2023 College Football - Week 4: Couch Potato Week 1.0
Sept 21, 2023 20:21:32 GMT -6
Funkytown and FSUVike like this
Post by Uncle on Sept 21, 2023 20:21:32 GMT -6
The first official day of Fall is this Saturday, September 23, and that means crisp, Autumn air...the leaves turning color...picking pumpkins and eating apple cider donuts...
...and vegging-out in front of your TV watching great football action all day long!
As teams win/lose and go up/down in the rankings, there are always going to be some weekends during the College season that have a slate of tremendous College games the entire day on Saturday - from the Noon ET start times right through the evening - and I call these weekends, "Couch Potato Week".
Here is my personal list of criteria that a College weekend must meet in order to be considered a "Couch Potato Week":
- At least 3 matchups where both teams are ranked in the Top 25
- Anticipated matchups at all three time slots (Noon ET start time, 3:30PM ET start times and 7:00PM ET start times)
- Anticipated matchups must include multiple Conferences
- At least 1 matchup with significant Playoff implications for both teams
Week 4 of the 2023 College season meets all of these criteria as there are 6 matchups between ranked teams, great action all-day long across 4 out of the 5 Power 5 Conferences (the only good game "on paper" for the BIG XII is BYU @ Kansas) and the Ohio St/Notre Dame nightcap should have significant Playoff ramifications for both teams.
So if you can, sit back, get the grill goin'...pop open a few cold one's...and enjoy a great Fall Saturday of College Football...
Saturday, 9/23 - Early Afternoon Games
#4 FSU @ Clemson - Noon ET (ABC); spread is FSU -2.5
ESPN put out a great article (link) this past week on FSU QB Jordan Travis and his journey from Louisville to earning the starting job at FSU in '21 and continually battling / developing into the Heisman candidate he is in 2023 - it's a great read for a few reasons: 1) Travis is a 2024 Draft QB prospect - probably early Day 2 at the moment with a chance to get into Day 1 with a solid 2023 season, and 2) it points out that Clemson is a team the Seminoles haven't beaten since 2014. This is the next step in a possible Playoff run for FSU: beating the perennial ACC powerhouse that is Clemson, which won't be too easy since the game is @ Death Valley and Clemson will be looking for a big win themselves since that Week 1 loss to Duke. FSU has been a bit of a roller coaster this season as they try to iron their team out: great in the 2nd half of the big Week 1 LSU win, running all over Southern Miss and then sputtering a bit @ Boston College last weekend. The 'Noles will need to be more consistent if they hope to get out of Death Valley w/ the "W" and that might begin & end with the play of their star QB, Jordan Travis.
Rutgers @ #2 Michigan - Noon ET (B10 Network); spread is Michigan -24
I see that big spread and I'm not 100% sold that the Wolverines are going to cover that. Yes, Harbaugh will be back on the sidelines following the 3-game suspension that Michigan self-imposed on him. Yes, Rutgers has been a bit of a "doormat" in the B10 for a while. But this Rutgers team seems to be a bit more scrappy than the perennial losers of old - this Rutgers team is 3-0, with 2 wins over Power 5 schools and all 3 wins by double-digits. Plus, JJ McCarthy is coming off a pretty medicore-to-poor outing vs Bowling Green in the "Big House" last weekend. There's no doubt that the Wolverines will probably lean heavily on their OL/running game to try and wear-out Rutgers who probably can't match-up along the trenches on either side, but don't be surprised if this one is much closer than the 24-pt spread indicates. JJ McCarthy needs a good game and this is a decent-enough opponent to start showing everyone that he's more than just a "game manager" QB that can run.
Saturday, 9/23 - Mid-Afternoon Games
#19 Colorado @ #10 Oregon - 3:30PM ET (ABC); spread is Oregon -21
Coach Prime asked us all after the Week 1 upset @ TCU, "Do you believe, now?" Well, the nation started believing, but apparently Vegas didn't get the memo this week as Coach Prime's Buffaloes are 3-TD dogs. The Ducks and 2024 Draft QB prospect Bo Nix are a better football team than TCU and Eugene is a tougher environment...but that being said, the Buffaloes have captured the attention of the nation and Coach Prime has shown that his team can "get up" for a bigtime atmosphere. This might be the week that the hype train stops though: Colorado doesn't have the talent the Ducks have and they have feasted off opponent turnovers, but the Ducks have zero turnovers on the season and the Oregon OL has allowed just 1 sack on Nix so far this year. If Nix has time and takes care of the ball, then it's going to be real tough for Shedeur to lead his team to a victory. Speaking of Shedeur, this will be his first game without WR/CB Travis Hunter so more of the offense/scoring will fall on his arm and decision-making - he's lived up to all the hype so far and it will be interesting to see how he does when more falls on him to carry the team.
#22 UCLA @ #11 Utah - 3:30PM ET (FOX); spread is Utah -6
The line of this game moved during the week, from Utah being a 4.5 favorite to 6 pts. Why? Because there's a belief that Utah QB Cam Rising, a 2024 Draft QB prospect, will finally make his 2023 debut, and not a moment too soon because the Utes have been ravaged by injuries through the first 3 games of the season. UCLA has been a pleasant surprise under 5-star FR QB Dante Moore and they have a fringe 1st Rd DE/EDGE prospect in Laiatu Latu. The Utes have typically started off a bit slow in recent years, only to pour it on in the latter part of the season on-route to winning the PAC-12 title: in 2021 vs Oregon and last season vs Caleb Williams and USC. Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City is a very tough environment for a road team to win - as Florida found out in Week 1 - so even though Utah might be down a few players, it's going to be a tough game to win. The player to watch, though, is Rising - he's ended the last two seasons with Rose Bowl losses to Ohio St & Penn St, and he needs a very solid 2023 season to solidify his Day 2 Draft status.
#15 Ole Miss @ #13 Alabama - 3:30PM ET (CBS); spread is Alabama -7
This is a big game for Nick Saban's Crimson Tide team, which has shown signs that the dominant era Saban has had over College Football might be coming to an end. In Week 2 they were thoroughly beaten at home by a better Texas team and last week they were tied 3-3 with South Florida for 3 quarters+. Alabama doesn't have a star QB, elite athletes at the skill positions and they their OL/DL's aren't as dominant as they once were (Texas won the the LOS during Week 2). And there to help usher-out the once dominant Saban era is one of his former assistant coaches: Lane Kiffin. The Rebels are still sporting a solid ground game, but QB Jaxson Dart has been playing really well to open up the 2023 season, including a very good 4th quarter @ Tulane in Week 2. I don't think Alabama will be winning any track meet style game - they don't have the horses for it - so Saban is going to need to lean on the thing he used to lean on in the early days: the trenches. Tulane was able to really pressure Dart in that Week 2 matchup and although 'Bama doesn't have the interior DL players to cause pressure, they still have really good DE/EDGE prospects that can cause havoc. If Alabama loses this game, they'll be out of the Playoff picture for the 2nd year in a row, something that has never happened in the brief history of the current College Playoff structure, and Kiffin could deliver the knockout punch before we even turn the calendar to October.
BYU @ Kansas - 3:30PM ET (ESPN); spread is Kansas -9
The lone BIG XII game with any interest (on paper, anyway) is the first ever BIG XII game for BYU as they travel to Lawrence to face-off against the up-tempo Jayhawks. BYU surprised many when they won on the road at Arkansas last weekend in a back-n-forth affair and if they pull-off a second solid road win in a row, then they'll be opening some eyes. While USC/Pitt QB transfer Kedon Slovis has been steady behind center for the Cougars, it's been the BYU defense that has surprised a bit - clamping down in the 2nd half against KJ Jefferson and Arkansas while only allowing a total of 16 pts in their first 2 matchups. They will have their hands full with Kansas QB Jalon Daniels and their up-tempo attack. The winner of this game moves into the Top 25 rankings to join Texas & Oklahoma as the only BIG XII ranked teams.
Saturday, 9/23 - Evening Games
#14 Oregon St @ #21 Washington St - 7:00PM (FOX); spread is Oregon St -3
The Beavers have quietly been building a very solid program in Corvalis under HC Jonathan Smith, reaching 10 wins in 2022 for the first time since 2006 when Mike Riley was still the HC - that 10th win being a dominant win in the Las Vegas Bowl vs Florida 30-3. They return most of that 2022 team and they added former Clemson QB DJ Uiagalelei, who's been a "steady hand" at QB - managing the game and using his legs to move the Beavers offense up and down the field. On the other side is 2024 Draft QB prospect Cameron Ward, who broke out a bit in 2022 after transfering to the FBS level from FCS school Incarnate Word. Ward has shown some solid development this season and is a solid Day 2 candidate. I'm not sure Ward has much of a surrounding cast and Oregon St has the better overall team, so Ward - like Shedeur Sanders - will need to carry his team to win vs a ranked PAC-12 team. Ironically enough, both of these teams are the only remaining PAC-12 teams that haven't transferred to another Conference starting in 2024, so essentially this game is a battle of the "PAC-2".
#6 Ohio St @ #9 Notre Dame - 7:30PM (NBC); spread is Ohio St -3
The is the 3rd time in 4 weeks we're getting a matchup between teams ranked in the Top 10: in Week 1 it was LSU/FSU and in Week 2 it was Texas/Alabama, and this one could be the best of the three. Significant Playoff aspirations...2024 Draft QB prospects on both sides...Notre Dame Stadium...it just doesn't get too much bigger than this in September. Notre Dame has been playing at a high level for their first 4 games (they played in Dublin during Week 0) and although Notre Dame has made the Playoffs in the past, they've been manhandled by better teams in the Semifinals when they've made it. That shouldn't be the case this year as Notre Dame has NFL-level talent on both sides of the LOS, a premiere RB, stud LB's and a legit QB prospect in Sam Hartman. Ohio St is very talented in their own right and they just started to flex their muscle last week at home vs Western Kentucky as QB Kyle McCord finally broke out. The pressure here is all on Hartman as he's faded in bigtime games during the last 2 seasons at Wake Forest: in 2021 he broke down in the ACC Championship vs Pitt and last season it was a game at Louisville in which the Hartman and the Demon Deacons had 6 turnovers in the 3rd qtr which spiraled Wake Forest into a 3-game losing streak that knocked them out of ACC contention. Hartman needs to pay close attention to that yellow, metal sign as he makes his way down the stairs and out of the Fighting Irish lockerroom towards the field entrance and "Play Like a Champion" if Notre Dame is going to get back to the level of team they once were.
#24 Iowa @ #7 Penn St - 7:30PM (CBS); spread is Penn St -14.5
There's nothing like an evening "white-out" game in Happy Valley in September, which is exactly what the Hawkeyes will be running into. Iowa has been a pleasant surprise to the open the 2023 season behind former Michigan QB Cade McNamara, who's proved that Iowa can score points. And he's going to need to because Penn St has played Iowa-football in 2023 better than Iowa has played it: solid defense and a ball-controlled offense that doesn't make mistakes, that last part being the crucial reason why the Nittany Lions are ranked in the Top 10. For the Hawkeyes to pull this off they are going to need Penn St. to make mistakes, turn the ball over and McNamara is going to need to have the game of his life. The last thing they'll have to deal with is the bright, white t-shirts all around Happy Valley from 100k+ Nittany Lions fans, and that might be too much of a tall task to overcome.
...and vegging-out in front of your TV watching great football action all day long!
As teams win/lose and go up/down in the rankings, there are always going to be some weekends during the College season that have a slate of tremendous College games the entire day on Saturday - from the Noon ET start times right through the evening - and I call these weekends, "Couch Potato Week".
Here is my personal list of criteria that a College weekend must meet in order to be considered a "Couch Potato Week":
- At least 3 matchups where both teams are ranked in the Top 25
- Anticipated matchups at all three time slots (Noon ET start time, 3:30PM ET start times and 7:00PM ET start times)
- Anticipated matchups must include multiple Conferences
- At least 1 matchup with significant Playoff implications for both teams
Week 4 of the 2023 College season meets all of these criteria as there are 6 matchups between ranked teams, great action all-day long across 4 out of the 5 Power 5 Conferences (the only good game "on paper" for the BIG XII is BYU @ Kansas) and the Ohio St/Notre Dame nightcap should have significant Playoff ramifications for both teams.
So if you can, sit back, get the grill goin'...pop open a few cold one's...and enjoy a great Fall Saturday of College Football...
Saturday, 9/23 - Early Afternoon Games
#4 FSU @ Clemson - Noon ET (ABC); spread is FSU -2.5
ESPN put out a great article (link) this past week on FSU QB Jordan Travis and his journey from Louisville to earning the starting job at FSU in '21 and continually battling / developing into the Heisman candidate he is in 2023 - it's a great read for a few reasons: 1) Travis is a 2024 Draft QB prospect - probably early Day 2 at the moment with a chance to get into Day 1 with a solid 2023 season, and 2) it points out that Clemson is a team the Seminoles haven't beaten since 2014. This is the next step in a possible Playoff run for FSU: beating the perennial ACC powerhouse that is Clemson, which won't be too easy since the game is @ Death Valley and Clemson will be looking for a big win themselves since that Week 1 loss to Duke. FSU has been a bit of a roller coaster this season as they try to iron their team out: great in the 2nd half of the big Week 1 LSU win, running all over Southern Miss and then sputtering a bit @ Boston College last weekend. The 'Noles will need to be more consistent if they hope to get out of Death Valley w/ the "W" and that might begin & end with the play of their star QB, Jordan Travis.
Rutgers @ #2 Michigan - Noon ET (B10 Network); spread is Michigan -24
I see that big spread and I'm not 100% sold that the Wolverines are going to cover that. Yes, Harbaugh will be back on the sidelines following the 3-game suspension that Michigan self-imposed on him. Yes, Rutgers has been a bit of a "doormat" in the B10 for a while. But this Rutgers team seems to be a bit more scrappy than the perennial losers of old - this Rutgers team is 3-0, with 2 wins over Power 5 schools and all 3 wins by double-digits. Plus, JJ McCarthy is coming off a pretty medicore-to-poor outing vs Bowling Green in the "Big House" last weekend. There's no doubt that the Wolverines will probably lean heavily on their OL/running game to try and wear-out Rutgers who probably can't match-up along the trenches on either side, but don't be surprised if this one is much closer than the 24-pt spread indicates. JJ McCarthy needs a good game and this is a decent-enough opponent to start showing everyone that he's more than just a "game manager" QB that can run.
Saturday, 9/23 - Mid-Afternoon Games
#19 Colorado @ #10 Oregon - 3:30PM ET (ABC); spread is Oregon -21
Coach Prime asked us all after the Week 1 upset @ TCU, "Do you believe, now?" Well, the nation started believing, but apparently Vegas didn't get the memo this week as Coach Prime's Buffaloes are 3-TD dogs. The Ducks and 2024 Draft QB prospect Bo Nix are a better football team than TCU and Eugene is a tougher environment...but that being said, the Buffaloes have captured the attention of the nation and Coach Prime has shown that his team can "get up" for a bigtime atmosphere. This might be the week that the hype train stops though: Colorado doesn't have the talent the Ducks have and they have feasted off opponent turnovers, but the Ducks have zero turnovers on the season and the Oregon OL has allowed just 1 sack on Nix so far this year. If Nix has time and takes care of the ball, then it's going to be real tough for Shedeur to lead his team to a victory. Speaking of Shedeur, this will be his first game without WR/CB Travis Hunter so more of the offense/scoring will fall on his arm and decision-making - he's lived up to all the hype so far and it will be interesting to see how he does when more falls on him to carry the team.
#22 UCLA @ #11 Utah - 3:30PM ET (FOX); spread is Utah -6
The line of this game moved during the week, from Utah being a 4.5 favorite to 6 pts. Why? Because there's a belief that Utah QB Cam Rising, a 2024 Draft QB prospect, will finally make his 2023 debut, and not a moment too soon because the Utes have been ravaged by injuries through the first 3 games of the season. UCLA has been a pleasant surprise under 5-star FR QB Dante Moore and they have a fringe 1st Rd DE/EDGE prospect in Laiatu Latu. The Utes have typically started off a bit slow in recent years, only to pour it on in the latter part of the season on-route to winning the PAC-12 title: in 2021 vs Oregon and last season vs Caleb Williams and USC. Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City is a very tough environment for a road team to win - as Florida found out in Week 1 - so even though Utah might be down a few players, it's going to be a tough game to win. The player to watch, though, is Rising - he's ended the last two seasons with Rose Bowl losses to Ohio St & Penn St, and he needs a very solid 2023 season to solidify his Day 2 Draft status.
#15 Ole Miss @ #13 Alabama - 3:30PM ET (CBS); spread is Alabama -7
This is a big game for Nick Saban's Crimson Tide team, which has shown signs that the dominant era Saban has had over College Football might be coming to an end. In Week 2 they were thoroughly beaten at home by a better Texas team and last week they were tied 3-3 with South Florida for 3 quarters+. Alabama doesn't have a star QB, elite athletes at the skill positions and they their OL/DL's aren't as dominant as they once were (Texas won the the LOS during Week 2). And there to help usher-out the once dominant Saban era is one of his former assistant coaches: Lane Kiffin. The Rebels are still sporting a solid ground game, but QB Jaxson Dart has been playing really well to open up the 2023 season, including a very good 4th quarter @ Tulane in Week 2. I don't think Alabama will be winning any track meet style game - they don't have the horses for it - so Saban is going to need to lean on the thing he used to lean on in the early days: the trenches. Tulane was able to really pressure Dart in that Week 2 matchup and although 'Bama doesn't have the interior DL players to cause pressure, they still have really good DE/EDGE prospects that can cause havoc. If Alabama loses this game, they'll be out of the Playoff picture for the 2nd year in a row, something that has never happened in the brief history of the current College Playoff structure, and Kiffin could deliver the knockout punch before we even turn the calendar to October.
BYU @ Kansas - 3:30PM ET (ESPN); spread is Kansas -9
The lone BIG XII game with any interest (on paper, anyway) is the first ever BIG XII game for BYU as they travel to Lawrence to face-off against the up-tempo Jayhawks. BYU surprised many when they won on the road at Arkansas last weekend in a back-n-forth affair and if they pull-off a second solid road win in a row, then they'll be opening some eyes. While USC/Pitt QB transfer Kedon Slovis has been steady behind center for the Cougars, it's been the BYU defense that has surprised a bit - clamping down in the 2nd half against KJ Jefferson and Arkansas while only allowing a total of 16 pts in their first 2 matchups. They will have their hands full with Kansas QB Jalon Daniels and their up-tempo attack. The winner of this game moves into the Top 25 rankings to join Texas & Oklahoma as the only BIG XII ranked teams.
Saturday, 9/23 - Evening Games
#14 Oregon St @ #21 Washington St - 7:00PM (FOX); spread is Oregon St -3
The Beavers have quietly been building a very solid program in Corvalis under HC Jonathan Smith, reaching 10 wins in 2022 for the first time since 2006 when Mike Riley was still the HC - that 10th win being a dominant win in the Las Vegas Bowl vs Florida 30-3. They return most of that 2022 team and they added former Clemson QB DJ Uiagalelei, who's been a "steady hand" at QB - managing the game and using his legs to move the Beavers offense up and down the field. On the other side is 2024 Draft QB prospect Cameron Ward, who broke out a bit in 2022 after transfering to the FBS level from FCS school Incarnate Word. Ward has shown some solid development this season and is a solid Day 2 candidate. I'm not sure Ward has much of a surrounding cast and Oregon St has the better overall team, so Ward - like Shedeur Sanders - will need to carry his team to win vs a ranked PAC-12 team. Ironically enough, both of these teams are the only remaining PAC-12 teams that haven't transferred to another Conference starting in 2024, so essentially this game is a battle of the "PAC-2".
#6 Ohio St @ #9 Notre Dame - 7:30PM (NBC); spread is Ohio St -3
The is the 3rd time in 4 weeks we're getting a matchup between teams ranked in the Top 10: in Week 1 it was LSU/FSU and in Week 2 it was Texas/Alabama, and this one could be the best of the three. Significant Playoff aspirations...2024 Draft QB prospects on both sides...Notre Dame Stadium...it just doesn't get too much bigger than this in September. Notre Dame has been playing at a high level for their first 4 games (they played in Dublin during Week 0) and although Notre Dame has made the Playoffs in the past, they've been manhandled by better teams in the Semifinals when they've made it. That shouldn't be the case this year as Notre Dame has NFL-level talent on both sides of the LOS, a premiere RB, stud LB's and a legit QB prospect in Sam Hartman. Ohio St is very talented in their own right and they just started to flex their muscle last week at home vs Western Kentucky as QB Kyle McCord finally broke out. The pressure here is all on Hartman as he's faded in bigtime games during the last 2 seasons at Wake Forest: in 2021 he broke down in the ACC Championship vs Pitt and last season it was a game at Louisville in which the Hartman and the Demon Deacons had 6 turnovers in the 3rd qtr which spiraled Wake Forest into a 3-game losing streak that knocked them out of ACC contention. Hartman needs to pay close attention to that yellow, metal sign as he makes his way down the stairs and out of the Fighting Irish lockerroom towards the field entrance and "Play Like a Champion" if Notre Dame is going to get back to the level of team they once were.
#24 Iowa @ #7 Penn St - 7:30PM (CBS); spread is Penn St -14.5
There's nothing like an evening "white-out" game in Happy Valley in September, which is exactly what the Hawkeyes will be running into. Iowa has been a pleasant surprise to the open the 2023 season behind former Michigan QB Cade McNamara, who's proved that Iowa can score points. And he's going to need to because Penn St has played Iowa-football in 2023 better than Iowa has played it: solid defense and a ball-controlled offense that doesn't make mistakes, that last part being the crucial reason why the Nittany Lions are ranked in the Top 10. For the Hawkeyes to pull this off they are going to need Penn St. to make mistakes, turn the ball over and McNamara is going to need to have the game of his life. The last thing they'll have to deal with is the bright, white t-shirts all around Happy Valley from 100k+ Nittany Lions fans, and that might be too much of a tall task to overcome.
... and neither is this Chris guy.