2019 College football look ahead: Week 7

by Chris Asbrock

After a week hiatus, we are back with another look at the day ahead in college football. The season so far has provided us with some big moments and this week will provide some teams with a boost with a victory. There are a handful of ranked vs. ranked matchups this week and the winner of those games will put themselves in a good spot moving into next week. With this week being a big week in the season, there are sure to be some fantastic games.

Big storylines to watch this weekend:

1. How do the big teams fare in the first set of rivalry games of the season?

On the slate of games today are a few rivalry games. To kick the day off is the Red River Shootout between the 11th ranked Texas Longhorns and the 6th ranked Oklahoma Sooners. This matchup features two of the better quarterbacks in the country, with Jalen Hurts faces off against Sam Ehlinger and Texas. Hurts and Ehlinger have combined to throw for 2971 yards, 31 TD and 4 INT on the season. Both quarterbacks have been dynamic this season and will be fun to watch in this big rivalry game. The next game features the USC Trojans traveling east to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. This is the 91st meeting between these two teams and in this season matchup, doesn’t seem like the Trojans have a chance to knock off the Irish. Clay Helton and is team come into this matchup thinking otherwise. Notre Dame hasn’t been too impressive this season and the same can be said for the Trojans. A victory over Notre Dame will help cool off the coaching seat of Clay Helton and give his Trojans a much needed victory over their rivals. To cap off the night, the Florida Gators travel to Death Valley to face the LSU Tigers. This matchup has all the makings of an incredible game and is expected to deliver like it has over the last few seasons. Both teams come into this game undefeated and looking to get into a great spot in the SEC. The highlight of this game will be the explosive LSU offense against the daunting Florida defense. This season, LSU averages 54.6 points per game and 571 yards per game. On the other side, Florida allows an average of 9.5 points per game and 276.3 yards per game. One of these has to give and the big question is which one will it be? This game should be the premier game on this weeks slate of games. 

2. How do the non Power 5 teams fare in their quest to make a New Years Six Bowl?


There are a handful of teams looking to make an impact in their quest to make a New Years Six Bowl game. In the hunt are Boise State, Cincinnati, Memphis, Temple and Hawai’i, just to name a few. Out of those five teams, four of those teams will face each other. Boise State hosts Hawai’i and Temple will host Memphis. Memphis and Boise State are undefeated so far this season and each are favored in their respective games. The American Athletic Conference has three of those teams in the hunt when you add Cincinnati to that mix and the Mountain West has the other two. The Cincinnati Bearcats are coming off a massive victory over previously unbeaten UCF. Now, the Bearcats will face a tough road matchup at Houston. If the Bearcats can survive this game, the Bearcats will have a stretch of very winnable games before finishing with USF, Temple and Memphis. With Temple and Memphis facing off with each other today, the winner of that game will put themselves in a great spot for a New Years Six Bowl. Being only seven weeks into the season, the season is far from over but a win for Memphis will keep them undefeated. The Boise State/Hawai’i game will be one to watch as Hawaii will head to Boise, in a cold environment, to try and knock the Broncos from the ranks of the unbeaten. Boise State has always been the benchmark of a non Power 5 team and aren’t ready to give up that title. This week is massive for the teams looking to step up and make a big bowl game, but as we say every week, who can survive?