#6 Georgia at #24 South Carolina – Saturday, 9/13 3:30 pm EST, CBS
Georgia and South Carolina face off in their traditional early season divisional rivalry. Georgia came out on top last season before injuries really piled up snapping a three game South Carolina win streak in the series. The season has gotten off to drastically different starts for the Gamecocks and Bulldogs. After starting the season as a preseason Top 10 team, South Carolina was thoroughly embarrassed by Texas A&M, 52-28, in the opening game of the college football season. Georgia, on the other hand, routed Clemson behind a strong 2nd half showing. Following the Bulldogs performance, UGA is now being talked about as an early season favorite to make the College Football Playoffs. South Carolina can try to play spoiler on that almost immediately, but first their going to have to try and show they can slow the Georgia run game. I don’t see it.
Arkansas at Texas Tech – Saturday, 9/13 3:30 pm EST, ABC
How weak is the slate of games this Saturday, I picked this one as a “must watch”. It’s always entertaining to watch Texas Tech’s offense and the lady folk may enjoy the sideline shots of Coach Kliff Klingsbury. It’s a bit of an interesting out of conference matchup as Texas Tech and Arkansas shared a conference home for 35 years in the old Southwest Conference. This will be the first meeting between the two school since the Razorbacks jumped to the SEC in 1992. They had met the previous 35 seasons before that with Arkansas holding a decided 28-7 advantage. In a bit of an interesting move, the Red Raiders will wear a “throwback” uniform that is similar to the one worn from 1992-1995, the years that the Southwest Conference remained alive after Arkansas left.
Tennessee at #4 Oklahoma – Saturday, 9/13 8:00 pm EST, ABC
Tennessee fans are hoping that their beloved Vols are back on the path to respectability and they’ll get a bit of a barometer test this weekend. After winning their first two games in convincing, if maybe not dominating, fashion against over matched opponents, things seem to be looking up for Tennessee. In recent years, the Vols have struggled in close wins against South Alabama and Troy, so seeing them handle teams they’re supposed to handle is a positive step. They’ll get a big test traveling to Norman, Oklahoma though where the Sooners are still riding the high of their Sugar Bowl performance over Alabama. Oklahoma has also had to easy victories to open the season and will get their first test of the year on Saturday. After being thoroughly dominated by Oregon in an out of conference series the last several years, Volunteer fans should take solace with a close, respectable loss that shows the team is on the right path.
Texas vs #12 UCLA (Arlington) - Saturday, 9/13 8:00 pm EST, Fox
Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before rising from the ashes again. Last year seemed to be rock bottom for the mighty Texas Longhorns, but maybe it wasn’t. After a slew of dismissals and suspensions the last couple of weeks, Texas was manhandled by BYU for the 2nd consecutive season in a 41-7 beat down. Now they roll into another out of conference game with a quality opponent in UCLA. The Bruins so far haven’t performed like the darkhorse national championship contender they were being hyped to be, but they do have some offensive talent. Escaping in wins over Virginia and Memphis, the Bruins have dropped in the rankings after two very unconvincing showings. After what BYU did in Texas Stadium last week, UCLA needs to have a similar impressive victory for the nation to take notice of UCLA again.
#9 USC at Boston College – Saturday, 9/13 8:00 pm EST, ESPN
USC handed Boston College it’s most lopsided loss of the season in 2013 in the game played in Los Angeles. The Trojans, now back in the Top 10 after a gutty win over a ranked Stanford team last week, now have to travel across county to Boston for a Primetime out of conference matchup. Boston College quarterback Tyler Murphy, the Florida transfer, is going to have to have a much better outing this week if the Eagles have any chance of winning this one. Against Pitt last Thursday Murphy only completed 35% of his passes for a 4.8 yards per attempt average and 2 interceptions – really dreadful numbers. So far, USC’s offense has had two vastly different performances. A ridiculous 105 play sprint fest in the opener where they rolled up 701 yards and then a turtle’s pace 59 plays for 291 yards against lumbering Stanford. Boston College would like to keep the Trojan offense slowed down as much as possible to prevent a rhythm and scoring shoot out.