CFB Preview Week 10
Brett Loftis
#4 Ohio State @ #3 Penn State
Week 10 begins with another game of the year candidate, on paper at least. The 6-1 Buckeyes will travel to University Park to play the 7-0 Nittany Lions.
Ohio State is clearly the better team on paper. They have elite talent at every position on the field. However, their talent has not translated to the field at times. They trailed against Iowa 7-0 at the half but ended up winning 35-7. The Buckeyes then lost to Oregon, the now #1 team in college football. However, the biggest reason to worry about Ohio State came last week against Nebraska. Their offense struggled mightily in the second half, and Ohio State trailed 17-14 in the fourth quarter. However, a late touchdown pass from Will Howard to Quinshon Judkins helped the Buckeyes escape with the win. We know the talent Ohio State possesses and what they can be, but they put it together for fourth quarters.
The Nittany Lions have played old school Big 10 football this season. They have had five games decided by two possessions or less, but don’t let that fool you: they have dominated. Penn State’s defense is legit. They dominate up front with their physicality at the point of attack. The same philosophy has applied to the offense. Penn State has already totaled nearly 1400 rushing yards with running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton leading the way. The biggest question for Penn State is who will start at QB this week? Drew Allar has been solid in his junior season, but he currently during with an injury this week and is questionable for Saturday. For obvious reasons, being without their QB is not an ideal situation going into the biggest game of the year.
This game will kick off Saturday at noon on Fox.
FINAL SCORE PREDICITION: 35-24, Ohio State
#10 Texas A&M @ South Carolina
Simply put, this is the biggest game of the year for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Not only are they hosting a top 10 team in the country, but they have a serious chance to win.
Texas A&M has been one of the biggest surprises to many in the college football world this year. They currently sit at 7-1 and are the only SEC team undefeated in conference play at 5-0. After losing Week One to Notre Dame, the Aggies have been able to take care of business against everyone else, including ranked victories over Mizzou earlier this season and LSU last week. They have a dominant running back in Le’Veon Moss who has ran for 757 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. Their offensive line has only allowed 11 sacks on 190 pass plays this season. Their defense has been solid, forcing 13 takeaways and totaling 19 sacks. However, what are they going to do at QB? Connor Weigman has been hurt and/or struggled at times this season, which has allowed for true freshman Marcel Reed to step in. Reed has clearly been the better option, but who will start Saturday? We perhaps won’t find out until the Aggies offense takes the field for their first offensive drive.
South Carolina had a much-deserved bye last week. They went 1-2 in the month of October, but could have beat Alabama, and did blow out Oklahoma. Things are continuing to look up for this program. However, another test is coming Saturday. LaNorris Sellers will face probably the second-best defense he has so far this season. The Gamecocks pass catchers will have to continue to make strides this week for the Gamecocks to win. Establishing Rocket Sanders early will also be key for South Carolina. If Marcel Reed plays at QB for Texas A&M, the Gamecocks defensive front must gameplan him the same way they did Jalen Milroe: keep him in the pocket and force the freshman QB into mistakes. If Kyle Kennard and Dylan Stewart do their jobs, everything will fall right into place for the Gamecocks defensively.
This game will kick off Saturday at 7:30pm on ABC.
FINAL SCORE PREDICITION: 28-27, South Carolina
Louisville @ #11 Clemson
Just like South Carolina, Clemson also faces a big test this week as they play host to Louisville. This game may not pop off on paper, but Louisville could make this one very close.
The Cardinals have a very good offense. They have scored 24 or more points in all eight of their games this season and are averaging 36 points a contest. The offense is led by sixth-year senior, QB Tyler Shough. He has thrown for 2348 yards, 20 touchdowns, and only five interceptions. The former Oregon and Texas Tech product hardly every runs but will hand it off to the Cardinals’ bell cow in form of freshman RB Isaac Brown. He has ran for 649 yards and six touchdowns, while averaging 7.5 yards a carry. WR Ja’Corey Brooks is also a star playmaker out wide, as he has caught 44 balls for 799 yards and eight touchdowns. This Cardinals offense is legit, but their defense is not. They do have 17 sacks on the year but have forced seven takeaways. The Cardinals defense ranks 62nd in the country in yards allowed per game and 72nd in scoring defense.
It will be interesting to see how Clemson looks this week coming off a bye. Their last two games were much of the same, but with very different outcomes. In their 49-14 blowout victory over Wake Forest, the offense started out slow but once they came alive, they did not stop. In the Tigers’ 48-31 win over UVA, same story for the offense, but different story for the defense. The Tigers gave up 17 fourth quarter points. Garbage time or not, this is not good. The Clemson offense has started to show us that they are coming to play every week. Their B- game is better than a lot of teams A+ performance. However, this Tigers defense has been rather disappointing, especially in ACC play. They must play well this week against one of the best offenses they will face all year.
This game kicks off at 7:30pm Saturday on ESPN.
FINAL SCORE PREDICITION: 45-35, Clemson
