Week 6 storylines: Must-wins for Ole Miss and Nebraska, is Missouri a contender, can UNLV stay hot?

We’ve hit an interesting point in the 2024 college football calendar. The first month of the season is in the books. 

We’re coming off a fantastic Week 5, which was highlighted by an instant classic between Georgia and Alabama but also featured another two dozen games of import. And next weekend (Oct. 12) is considered THE SATURDAY of the 2024 season with games like Ohio State–Oregon, Penn State–USC, Ole Miss–LSU, the Red River Rivalry and more. 

So what about Week 6, first?

There’s just a single ranked-on-ranked matchup (No. 9 Missouri at No. 25 Texas A&M) this weekend, and previously anticipated games like Clemson–Florida State or UCF–Florida have lost a lot of their luster. ESPN’s College Gameday is going to Miami–Cal, a game which has the home team as a double-digit underdog. 

Still, we only get 12 Saturdays in the regular-season, so although it looks like a bit of a sleepy slate, there are some very important games on the schedule. With the calendar flipping to October, this could be a trick-or-treat Week 6 for lots of teams. 

I’ve delivered some early thoughts on Iowa-Ohio State and Michigan-Washington, but here are some other storylines catching my attention for Week 6:

Hey Missouri, are you a contender or pretender?

The Tigers are 4-0, but they’ve slipped in the polls because they totally underwhelmed against Boston College and Vanderbilt. There’s a very strong whiff of Paper Tiger to this 2024 Missouri team as their baseline stats (11th offense SP+, Top 10 defense) suggest this is a really quality team — only the eyes suggest otherwise. 

For one, Missouri just looks slower and less athletic this season. BC and Vandy aren’t ripe with awesome athletes, and they had guys running away from Mizzou defenders a few times. The defense has been excellent on a down-to-down basis (No. 2 in success rate), but it has been susceptible to a couple of random big plays. 

Conversely, Kirby Moore’s offense can’t generate explosive plays this season (just seven plays over 30 yards all year, 13th in the SEC in a stat they finished No. 2 in last season). Quarterback Brady Cook has seen his yards per attempt drop by a full two yards from a year ago (9.1-7.1), and dynamic wideout Luther Burden has just been fine. 

So what will happen in the one Top 25 matchup of Week 6?

Texas A&M is a Reveille with fleas, but Mike Elko’s team is still capable of beating this Missouri team in College Station. 

Maybe Cook, Burden & Co., used to the off-week to fine-tune their offense and they’ll finally get going against a secondary that’s not very good. Also, can Missouri’s defense eliminate the gaffes and just shut down an offense that is averaging the same yards per play (5.8) as Iowa?

If Eli Drinkwitz’s team truly stands to be a College Football Playoff contender, then the Show Me State Tigers need to prove they are not a 2024 pretender this weekend.

Why Saturday is a must-win for Ole Miss and Nebraska — just for totally different reasons 

Let’s start with the Cornhuskers, which are 4-1 and coming off a 28-10 win at Purdue last weekend. Matt Rhule’s looked hungover after their upset loss to Illinois the week prior (zero points in the first half), but they responded with a strong second half to leave West Lafayette with a comfortable win. 

Dylan Raiola is carrying a heavy load, but the freshman quarterback has been as advertised (nine touchdowns, two picks, 70% completion). Tony White’s defense has been formidable again. 

But Nebraska has some real issues — namely horrendous special teams (two blocked kicks allowed, zero return game, poor punting) and an inability to efficiently run the ball — and now they return to Memorial Stadium to host unbeaten Rutgers. 

The Scarlett Knights (5-0) are off to their best start in a dozen years, though Greg Schiano’s team is a touchdown underdog in Saturday’s matchup. 

This is a game Matt Rhule simply has to win.

All the Year 2 buzz. All the early-season optimism and confidence. All the Raiola savior talk. To lose back-to-back home games — to Illinois and Rutgers — would immediately pop all that enthusiasm and leave into question if this Nebraska team is truly any different than its recent predecessors. 

As for Ole Miss, the Rebels have been gifted a mulligan by the Football Gods thanks to the new 12-team College Football Playoff. Last weekend’s loss to Kentucky certainly put a dent in their postseason hopes, but they can still reach the field. 

But that means winning at South Carolina on Saturday, which is a much easier statement to simply type or say out loud.

Ole Miss can’t block. 

They have a fun, fiery quarterback. They’re loaded with skilled playmakers. Their defensive line has some real dudes. 

But all that might not matter because in a sport that is about blocking and tackling, the Rebels get a D- in the offensive line category. 

Dart has taken a pounding all season — and that was before Ole Miss played Deone Walker and Kentucky front. The Rebels got whipped up front (five sacks allowed, 15 pressures and two penalties) last weekend, and now must tangle with Kyle Kennard (SEC-high 5.5 sacks), 5-star freshman Dylan Stewart, Tonka Hemingway and TJ Sanders. 

Now is the time for Lane Kiffin to prove he’s truly a Top 10 coach. For all the roster investments and offseason playoff-or-bust talk, Ole Miss’ postseason hopes hinge on winning Saturday. 

Start SEC play 0-2 with a loss at South Carolina — even to a pesky ‘Cocks team with a stout DL in Bryce-Williams Stadium — and Ole Miss’ storybook season would be over come the first weekend in October. 

Can UNLV, Hajj-Malik Williams keep the magic going?

The Rebels are 5-0 for the first time since 1978, and they’ve been at the center of college football over the last two weeks due to realignment, a he-said, he-said NIL dispute and a rollicking blowout over Fresno State with the quarterback replacement. 

Now can Las Vegas’ team maintain their heater?

Barry Odom has the Rebels positioned in the thick of the race for the Group of 5 spot in the College Football Playoff. The Oct. 25 matchup against Mountain West foe Boise State could be the first of two games between the teams that decide the MWC champion. 

But Saturday is chance for UNLV to grab a third Power Conference victory — and an important resume win — against Syracuse. The Orange are 3-1 and will be looking to play spoiler as a road underdog against the Rebels. Kyle McCord has been better than expected (14 touchdowns to five picks), but Syracuse’s defense is the definition if ‘mid’ (67th nationally), so the opportunity is there for Hajj-Malik Williams to have another big game in his second-career start. 

The Campbell transfer was flawless (13 of 16 for 182 yards and three touchdowns with 119 yards rushing and a score) in his debut operating UNLV’s GO-GO! offense. 

Will expectations rising and more and more eyes on UNLV’s program, can the Rebels stay hot?

How will the bounce-back band respond? 

I’m talking teams and players here:

Who art thou, Carson Beck? After a career-worst showing in the first 2.5 quarters against Alabama (two picks, a fumble and a safety), Beck led Georgia’s furious rally to re-take the lead against the Tide. But then he underthrew another fade down in the red zone, and Georgia still lost the game. Now, he’s had his name/game sullied by NFL scouts and personnel folks for a week. How will he respond against an Auburn team that gave him some issues last season?

Louisville? Whatcha got for SMU this weekend? The Cardinals threw up on themselves against Notre Dame last weekend, or otherwise Jeff Brohm’s team is probably still undefeated. Can they get off the mat against an SMU team that’s riding after two straight blowouts against TCU and FSU? The Mustangs have played much better since moving from Preston Stone in favor of Kevin Jennings (five touchdowns, zero picks the last two games) but this is the same OL that struggled against BYU and now they have to block Ashton Gillotte, Thor Griffin and Tramel Logan. If Louisville is serious about contender for a spot in the ACC Championship Game, the Cards need to handle business at home against their league newcomer. 

Oklahoma State? Do the Pokes have any punches left or are they just going to pack in the 2024 season? The Cowboys have lost two straight games, and they have a major uphill battle to even re-enter the conversation for the Big 12 race. They’re 3-point favorites at home to West Virginia followed by an idle date and then a remaining schedule where they’ll be favorites or the slightest of underdogs against zero of the top teams in the league. Mike Gundy has done this opossum thing before, where Oklahoma State looks terrible the first month of the year and then the Pokes get hot and rip off a bunch of wins. That’s only possible if they get a W on Saturday. Will Ollie Gordon finally bust through? Will Alan Bowman stop throwing horrible picks? Will the defense find a way to go from being awful (last in the Big 12 in yards per play allowed) to simply bad?