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Week 6 has arrived. Here’s your weekly viewing guide. I’m not forecasting a ton of drama … which of course means Saturday will become upset central.
Week 6 Viewer Guide
Friday night lights
Week 6 kicks off Thursday with Texas State at Troy (7 p.m., ESPNU) and Sam Houston at UTEP (9 p.m., CBSSN). There are four Friday night games this week, but these two have the most intrigue (all times in ET):
- Michigan State (3-2) at No. 6 Oregon (4-0) (9 p.m., Fox): The last time these two met was in the 2018 RedBox Bowl when the Ducks won a 7-6 slugfest. The shortened turnaround with a Friday game likely won’t help the Spartans, who just lost 38-7 to conference heavyweight Ohio State.
- Syracuse (3-1) at No. 25 UNLV (4-0) (9 p.m., CBSSN): The Orange conveniently had a bye week before making this cross-country road trip. Former Ohio State QB Kyle McCord is tied for fourth in the FBS with 14 passing TDs. Syracuse spoiled Georgia Tech’s one-week stay in the Top 25 earlier this season. Will it do the same to a UNLV team enjoying life in the poll for the first time in program history despite plenty of drama?
Saturday’s schedule
Here’s a look at the Saturday matchups for every ranked team. The darker the highlight = the higher the intrigue (note the lack of dark boxes):
Early
- Most important game: No. 9 Missouri (4-0) at No. 25 Texas A&M (4-1). Missouri hasn’t done anything to lose its top-10 ranking, but it hasn’t done much to prove it belongs there. The Tigers’ first road game will give them that chance. The Aggies have floated in and out of the poll and are coming off a four-point win against Arkansas. QB Conner Weigman has missed the last three games with injury and is listed as questionable on the Aggies’ availability report. Redshirt freshman backup Marcel Reed has completed 56 percent of his passes and has thrown six TDs to zero INTs in three starts. This feels like a winnable game on both sides.
- Most underrated game: SMU (4-1) at No. 22 Louisville (3-1). The Mustangs have turned from Preston Stone (who was projected as one of the top ACC QBs) to Kevin Jennings and have seen their offense come alive a bit. In its ACC debut, SMU throttled Florida State 42-16. Louisville is coming off a loss to Notre Dame during which the Cardinals turned the ball over three times in the first half. Louisville will have to stay out of its own way against an SMU team that has outscored its last two opponents 108-58.
Afternoon
- Most important game: No. 12 Ole Miss (4-1) at South Carolina (3-1). The Rebels just lost to Kentucky and now turn to another game with upset potential. South Carolina looks far from dominant, but the Gamecocks did beat Kentucky earlier this season and played within a field goal of No. 13 LSU. The Rebels will have to find their footing this week. The back half of their schedule is loaded with games against LSU, Oklahoma and Georgia.
- Most underrated game: Rutgers (4-0) at Nebraska (4-1) (4 p.m., FS1). This game looks a lot more interesting than we thought it would at the start of the season. Rutgers is undefeated, and QB Athan Kaliakmanis has looked solid since transferring from Minnesota. Nebraska tripped up against Illinois and played a sluggish first half last week against Purdue, but the Cornhuskers have a star in freshman QB Dylan Raiola. The key to watch here is whether Nebraska can slow down RB Kyle Monangai, who ranks second in the Big Ten with 589 rushing yards.
Night
- Most important game: No. 15 Clemson (3-1) at Florida State (1-4). It’s odd that Michigan and Washington’s national championship rematch isn’t the most important game here, but both programs just look so vastly different from nine months ago. Florida State QB DJ Uiagalelei won’t play against his former team as he recovers from a finger injury on his throwing hand. The Seminoles will turn to backup Brock Glenn in Uiagalelei’s place. A game that looked like it would have ACC title implications has less on the line due to Florida State’s sour season. Clemson should use this as a chance to continue its offensive surge.
- Most underrated game: No. 11 USC (3-1) at Minnesota (2-3). Minnesota ranks fifth nationally in total defense (226.8 yards per game) and leads the nation in passing defense (96.8), both of which helped the Gophers get within a field goal of Michigan last week. But they haven’t faced an offensive threat like USC and QB Miller Moss. The Trojans may have found their new star in receiver Ja’Kobi Lane, who caught two TDs against Wisconsin. The Gophers don’t have much of a running game, but QB Max Brosmer has made up for it with consistency through the air.
Check out the complete Week 6 schedule.
Need tickets? Go here. Stream the games on Fubo for free.
Best Bets
Upset picks
Here are Austin Mock’s two best bets for the week.
- Syracuse +6.5 (-110) at UNLV. Syracuse was a team that had a lot of hype entering the season before a Week 3 loss to Stanford derailed the train. I’m willing to hop back on here. McCord is playing pretty well, and I’m not sure UNLV is as good as the polls are giving it credit for. I would love for this to get to +7 (and I’ll be buying in more if it does), but I don’t think that’s likely. UNLV should be favored, but this price is a bit steep.
- San Diego State -2.5 (-110) vs. Hawaii (8 p.m., CBSSN). I’m not high on Hawaii (they might be really bad), and I’m probably a little above market on San Diego State. I like Sean Lewis a lot, and his team is destined to get better the more times it plays this season. My model makes this closer to -6, so there’s some room to breathe even if you get -3.
Until Saturday Upset Special (2-2): Duke 27 (+9), Georgia Tech 24
I should have known better than picking against Boise State’s offense and Ashton Jeanty last week, but now my upset special record is back to even. This week, I’m picking Duke to continue its unbeaten streak against Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets will be Duke’s toughest test, and the Blue Devils will need to disrupt QB Haynes King, who looks like one of the best QBs in the ACC and hasn’t been sacked. But Duke showed it’s well-coached and can stay poised against a challenge, coming back from a 20-0 deficit last week against UNC. The Blue Devils will bring that momentum to Atlanta this week.
Read more Week 6 picks here.
Quick Snaps
The Athletic polled 50 people working in college football to determine the best jobs in the sport. Read about the top five here.
UCF at Florida (7:45 p.m., SECN) and West Virginia at Oklahoma State (4 p.m., ESPN2) have high chaos potential in the Big 12 this week. Here’s why.
Manny Navarro has Michigan-Washington on upset watch in this week’s oddly specific predictions.
Can Ohio State’s LBs slow down Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson? Read keys to the Big Ten showdown here.
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(Top photo: Kyle Rivas / Getty Images)
