Top 5 Games to Watch Week 4

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Ed Wilkins | College Football Analyst

#5 Auburn 2-0 @ #20 Kansas State 3-0 (thur) 7:30 ESPN

Nick Marshall has a 119.9 QB rating in 2 games

5th Ranked Auburn Tigers stumbles into Manhattan, Kansas Thursday night to take on Bill Snyder and Kansas State. Upsets happen quite often on Thursday nights. Auburn had very few problems with San Jose State and Arkansas. The Tigers will be faced with their first road challenge of the 2014 season. Cameron Artis-Payne, Corey Grant (Alabama transfer), and Nick Marshall are key to the Tigers success. Coach Malzahn wants to see improvement in Marshall’s passing, in other words feed the rock to Sammie Coates more. Do not count Kansas State out; they have a dual-threat quarterback also by the name of Jake Waters. Waters helped led the Wildcats to a game winning drive against Iowa State their last game. Kansas State is a smash mouth type football team. Dominating the line of scrimmage is huge in this game and if they are successful doing this then we are in for a great game. With that being said, Kansas State has lost six straight against non-conference 25 opponents. Auburn has won their last 14 of 16 games.

Florida 2-0 @ #3 Alabama 3-0 3:30 CBS

Florida vs Alabama, Will Muschamp vs Nick Saban. The match up within the game I am looking at is Amari Cooper vs Vernon Hargreaves III. Both athletes are Florida boys and both were highly recruited coming out of high school. A lot of Alabama’s passing offense has gone through the stud receiver Cooper. Luckily Florida has a playmaker their selves being Hargreaves III. Hargreaves mentioned he is excited for the match up and he cannot wait to get on the field Saturday. The Tide looks to get their 23rd straight SEC opener despite the Gators thrilling 3 overtimes win against Kentucky. Look for Gator quarterback Jeff Driskel to hook up with Demarcus Robinson who had 15 receptions for 216 yards and 2 touchdowns last week. The Tide secondary will take a hit as Jarrick Williams (starting safety) is out due to injury and Nick Perry being suspended the first half after being ejected last week. I feel this will be a showdown.

Mississippi State 3-0 @ #8 LSU 3-0 7:00 PM ESPN

Dak Prescott is the MAN up in Starkville and Coach Les Miles know this. Coach Miles mentioned that Prescott is a good runner with a strong arm. The Tigers defense has only allowed 94 passing yards per game thus far. The Bulldogs have scored at least 35 points in their first three victories this season. LSU defensive players are locked in on Prescott knowing that he is the key to the Bulldogs success. The Bulldogs are not ranked but do not let that fool you; this is a very good football team. The Tigers look to have the crowd in their favor under the lights at Death Valley. LSU outscored their opponents 115-24. LSU is 43-3 in night games at Tiger Stadium, oh yeah and the Tigers have not lost to Mississippi State since 1999. An upset is possible but Mississippi State has to play lights out.

#4 Oklahoma 3-0 @ West Virginia 2-1 7:30 PM FOX

Star running back Keith Ford will be out for at least two weeks

The Sooners look to overcome the loss of starting running back Keith Ford as they head into a trap game against West Virginia. The good news for Oklahoma is that they have Trevor Knight, Sterling Shepard, and that stingy defense. Look for running backs Samaje Perine and Alex Ross to carry the load while Ford is out. We saw how dangerous West Virginia could be as they gave Alabama a scare in week one. Clint Trickett and Kevin White will look to have a big day against the Sooners. Defensively, The Mountaineers will not have cornerback Daryl Worley (17 tackles & 2 interceptions) because of team suspension. The Sooners defense only allows 296.3 yards and 11 points per game. West Virginia is 6-12 since joining the Big 12, while Oklahoma is holding onto a 7-game winning streak.

#22 Clemson 1-1 @ #1 Florida State 2-0 8:00 ABC

Clemson looks to seek revenge against Florida State as the Seminole ruined their season in a sense. The last time these two played the Tigers were ranked #3 while Florida State was #5. The Seminoles embarrassed Clemson 51-14 that game. Clemson is 1-1 this season but still in the title hunt as once again they play a huge game against #1 Florida State. The Seminoles does not look to be the juggernaut team they were last year. They still have Jameis Winston and big playmaker receiver Rashad Greene. Winston will be suspended in the first half against Clemson for using “offensive and vulgar” language on campus. The Tigers defense will have to set the tone for Clemson.  A victory for The Tigers will help them get closer to getting into the first every College Football Playoffs. Defensive End Vic Beasley has to come up with big plays to pull off the upset. Big time plays also need to happen with both quarterbacks Cole Stoudt and true freshman Deshawun Watson. This will not be an easy task seeing that Florida State has won the last 10 of 11 games in Tallahassee.

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