College Football Picks Week 6: Top 25 Rankings, Schedule, Odds and Predictions

It's hard to find a game in the history of the Red River Showdown that features two teams that have failed to live up to expectations as much as the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners have in 2020.

The Big 12 rivals enter the neutral-site clash in a need of a victory to stay relevant in the conference title race.

Oklahoma comes into the rivalry game as an unranked team for the first time since 2005, while Texas barely survived the AP Top 25 cut.

The Longhorns and Sooners should receive most of the early Saturday spotlight, but once that game ends, all focus will shift toward the ACC.

The Clemson Tigers could be challenged for the first time this season by the Miami Hurricanes, who roll into South Carolina with a large amount of buzz that they are back as one of the nation's premier programs.

Clemson is projected to win the ACC showdown by double digits, but if Miami keeps it close or somehow wins on the road, the balance of power in the conference and country could shift quite a bit.

Week 6 Schedule and Odds

Saturday, October 10

No. 4 Florida (-6.5) at No. 21 Texas A&M (Noon, ESPN) (Over/Under: 57.5)

No. 19 Virginia Tech at No. 8 North Carolina (-5) (Noon, ABC) (O/U: 60)

No. 22 Texas vs. Oklahoma (-2.5) (Noon, Fox) (O/U: 70)

Coastal Carolina at No. 23 Louisiana (Noon, ESPN2) (N/A)

No. 14 Tennessee at No. 3 Georgia (-14) (3:30 p.m., CBS) (O/U: 45.5)

UTSA at No. 15 BYU (-34.5) (3:30 p.m., ESPN2) (O/U: 64.5)

Texas Tech at No. 24 Iowa State (-13.5) (3:30 p.m., ABC) (O/U: 62.5)

Arkansas at No. 13 Auburn (-16.5) (4 p.m., SEC Network) (O/U: 51)

No. 2 Alabama (-24.5) at Ole Miss (6 p.m., ESPN) (O/U: 74)

No. 7 Miami at No. 1 Clemson (-16) (7:30 p.m., ABC)

Florida State at No. 5 Notre Dame (-21.5) (7:30 p.m., NBC) (O/U: 54)

Missouri at No. 17 LSU (-19.5) (9 p.m., ESPN) (O/U: 54)

All Times ET. Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.

Predictions

Texas vs. Oklahoma (Over 70)

Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

Defense has been an issue for both Texas and Oklahoma.

The Longhorns have allowed 379 yards and 30.7 points per game, while the Sooners have conceded 317 yards and 25 points per contest to start the season.

Oklahoma's defensive averages are skewed a bit since it shut out Missouri State in its lone nonconference game.

Since entering Big 12 play, Oklahoma's defending has been atrocious and is unlikely to get better with Sam Ehlinger lining up across from it. The quarterback has 14 touchdown passes and 10 different Texas receivers have found the end zone in the first three games.

However, the Texas signal-caller is in need of a bounce-back performance after completing fewer than half of his passes in the loss to TCU.

Spencer Rattler was far more accurate for the Sooners in their defeat to Iowa State, but he made some poor decisions, including on the game-clinching interception, to doom his team.

The winners of the past three Red River Showdowns eclipsed the 30-point mark, and Texas won a 48-45 shootout in 2018.

With the way both defenses have played, 35 points on either side to touch the over seems very doable, especially if Ehlinger and Rattler clean up their mistakes.

Taking the over also feels like the best way to approach this game from a betting perspective since the two sides have been inconsistent on defense.

Miami at Clemson (-16)

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

Miami has breezed through its first three opponents to strum up buzz that this could be the year it returns to national prominence for the entire season.

While the Hurricanes are in a better position than previous years to claim an ACC title, Clemson is still the class of the league.

Miami's D'Eriq King-led offense put up 99 points on Louisville and Florida State, but those two teams are far from the gold standard on defense. Florida State struggled to beat FCS side Jacksonville State, and Louisville failed to beat Pittsburgh on the road after losing to Miami at home.

Clemson ranks seventh in the FBS in yards conceded, and it is third among teams that have played three games in that category.

The Tigers did allow 23 points to Virginia in Week 5, but they were never threatened by the Cavaliers since Trevor Lawrence posted his second 300-yard performance of the season.

Miami could have a decent offensive night in Clemson and still fall short of challenging the Tigers because the offense of the top-ranked team is so dominant.

Lawrence and Travis Etienne have picked up where they left off and delivered three strong performances, while a new crop of wide receivers has emerged behind Amari Rodgers to give the quarterback plenty of targets to work with.

Since 2017, Clemson is 10-0 versus Top 25 teams in the regular season and produced at least 27 points in eight of those games.

King is capable of putting the Tigers under pressure with the way he maneuvers through the pocket, but if he is stopped even once or twice, it could open the door for Lawrence to create a double-digit advantage that Clemson does not let go of.

If that is the case, Dabo Swinney's side could pull away in the second half and reinforce that it is the team to beat in the ACC.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90. Statistics obtained from ESPN.