ScoopDuck Roundtable: Other Exciting Games in CFB
It is shaping up to be an amazing first weekend in college football. So many great games and some fun ones that already took place on Thursday night. Despite Deion Sanders and Colorado talking loads of smack, they barely beat North Dakota State to start the season. I think we can all agree it might be a long season for the Buffs.
But onto some other games for the weekend. I’ll be ready for a full weekend of games as will our ScoopDuck staff. Here are some of the games we are all most excited for this weekend.
Collin King: Penn State & West Virginia
West Virginia and Penn State come into this game both looking to take that next step in their respective conferences. For Penn State the issues have been on the offensive side and a key position group to watch other than QB Drew Allar will be the wideouts, who don’t seem to have improved this offseason. For West Virginia they come in as underdogs, and with arguably a QB better than Penn State, Garrett Greene. I think this game will be really interesting to watch how Greene handles the tenacious Penn State defense because if they can carve up the Nittany Lions defense, I think they will win this one.
Max Torres: Miami @ Florida
How can you not love a rivalry to start the year? Former Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal has no shortage of talent including star quarterback Cam Ward—but will it be enough to bring the U back to prominence? I also want to see how much fire Florida brings to start the season, especially with so much talk of Billy Nappier being on the hot seat in Gainesville.
Linden Hile: USC vs LSU
The game most relevant to Oregon besides its own would have to be USC vs LSU on Sunday.
As the premier West Coast recruiting rival for the Ducks, the successes and failures of the Trojans can have major impacts on Oregon’s talent acquisition efforts in the state of California.
Head coaches Brian Kelly (LSU) and Lincoln Riley (USC) face pressure to outperform their 2023 defenses which both ranked among the worst in the country.
I expect offenses to roll in a fun back-and-forth contest that sees LSU score a close win to open the season.
Jhop: Notre Dame @ Texas A&M
Not really on the radar but it should be. Both are ranked inside the top 20. Notre Dame has a level of uncertainty with head coach Marcus Freeman. His tenure at Notre Dame has been a bit rocky so far. Meanwhile Texas A&M brings in the Mike Elko era with this tough matchup. This could be a momentum-building or concerning game for one of these programs given the outcome. With the way Texas A&M has recruited, they will really need to win games and one like this will be a big recruiting tool. A loss however, might cause some concern.
FWIW, my next pick is USC vs LSU. All eyes on the Trojans on Sunday.
