College Football Cheat Sheet: Week 4

Believe it or not, Week 4 is here, and the scheduling makers have done us a huge favor. The slate is stacked with premium games in every viewing window. With a jam-packed Friday on the card, it’s time to get locked in for a wild weekend of pigskin.

KSR’s College Football Cheat Sheet is here to provide a full preview of the weekend that will include the complete TV schedule, top games, gambling content, significant matchups, and other thoughts heading into another college football weekend.

Let’s ride.

The Slate

Georgia State at Coastal Carolina	7:30pm ET (Thursday)	ESPN
Wisconsin at Purdue	7:00pm ET (Friday)	FS1
NC State at Virginia	7:30pm ET (Friday)	ESPN
Boise State at San Diego State	10:30pm ET (Friday)	CBS Sports Network
Air Force at San Jose State	10:30pm ET (Friday)	FS1
No. 16 Oklahoma at Cincinnati	Noon ET	FOX
Tulsa at Northern Illinois	Noon ET	CBS Sports Network
No. 4 Florida State at Clemson	Noon ET	ABC
WKU at Troy	Noon ET	ESPNU
Virginia Tech at Marshall	Noon ET	ESPN2
Army at Syracuse	Noon ET	ACC Network
Auburn at Texas A&M	Noon ET	ESPN
Kentucky at Vanderbilt	Noon ET	SEC Network
Rutgers at No. 2 Michigan	Noon ET	Big Ten Network
SMU at TCU	Noon ET	FS1
Western Michigan at Toledo	1:30pm ET	ESPN+
Georgia Southern at Ball State	2:00pm ET	ESPN+
Ohio at Bowling Green	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
No. 20 Miami at Temple	3:30pm ET	ESPN2
BYU at Kansas	3:30pm ET	ESPN
Boston College at Louisville	3:30pm ET	ACC Network
No. 22 UCLA at No. 11 Utah	3:30pm ET	FOX
No. 19 Colorado at No. 10 Oregon	3:30pm ET	ABC
No. 15 Ole Miss at No. 13 Alabama	3:30pm ET	CBS
New Mexico at UMass	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
Maryland at Michigan State	3:30pm ET	NBC
Louisiana Tech at Nebraska	3:30pm ET	Big Ten Network
Florida Atlantic at Illinois	3:30pm ET	Big Ten Network
No. 18 Duke at UConn	3:30pm ET	CBS Sports Network
Texas Tech at West Virginia	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
Oklahoma State at Iowa State	4:00pm ET	FS1
Rice at USF	4:00pm ET	ESPNU
UTSA at No. 23 Tennessee	4:00pm ET	SEC Network
Central Michigan at South Alabama	5:00pm ET	ESPN+
Eastern Michigan at Jacksonville State	5:00pm ET	ESPN+
Georgia Tech at Wake Forest	6:30pm ET	The CW
Liberty at FIU	6:30pm ET	ESPN+
No. 14 Oregon State at No. 21 Washington State	7:00pm ET	FOX
Colorado State at Middle Tennessee	7:00pm ET	ESPN+
Southern Miss at Arkansas State	7:00pm ET	ESPN+
Arizona at Stanford	7:00pm ET	Pac-12 Network
Sam Houston at Houston	7:00pm ET	ESPN+
Nevada at Texas State	7:00pm ET	ESPN+
Charlotte at No. 25 Florida	7:00pm ET	ESPN+
Arkansas at No. 12 LSU	7:00pm ET	ESPN
Appalachian State at Wyoming	7:00pm ET	CBS Sports Network
Buffalo at Louisiana	7:30pm ET	ESPN+
Akron at Indiana	7:30pm ET	Big Ten Network
No. 24 Iowa at No. 7 Penn State	7:30pm ET	CBS
Memphis vs Missouri (St. Louis)	7:30pm ET	ESPNU
Minnesota at Northwestern	7:30pm ET	Big Ten Network
Mississippi State at South Carolina	7:30pm ET	SEC Network
No. 6 Ohio State at No. 9 Notre Dame	7:30pm ET	NBC
UAB at No. 1 Georgia	7:30pm ET	ESPN2
No. 3 Texas at Baylor	7:30pm ET	ABC
James Madison at Utah State	8:00pm ET	Mountain West Network
No. 17 North Carolina at Pittsburgh	8:00pm ET	ACC Network
UCF at Kansas State	8:00pm ET	FS1
UNLV at UTEP	9:00pm ET	ESPN+
Kent State at Fresno State	10:30pm ET	CBS Sports Network
California at No. 8 Washington	10:30pm ET	ESPN
No. 5 USC at Arizona State	10:30pm ET	FOX
New Mexico State at Hawai’i	Midnight ET	Spectrum PPV

Top 10 Games

1. No. 6 Ohio State at No. 9 Notre Dame
2. No. 4 Florida State at Clemson
3. No. 15 Ole Miss at No. 13 Alabama
4. No. 19 Colorado at No. 10 Oregon
5. No. 24 Iowa at No. 7 Penn State
6. No. 14 Oregon State at No. 21 Washington State
7. No. 22 UCLA at No. 11 Utah
8. Arkansas at No. 12 LSU
9. SMU at TCU
10. BYU at Kansas

College Football Gambling Corner

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— Luckett’s Locks: Road dogs are howling

Who captures the moment in South Bend?

Wake Forest quarterback transfer Sam Hartman has delivered through four games. New offensive coordinator Gerad Parker is leading an offense that ranks No. 8 in points per drive and success rate. The Irish look like a potential national championship contender in year two under Marcus Freeman.

Things did not look great through the first two weeks, but the flip might have switched for Kyle McCord against WKU. The true junior threw for 318 yards and is quietly averaging 10.7 yards per attempt. Second-year defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is leading a defense that ranks No. 2 in points per drive. The Buckeyes looking like a potential national championship contender again under Ryan Day.

It’s time to dance in South Bend.

An argument can be made that this is the best non-conference matchup in college football this season with Ohio State making the rare trip to Notre Dame Stadium. This game has been inserted into a prime-time window for this big moment. We will get a heavyweight fight between these two blue blood programs.

Even with a loss, both of these teams will still have a clear path to the College Football Playoff. On paper, these are two of the top-five teams in college football right now. The Buckeyes and Irish in a huge game. It doesn’t get much more college football than that.

Measuring stick for Clemson

In the noon window, Clemson will be hosting Florida State. Only this time, the Tigers aren’t the team ranked in the top five. After a season-opening loss to Duke, Dabo Swinney‘s squad is in danger of falling to 0-2 in ACC play, and Mike Norvell‘s team can again make an early September statement.

Saturday should tell us a lot about the Tigers. Cade Klubnik has had some struggles through the first three weeks under new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley. Clemson’s offense has been efficient, but the passing game has some warts that need to be fixed. Did the Tigers get them fixed over the last two weekends?

Clemson enters this matchup with the better defense, but will that be enough? Jordan Travis got banged up last week in the win over Boston College, but when he’s on, Florida State might be the most dangerous offense in college football. However, Clemson could be a wounded animal right now.

What version of Swinney’s team we see on Saturday should tell us a lot about where Clemson football is right now. Can they beat one of the best teams in college football? Or is this just a good 8-4 or 9-3 team?

We’ll find out soon.

How far has Alabama fallen?

Alabama might have just put out the ugliest performance of the Nick Saban era in Week 3’s 17-3 road win over USF. Things went so bad for Tyler Buchner and Ty Simpson that Saban and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees are going back to Jalen Milroe at quarterback. Over in Oxford, Lane Kiffin appears to be licking his chops.

The former Alabama offensive coordinator is claiming that the Tide made a change at defensive coordinator. Saban has been asked questions about this all week. That has taken attention away from new Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding making a return to Tuscaloosa where he served as Saban’s defensive coordinator from 2018-22. Kiffin knows what he is doing.

On the field, Ole Miss has an offense that plays fast and is super explosive. Alabama’s is not explosive and has struggled to create efficiency. Most notably, the passing game has struggled. If this turns into a shootout at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the Crimson Tide could be cooked.

Is Saban really going to lose two games in September? Is Kiffin finally going to beat his former boss and immediately go viral on social media after the game? No matter the result, Saturday afternoon on CBS will be highly entertaining.

Jaxson Dart (12.5 yards per attempt, 231 non-sack rushing yards, 9 total touchdowns) has a chance to become a household name on Saturday with a big performance.

Showdown Saturday in the Pac-12

The Pac-12 — in what will be its final run as a conference — has easily been the most entertaining conference in college football. Michael Penix Jr. and Caleb Williams are both playing quarterback at an absurd level. Colorado is the biggest story in the sport. Oregon is a College Football Playoff contender. Oregon State and Washington State both look good enough to make a run at double-digit wins. That’s before even getting to UCLA and Utah.

The conference is stacked in 2023. This Saturday is one of many that will feature some big games in the league.

— UCLA at Utah: The Bruins are 3-0, and true freshman quarterback Dante Moore looks like the real deal. Chip Kelly might have his best overall team since arriving in Westwood. Utah is 3-0 thanks to what appears to be the conference’s best defense. Signs are pointing to star quarterback Cameron Rising returning to the lineup this weekend. We could have a Pac-12 conference championship elimination game on Saturday afternoon in Salt Lake City.

— Colorado at Oregon: The wild story in Boulder rolled on after head coach Deion Sanders and Colorado survived a huge upset bid by Colorado State. Shedeur Sanders has given this conference another excellent quarterback, but Saturday afternoon will be the biggest test yet for the Buffaloes. Oregon’s offense has been a wagon against with Bo Nix ranking No. 3 in EPA/play and No. 4 in success rate. Colorado’s defense is sub-80 in multiple key categories. Will the Buffs score enough to keep pace at Autzen Stadium?

— Oregon State at Washington State: The most underrated game of the day will take place on the Palouse in a rare ranked vs. ranked matchup between the two programs left behind in the Pac-12. There will be two top-20 offenses meeting at Martin Stadium, and points should follow. Washington State’s passing game looks like the real deal under new Air Raid offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle.

College Football Degenerate Under: Oklahoma State at Iowa State Under 36.5

Iowa State and Oklahoma State are coming off embarrassing losses to Group of Five competition last weekend. Each offense had a woeful performance in defeats. In perfect schedule timing, the two will meet on Saturday afternoon in Jack Trice Stadium in a contest that should be a total slugfest.

Iowa State’s defense is the best unit in the game and should create a fair amount of stops, but Oklahoma State’s offense is better. That means that Iowa State’s offense and Oklahoma State’s defense could determine the outcome.

Expect a lot of punts in Ames.

The rest of the college football card

— Both Wisconsin and Purdue have had disappointing starts. New head coach Ryan Walters has inherited a long program losing streak to the Badgers that could reach 17 games on Friday night. The Boilermakers could fall to 1-3 in Week 4 and have a long road ahead. Wisconsin’s new-look passing game is struggling (No. 53 in success rate, No. 86 in yards per attempt, and No. 93 in EPA/play). Can the winner use this game as a launching pad into Big Ten West play?

— This matchup lost some luster when Cincinnati was upset by Miami (Ohio), but Saturday afternoon at Nippert Stadium could tell us something about undefeated Oklahoma. The Sooners appear to have a top-10 offense, but Cincinnati could have both a top-40 offense and defense. That should be enough to challenge the big road favorite in UC’s first Big 12 game.

— Texas A&M cannot afford another loss this early in the season. Hugh Freeze is bringing his first Auburn team to College Station with a 3-0 record and a ton of confidence after knocking off the Aggies at Jordan-Hare Stadium last year. However, Auburn’s passing game is likely not good enough to take advantage of an A&M secondary with some holes. Jimbo Fisher‘s team should win this game, but we’ve said that before.

— Rutgers is undefeated and playing top-20 defense. Michigan is 0-3 against the spread and has looked more like a top-10 team and not a national title contender in the first three weeks. However, Jim Harbaugh returns to the sidelines on Saturday. Can the Scarlet Knights give the Wolverines or does the run to a third consecutive Big Ten title begin now at the Big House?

— A surprise move in the schedule has given us the Battle for the Boot in September. LSU currently looks like a juggernaut on offense, and Arkansas let one slip away at home against BYU last Saturday. The Hogs will need to bounce back quickly. Since Sam Pittman arrived in Fayetteville, each game has been close in this series. We will see our first wild Tiger Stadium crowd of 2023 this weekend.

The Boot back @LSUfootball. @Coach_EdOrgeron wasn't kidding when he said they shined up Louisiana, but not Arkansas. pic.twitter.com/bJu3tHaIO9

— Kaylee Hartung (@KayleeHartung) November 17, 2016

— There is a chance that Iowa-Penn State could be a preview of the Big Ten Championship Game. The Hawkeyes still have major offensive issues while sophomore Drew Allar has not looked great at quarterback for the Lions through three games. A slugfest is likely coming to Beaver Stadium for the annual White Out game.