Week 4 College Football Preview | The First Showdown Saturday | Not Here To Play School

It’s time for our week 4 college football preview. It’s a Showdown Saturday!

Jake and Alex broke down the biggest games this week on the college football slate here and on their podcast, ‘Not Here To Play School’. Check it out below or wherever you get your podcasts!

Alex’s Picks

#24 Iowa at #7 Penn St.

The White Out Game! Noted by fans, players, coaches and broadcasters as the best environment in college football. Penn St tries to save this special game for a big night opponent.

Sadly with TV deals, it isn’t always the biggest home game but this year it does happen to be against a ranked Iowa team and a major test for young signal caller Drew Allar. 

Penn St.

The Nittany Lions had a less-than-stellar performance on offense in a 30-13 win against Illinois. Drew Allar only completed 48.5% of his passes for 208 and no touchdowns. He had no turnovers either which is ideal and keeps Penn State’s run of protecting the ball safe so far this season. T

hey also have the longest streak of 30+ games in the country at 10, on the line against a stout Iowa defense that is ranked 19th in the country for points per game only letting up 12. 

Iowa

The Hawkeyes are the same old Hawkeyes. Great defense and an almost stagnant offense. Any team with their offensive coordinator tied into a points-per-game quota is not in great shape on that side of the ball. But, so far Brian Ferentz has lived up to the 25 bargain.

They also come into this game down their top passing game target in TE Luke Lachey and starting RBs Kaleb Johnson and Jaziun Patterson. Iowa did well in the run game last week with junior Leshon Williams going 12 for 145 and freshman Kamari Moulton having TDs. If they can establish the run game and keep the ball away from Allar and company they’ll have a shot. 

Penn St. to win but not cover -14.5. 

#15 Ole Miss at #13 Alabama

Ole Miss has not won against the Crimson Tide since 2015 when Chad Kelly was playing, that game also happened in Tuscaloosa and Ole Miss was ranked 15th in the country. Can history repeat itself? Lane Kiffin is hoping to become only the 4th former assistant coach to beat Nick Saban and only the 2nd to do so at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The rebels come in as 6.5-point underdogs. 

Ole Miss

The Rebels are in their 4th season with HC Lane Kiffin and haven’t been able to beat Alabama yet. The closer they came was last season, a 30-24 loss at home to #9 Bama (they were ranked #11). A win here could help get them over the hump and into contention for the SEC West. They’ll need QB Jaxson Dart to play the best game of his career.

So far he seems like he can deliver. Off to the best start of a college career, with more TDs and fewer turnovers than he has ever had in the first 3 games of the season. We have already seen this year a QB stepping up can be enough to take down this Alabama team, the chance is there. 

Alabama 

They do not look like the normal Alabama we are used to. Struggling to find a starting QB, going to a small school and only putting up 17, and all-around sloppy play. Jalen Milroe after being benched last week. Then, he was renamed the starter on Monday after a very short QB competition.

Even with his tendencies to be a gunslinger he still is an improvement over Tyler Buchner and Ty Simpson (two Ty’s is odd). Jalen will need to step up and show off his speed on the ground to soften the defense up for easier layup passes.

He pulled off some great throws against Texas but often too little too late, this may just be a down year for Alabama, they are certainly overdue. 

Ole Miss wins but Alabama covers

#22 UCLA at #11 Utah

The battle of two very different schools on divergent paths. This will be the last time these teams play one another while a part of the same conference, it’s only fitting they do so ranked in the very crowded Pac-12.  Since becoming a member of the conference in 2011, Utah is 7-4 against UCLA but dropped their last meeting 42-32. Both teams are still primed to compete in the Pac-12 this season and will want to get conference play off to a solid start. 

UCLA 

The Bruins enter the game with the 7th-ranked defense by ppg in the country and the 20th-ranked offense in the country under true freshman QB Dante Moore. Not as big a threat in the run game as former QB DTR, he’s still young. This will be a huge test heading to Rice-Eccles Stadium for his first Pac-12 game. Transfer RB Carson Steele and RB TJ Harden both have 230 plus yards and 2 TDs. As long as more takes care of the football and they can get the ground game going, they’ll be in good shape. 

Utah

The Utes are 3-0 without QB Cam Rising, including hosting Florida in week 1 and traveling to Waco to take on Baylor in a come-from-behind win. Even with a perfect record, they are far from a perfect team. Splitting time between the dual threat Nate Johnson and the pocket passer Bryson Barnes has had mixed results.

Johnson seems like the logical step going forward after an impressive showing against Weber St. last week. He has not faced a defense as good as UCLA’s yet and is only his 2nd career start (first against a Power 5 team). He will need to be smart and attempt to remain calm. Johnson can control the game on the ground with help from RB Ja’Quinden Jackson who is currently averaging 6.5 yards per carry. Both teams may find their best course of action is ball and clock control. 

UCLA to win and cover +6

Jake’s Picks

#6 Ohio State @ # 9 Notre Dame 

A battle that’s worthy of a headlining showdown on Saturday. The Irish and the Buckeyes, are two of the most storied programs doing battle under the lights in South Bend. Both teams have legitimate national title aspirations. This game’s impact will last an entire season for both. 

Sam Hartman is currently on a Heisman pace and this could be his moment. Over 1,000 yards, 13 TDs and no picks in 4 games is incredibly impressive. This is a guy who brought Wake Forest, (yes Wake Forest) to national prominence. He’s going to be ready for the moment and he might be the best player in the country. 

But the Irish are balanced. Their running attack is lethal. Audric Estime is currently averaging 8.3 YPC. Pretty, pretty good. 

The Buckeyes come into this game with more questions than answers and most of those questions surround the QB, Kyle McCord. McCord has had an up-and-down start to the season. He truly struggled against Indiana in his first start and was still splitting time with QB Devin Brown. 

He’s grown more comfortable over the last few weeks and they finally put together a dominant performance last Saturday against Western Kentucky. But this is BY FAR, the biggest game of McCord’s life. Road start, primetime, top 10 matchup. 

The player to watch is Marvin Harrison JR. He’s one of the best players in the country. Truly a singular talent who can take over any game at any time. It’s him and Travis Hunter and everyone else if we’re talking about big-time playmakers. Harrison JR is slated to be a top 5 pick next year, they’ll need him to play like one to win in South Bend. 

If we use the logic we used for Tennessee/Florida this week, Notre Dame takes this game. I’ll take the veteran, Heisman candidate QB and the points against the untested, young QB. 

Notre Dame (+3) 28, Ohio State 27

#19 Colorado @ #10 Oregon

Time for the first major test. 

Colorado and Coach Prime have passed them all so far, but Saturdays will be the toughest. 

The Autzen Zoo will be rocking as Colorado visits the Ducks in their Pac-12 conference opener. The Buffs will be without star WR/CB Travis Hunter for 3 weeks, a potential death blow for a team that was going to be double-digit underdogs no matter what. 

But Coach Prime thrives off the doubters. And you know they’ve heard all week about how their fairytale season is going to hit a brick wall against a true national title contender. 

The trenches are where this game will be decided, and Oregon has a decisive edge both offensively and defensively. Shedeur Sanders has been amazing, but he’s also been under siege. 

Bo Nix is another Heisman contender and this could be a big moment for him. He’s thrown for 776 yards, 8 TDs, and 0 INTS in his first three games and looks to take advantage of a suspect Colorado defense who allowed 38 to Colorado State last week.  

Oregon (-21) 45, Colorado 24