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Every day it feels more and more like college football season. The crisp, fall weather is arriving, and the Saturday slate is getting even better by the week. All 10 FBS conferences are set to resume at some point in the fall of 2020 with a select few continuing to sit out and prepare for 2021.
As we wait for the Big Ten, Pac-12, MAC and Mountain West, here’s a look some of the games to watch and a game to avoid on the fifth college football Saturday of the year.
The best game
The biggest game so far of the 2020 college football season will take place on Saturday night when the No. 7 Auburn Tigers head on the road to play the fourth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs. The game will take place at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia and kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
Georgia is filled with question marks at the quarterback position. After Wake Forest transfer Jamie Newman opted out of the season, we expected JT Daniels to step right in. He wasn’t cleared to play in last week’s loss to Arkansas as he was recovering from an injury last season. Daniels has been cleared to play this weekend, but Georgia hasn’t announced if he will start or if the Bulldogs will turn to last week’s quarterback duo of D’Wan Mathis and Stetson Bennett IV.
Auburn will have its own quarterback issues as Bo Nix tends to struggle against top competition. In games against Oregon, Florida, LSU, Georgia and Alabama, Nix completed roughly 48% of his passes in 2019. He was only a freshman and should improve as his career moves along, but we haven’t seen much reason to trust Nix heading into a big-time SEC matchup.
Sleeper game
Can a matchup involving Texas really be considered a sleeper game? It’s debatable but we call the shots here, and the ninth-ranked Longhorns return home on Saturday to play the TCU Horned Frogs. The game will get started at noon ET on FOX.
Ranked among the top 10 teams in the sport, Texas is playing at home as a double-digit favorite against at team looking for its first win. With all these factors, you’d think there wouldn’t be much intrigue with this one, but TCU head coach Gary Patterson has traditionally the Longhorns’ number. TCU won this game outright in five of its last six matchups, and don’t be surprised if we see the Horned Frogs keep it close or come out with an upset.
Texas is coming off a miracle, come-from-behind win over Texas Tech in overtime, while TCU is 0-1 after a loss to Iowa State in its opener last weekend. Horned Frogs quarterback Max Duggan missed a ton of preseason practice dealing with a heart issue, but he appeared in the second half on Saturday and will likely be inserted into the starting lineup against the Longhorns.
Worst game
With some pretty thrilling matchups on the late this weekend, there are a few you can go ahead and tune out. Combining factors like the expected competitiveness and other games to watch in the given time slot, you don’t need to be glued to the TV watching top-ranked Clemson Tigers host the Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday night. This is the final game scheduled for the day at 8 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
The 28-point spread according to DraftKings Sportsbook is the largest of the day, and in the last game between these two teams, the Tigers won 62-17 in the ACC title game last season. Clemson might be the best team in the country, while Virginia lost a lot of pieces from its 2019 roster.
This will be on at the same time as several matchups that are way more intriguing including Tulsa-UCF, Arkansas-Mississippi State, Oklahoma-Iowa State and LSU-Vanderbilt.
Do yourself a favor and let the Virginia-Clemson game play out without much of your attention.
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