When conference schedules were announced ahead of the 2024 college football season, there was one particular date — October 12 — that was circled by fans across the country.
This is the date where fall weddings go unattended, youth soccer games have better wrap by noon, and brunch just ain’t happening unless there are four screens with four different college football games going down.
This weekend, more than most, could be a college football Saturday to remember. But just last weekend — with four of the top 11 programs in the sport losing to unranked opponents — we had one of those, too.
This Saturday is for separating. Who’s for real? Who’s not? Who can take yet another crucial step toward winning the national title?
Here are the top five games to watch this weekend:
No. 9 Ole Miss at No. 13 LSU (7:30 p.m. ET)
This game features the two most prolific passers in the SEC. Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart leads the alliance — ahem, conference — in passing yards and ranks second in the empire — ahem, league — in passing touchdowns. Meanwhile, LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier ranks first in passing touchdowns and second in passing yards.
While both programs still have to play Georgia later this year, Ole Miss could put itself on better footing with a win. Lane Kiffin’s team does not play Alabama or Texas this season and will likely be favored in every game it plays aside from the Dawgs.
Ole Miss could use another big game from wideout Tre Harris, who leads the nation in receiving yards per game with 147.5, and running back Henry Parrish Jr., who has averaged 106.6 yards from scrimmage per game and scored in each of Ole Miss’ past five games.
LSU, still undefeated in SEC play, could take this opportunity to take full advantage of Georgia’s loss to Alabama and Alabama’s loss to Vanderbilt. With a win, LSU would join Texas A&M (idle) and Texas (with a win against Oklahoma) as the only unbeaten teams left in league competition.
No. 4 Penn State at USC (3:30 p.m. ET)
Normally, the only time we’d see these two play is in the postseason in the Rose Bowl. But with USC joining the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions and Trojans will meet in the regular season for the first time since 2000.
While USC has won each of its last three games against Penn State, the Trojans are reeling. Losses to Michigan and Minnesota — hardly the class of the Big Ten this year — have left USC with just one Big Ten win this season. However, USC is 3-0 at the Coliseum this year.
The location, as much as the opponent, presents Penn State with an opportunity to show it is just as stout on the road as it is at Beaver Stadium. The game in Los Angeles will be the Nittany Lions’ first away game since August 31. With a win, PSU joins the winner of Ohio State–Oregon and Indiana as the last unbeaten Big Ten teams in the conference and inches closer to its first appearance in the College Football Playoff.
The return of tailback Nick Singleton could prove decisive in this game. He did not play last week in PSU’s 27-11 win against UCLA on Oct. 5, and it showed. Penn State rushed for just 85 yards without him, and Singleton has accounted for at least 100 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown in every game he has played in 2024. The Trojans’ defense was dragged like Hector around the walls of Troy by Minnesota’s rushing attack for 193 yards.
No. 18 Kansas State at Colorado (10:15 p.m. ET)
Colorado is looking to move to 5-1 for the first time since 2018, topple a top-25 opponent, move to the top of the Big 12 title race and perhaps enter the AP Top 25 for the first time this year. However, CU is just 1-5 against top-25 opponents in the Deion Sanders era.
While quarterback Shedeur Sanders has thrown for 331 yards per game and 15 total touchdowns while completing 70.1 percent of his passes, he is getting hit — a lot. He’s been sacked 17.0 times — the most by a Big 12 signal-caller this year.
And then there’s Travis Hunter continuing to show why he ought to hold the Heisman at the end of the year. He is the first player in the last 30 years to record 10 touchdown catches and five interceptions in a career, and those are just his FBS numbers. He leads the Big 12 in receptions with 46, averages 112 receiving yards per game, has caught six touchdowns, recorded two interceptions, hasn’t allowed a single passing score, and is playing an average of 132 snaps per game.
The Wildcats are looking to record their first 5-1 start since 2022 — the year K-State knocked off undefeated TCU to win the Big 12 championship — and they’ve got another outstanding quarterback to do it with. Avery Johnson accounted for 319 total yards and five touchdowns in K-State’s last outing. But the only loss K-State has suffered was on the road — a 38-9 defeat at BYU — and this game is at Folsom Field.
No. 1 Texas vs. No. 18 Oklahoma (3:30 p.m. ET)
The 120th edition of the Red River Rivalry features the No. 1 team in the country, Texas, and the team it has lost to in 17 of the past 25 years: Oklahoma.
But these Sooners are a two-touchdown underdog with a true freshman at quarterback, a depleted receiving corps, a patchwork offensive line and a rushing attack as lethal as a weepy Care Bear. OU’s third-down conversion rate (5 of 26) is atrocious in SEC play. But since the change at QB from Jackson Arnold to Michael Hawkins Jr., the offense has done a better job of not giving the ball away.
Hawkins hit 10 of 15 passes and amassed 230 total yards in OU’s win against Auburn, and Oklahoma’s defense has allowed just 16 points per game this season. But it doesn’t bode well that OU gave up 338 pass yards to an Auburn that hasn’t had a credible passing attack against SEC opponents in the Hugh Freeze era. In fact, the only other team to allow 300 passing yards to Auburn with Freeze as head coach is Alabama A&M in the Tigers’ 2024 season-opener.
Meanwhile, Texas boasts a top-10 offense, a top-five defense and is seeking its first 6-0 start since 2009 — the last year it played for the national title. No one has scored more than 14 points on the Texas defense, and the Texas offense averages 45 points per game. The Longhorns also get starting QB Quinn Ewers back in the saddle. They’re the favorite. They’re supposed to win this year. But it’s OU-Texas. So hate runs deep. And even when Texas is elite, the river runs red.
No. 2 Ohio State at No. 3 Oregon (7:30 p.m. ET)
From the moment Oregon joined the Big Ten, this is the game we wanted. Ohio State was embarrassed at home by the Ducks the last time they met. This year, they’ve proven to be the class of the Big Ten, and Saturday’s game at Autzen Stadium could be the first of three times they meet this year. I expect the winner of this game to tie the No. 1 team headband around their afro.
The Ducks have won 34 of their past 35 games at Autzen. However, they’ll face an Ohio State team that has beaten every one of its opponents by 28 points or more. This is the first time in school history the Buckeyes have pulled off that feat in their first five games of any season.
Buckeye freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith averages 97.2 yards receiving per game and has recorded seven touchdowns this season, while the Buckeye defense is the best in the nation in scoring — allowing just 6.8 points per game. No opponent has scored more than 15 against OSU this season.
The Ducks are winners of 20 of their past 22 and appear to be rounding into the kind of team we expected them to be in the preseason. Even after his worst outing as a Duck last week, when he threw two interceptions in the same game for the first time since 2022, Dillon Gabriel has been surgically efficient. He leads the nation in completion percentage at 77.8, averages 304 total yards per game and has thrown 14 touchdowns compared to just three interceptions this season.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast “The Number One College Football Show.” Follow him at @RJ_Young.
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