Each week, I’ll cast my eye over the upcoming slate of
games, and provide a few storylines worth keeping an eye on.
Georgia: the
Bulldogs have looked good. Their quarterback, Greyson Lambert, was maligned one
week and came out the next to set a school record for completions in a rout of
South Carolina. Now, Georgia faces the sternest test of it’s credentials, and
will actually start as a marginal favourite against Nick Saban’s Alabama squad
in a highly-anticipated clash of SEC heavyweights between the hedges on
Saturday afternoon.
It’s fairly likely that Alabama will still be smarting from
their loss to Ole Miss, the last time the Tide were locked in SEC play, and
given the chatter surrounding the program – you know, the ridiculous notion
that Alabama is in a steep decline – they’ll be looking to send a message at
Georgia’s expense.
The Bulldogs have a golden opportunity to send one of their
own. Their defense will have to stop whichever quarterback the Tide use, not to
mention the plethora of dangerous backs Lane Kiffin can plug into the offense,
but I’m most interested in seeing Lambert and Heisman-hopeful running back Nick
Chubb go against a Tide defense that took some hits against Ole Miss. The
‘Dawgs have the horses to stick with Alabama, and good luck to anyone trying to
tackle Chubb if he gets into space.
We’re set up for potentially a season-defining game for both
teams.
Clemson: Speaking
of season-defining, this is it for the Tigers, an early-season gut-check
Saturday with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame coming into Memorial Stadium.
The game will be on ABC, and you know pretty much everyone in the college
football world will either be watching or at least keeping an eye on the score.
The Atlantic Coast Conference, of which Clemson is a member,
has suffered through a few early problems. Georgia Tech aren’t as good as
everyone thought, Florida State have been winning ugly, and Clemson themselves
didn’t look great beating Louisville two weekends ago. In some sectors, the
vultures are out.
If the Tigers go out into Memorial Stadium on Saturday
night, with the crowd at their backs, and defeat a plucky Irish team who’ve
been equal parts good and lucky this season, then everything turns around.
Clemson’s success is going to depend on which version of the Notre Dame defense
turns up: the one that’s played lights-out – ask Georgia Tech about that – or the
group that let Virginia score nearly at will, necessitating a last-minute
miracle game winner from QB DeShone Kizer.
Clemson’s own defense is going to need to be on the money,
with Notre Dame boasting talented running back C.J. Prosise and safe-handed
receiver Will Fuller. This game is a chance for Clemson to take one more step
towards absolute national resurgence.
Ohio State: the
defending National Champions go on the road to open Big Ten conference play
against a 4-0 Indiana squad. The Hoosiers haven’t been this good in nearly
thirty years, and probably represent the biggest test for a Buckeye squad that
hasn’t quite hit it’s stride yet this year, surviving more than winning some of
their games, and never looking as impressive as it’s talented roster suggests
it should be.
The Buckeyes being the Buckeyes, we expect it to happen
sooner rather than later, and their supports will doubtless be hoping the
resurgence begins this weekend. How Urban Meyer’s men handle the Hoosiers, who
have their best chance at beating the Buckeyes in a very long time – hang on,
I’m not saying they will, just that they’re getting OSU at a good time – will
be keenly watched by many pundits and fans. The reigning National Champions
need a good win.
TCU’s defense:
it’s time for the Horned Frogs defense to step up. They can’t rely on Trevone
Boykin and the offense to bail them out time and time again – even in
high-scoring the Big XII conference. More importantly, it’s what happens
outside of the conference, like, you know, the college football playoff, if TCU
get there. They won’t be able to move the football as easily against the best
teams in the nation.
The Horned Frogs gave up a whopping 607 yards of total
offense in Lubbock on Saturday, doing so to an unranked Texas Tech squad who,
by all rights, really should’ve won the wild game that featured more than one
hundred combined points, and far more than a thousand combined yards. I can’t
find one good thing to say about the way the TCU defense played. They might as
well have not even been on the field, for all the good they did. One thing’s
for sure, it wasn't championship-calibre D.
It’s really wasn't all that long ago that the Horned Frogs
had some great defenses. Remember Tank Carder and his colleagues? TCU won a
Rose Bowl game on the back of physical D. Where’s that gone? Gary Patterson is
surely asking the same question as I am. With Texas coming into Forth Worth,
the time is now for the defense to start making some serious improvements.
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