For some teams week four means one third of the season is already complete. Our College Football Preview Week Four edition will get you up to speed with what you need to know heading into some huge games for both FBS and FCS Schools.

College Football Preview Week Four – ACC

Hot off the back from the week three loss, Virginia welcome a 3-0 Wake Forest team. The Cavs are 3.5 point favourites in a game that should be explosive with the O/U set at 68.5. This smacks of a Brennan Armstrong super performance for me. Syracuse takes on Liberty at home and The Orange face as tiff test in one of the best defences in College Football. The Boston College Eagles face a tough test at home as Missouri travel to Chestnut hill. The Eagles are 1.5 point underdogs in a game that should be a close affair. Pitt has a cupcake after the shock loss last week as a 3-0 New Hampshire rolls into town. Kenny Pickett should bounce back in this one before being benched. Another team looking to return to winning ways are my Hokies as they face a 2-1 Richmond at home.

If Miami can stop the run, then either with, or without star Quarterback D’Eriq King they should breeze past Central Connecticut State. Hopefully this is a game where Miami blow up and help the ACC get back into peoples good graces after a torrid first few weeks. In an ACC matchup, Florida State host Louisville in a game where The Cardinals are just 1.5 point favourites. Against a Seminoles team that has been awful that smacks of value to me. Duke get possibly the worst team in College Football as Kansas tip toes into town. Duke are 16 point favouritres and expect Durrant to go wild once more. North Carolina face a stern test as they square up agasnt a Georgia Tech team that ran Clemson close last week. GT are 12.5 point dawgs and I fancy NC to score more than two touchdowns to cover that easily.

ACC Game of the Week – Clemson @ NC State

Clemson can hold teams to few scoring points on Defence. At this point thats an almost given. What is also a given is how prolific NC State are on Offence are right now. They scored 45 points in the win last week and Devin Leary is balling out. Running Back Zonovan Knight is avergaing 99 yards per game right now and Clemson wll have to stop him and stop him fast.

Clemson aren’t winning games on Offence and DJ has some serious work to do to recapture the form from last years game agasint Notre Dame. They are avergaing just 22 points per game, half of what they did last year. Will Shipley has looked good as he has secured his role as the lead Running Back and Clemson will need to ride him to help DJ get comfortable. The fact NC State are just 10 point dawgs in this one shows how weak Clemson are right now. Can The Wolfpack win this one outright? Damn right they can. Expect this to be fun, close and perhaps even an upset.

Written by Stocks @5yardcollege

 

College Football Preview Week Four – BIG XII 

In a minimal BIG XII slate this weekend, TCU are in the noon (5pm BST) slot hosting the 3-0 SMU Mustangs who currently rank first in the AAC. #14 Iowa State travel to Waco to face Baylor in what could be a sneaky upset matchup. Kansas travels to the east coast to take on the Duke Blue Devils. #25 Kansas State will make the trip to Stillwater to face Gundy’s Oklahoma State Cowboys. Finally, Neal Brown’s West Virginia take on the #Oklahoma Sooners in Norman.

BIG XII Game of the Week – Texas Tech @ Texas

Steve Sarkisian’s Texas Longhorns host Matt Wells’ Texas Tech Red Raiders in Darrell K Royal stadium this Saturday. The annual game has been a pretty one-sided affair in recent memory. Texas has won 16 out of the last 20 meetings against the Red Raiders. However, there’s every reason that Wells’ team will believe they can snatch a shock victory. Texas has dealt with some growing pains so far this season under Sark, already replacing Hudson Card with Casey Thompson at QB.

Matt Wells was considered a hot-seat candidate in pre-season but after a 3-0 start he’s positioned his team to go bowling in December. The wins haven’t been anything to shout about so far but a W on Saturday would be megaphone material in Lubbock. Transfer QB Tyler Shough has performed well so far, finding his go to guy in receiver Erik Ezukanma, a threat the Texas will have to plan for. The main threat from the Red Raider though, is RB Tahj Brooks. The sophomore is running for more than eight yards a clip so far this season. The Texas defence pitched a shutout last week against Rice, but they’ll have to step it up to do the same against Tech.

Game Time for Thompson

This will be Casey Thompson’s first real test at QB after replacing Card in the 4th quarter in their 40-21 loss to Arkansas. His primary job is to get the ball in the hands of star RB Bijan Robinson, but also to keep things moving however possible. The offence stalled too often under Card against Arkansas and Thompson will need to make sure that isn’t his problem also. The Red Raiders are defending against the run well this season, but they haven’t played an elite RB like Robinson.

This should be a comfortable win for Texas. They have better athletes, better coaching and they’re at home. But this is college football and things that ‘should’ happen often don’t. Texas Tech need to make Thompson beat them this weekend. Any other game plan should be considered dire coaching. I think we could see a close one in Austin this Saturday.

Prediction Texas 38 – 31 Texas Tech

Written by Jake @dyanstybrit

 

College Football Preview Week Four – B1G 10 

Week 4 is here and the Big Ten is looking good! The conference has 6 teams in the AP top 20, big wins on the resume and highlight plays across the board. The Big Ten is fun!

Notre Dame shook off a battling Purdue side last week and has another tough Big Ten matchup on Saturday. The Fighting Irish are travelling to Wisconsin to see what this Badgers team is really made of. Wisconsin pushed Penn State all the way in a defensive battle and now gets the chance to beat another highly ranked team. They will need to keep Chez Mellusi rolling but that doesn’t appear to be a problem as the Junior has 265 yards and 2 touchdowns in the opening 2 games.

Ohio State will look at Akron as a chance to build confidence throughout the team and fix the deficiencies that have been exposed in recent weeks. CJ Stroud is playing through a shoulder injury, so it will be interesting to see if or how much he plays with McCord and Ewers waiting for their opportunity. Can this be the ‘get right’ game they need?

White out Fallout?

Penn State should have no problem marching to 4-0 against Villanova and their key men on offense will look to cash in. We are still waiting to see Dotson and Washington at their very best in 2021 – hopefully Sean Clifford can get them the ball over and over on Saturday. Treyson Potts could put up ridiculous numbers when Minnesota takes on Bowling Green. That offense is tailor-made for the running back and they are heavy favourites to beat the Falcons. Northwestern welcomes the Ohio Bobcats who are searching for their first win of the season – I don’t think there is much chance they get it here though!

Iowa are sitting high and mighty at #5 in the AP poll and will be looking to consolidate that position with a win at home against Colorado State. There’s not much they can do here to improve their ranking (unless someone above slips up) and should win by a large margin. Purdue will look to bounce back from defeat to Notre Dame in South Bend when they take on a confusing Illinois team. Just when you’re ready to write the Fighting Illini off as a bad team, they put in a performance that makes you reconsider!

Rutgers and Michigan put their undefeated records on the line in Ann Arbor in what promises to be a tasty in-conference clash! The Wolverines have exceeded expectations and made the talking heads all reconsider their pre-season assessments. Rutgers have also impressed especially on offense, posting 123 points over 3 games. The Scarlet Knights will be underdogs on Saturday but Michigan cannot make the mistake of writing them off. Maryland will be confident they can continue their winning streak and move to 4-0 when they play Kent State and Michigan State will do the same if they take care of Nebraska as current form says they should.

B1G 10 Game Of The Week – Indiana @ Western Kentucky

Not a matchup I thought would be a game of the week before the season, but boy this could be fun! The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (great name!) are averaging 532 yards and 47 points a game! They are also allowing an average of 406 yards and nearly 30 points to be racked up against their defense, so this could be a back and forth barnstormer!

Indiana have all the tools to exploit the porous defense as long as they perform as we know they can. Michael Penix Jr, Ty Fryfogle, Peyton Hendershot, Stephen Carr and co have star firepower but have struggled to put it all together so far in 2021. This would be the perfect game to do so and catapult the Hossiers season heading into in-conference games.

Western Kentucky will be pumped up for a power-5 opponent and with QB Bailey Zappe and favourite target Jerreth Sterns on absolute fire right now, they will give Indiana’s defense a stern test. The fans will be loud, doing their best to intimidate the Hoosiers and we’ve already seen the influence live crowds can have on a football team. It’s been a joy to see fans back in the stands and causing confusion, penalties and miscues for visiting teams. This game has shoot-out potential and could feasibly come down to who has the ball last – I can’t wait!

Written by Jack @JackCDCTT

 

College Football Preview Week Four – PAC-12 

We have a full slate of in conference games this Saturday/Sunday in the PAC-12., with some tasty looking match-ups. First to kick us off is Utah as they welcome Washington State. After back-to-back losses, Utah will want to get their title charge back on track. Washington State are also 1-2, with pressure growing on HC Nick Rolovich on and off the field. Cal travel to the Husky Stadium for a PAC-12 North match-up with Washington. Both teams are coming off their first wins of the season.

Arizona’s winless run continues and it’s hard to see it coming to an end early Sunday morning (BST), when they have the daunting task of traveling to number #3 ranked Oregon. With the PAC-12 South title wide open early on, Arizona State will want to bounce back from their first defeat of the season. They welcome winless Colorado, who have struggled on offence the last two weeks. Oregon State has looked good since Chance Nolan has taking over at quarterback. Can they be the second PAC-12 North team to give USC a loss this season. This is the Trojans third conference game already, standing at a 1-1 record so far.

PAC-12 Game of the Week – UCLA @ Stanford

The week 4 game of the week is between 2-1 teams from the PAC-12 North. Stanford who welcome UCLA from the South. David Shaw’s Cardinal sit top of the North thanks to their 1- 0 conference record. With Oregon having not played a conference game as of yet but sitting 3-0. After a disastrous week 1 loss to Kansas State, Stanford have bounced back with impressive road wins at USC and Vanderbilt. Shaw gave Tanner McKee the starting job week 2 and it has been a good choice. McKee has been solid and has looked after the ball, while throwing 5 touchdowns and rushing for 2. UCLA suffered their first loss of the season Saturday, in a wild game against Fresno State. It was a disappointing defeat after their impressive win over LSU in week 1, possibly a week 2 bye week came at the wrong time.

Even in defeat, Dorian Thompson-Robinson had a great game with his arm with over 275 yards and 3 touchdowns. College football fans have been wanting to see more from DTR in the passing game. After the two wins came courtesy of the Bruins ground game. I don’t think many, if anybody thought this game would have early importance to the season. With Stanford’s win over USC, they are earl leaders alongside Oregon In the North. It looked promising for UCLA after starting 2-0. The loss last week could have been worse. But with the rest of the PAC-12 South contenders faltering, the Bruins are still in a tight race for the South. It’s still early in the season. However, a loss for either team Sunday morning would push them back in the title race.

Written by Jordan Merritt @Jordm87

 

College Football Preview Week Four – SEC 

Week 4 in the SEC we have a mixed bag, with 5 in conference match ups, 3 out of conference and Ole Miss on a bye week. Three games open up the slate at 5pm(BST), with Missouri having a tricky road game against ACC side Boston College. Then two all SEC match ups, Georgia should keep their unbeaten record when they travel to Vanderbilt. While LSU are slight underdogs in the all SEC West affair against Mississippi State.

Auburn should have no problem bouncing back from their first defeat of the season. They welcome Georgia State to Pat Dye Field. Kentucky are playing some good football in 2021, they will look to stay unbeaten when they play fellow SEC East team South Carolina. The Gamecocks are 2-1 but already have a conference loss. In another SEC East match up, Florida welcomes Tennessee to the swamp and should have too much for the Volunteers. In the final match on Saturday, Alabama should make light work of Southern Miss. Coach Saban will want more from his team after two weeks of inconsistent play.

SEC Game of the Week – Texas A&M @ Arkansas

The SEC game of the week is a top 20 match up between two unbeaten SEC West teams. Number #7 ranked Texas A&M will take on #16 ranked Arkansas, where somebody’s unbeaten start will come to an end. Arkansas have started well and looked really impressive in the week 2 win over Texas. Quarterback KJ Jefferson has thrown for 632 yards and rushed for 180 yards, but turnovers are a concern. Luckily the defence has been that good in helping them to a 3-0 start, it hasn’t been a major issue. Texas A&M QB Zach Calzada found it hard against a tough Colorado defence in week 2, but the drop off in opposition last Saturday helped him get some good reps in.

Calzada will again face a stiff defence again and will need to be at it if the Aggies want to stay unbeaten. This game could come down to who’s defence plays the best. The Razorbacks have lost the last 9 games in this series, most of them being close encounters. With Texas A&M struggling on offence, this could be a great opportunity for Arkansas to break the losing streak. The Aggies are still slight favourites in this game despite the struggles. It’s going to be a great atmosphere at the neutral venue of the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Written by Jordan Merritt @Jordm87