College football Week 6: Missouri-Texas A&M is the only Top 25 matchup, but other games loom large

 

[October 02, 2024]  By ERIC OLSON

The ebb and flow of the college football season hits a low this week if measured by the number of Top 25 matchups.

The only one is No. 9 Missouri at No. 25 Texas A&M, the fewest since there were no ranked teams pitted against each other during Week 3 last season.

Maybe it's karma for the weekend we enjoyed last week. Bookending it were the Miami-Virginia Tech did-he-catch-it-or-not ending and that fantastic Alabama-Georgia finish.

Of course, there still are important games this week besides the Southeastern Conference showdown in College Station, Texas.

No. 12 Mississippi, upset by Kentucky at home, is in bounce-back mode on the road against a South Carolina team that beat the Wildcats by 25 points in Week 2.

No. 22 Louisville has a tough follow-up to its loss to Notre Dame when high-scoring SMU visits.

No. 3 Ohio State faces its biggest challenge to date when breakout star Kaleb Johnson leads Iowa into the Horseshoe.

Texas Tech, picked in the bottom half of the Big 12 preseason poll, has won four of five to start the season and gets a measuring-stick game at Arizona.

And don't forget the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy series, which gets underway with unbeaten Navy at struggling Air Force.

Best game

No. 9 Missouri (4-0, 1-0 SEC) at No. 25 Texas A&M (4-1, 2-0), Saturday, noon ET (ABC)

Missouri hopes to play like a top-10 team in its road opener. The Tigers had to erase a 14-3 halftime deficit to beat Boston College and had to go two overtimes to get past Vanderbilt. They've had a week off to sort things out, mainly uncharacteristic red-zone and third-down struggles against Vandy.

The Aggies have won four straight since a close loss to Notre Dame. Marcel Reed has started the last three games at quarterback in place of the injured Connor Weigman. A&M coach Mike Elko said Weigman would be a game-time decision. Whoever starts, he'll be going against the toughest defense the Aggies have faced.

BetMGM Sportsbook lists the Aggies as 2 1/2-point favorites.

Heisman watch

Ashton Jeanty is the best player in the Group of Five. How about the best in all of college football?

The folks at Boise State would argue he is, and the betting public is starting to take notice. He's the No. 4 choice on BetMGM Sportsbook at 10-1 odds to win the Heisman Trophy, still well behind Alabama's Jalen Milroe, Miami's Cam Ward and Colorado's Travis Hunter.

Alabama's Derrick Henry was the last running back to win the Heisman, in 2015, and no player from a Group of Five school, as it would be defined now, has ever won it.

Jeanty is the nation's leading rusher and has gone over 200 yards twice in four games. He had 259 yards and four touchdowns against Washington State last week, with 234 yards coming after contact. He forced 17 missed tackles.

Florida State head coach Mike Norvell looks up from the sideline during the first half of an NCAA college football game against SMU, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

He could put up equally prodigious numbers against Utah State's porous defense Saturday.

Numbers to know

0 — First-quarter points allowed by Clemson.

9 — Mississippi WR Tre Harris' nation-leading number of plays of at least 30 yards.

38 — Navy has scored at least this many points in its first four games of a season for the first time in the program's 144-year history.

1971 — Year of Iowa State's most recent conference road shutout before last week's 20-0 win at Houston.

1994 — Year Duke last opened a season 5-0.

Under the radar

Rutgers (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) at Nebraska (4-1, 1-1), Saturday, 4 p.m. ET (FS1)

The Scarlet Knights probably merit more attention for their best start since 2012. They're coming off close wins at Virginia Tech and at home against Washington. A road win against a Nebraska team on the rise under second-year coach Matt Rhule almost certainly would end their 12-year absence from the Top 25.

The Cornhuskers are looking for their offense to be sharper than it was in an ugly win at Purdue last week. A victory over Rutgers would move Nebraska within one win of bowl eligibility for the first time since 2016.

Hot seat

Florida State's Mike Norvell has seen his fortunes turn dramatically.

A year ago, the Seminoles were on their way to 13-0 and an ACC championship before they were snubbed by the College Football Playoff committee because of an injury to their quarterback. A 63-13 Orange Bowl loss to Georgia was considered a one-off considering the Seminoles were No. 10 in the preseason Top 25 and predicted to win the ACC.

But here they sit, 1-4 with No. 15 Clemson up next. The offense is averaging just 15.2 points, the passing game has produced just four touchdowns and six interceptions and the run game is the fourth-least productive in the country. Brock Glenn will take over at quarterback for the injured DJ Uiagalelei.

Norvell was rewarded for last season with an eight-year, $84 million contract extension, and the Tallahassee Democrat reported his buyout would be $65 million. That should be enough to make his bosses think twice, or three times, about making a change.

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