A pair of top-12 matchups make this week a good one across college football.
With week one out of the way in college football, programs have shaken off the rust (or haven’t, in some cases) and are ready to get into some exciting early-season non-conference matchups. Last week we saw a top-five matchup, as Georgia took down Clemson, but week two has a pair of matchups of teams ranked in the top 12 of the coaches’ poll.
First up, in FOX’s “Big Noon Saturday” time slot, are the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes hosting the 12th-ranked Oregon Ducks. This is the first meeting between these two schools since the championship game in the inaugural College Football Playoff following the 2014 season, when Ohio State took home the trophy.
Then in the middle of the afternoon, the state of Iowa gets top billing, with #10 Iowa visiting #9 Iowa State. The annual in-state rivalry game now known around the internet as “¡El Assico!” (thanks, Spencer Hall) features both teams coming in ranked for the first time ever. In fact, although Iowa State has been growing steadily as a program in recent years, it has not earned any acclaim early in the season, and has not been ranked heading into a game against Iowa since 1978.
After last year’s game was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Iowa holds a five-game winning streak in this rivalry, a streak that dates back to 2015.However, this rivalry is often known to alternate between high-scoring thrillers (like a 44-41 Iowa win in 2017) and ugly, low-scoring slugfests (such as a 13-3 Iowa win in 2018 or a 9-6 Iowa State victory back in 2012). You never know what you’ll get when these corn-fed rivals get together, so watch and try to enjoy the action!
Here’s your schedule for Saturday, showing most of the notable games taking place around the major college football landscape today. Join us, discuss in the comments, and enjoy!