightenment that rises above Arch Madness. The rest of us will be tuning in to see how Arch Manning plays against San Jose State, whether out of schadenfreude or genuine curiosity.
9. No. 20 Ole Miss (1-0) at Kentucky (1-0), 3:30 p.m., ABC
8. Oklahoma State (1-0) at No. 6 Oregon (1-0), 3:30 p.m., CBS
7. No. 12 Arizona State (1-0) at Mississippi State (1-0), 7:30 p.m., ESPN2
6. South Florida (1-0) at No. 13 Florida (1-0), 4:15 p.m., SEC Network
DJ Lagway another QB to watch
5. Baylor (0-1) at No. 17 SMU (1-0), Noon, The CW
4. No. 11 Illinois (1-0) at Duke (1-0), Noon, ESPN
3. Kansas (2-0) at Missouri (1-0), 3:30 p.m., ESPN2
The Border War returns for the first time in 14 years. This is a bona fide rivalry, one that dates back to 1891 on the gridiron — and to actual violent warfare between the two territories in the 1850s, fought over slavery and statehood. Heavy stuff. The football rivalry was torn apart by conference realignment, ending when Missouri left for the SEC in 2012. All-time records are disputed by either side (chef’s kiss), but it’s a tight battle historically, and should be a good one on Saturday. The winner will likely vault into the top 25 rankings next week.
Line: Missouri -6.5
2. Iowa (1-0) at No. 16 Iowa State (2-0), Noon, Fox
This is the first time a ranked Iowa State has faced unranked Iowa in the Cy-Hawk rivalry since 1978, which ended in a 31-0 shutout victory for the Cyclones. These Cyclones, led by quarterback Rocco Becht, look like a genuine Big 12 and Playoff contender, but Iowa State is 0-4 at home against the Hawkeyes under coach Matt Campbell and aiming to win back-to-back Cy-Hawk trophies for the first time since 2012. Iowa will need to shore up the passing game to pull off the upset, after transfer quarterback Mark Gronowski completed 8 of 15 passes for only 44 yards in a win over Albany, and missed the fourth quarter with leg cramps.
This is only the second-ever meeting between these blue bloods, with the Sooners winning the 1976 Orange Bowl. It should be a fun quarterback matchup between Oklahoma’s John Mateer and Michigan true freshman Bryce Underwood. Mateer broke Baker Mayfield’s record for most passing yards in a Sooners debut with 392 last week against Illinois State, but how will he handle what could be a solid Michigan defense? Underwood was similarly impressive in his first college game, but does his performance dip against a more talented defense and with a week of game film available? There are some coach narratives in this one as well, with Michigan’s Sherrone Moore facing his alma mater ahead of a uniquely structured suspension, and Oklahoma’s Brent Venables hoping to ward off any hot-seat talk with a big win.
Five years ago Oklahoma State at Oregon might have been a good game, but now it will be college football’s developing caste system on full display. Oregon will disembowel my Cowboys.
I will say for all the talk about Underwood and level of opponent, not here specifically, everywhere and understandably so, we will see if his poise continues struggles or tanks.
But
John Mateer, who has much more CFB experience than Underwood, has never played a defense the quality of his opponent tomorrow night.
This was always a question for most of my UM friends, would UM be a serious player when the time came to pay players. Early on it was a “doesn’t look like it” , now, they are all in. It’s a valid point made below.
if Duke wins today and Mensah plays well he’s going to be way up on the Heisman list and as crazy as it sounds Duke might have a CFP path in front of them.
The ACC definitely got interesting with Miami and especially FSU showing up. Carson Beck got a lot of undeserved criticism in Athens as that team was nowhere near as good as prior teams. That includes the two wr’s on the Lions roster.
I mentioned to @Thats2 the other day that Beck is probably an ideal cheap developmental backup type for us. Plays a bit like Goff even down to some similar deficiencies. Tick better athleticism and a tick less arm talent but stylistically similar. If they have a good season though he may play himself out of the range in which we would be interested.
I’d do quite a bit to get Mendoza on the team. He’s in the Goff style but with more juice and arm diversity. But, if he crushes it he’ll go too high, and if he doesn’t he won’t come out. So I don’t really see a path.
Nah. Not in 2026 at least. Value is either too high or he’s still in school. Agree on fit though. And I’d rather have him than Beck. Just seems early to invest as much as it would take.
Barring a change of his fortunes I’m going to be banging this drum more and more:
Ceyaire Wright of Nebraska is severely underrated. He’s pretty much a lock down college CB at this point. 10.8 100m in HS so plenty fast enough for a 6 foot plus CB. Scheme and alignment versatile. Cool cucumber in recovery. Seen him in Day 3 a lot and often late on day 3. While he is going to be 23 and is one of those kids with multiple interests outside of football he’s clearly an NFL CB IMO.
