Alabama and Auburn were extremely impressive in victories last Saturday at Starkville and Fayetteville respectively. Bryce Young and Bo Nix were superb and the prospects look good for both teams going forward. Bama hosts Tennessee in the annual third Saturday in October matchup this Saturday, while the Tigers are off as they await a visit from the Ole Miss Rebels next Saturday at Jordan-Hare in a 6 PM CT contest on ESPN.

Solid week of College Football this week. Not a lot of major showdowns as those are on the way in the upcoming weeks, but all games are important right now, so each highly ranked team needs to play well, and each team playing this week wants to excel. Here’s a look at this week’s action.

Last week: 15-8

Overall: 120-49, 71%

ATS: Last week, 12-11

Overall: 94-74, 56%

Tonight

No. 14 Coastal Carolina 35, App State 21

Kidd Brewer Stadium, Boone, N.C.

6:30 CT

ESPN2

Anish Shroff, Lugues, Tiffany Blackmon

Coastal by 5

Coastal keeps on cookin with a New Year’s Six clearly in reach for the Chanticleers.

Thursday

No.21 SMU 45, Tulane 28

Gerald R. Ford Stadium, Big D

6:30 PM CT

ESPN

Matt Barrie, Roddy Jones, Harry Lyles Jr.

Mustangs by 14

The Ponies keep on impressing as a possible undefeated matchup @ Cincy looms November 20th. Still have to go to Houston, Oct. 30th and Memphis, Nov. 6th, so a lot of work left to get to Cincy.

Saturday

No. 4 Alabama 42, Tennessee 14

Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa

6 PM CT

ESPN

Jason Benetti, Gregory, Katie George

Bama by 25

Like the Tide to defeat a Tennessee team in which quarterback Hendon Hooker is up in the air to start after getting injured in that debacle last Saturday in Knoxville in which Ole Miss outlasted the Vols and had to dodge cans, bottles and even a golf ball that Lane just barely survived getting hit by. It was outrageously bad behavior and SEC Commish Greg Sankey fined Tennessee $250,000. The Tide played spectacularly well last Saturday in demolishing Mississippi State. I like them to keep it up and have their playoff hopes firmly in their grasp going forward though a trip to Auburn is looking more interesting with the Tigers looking stellar last Saturday and Bo Nix starting to live up to his 5 star billing.

No. 12 Ole Miss 42, LSU 35

Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Oxford

2:30 PM CT

CBS

Brad, Gary, Jamie

Rebels by 9

Matt Corral is banged up, so his status is questionable according to Lane. The Rebels use the home field crowd to survive an inspired LSU team playing for Coach O who resigned last Sunday. Some interesting names being talked about for the job. Jimbo Fisher, Lane, Jimmy Frank at Penn State, Dave Aranda at Baylor, and Joe Brady of the Carolina Panthers among others. Aranda was the defensive coordinator and Brady was the co-offensive coordinator for the 2019 National Championship team. Luke Fickell of Cincinnati is another name though he may fit better at USC than on the Bayou if he wants that job in L.A..

No. 17 Texas A&M 42, South Carolina 10

Kyle Field, College Station

6:30 PM CT

SEC Network

Tom, JRodg, Cole

A&M by 21

The Aggies are cookin after upsetting the Tide 2 weeks ago. Blasted Missouri on the road last Saturday and look strong heading into the start of the backstretch of the season.

Mississippi State 34, Vanderbilt 17

Vanderbilt Stadium, Nashville

3 PM CT

SEC Network

Taylor Zarzour, Stinch, Alyssa Lang

MS. State by 20 1/2

Vanderbilt Coach Clark Lea really let his players down after they gave a valiant effort but came up short 21-20, when South Carolina backup quarterback Zeb Noland threw a 7 yard TD pass with 14 seconds left on the clock. The extra point secured the victory for the Gamecocks. The Commodores defense had created 4 turnovers, 2 really nice interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries. The Commodores’ backup quarterback, Mike Wright, had played pretty well, and after a Joseph Bulovas field goal with under 2 minutes left, the Commodores were looking pretty good to secure their first SEC victory since 2019 versus Missouri as they led 20-14. But Lea decided to play prevent defense rushing only 3 and dropping 8. The Vanderbilt defensive coordinator, Jesse Minter, had done a terrific job mixing blitzes and sending 4 or 5 guys all afternoon as they had been sacking and affecting quarterback Luke Doty. Shane Beamer put Noland in for the final drive and Lea let off the gas pedal. It was a major coaching blunder and it cost his team the game. I’m not buying there is not enough talent at Vanderbilt. The Dores played well last Saturday and deserved to win. The 38 year old Lea hopefully learned a lesson on how to handle end of game defensive situations because he really messed it up for his team. I’m giving Lea somewhat of a pass this year, but he needs to show more improvement the rest of this season. This is a game the Commodores could be very competitive in as is the Missouri game, and a couple others. So Lea needs to get better. The jury is definitely out on his coaching ability and the returns aren’t very good so far.

Arkansas 48, Arkansas- Pine Bluff 0

War Memorial Stadium, Little Rock

11 AM CT

SEC Network

Dave, Deuce, Andraya

No line Available as yet. Will update if there is one at game time

The Razorbacks try to recover from their disappointing loss to the Tigers last Saturday, though it was more about how well Auburn played than how Arkansas played.

National scores

No.2 Cincinnati 38, Navy 10

Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Annapolis

11 AM CT

ESPN2

Dave Flemming, Rod Gilmore, Stormy Buonantony

Cincy by 27 1/2

Bearcats keep up the super work this season.

No. Oklahoma 52, @Kansas 10

11 AM CT

ESPN

Mark Jones, RGIII, Quint Kessenich

Sooners by 38 1/2

Freshman quarterback Caleb Williams has given this team a spark and the Sooners are surging now.

@No. 6 Michigan 28, Northwestern 20

11 AM CT

FOX

Gus, Joel, Jenny

Wolverines by 23 1/2

Still trying to figure out if I’m really a believer in Harbaugh’s team this season, but they’ve been pretty impressive. I like the Wildcats to give them a scare this Saturday.

@No.7 Penn State 42, Illinois 7

11 AM CT

ABC

Bob Wischusen, Dan Orlovsky, Kris Budden

Penn State by 24

The success of the Nittany Lions lies squarely on the health of quarterback Sean Clifford. James Franklin does not talk about injuries so it’s impossible to know what Clifford’s status is. Even if he doesn’t play, Penn State will be able to run the ball well and pass enough and the defense is lockdown anyway.

No.8 Oklahoma State 34, @Iowa State 30

2:30 PM CT

FOX

Iowa State by 7

The Cowboys are the Rodney Dangerfield of College Football. What do they have to do to get some respect? They just went to Texas last Saturday and were down by 14 and came back and won. I like the Cowboys a lot in Ames.

@No. 25 Pittsburgh 28, Clemson 21

2:30 PM CT

ESPN

Sean McDonough, Todd, Molly

Pitt by 3

Clemson’s offensive misery continues. Quarterback Kenny Pickett and his Panthers are for real.

@UCLA 31, No. 10 Oregon 28

2:30 PM CT

ABC

Fowler, Herbstreit, Rowe

UCLA by 2

Just not trusting Oregon enough. They’ve been really sluggish lately and the Bruins are pretty strong at times. Should be a super game.

No. 16 Wake Forest 30, @Army 28

11 AM CT

CBS Sports Network

Wake by 3

The Demon Deacons just get by a scrappy Cadets team and move to 7-0.

No. 18 N.C. State 31, @Miami 24

6:30 PM CT

ESPN2

Anish Shroff, Mike Golic Jr. Taylor McGregor

Wolfpack by 3

The Wolfpack keep their engine churning as they move to 6-1.

@No. 13 Notre Dame 35, USC 24

6:30 PM CT

NBC

Irish by 7

The Irish move to 6-1 and not out of the hunt just yet. They’ll need massive chaos for a chance at the Playoff, which could be unlikely, but the way this season is going, you never know. Certainly a New Year’s Six possibility. The Trojans are just trying to get through this season and hire a new coach to get this program where it wants to be, in the national spotlight.

No.5 Ohio State 45, @ Indiana 21

6:30 PM CT

ABC

Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek, Lugues

Buckeyes by 21

Buckeyes firmly in the mix for the playoff now. Have to win out and that means defeating Penn State at home, 10-30, next Saturday, Michigan State at home, 11/20, and Michigan on the road, 11/27, along with winning the Big Ten Championship Game. So a lot of work left for the Bucks, but they control their own destiny, which is all they can ask for.

@UAB 38, Rice 10

2:30 PM CT

ESPN+

Blazers by 23

The Blazers applied for membership to the American Athletic Conference along with 5 other C-USA teams. They should be approved very soon. That’s a game changer for this program. The American is losing Cincinnati, Houston and Central Florida, which, along with BYU, are moving to the Big 12, which really ramps up their conference after what looked like the devastating losses of OU and Texas. But the Big 12 looks viable right now, and UAB in the American is highly promising for the Southside program.

Utah 28, @Oregon State 20

6:30 PM CT

PAC-12 Network

Utes by 3

Really like the Utes trajectory right now. Have a shot at winning the PAC 12 Championship and playing in the Rose Bowl.

@Air Force 30, No. 22 San Diego State 24

6 PM CT

CBS Sports Nework

Air Force by 3 1/2

Like the Academy to knock off the 6-0 Aztecs.

@TCU 35, West Virginia 30

6:30 PM CT

ESPNU

Brian Custer, Kelly Stouffer, Lauren Sisler

Frogs by 3 1/2

I’ll be out in Fort Worth visiting my daughter at TCU for Dad’s weekend, so looking forward to seeing our Frogs get the job done. They Horned Frogs have a solid team, and can go to a solid bowl game.

No. 24 UTSA 31, @Louisiana Tech 30

6 PM CT

UTSA by 7

The Roadrunners of Texas-San Antonio are one of the surprise teams nationally. They have gone to Memphis and won. They’ve also won at Illinois. But I like the Bulldogs to scare them at La Tech.

@ No. 25 Purdue 20, Wisconsin 17

2 PM CT

Big Ten Network

Wisconsin by 3

Have no idea why Wisconsin is favored. Purdue just went into Iowa last Saturday and dominated the then No.2 Hawkeyes. Bullish on this prediction.