College football games to look forward to in Week 6
Week 5 of the college football season is in the books and it definitely lived up to the hype. The best game of the weekend might have been one in which the Notre Dame Fighting Irish drove the field to beat the Duke Blue Devils. Now, Notre Dame will be involved in another featured matchup, with the team taking on the undefeated Louisville Cardinals. But the biggest game of this week has the Oklahoma Sooners meeting the Texas Longhorns in the Red River Showdown. I'll get into those two exciting games, as well as five others, in this story. So, keep reading to see my Week 6 Games of the Week.
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Week 6 Games of the Week
The Red River Showdown will mean a little more this year. For the first time in a while, these rivals are arguably the two best teams in the Big 12. Oklahoma comes into this game with some more question marks than Texas, but the Sooners offense is explosive with Dillon Gabriel under center. And the team’s defense looks much better in Brent Venables’ second year. Oklahoma hasn’t yet faced an offense like this, but the Sooners are allowing just 10.8 points per game. And they have been especially strong against the run, giving up only 106.2 rushing yards per game. That should come in handy against Longhorns running back Jonathon Brooks, who is doing his best Bijan Robinson impression lately. Over the last three games, Brooks has rushed for 488 yards with four touchdowns. Oklahoma is going to need to keep him in check, as Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers will surely make some throws here. And if the Longhorns are clicking in both the running and passing games, this coul d get out of hand. We saw this team go into Tuscaloosa and beat up on the Alabama Crimson Tide, so we know how good Texas can be. But the Sooners are 5-0 against the spread this season, and they are 4-1 in the last five meetings between these teams. Oklahoma is going to be hoping to get back to having that edge over Texas, and revenge will be on the Sooners minds after last year’s 49-0 loss.
While Ohio State is the fourth-ranked team in the country, Maryland is currently unranked. However, both teams enter this Big Ten matchup with perfect records. And while there is a significant gap in talent when looking at these rosters, this isn’t the kind of game that the Buckeyes can take lightly. Maryland has won all its games by double digits this season, and the team is coming off a 44-17 win over the Indiana Hoosiers. That Indiana team gave Ohio State trouble in a 23-3 Buckeyes win in the opening week of the season. And overall, Maryland has one of the more explosive offenses in the conference. The Terrapins are averaging 38.6 points per game this season, which is the 15th-highest mark in the nation. With that in mind, Kyle McCord and the Buckeyes offense are going to need to come correct here. But so will the Ohio State defense, which is as good as any in the country this season. The Buckeyes have the second-best scoring defense in the nation this year, and they just shut down a very good Notre Dame Fighting Irish team. So, Ohio State does have the ability to keep Taulia Tagovailoa and Maryland down. But are the Buckeyes in for any sort of letdown after that emotional road win over the Irish? That’s one thing that could potentially trip Ryan Day’s team up.