College Football Rankings 2014 Week 4: Preview for Head-to-Head Top 25 Matchups
For the second straight week, college football seems to be taking a reprieve from anything others might deem "difficult." Despite the beginning of conference play for most of the nation, the Week 4 schedule is decidedly chock-full of the elites taking on the non-elites.
Of course, we were saying that at this time seven days ago. And the college football gods decided to smite our skepticism by providing perhaps the most surprising and exciting slate of games this season. Should history repeat itself, we should all spend the rest of 2014 complaining about how all the games are terrible and be rewarded with week-to-week goodness.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Until then, this week looks super-meh, you guys.
Only three games on the calendar feature single-digit spreads, per Odds Shark. Only two games feature two opponents currently sitting inside the Associated Press Top 25. One of those two contests happens on a Thursday. The other games look like a combination of bloodbaths so gory they're unwatchable and ho-hum shrugfests best served as "entertainment" to get your daughter's damn slumber party to calm down already.
So, in an effort to spice things up, let's talk about the two games featuring teams with numbers next to their names. At least one of those contests has a decent chance of being good!
| 1 | Florida State (37) | 2-0 | 1,466 | 1 |
| 2 | Oregon (17) | 3-0 | 1,424 | 2 |
| 3 | Alabama (1) | 3-0 | 1,346 | 3 |
| 4 | Oklahoma (2) | 3-0 | 1,325 | 4 |
| 5 | Auburn | 2-0 | 1,252 | 5 |
| 6 | Texas A&M (3) | 3-0 | 1,195 | 7 |
| 7 | Baylor | 3-0 | 1,134 | 8 |
| 8 | LSU | 3-0 | 1,114 | 10 |
| 9 | Notre Dame | 3-0 | 917 | 11 |
| 10 | Mississippi | 3-0 | 840 | 14 |
| 11 | Michigan State | 1-1 | 832 | 13 |
| 12 | UCLA | 3-0 | 807 | 12 |
| 13 | Georgia | 1-1 | 729 | 6 |
| 14 | South Carolina | 2-1 | 718 | 24 |
| 15 | Arizona State | 3-0 | 680 | 16 |
| 16 | Stanford | 2-1 | 560 | 15 |
| 17 | USC | 2-1 | 459 | 9 |
| 18 | Missouri | 3-0 | 446 | 20 |
| 19 | Wisconsin | 1-1 | 414 | 18 |
| 20 | Kansas State | 2-0 | 326 | 19 |
| 21 | BYU | 3-0 | 246 | 25 |
| 22 | Clemson | 1-1 | 209 | 23 |
| 23 | Ohio State | 2-1 | 204 | 22 |
| 24 | Nebraska | 3-0 | 172 | NR |
| 25 | Oklahoma State | 2-1 | 126 | NR |
No. 5 Auburn at No. 20 Kansas State (7:30 p.m. ET Thursday, ESPN)
It's honestly disappointing that arguably Week 4's best game is set up to get slaughtered against a Thursday Night Football telecast. Kansas State and Auburn have both gotten off to red-hot starts, averaging 95.5 points per game between them while taking care of lesser competition.
The 20th-ranked Wildcats overpowered Stephen F. Austin before engaging in a torrid fourth-quarter comeback against Iowa State two Saturdays ago. Quarterback Jake Waters has compiled 655 total yards (462 passing, 193 rushing) and six touchdowns in those two contests, emerging as a much more dynamic two-way threat than he was as a junior.
"Every quarterback we've played has been pretty mobile, but not like this guy," Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson told James Crepea of the Montgomery Advertiser. "Coach (Bill) Snyder is going to run him intentionally about 30 times a game if he has to. That will be a big deal, and just being able to fit the run against him period.
Waters' ascent has been no doubt helped by the emergence of sophomore running back Charles Jones. The 5'10" speedster is averaging more than six yards per carry and has scored two touchdowns each of the first two weeks; Jones has been the far superior option to senior DeMarcus Robinson, who has struggled in his first extended look in the backfield.
That is partially a byproduct of Kansas State's unique rushing system. Bill Snyder still somehow uses the Wildcat formation with effect, and Jones has scored all four of his touchdowns this season out of the formation, per
"When they get in the Wildcat, it's just like everybody else," Johnson said, per Erickson. "They give you a lot of different formations just to try to get you misaligned or find an open spot where they can punch a hole in your box."
"First of all, I want to apologize to the university, my coaches and to my teammates," Winston told reporters. "I'm not a 'me' person, but in that situation, it was a selfish act, and that's not how you do things around here. I want to apologize to my teammates because I have now made a selfish act for them. That's all."
Winston's benching opens the door for an upset that seemed all but impossible for Clemson, which was manhandled by a much shakier Georgia team earlier this month. The Tigers opened as 20.5-point underdogs, per Odds Shark, and have since seen most sportsbooks pull the game off their books in response.
Sean Maguire will be under center for the first half, which, well, doesn't bode too great for Florida State's chances. Maguire has only a 26-pass sample on his resume—far too few to make any true assessment—but has thrown two picks and averaged 5.5 yards per attempt while playing against less-than-stellar competition.
In his most extended look last season, he completed 9-of-14 passes for 84 yards with a touchdown and interception in an 80-14 win over Idaho.
At the very least, we can comfortably assume the Florida State offense will be significantly less dynamic with Maguire under center. Winston has never finished a game with a yards-per-attempt average of less than 5.67 and all but one of his games (at Wake Forest, last season) have been above six.
There is also reason to believe Clemson will be fired up when Winston does get in the contest. Players left over from last year's team have spoken openly about a tweet Winston sent in March, showing the exterior of Death Valley with the caption "our house."
“That’s a guy that wants to make it all about him,” defensive lineman Grady Jarrett told reporters. “We’ll let him have that. It’s a team game.”
Florida State went into Clemson's home field in 2013 and left with a 51-14 romp that helped propel its national championship run and continued Winston's rise to a household name. It'd almost be fitting that Clemson take down the Seminoles at a time when Winston's infamy and immaturity—the number of people who tweeted about his actions over the last few days are astounding—ultimately led to his absence.
But one issue remains: Florida State is better at football. Rashad Greene and Karlos Williams did not disappear overnight, nor did one of the nation's best defenses. If Maguire can manage the game well enough to stay within one score—and by manage the game I mean the definition to the word; no turnovers, smart throws, extended drives led by the ground game—Winston should clean up in the second half.
That's quite a sizable "if."
Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
