College football Week 4 preview: Top five games to watch this weekend

Last week, college football fans saw Arch Manning take over for an injured Quinn Ewers and lead Texas, now the No. 1-ranked team in the country, to a commanding 56-7 win over UTSA. Manning passed for 223 yards and four touchdowns, while also adding a 67-yard rushing score that gave Longhorns fans flashbacks to Vince Young. This Saturday, Manning will get his first college start when Texas faces UL Monroe at home.

We also saw Georgia, now the No. 2-ranked team in the nation, struggle to eventually beat Kentucky, 13-12. While the score line confounded some, Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart praised his team’s resiliency. Smart’s teams have overcome games like this in the past and there’s no reason to believe they won’t do the same thing this year as the opponents on their schedule get tougher.

Meanwhile, Alabama looked like a College Football Playoff contender in a 42-10 thumping of Wisconsin in Madison. Playing behind a healthy offensive line, quarterback Jalen Milroe accounted for five touchdowns and is back in the Heisman Trophy conversation.

The Week 4 slate looks just as enticing, with several matchups between top 25 opponents. 

Here are the top five games to watch this weekend:

No. 24 Illinois at No. 22 Nebraska (Friday at 8 p.m. ET on FOX)

Nebraska will face its first ranked opponent under the lights in Lincoln on Friday night. Huskers quarterback Dylan Raiola has been sharp in his debut season. In last week’s 34-3 win over Northern Iowa, Raiola completed 17 of 23 passes for 247 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He’ll have a new challenge this week, facing the best defense he’s seen all year. Illinois is limiting opponents to 151.7 passing yards per game and has already totaled six interceptions through three games.

Both teams have done an admirable job preventing opponents from scoring – the Huskers have allowed just 20 points through three games, while the Illini have allowed 26.

Marshall at No. 3 Ohio State (Noon ET on FOX)

Ohio State has yet to face a legitimate challenge this season, and that won’t start this weekend when Marshall comes to town. The Buckeyes have only played two games so far this season and are coming off an idle week. While the Thundering Herd might not be a top 25 team, Ryan Day has to make sure his team is prepared and not overlooking their opponent. The last thing Ohio State wants right now is to be stunned in the same kind of way Notre Dame was at home by Northern Illinois a few weeks ago. 

The Buckeyes should enjoy this early slate of games though, because once October hits, the schedule gets spicier. They go to No. 9 Oregon on Oct. 12, get No. 22 Nebraska at home on Oct. 26, then hit the road again at No. 10 Penn State on Nov. 2. Then things calm down again before facing Michigan in the final game of the regular season. With a weaker strength of schedule when it comes to non-conference games, the Buckeyes need to beat the teams they’re supposed to beat in order to stay atop the CFP rankings.

No. 11 USC at No. 18 Michigan (3:30 p.m. ET on CBS)

It’s Alex Orji time at Michigan. Head coach Sherrone Moore announced early in the week that he would start Orji at quarterback over Davis Warren, who had started the previous three games. Orji is a dual-threat quarterback, but only has seven passing attempts in his college career. Predominantly a runner, Orji has 10 carries this season and is averaging 5.8 yards per rush.

How will USC’s defense contain Orji? The good news for the Trojans is that they’ve had ample time to prepare with Moore having given them a heads-up. New defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn will want to stop the run and get pressure on Orji and force him to throw the ball. Michigan could also be without star tight end Colston Loveland, who leads the team with 19 catches for 187 yards and a touchdown. The junior suffered an upper body injury in the Wolverines game last week against Arkansas State and his status is currently unknown, though Moore hopes to have him available. 

No. 12 Utah at No. 14 Oklahoma State (4 p.m. ET on FOX)

The winner of this game will be an early favorite to win the Big 12.

Utah’s Cam Rising missed last week’s game against Utah State after injuring his finger the previous week vs. Baylor. While there hasn’t been a definitive update on the QB’s status, the plan is that Rising will play in what could be considered the Utes’ first and last real test of the regular season. They don’t have to play another top 25 team until No. 20 Iowa State visits Salt Lake City on Nov. 23. Utah will not only need Rising in order to pull off an upset over the Cowboys in front of a rowdy Stillwater crowd, but the Utes’ defense will need to keep last season’s Doak Walker Award winner Ollie Gordon II in check.

In his second year at Oklahoma State, quarterback Alan Bowman is completing 67% of his passes for an average of 322.3 yards per game. In last week’s 45-0 win over Tulsa, he had 396 passing yards with five touchdowns and one interception. De’Zhaun Stribling had 174 yards and two touchdowns, while Talyn Shettron had 110 yards and one TD. Coach Mike Gundy has said he’s not worried about his running game, but it would certainly be ideal if Gordon got going. After rushing for 126 yards and three touchdowns in the Cowboys’ opener, Gordon hasn’t rushed for more than 50 yards in each of the last two games. Oklahoma State faces Utah and Kansas State back-to-back, so now would be a good time to get Gordon in a rhythm.

No. 6 Tennessee at No. 15 Oklahoma (7:30 p.m. ET on ABC)

This will be Nico Iamaleava’s first true road test. The young Tennessee quarterback has been efficient and has looked like a future Heisman Trophy winner in a short period of time. How will he fare against a Brent Venables defense? Oklahoma has had its own struggles to start the season, but it still has a top 30 unit that has only allowed 11.3 points per game. Linebacker Danny Stutsman has 33 tackles through three games (second most in the SEC), while lineman R Mason Thomas has been able to put consistent pressure on quarterbacks and has three sacks (also second most in the SEC).

This is also a homecoming for Tennessee coach Josh Huepel, who was a Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2000, the same season he led the Sooners to a national championship. Huepel got his coaching career started in Norman as a graduate assistant and later served as the quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator under Bob Stoops, overlapping with Venables, who was OU’s defensive coordinator during that time period.

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Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her on Twitter @LakenLitman.

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