College Football Cheat Sheet: Week 6

The college football sprint is off and running. After a fun opening five (or six if you count Week Zero) weekends, we have shifted to Week 6. Conference play is ramping up as games with legitimate College Football Playoff stakes are being played.

KSR’s College Football Cheat Sheet is back to set the table. Full schedule, top games, matchups to watch, and much more.

Let’s football.

The Slate

Jacksonville State at Kennesaw State	7:00pm ET (Friday)	CBS Sports Network
Houston at TCU	7:30pm ET (Friday)	ESPN
Michigan State at No. 6 Oregon	9:00pm ET (Friday)	FOX
Syracuse at No. 25 UNLV	9:00pm ET (Friday)	FS1
Wake Forest at NC State	Noon ET	The CW
UMass at Northern Illinois	Noon ET	CBS Sports Network
UCLA at No. 7 Penn State	Noon ET	FOX
Navy at Air Force	Noon ET	CBS
Pittsburgh at North Carolina	Noon ET	ESPN2
Purdue at Wisconsin	Noon ET	Big Ten Network
Boston College at Virginia	Noon ET	ACC Network
SMU at No. 22 Louisville	Noon ET	ESPN
Army at Tulsa	Noon ET	ESPNU
No. 9 Missouri at No. 25 Texas A&M	Noon ET	ABC
Tulane at UAB	1:00pm ET	ESPN+
Western Michigan at Ball State	2:00pm ET	ESPN+
No. 23 Indiana at Northwestern	3:30pm ET	Big Ten Network
Iowa at No. 3 Ohio State	3:30pm ET	CBS
Appalachian State at Marshall	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
Virginia Tech at Stanford	3:30pm ET	ACC Network
Miami (Ohio) at Toledo	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
Bowling Green at Akron	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
East Carolina at Charlotte	3:30pm ET	ESPNU
Temple at UConn	3:30pm ET	CBS Sports Network
Auburn at No. 5 Georgia	3:30pm ET	ABC
No. 12 Ole Miss at South Carolina	3:30pm ET	ESPN
Rutgers at Nebraska	4:00pm ET	FS1
West Virginia at Oklahoma State	4:00pm ET	ESPN2
No. 1 Alabama at Vanderbilt	4:15pm ET	SEC Network
Colorado State at Oregon State	6:30pm ET	The CW
Old Dominion at Coastal Carolina	7:00pm ET	ESPN+
Utah State at No. 21 Boise State	7:00pm ET	FS2
James Madison at ULM	7:00pm ET	ESPNU
Louisiana at Southern Miss	7:00pm ET	ESPN+
No. 15 Clemson at Florida State	7:00pm ET	ESPN
South Alabama at Arkansas State	7:00pm ET	ESPN+
Baylor at No. 16 Iowa State	7:30pm ET	FOX
No. 11 USC at Minnesota	7:30pm ET	Big Ten Network
Nevada at San Jose State	7:30pm ET	TruTV
No. 10 Michigan at Washington	7:30pm ET	NBC
No. 4 Tennessee at Arkansas	7:30pm ET	ABC
UCF at Florida	7:45pm ET	SEC Network
Hawaii at San Diego State	8:00pm ET	CBS Sports Network
Duke at Georgia Tech	8:00pm ET	ACC Network
Kansas at Arizona State	8:00pm ET	ESPN2
No. 8 Miami at California	10:30pm ET	ESPN
Texas Tech at Arizona	11:00pm ET	FOX

Top Games

1. No. 9 Missouri at No. 25 Texas A&M
2. No. 8 Miami at California
3. No. 12 Ole Miss at South Carolina
4. No. 4 Tennessee at Arkansas
5. UCF at Florida
6. SMU at No. 22 Louisville
7. No. 10 Michigan at Washington
8. Syracuse at No. 25 UNLV
9. Iowa at No. 3 Ohio State
10. Rutgers at Nebraska

College Football Gambling Corner

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Playoff stakes in College Station

Missouri entered the 2024 college football season with sky-high expectations after an 11-2 finish in 2023. Entering Week 6, Eliah Drinkwitz‘s team is exactly where everyone thought they would be heading into the first big game of the season.

There was optimism surrounding Texas A&M following the hiring of Duke head coach Mike Elko. Despite a disappointing Week 1 loss to Notre Dame, redshirt freshman quarterback Marcel Reed has given the Aggies a spark as they are off to a 2-0 start in conference play.

The Tigers and Aggies will lock horns in a significant swing game in College Station. Both teams have very favorable SEC games remaining. The winner at Kyle Field will leave Saturday afternoon feeling very good about their at-large playoff bid chances.

We get a real game with stakes in the noon window on Saturday. A win in a 50/50 game by either side could be the start of a big season.

The U vs. The Calgorithm

California fans have become one of the top stories in college football thanks to their new social media activity. The Golden Bear supporters have become the biggest smack talkers in the sports thanks to their satirical memes, photoshop work, and AI imaging skills. They even gave us a music video. These folks are creating incredible internet content.

BUMMER! COMMUNITY SERVICE TIME for SEBASTIAN!

After the cops brought his WEEK LONG BENDER in BERKELEY to an ABRUPT END, the judge sentenced him to 20 HOURS OF COMMUNITY SERVICE and TIME SERVED.

Now your boy is at the MARINA, CLEANING UP TRASH and hopefully LEARNING HIS LESSON! https://t.co/wpO6DkgthS pic.twitter.com/VLlFPtGSmt

— Admiral Bear (@AdmiralBear01) October 4, 2024

O-T-T-T-O-G-O
We've got Jaydn Ott to go!#Calgorithm #FightForCalGameday #H1M #WhyNotCal pic.twitter.com/8D68f8pnjH

— The Liberal Calgorithm (@wokemobfootball) September 28, 2024

Due to their social media presence, that fan base is now rewarded with “College GameDay” coming to Berkeley for a matchup against top-10 Miami in the program’s ACC home opener. There could be quite a scene for a show that begins at 6:00 a.m. local time. On the field, Cal’s stingy defense will see what they can do against a top-five Miami offense with a Heisman Trophy contender at quarterback.

College football is truly an incredible sport. The fans have a lot to do with that. Kudos to the Cal fans for being ridiculous. This sport is always better with more ridiculous shenanigans. Cal Twitter has fully embraced the weird, and that has created a legitimate spotlight for their football program.

This game will have high Banana Land potential on Saturday night.

Fascinating matchup at Williams-Brice Stadium

How good are Ole Miss and South Carolina? That is something we’re still trying to figure out in October. Saturday afternoon at Williams-Brice Stadium should give us a better idea.

Kentucky’s defense had Lane Kiffin‘s offense all out of sorts, as Ole Miss could not run the football and got doubled up by the road team in scoring opportunities. South Carolina hammered that same Kentucky team but benefitted from a huge explosive play battle edge as the Gamecocks lost the success rate battle.

The Ole Miss-South Carolina matchup
is fascinating . A monstrous swing game that could give us a better idea of where Kentucky truly stands entering October.

Pigskin Preview takes a look at the full Week 6 card and gives out 6 best bets.

📺https://t.co/WkshaFkGP5 pic.twitter.com/ngeSYw46XG

— Adam Luckett (@AdamLuckettKSR) October 4, 2024

Both teams looked the total opposite against the same foe. However, South Carolina’s defense did look much more pedestrian against LSU in Week 3, allowing over six yards per play and a lot of explosives.

The Week 6 contest between SEC foes that have only played eight times as conference opponents will be a great barometer of who each team is. Ole Miss is in a must-win spot against a ferocious pass rush (No. 11 in sack rate), and South Carolina’s inefficient rushing attack (No. 105 in rushing success rate) should find itself behind the chains a ton against a stout Ole Miss front.

Expect plenty of havoc with explosive plays sprinkled in. This contest should be highly entertaining.

Is this the end for Billy Napier?

Unranked Florida is hosting unranked UCF, and the road team is laying points. This kind of feels like the end of the road for Billy Napier with a road game against Tennessee on the slate in Week 7.

The Gators cannot stop the run (No. 100 in rushing EPA/play), and the Knights might have the top rushing offense in college football (No. 1 in rushing success rate, No. 9 in rushing EPA/play). That makes this a dangerous matchup for Napier.

Florida will be able to throw the football against an awful UCF pass defense (No. 121 in passing success rate allowed), but that might not matter if the Gators cannot fit the run. A shootout could take place in The Swamp, and a loss by the home team might just end the Napier era.

Degenerate Under: Navy at Air Force Under 36.5

Service Academy football will get the CBS broadcast in the noon window when Navy travels to Air Force in the first game of the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy series. Our first option football game will include a ton of runs and a fast-moving clock. This one will get some screen time at the Luckett house.

The under is 9-2-1 ATS in the last 12 meetings between these two programs. Points should be at a premium again.

The rest of the college football card

— UNLV is now ranked and could make another statement against a power conference opponent on Friday night. Syracuse has traveled to the desert and is bringing a strong passing attack led by Ohio State transfer Kyle McCord. The ACC vs. Mountain West contest has high shootout potential.

— Pittsburgh is off to a surprising 4-0 start and is scoring points in bunches. North Carolina just dropped consecutive games to in-state foes, and many are wondering if this is the end for Mack Brown. These appear to be two teams going in opposite directions, but Pitt has never won in Chapel Hill (1-6 ATS). Does that change on Saturday?

— SMU smoked TCU and Florida State in consecutive weeks at home. Louisville is fresh off a very disappointing loss to Notre Dame. The winner of this ACC matchup will leave Week 6 feeling like a true contender in the ACC. This is a low-key big game for both programs, and one each needs to win to make a run at the ACC’s automatic playoff bid.

— Indiana is undefeated and scoring a ton of points. Northwestern has one of the worst offenses in college football. This figure to be another double-digit win for the Hoosiers as this schedule keeps getting weaker by the week. However, this feels like it has weird written all over it for the mid-afternoon kickoff at the temporary stadium by the lake.

— Ohio State’s first big test has arrived against Iowa. Tailback Kaleb Johnson (685 rushing yards, 8.3 yards per rush, 9 touchdowns) is making an All-American push for a much-improved offense. However, Saturday is more about the Buckeyes, as we will see Chip Kelly‘s offense against a legitimate defense for the first time this season.

— Auburn is hitting the road after a disastrous five-game homestand that included losses to California, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Some turnover meltdowns prevented the Tigers from winning each. Now Hugh Freeze will bring his squad to Sanford Stadium to face a Georgia team off a loss. This one seems to have ugly potential, but this Auburn offense is legitimately good if they can just stop turning the ball over.

— A low-key big game in the Big Ten will take place in Lincoln with undefeated Rutgers facing one-loss Nebraska. Expect the Scarlet Knights to try and shorten the game with a run-heavy attack. The winner will sit in a good position heading into the stretch run.

— Both Oklahoma State and West Virginia could use a big win. The latter is coming off a double-digit comeback win over Kansas at home. The former was rocked by Kansas State on the road. The Big 12 is a close-game survival test, and we should get another four-quarter fight in Stillwater. This feels like a big swing game for both teams.

— USC needed a big second half to get by Wisconsin at home. Lincoln Riley‘s team is hitting the road again to face Minnesota at night. Both teams played Michigan to the wire at the Big House. This one could be closer than expected.

— Did you forget that Michigan and Washington played in the national title game last year? I certainly did. The Big Ten contest will feature the same jerseys as that January clash but will involve new individuals everywhere. Can Michigan keep winning with an awful passing attack?

— We will learn more about top-five Tennessee on Saturday night in another road test. Arkansas has the best offense the Vols have seen to this point. Nico Iamaleava and this Tennessee offense likely will need to keep their foot on the gas in Fayetteville. What does that lead to? Sam Pittman has been great as a dog in his career and will likely have the Hogs ready to go in a huge matchup.