There are some exciting games this week in college football. The great thing about Louisville playing a weeknight game (to me) is getting to enjoy watching other games all day Saturday. Teams in the Top 10 have some tough match-ups, highlighted by a pair of Top 5 teams squaring off. That surely gives Louisville the chance to make a move in the polls, but will a team jump ahead of the Cards? Here are the games to keep an eye on this weekend! (Once again, this is using the USA Today/Coaches Poll)
| USA Today Poll | |||
| RK | TEAM | RECORD | PTS |
| 1 | Alabama (58) | 6-0 | 1545 |
| 2 | Oregon (3) | 6-0 | 1485 |
| 3 | Ohio State | 6-0 | 1406 |
| 4 | Clemson (1) | 6-0 | 1365 |
| 5 | Florida State | 5-0 | 1293 |
| 6 | Louisville | 6-0 | 1166 |
| 7 | Texas A&M | 5-1 | 1156 |
| 8 | LSU | 6-1 | 1098 |
| 9 | South Carolina | 5-1 | 1024 |
| 10 | UCLA | 5-0 | 999 |
(1) Alabama (6-0, 3-0) vs Arkansas (3-4, 0-3) 7:00 ESPN
(2) Oregon (6-0, 3-0) vs Washington State (4-3, 2-2) 10:00 Fox Sports 1
(3) Ohio State (6-0, 2-0) vs Iowa (4-2, 1-1) 3:30 ABC/ESPN2
(4) Clemson (6-0, 4-0) vs (5) Florida State (5-0, 3-0) 8:00 ABC
(6) Louisville (6-0, 2-0) vs UCF (4-1, 1-0) 8:00 ESPN (Friday)
(7) Texas A&M (5-1, 2-1) vs Auburn (5-1, 2-1) 3:30 CBS
(8) LSU (6-1, 3-1) @ Ole Miss (3-3, 1-3) 7:00 ESPN2
(9) South Carolina (5-1, 3-1) @ Tennessee (3-3, 0-2) 12:00 ESPN
(10) UCLA (5-0, 2-0) @ (13) Stanford (5-1, 3-1) 3:30 ABC/ESPN2
*Other game of note*
Houston (5-0, 2-0) vs BYU (4-2) 3:30 ESPNews
So the big game this week is obviously #4 Clemson at #5 Florida State. The loser of that game surely drops below the Cards. However, if you look at the poll, you will see that Texas A&M is only 10 points behind us, so a win over Auburn (who is ranked 24th in the AP Poll) most likely pushes them in front of the Cards. So because of that, War Eagle!
I don’t see the top 3 teams being tested very much this week, so they should all stay the same. LSU has to play on the road, but Ole Miss is still fairly young, and LSU is playing well. UCLA has a very tough road game at Stanford. A win there would get them a lot more points and respect from the voters, so we should be Stanford fans for that one.
The other game of note is AAC member Houston hosting BYU. With all of this talk of the Cards’ biggest games being Rutgers, UCF, or Cincinnati, the Houston Cougars have quietly started their season 5-0, with a 19.8 margin of victory per game. We will know for sure if Houston is for real before they visit Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. They face BYU and have road games at Rutgers and UCF before coming to Louisville. But if they can win 2 out of those 3, who knows? They are already receiving votes in both polls, so just keep Houston in mind.
