Weekly college football viewing guide: What to watch in Week 4

While you can watch Michigan State vs. Maryland, here’s what else is on the intriguing college football slate in Week 4.

If you’ve got plans this weekend, start working on your fake cough and sick voice. This is a weekend of college football that dreams are made of. We have six Top 25 matchups on tap in addition to a number of other interesting games. This is a weekend that requires more than one TV. If that’s not an option, head to the bar. Savor this weekend. This is what we live for.

Here’s how to plan your weekend.

Friday, Sept. 22

• Wisconsin at Purdue – 7 p.m. ET on FS1

A rare Big Ten conference game gets the weekend started in West Lafayette. The Boilermakers haven’t been that impressive this season, but neither has Wisconsin. We keep waiting for Wisconsin’s offense to find a rhythm, but it might be time to consider this being who they are. Wisconsin has beaten Purdue sixteen times in a row. Can they end that drought on Friday?

Saturday, Sept. 23

Noon window

• Florida State at Clemson – 12 p.m. ET on ABC
• Rutgers at Michigan – 12 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network
• Oklahoma at Cincinnati – 12 p.m. ET on FOX
• Auburn at Texas A&M – 12 p.m. ET on ESPN

The day gets started with a solid slate of games at noon that is headlined by the potential college football game of the year in the ACC. Florida State travels to Clemson as a short road favorite. In their biggest games of the year to date, these teams could not have looked further apart. Florida State looked awesome in their dismantling of LSU while Clemson fumbled their way to an embarrassing 28-7 loss at Duke. It feels far too easy to say that Florida State rolls here. Clemson – despite their deficiencies – is still a proud program with enough talent to win this game.

Michigan faces its toughest test of the season so far at home against an upstart Rutgers team. I’m skeptical that Rutgers can score enough (at all?) to keep this interesting. At the very least, this should give us an idea if Michigan’s struggles in the running game are a legitimate concern or if they’ve been holding things back.

Cincinnati makes its Big 12 debut at home against Oklahoma. The Sooners have looked great so far this year, but this is a tricky spot on the road against the Bearcats who are coming off an embarrassing home loss to Miami (OH).

Keep an eye on this game in College Station. Last year, Auburn celebrated their win against the Aggies like they had won the SEC. Now, the Aggies get them at home with an offense that looks much improved from a year ago.

Afternoon window

• Maryland at Michigan State – 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC
• Colorado at Oregon – 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC
• UCLA at Utah – 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX
• Ole Miss at Alabama – 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS
• BYU at Kansas – 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN

The afternoon gets going with Maryland visiting East Lansing in the Big Ten opener for both teams. MSU looked like a dead team walking against Washington. For Maryland, this year presents a real opportunity in the Big Ten East. So far, Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State haven’t been as advertised. Don’t rule out the Terps as a spoiler in this conference. We’ll learn what is real and not real about them against Michigan State.

The Deion Sanders show hits the road in Eugene against Oregon. It feels like the world is expecting an Oregon route, but the Buffaloes have done nothing but prove the doubters wrong this season. The injury to Travis Hunter sucks for college football. But with Shedeur Sanders, Colorado always has a chance.

The movement in the point spread would indicate that Cam Rising will be back for Utah. The Utes desperately need him. For UCLA, it looks like they are handing the reins to five-star freshman Dante Moore. That is best for them in the long term. This weekend could present some growing pains. Rice-Eccles Stadium is one of the best home-field advantages in the sport.

Is the Alabama dynasty finished? Is Nick Saban’s protégé Lane Kiffin really going to be the one to put the final nail in the coffin? This is a fascinating matchup in the SEC that should answer those questions. It’s foolish to doubt Nick Saban and Alabama, but something just feels off this year.

Don’t forget about Kansas. The Jayhawks are 3-0 and host BYU in their first game in the Big 12. Kansas remains a long shot to win the league. But the Jayhawks have a dynamic quarterback and a high-powered offense. It’s college football. Crazy things can happen.

Primetime

• Arkansas at LSU – 7 p.m. ET on ESPN
• Oregon State at Washington State – 7 p.m. ET on FOX
• Texas at Baylor – 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC
• Ohio State at Notre Dame – 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC
• Iowa at Penn State – 7:30 p.m. ET on CBS

If you’re going out on Saturday night, make sure there are TVs wherever you go. Things get started with LSU hosting Arkansas. It feels like people have sort of written off LSU as a national championship contender after their loss. They are still very much alive. Arkansas has a history of playing the Tigers tough in Baton Rouge.

Out west, we have what could be the most underrated game of the day. Oregon State has looked phenomenal early this season. Washington State came onto the radar after beating Wisconsin. This is a tough test for the Beavers in a stadium that while small, still presents a great home-field advantage.

Texas was the talk of college football after upsetting Alabama in week two. But after seeing Alabama last week, do we have to re-evaluate the Longhorns? This game is being overshadowed by the rest of the great games on Saturday. Baylor has really struggled offensively this year. Everyone will have Texas winning easily. Circle this one.

The best game of the weekend is in South Bend. Ohio State and Notre Dame face off for the second year in a row. Regardless of the outcome, seeing Ohio State’s helmets under the lights in Notre Dame Stadium in a top-10 matchup is just beautiful. We’ll find out if Ohio State’s struggles are overblown or legitimately concerning. Notre Dame has the defense and running game to win.

If you’re somebody who loves defense, turn on CBS. Penn State and Iowa get together in one of my personal favorite Big Ten matchups. This game is even more fun because this will be the “white out” game for Penn State. While the Nittany Lion offense has been sluggish, their defense is elite. You know you’re going to get good defense and special teams from Iowa. Cade McNamara doesn’t look healthy to me, and that’s a problem against this defense. Iowa is on shutout alert.

Late night

• USC at Arizona State – 10:30 p.m. ET on FOX
• Cal at Washington – 10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN

It’s a shame that this glorious day of college football doesn’t give us one appealing matchup in the late-night spot. USC and Washington are heavy favorites against these conference bottom-feeders. Arizona State may be without as many as ten starters with their third-string quarterback going against Caleb Williams. This one could be a bloodbath.

While Washington looked invincible against Michigan State, nobody has been better in this spot than Justin Wilcox. The Bears have shown the ability to make these games ugly with their defense. Can they do enough to hang around and make this worth staying up for? Probably not. But what else are you going to do? Go to bed? Enjoy the day. This one is special.