College Football Week 4 Schedule: Preview for Saturday's Under-the-Radar Games
For the second straight week, Saturday's college football slate leaves a little to be desired on paper. Only two games on the slate feature Top 25 teams, one of which was played Thursday night.
So unless you DVR'd Auburn-Kansas State, the only game of great import to objective observers is Clemson-Florida State, which doesn't kick off until well into the sports bar hours of the evening. What the schedule needs is a revamping—or, at the very least, a deeper dive into its recesses, where we can at least pull out some games that will be more watchable than expected.
The games below will feature exactly zero teams I expect to make this year's College Football Playoff. But that's the point; this is one of the final couple of weeks in which these teams still matter. As the intraconference play begins ramping up, it's going to be difficult to check in on the likes of Eastern Carolina. You can't much compare ECU-Temple on Nov. 1 to Oregon-Stanford or Auburn-Ole Miss.
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For now, though, the Pirates may actually be more fun to watch than a majority of games featuring one of the Big Five.
With that in mind, let's check in on some of the under-the-radar contests worth checking out Saturday.
Marshall at Akron (2 p.m. ET, ESPN3)
Rakeem Cato is ridiculously fun to watch. That's the only justification needed here, as Marshall hits the road to take on an Akron team it should beat handily. The Thundering Herd are 12.5-point favorites on the road, per Odds Shark, and that might be underselling their offensive firepower.
Cato, the nation's sneakiest Heisman candidate, has thrown for 953 yards and nine touchdowns through the first three weeks. He's also added 152 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, including a 63-yard scamper that would have provided a so-called Heisman moment had it not happened in a 48-7 blowout of Rhode Island. [Shrugs.]
"He's the best deep-ball thrower I've seen in a long time," Akron coach Terry Bowden told reporters.
Indeed, many of Marshall's touchdowns this season have come via the long bomb. Leading receivers Davonte Allen and Angelo Jean-Louis are both averaging more than 20 yards per reception. Senior Tommy Shuler, the 5'7" jitterbug who has been Cato's best target each of the last two seasons, has been relegated to something of a third receiver role.
While that's disappointing given that he's coming off consecutive 100-catch seasons, it speaks to Marshall's underrated depth at receiver.
“Those guys are great,” Cato said of his receivers, per Dave Wilson of Metro News. “They’re great wideouts, and they go hard every day. They’re willing to get better and listen to what Coach (Bill) Legg has to say and understand what he wants to do with this offense. To see those guys making plays, that’s a blessing for our offense.”
Akron comes into Saturday two weeks removed from a loss to Penn State in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions overpowered a hapless Zips offense, holding them to a lone field goal despite not forcing any turnovers. Kyle Pohl averaged just 4.5 yards across his 46 passing attempts, slightly better than the 2.8 yards the ground game averaged.
Akron probably doesn't have the firepower to keep up with Marshall here, but it could dent Cato's Heisman run. Against a better-than-advertised secondary, Penn State's Christian Hackenberg threw two picks and Howard's Greg McGhee managed just 68 passing yards.
This might be more of a defensive struggle than expected. Still, watch for Cato.
North Carolina at East Carolina (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU)
Eastern Carolina is quite familiar to anyone who's been paying attention the last two Saturdays. The Pirates held a halftime lead and were down only a touchdown for most of the fourth quarter against South Carolina before losing 33-23. A week later, they executed the upset they'd failed to a week prior, with Shane Carden scampering in from one yard out to give ECU a 28-21 win over Virginia Tech.
Ruffin McNeill's team will try to play the spoiler again Saturday against North Carolina. This time, the Pirates get the advantage of being at home before a crowd that'll be as inspired as it has been in recent memory.
Carden has become a bona fide mid-major star over the last three seasons and is on pace to approach (if not surpass) his sterling junior-year numbers. The Houston native has thrown for 1,031 yards and seven touchdowns against two interceptions so far, with his completion percentage being the only number noticeably down.
"This guy, I think he's pretty special. He's really a good, good football player, he really is, and he understands the system fully. He can run it at top-notch speed and be very comfortable," North Carolina coach Larry Fedora said, per Nick Bromberg of Yahoo Sports. "He's got a lot of confidence in his receivers because he's got really good receivers. He knows where they're going to be, and therefore they're able to make a lot of plays and they're very explosive"
East Carolina's offense should continue its successful run against a Tar Heels defense that's struggled to find a rhythm. San Diego State and Liberty were both able to move the chains on the ground, and the Pirates' four leading backs are each averaging more than five yards per carry. If they can establish the run early and get into a rhythm, Carden will find holes in an aggressive secondary.
The Tar Heels, of course, have their own playmaker at quarterback in Marquise Williams. The junior has combined for six total touchdowns while averaging nearly 300 yards of total offense, making plays with his arm and legs. Williams was at his very best two weeks ago against San Diego State, completing 20 of 29 passes for 255 yards while adding 63 on the ground.
He is North Carolina's leading rusher and passer. Stopping him will be the first, second and third priority for East Carolina; it'll just be easier said than done. This should be the best game between two unranked opponents this week.
Northern Illinois at Arkansas (7 p.m. ET, ESPNU)
Northern Illinois rarely gets out from behind the MACtion cloud to get a shot at the Big Five. So when it does, it's always interesting to see if the mid-major giant can pull off the upset. Huskies legend Jordan Lynch toppled Big Ten opponents Purdue and Iowa on the road last season before a heartbreaking loss to Bowling Green in the MAC Championship Game ruined hopes of a BCS berth.
Lynch is gone, and so is the BCS. The quest, though, remains the same when Northern Illinois travels to Arkansas on Saturday night.
Lynch replacement Drew Hare has gotten off to an auspicious start since taking over, combining for eight touchdowns while avoiding turnovers in the Huskies' 3-0 start. Senior Akeem Daniels has led a multifaceted rushing attack, which features five players with 90 or more yards so far. Northern Illinois, as per usual, is sitting eighth nationally in rushing yards per game.
Five spots ahead? Arkansas, which has gone on a total tear since its opening-week loss to Auburn. The Razorbacks scampered for 438 yards and seven touchdowns in last Saturday's thrashing of Texas Tech in Lubbock. Alex Collins went for 212 yards on 27 carries and scored twice; Jonathan Williams touched paydirt four times on his 22 carries and had 145 yards.
This came one week after blasting Nicholls State for 495 rushing yards.
Quarterback Brandon Allen threw the ball 31 times against Auburn. He's done so 17 times since, as coach Bret Bielema has all but abandoned his shaky aerial attack. Allen, a junior, has thrown six touchdown passes against one interception this season, but his career has been full of mental errors and inaccuracies.
Even as Arkansas had more success running the ball—the Razorbacks had 10 straight losses before their back-to-back wins—Bielema maintains he still plans to find balance.
“That day is coming,” Bielema said, per Robbie Neiswanger of the Arkansas News. “In practice we are not running the ball 68 times and throwing it 12 times or whatever it was. We are doing a balance that is probably even more lopsided for the pass just because we wanted to get some extra work on it. I am very, very excited to see where it comes out when it does.”
In a battle of two grind-it-out teams, who knows? Maybe it'll be the quarterback who throws better who winds up carrying his team to victory.
(Just kidding. It'll be the run.)
Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter
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