Conferences move to the forefront of Saturday's slate because college football's last weekend is officially here.
Conference play is where the seasons are defined and we will miss the nonconference battles like Appalachian State upsetting Texas A&M in College Station.
Saturday's schedule includes historic and new rivalries. The Wake Forest game is a litmus test for the program and the Ohio State game is a rivalry that has been a little one-sided of late.
Despite their poor record in the SEC East clash over the past couple of decades, the Vols are favored to win at Tennessee. Arkansas and Texas A&M meet in the Southwest Classic, where the Razorbacks erased a nine-year losing streak and the Jayhawks and Duke play each other.
With October around the corner and the season heating up, these are college football's top stories this weekend.
The ABC/ESPN app will show the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at the No. 5ClemsonTigers.
Dennis Osagiede called the Wake Forest offense cute a week ago. He thought that the Deacons were vulnerable if pressure was put on Sam Hartman.
It turns out he was correct.
The key to Liberty's near-upset was their ability to disrupt the Wake backfield. Hartman had an up-and-down day as the Deacons abandoned their run game. Wake's quarterbacks are 5-for-13 with an interception and six sacks when pressured, with a raw QBR of 0.7, second-worst in the country.
The real problem is that this week's game is against a team that may have the best defensive front in the country.
"That's where we lost this game last year," Clawson said. Right away. What amount of sacks did we have in the first quarter?
Four is the answer. In last year's 48-27 loss to the Tigers, Wake averaged about a half-yard per dropback in the first quarter. Wake had a deep and talented receiving corps that feasted on plays.
It helps if you mess up their timing on the back end. It's a big part of defense.
The line of scrimmage gives the tigers an advantage.
From Bryan Bresee to Tyler Davis to K.J. Henry, there's a lot of talent on the D-line.
Wake has an experienced O-line with very little experience.
The difference between the two teams has been that the big, bad Tigers have won every head-to-head game against the Deacons since 2000.
The nature of our offense is that they outnumber us in the box. The passing game was not executed because of the pressure. We did not protect well. They won't allow us to run the ball. They don't have. They are going to disrupt the quarterback. The game is played. David M. Hale wanted to know if we could protect long enough to get men open.
The Florida Gators are playing the Tennessee Volunteers. The program is hosted by CBS.
It took Josh Heupel 30 seconds to realize what the Florida game meant to the people of Tennessee.
The Florida-Tennessee rivalry was once one of the most anticipated in the SEC. The last 17 meetings between the two teams have been won by the Gators.
Tennessee fans need to break free from the Florida hold in this series. In those years when the Vols were at least as good, the Gators have been able to find a way to win the game, and more times than not, the Vols have lost the game.
Heupel doesn't believe in psychological obstacles. He has brought a sense of order to the Tennessee football program. The Vols are playing with a lot of confidence and have been for a while.
Heupel said that their children are very confident. They've done the right thing. We continue to grow because of their hard work. Preparing will be the most important thing.
Heupel isn't looking at ghosts. He has a veteran quarterback in Hendon Hooker who has accounted for 42 touchdown and has thrown just two picks since taking over as the starter a year ago.
It's always good to have a seasoned quarterback. Anthony Richardson is still learning how to play the position, but he has a lot of upside. He hasn't thrown a touchdown pass this season and has thrown four picks in his last two games. Richardson may try to run more and test the Tennessee defense on the edge. After rushing for 106 yards and three touchdown against Utah, Kentucky kept one player assigned to Richardson and limited him to just four yards on six carries.
In this game, Florida's front seven on defense against a Tennessee offense that operates at warp speed is more important than ever. Against Utah and South Florida, the Gators gave up a lot of rushing yards. The Vols' running game is improved by Hooker's ability to run on zone read plays. They have seven plays from scrimmage in three games.
This will be Florida's first road game of the year and Richardson's first career start. When he downplayed what a road environment would mean for Richardson, he caused a lot of anger among Tennessee fans.
It isn't like we're going to Canada and they're going to change the rules. The same game will be played. Chris Low said it's going to be louder and play at a different place.
The Wisconsin and Ohio State football teams will play on Saturday. The ABC/ESPN app is available on the App Store.
If Wisconsin beats Ohio State on Saturday, it will be the first time in 17 years that the team has won at the school.
We didn't see any of those this season.
Unranked Wisconsin hasn't beaten a Power 5 team since 2010 and hasn't won in the Shoe since 2004. The Big Ten opener between the Wisconsin and Ohio State will be the first road trip for both teams, and Ohio State has an 89% chance to win, according to an analysis by the sports network.
Wisconsin can run the ball, control the clock and have one of the nation's best defenses. In the last two years, Wisconsin's opponents have only scored a touchdown on 46.4% of red zone drives. The defense of the Badgers is allowing eight points per game, but they are facing an offense that is scoring over 50 points a game.
The Ohio State team is coming off a 77-21 win against Toledo and the Wisconsin team is coming off a 2-0 record.
Both Ohio State and Wisconsin know what to expect from each other. Braelon Allen is the leader ofWisconsin's punishing running game. He's the third-most productive player in the country with at least 40 rushing attempts.
Bobby Engram has tried to make the Badgers' offense more balanced and so far it has worked. Through the first three games of the season, Wisconsin has 1,436 yards of total offense, 781 through the air and 661 on the ground.
When you look at what they're doing on offense, they're more than you think. They're throwing the ball a lot more recently. They are very smart. They can handle a lot of data.
Is they able to handle Ohio State's offense?
The Blue Devil's are at the Jayhawks on Saturday.
Duke travels to Kansas to play a football game in one of the most unlikely rivalries of the year. The basketball teams that have combined for nine national titles will play each other in November.
It would take a lot of space to include all the firsts with both teams. It's important to point out that Kansas football has had a long dry spell. This is the first time in four years that it has started the year with three straight wins. Mike Elko is the first Duke football coach since 1994 to win his first three games in a season.
The way the Jayhawks have done it is impressive, with two huge come-from-behind victories on the road. The Jayhawks did not win a single road game from 2010 to 21.
A capacity crowd of 47,233 is expected to fill Memorial Stadium on Saturday, a sign that enthusiasm is high for Lance Leipold's team. Jalon Daniels has thrown for seven touchdown and ran for three more. Through the first three games of the season, the Jayhawks have scored 159 points.
Matt Gildersleeve had a front row seat for the transformation of the team, coming with Leipold from Buffalo after the 2020 season. Every step of the process was intentional, according to him. We have always talked about taking advantage of every day we have to fill the gap between where we were and where we are now.
"I'm so happy for the guys that the work that they put in is all coming to, but they also know we can't sit there and talk about3-0." We don't worry about that. It's over. This is the game at the moment. This is it.
It has been 12 years since Kansas won three or fewer games. They already have three. It needs to be put on hold for a while.
Gildersleeve said that he loved the idea of taking over a basketball school.
Arkansas and Texas A&M will play at AT&T Stadium on Saturday.
The rivalry game looks like it is a battle of weaknesses. Texas A&M throws for over 200 yards a game. 335 passing ypg is allowed by Arkansas, which is 131st in the nation.
The Aggies are favored by 1.5 points but have scored just 31 total points in their last two games against Miami and Appalachian State.
"I know this sounds crazy, but we are a lot closer than we think," Fisher said. We're getting it and we need to keep progressing.
A 20-10 loss to the Razorbacks last year snapped a nine-game winning streak over Arkansas for the A&M's offense.
Fisher's passing attack could be helped by the Razorbacks. The Razorbacks are not performing well in the secondary.
He said that they can live with good throws. We cannot live with guys who are open.
The Razorbacks lead the country with 17 sacks so pressure could be a problem.
He isn't letting on if he believes he has an advantage.
He said that he was sure that Fisher was working on any problems they might have. I don't see many of them. Dave Wilson said he sees a great opponent.
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