College football games, Week 4: Oklahoma defense vs. Tennessee offense takes center stage in SEC showdown

Ain’t played nobody. 

Excuse the poor grammar, but those three words have to be considered when evaluating No. 6 Tennessee this week as the Volunteers travel to No. 15 Oklahoma. Star quarterback Nico Iamaleava and his teammates are one of the best stories of the season so far. The Vols’ point differential through three games (178) is the largest since 2013. 

Throw in last season’s Citrus Bowl win over Iowa, and Tennessee has outscored the opposition 226-13 in the last four games. 

But before going all in, it’s worth pointing out the Vols have yet to be tested — at least not much. The three wins have come against Chattanooga, an underachieving NC State and a Kent State team coming off a loss to FCS to St. Francis (Pa.). 

Offensively, Tennessee may have the most weapons in the game. Iamaleava has completed more than 70% of his passes. Dylan Sampson is tied for the national lead in rushing touchdowns (nine). The receivers scrape the ceiling. Counting tight end Ethan Davis, three of the four pass catchers stand at least 6-foot-3 and 214 pounds. 

Do not underestimate Brent Venables’ defense in this clash, however. His ability to scheme up solutions against SEC opponents is basically why he was hired away from his defensive coordinator post at Clemson. Oklahoma’s coach is 7-1 against SEC opponents going to back to 2018. You can throw out Clemson’s 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship loss to LSU (42-25) because everybody got scorched by the Tigers that year. In the other seven SEC games, Venables’ defenses have given up an average of 14 points.

Tennessee has gone 16 straight quarters without allowing an offensive touchdown, tied with Georgia for the national lead. There are going to be Oklahoma touchdowns — plural — on Saturday. It’s how Venables’ defense copes with Nico and the boys that will decide the game. 

Week 4 storylines

You better believe Saturday is personal for Josh Heupel. In case you forgot, Heupel was the quarterback for Oklahoma’s last national championship team (2000). He then joined the staff as Bob Stoops’ offensive coordinator for four of his nine years as an assistant but was fired in 2015. Stoops said it was the hardest thing he ever had to do in coaching. And it wasn’t like the OU offense was terrible; the unit averaged 36 points per game in 2014, but OU finished 8-5. Stoops wanted to expand the offense. He wanted more Mike Leach. So, he hired some guy named Lincoln Riley from East Carolina who had been on Leach’s staff at Texas Tech. The rest is history that is still being written. 

Inside Quinn Ewers: A veteran college trainer spoke to CBS Sports this week on Quinn Ewers’ abdominal injury: “It’s a significant injury. When you think about the core, his core is going to be affected big time because that’s what you worry about as a thrower. I’m sure they’re [Texas] playing that thing slow, not to rush him.” 

Steve Sarkisian’s next order of business starting this week against Louisiana is keeping the quarterback room happy. Arch Manning has proven he can play. Now, the question is who gets the job when Ewers returns? We are now seeing the benefits of having the best quarterback depth in the country. That gentle balance of nature will be tested if this issue extends into next month. No. 1 Texas plays Oklahoma (Oct. 12) and No. 2 Georgia (Oct. 19) in back-to-back weeks. 

Ewers-Manning saga is ridiculous: Yes, Arch can run 20 mph. Yes, Arch seems to be faster than his uncles or grandfather ever were. According to some sportsbooks this week, the Texas backup QB has the same Heisman odds as the Texas starter.

It’s like the Rose Bowl had a baby: No. 11 USC and Michigan will play in the Big House on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET on CBS), a September conference gem made possible by realignment. Did Jim Harbaugh leave the cupboard this bare? Starting QB Alex Orji highlights the lack of quarterback depth as he’s thrust into the role in place of Davis Warren. Michigan could get pushed around at home again by a bunch of Trojans, who are about to beat their second Power Four opponent in three games. Miller Moss has the most passing yards this century through three games by a USC quarterback (979). Michigan quarterbacks, meanwhile, have combined for their fewest passing yards this century (459).

I love the Big 12 race: I love that we enter the weekend with seven undefeated Big 12 teams, six of them sitting at 3-0. Four of them are ranked. Two of them meet on Saturday in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where No. 12 Utah faces No. 14 Oklahoma State. The winner continues on in the wildest Power Four race in existence. 

Missouri has the longest winning streak in the country (seven games): In the history of the program, No. 7 Mizzou has climbed close to the mountain in these sorts of settings only to fall back. The Tigers won’t lose this week hosting Vanderbilt, but it’s time to get serious after a Sept. 28 bye. The Tigers then face Texas A&M on Oct. 5. Without Cody Schrader and with a slightly off Brady Cook, Eli Drinkwitz needs to get the offense going against Vandy.  

Why is the Florida administration waiting on firing Billy Napier? Well, there’s several reasons …

• Florida has a bye next week after battling Mississippi State this weekend. It’s the perfect time to catch its breath, elevate the interim and retrench for the remainder of the season. 
• Any firing of Napier in the near future will create a Grateful Dead-level acid trip of awkwardness that could last 10 weeks before the end of the season. Lane Kiffin is the guy, and the Ole Miss coach is thought to have mutual interest. There isn’t much of a scenario where he doesn’t get the job. But if Napier is fired “too” soon, Kiffin will continually be asked about it for the next three months while guiding a Rebels team that is in playoff-or-bust mode. Ole Miss fans thirsting for the best season in history will also have to keep from turning on their current coach. Throw in Kiffin’s, shall we say, unfiltered voice, and the next three months could get weird. 
• Something else to be considered: Florida has incentive to wait until after Oct. 5 to fire Napier. That date marks Florida’s fifth game of the season. Per NCAA rules, players can preserve a year of eligibility if they shut it down after the fourth game of the season. If Napier is fired during the upcoming bye week (Sept. 28), several players could shut down their seasons and possibly make an already-ugly season completely fall apart. Not to mention, they could enter the transfer portal. You thought Florida State in the Orange Bowl was ugly? The Gators could have a similar multi-game slog. 
• Depending on who Florida targets, this could be the longest search ever if UF has to wait until Jan. 20 — date of the CFP National Championship — to get their guy. 

Let’s have a look at some surprising 3-0 teams as we enter Week 4 … 

Sneaky good game of the week: It’s been 11 years since a ranked Nebraska played another ranked team at home. It’s been 13 years since the No. 22 Huskers won such a game (2011 vs. Michigan). That gives you a sense for how big Friday’s Illinois-Nebraska game has become in Lincoln. Nebraska fans were inspired by the rout of Colorado. With a bye week, the Huskers are rested for Bret Bielema’s suddenly respectable Illini team ranked 24th in the nation. Both of these programs are about to turn a corner. Both are low key harboring playoff hopes. Nebraska is second nationally, having trailed only 21 minutes (11.48% of the time) this season.

The Group of Five burden: Any short list of Group of Five contenders has to include Memphis, Northern Illinois, Toledo and UNLV. Each have beaten a Power Four opponent. That makes whoever comes out of that group dangerous playing on the road in a first-round CFP game. These Group of Five teams have already done it. Now, think about the burden for whoever that CFP participant is in December. The CFP Management Committee (conference commissioners and Notre Dame president) have put off a decision on the format and structure for 2026 until after this season. Achieve too much in the first 12-team CFP and the Power Four could flex and limit access to the Group of Five in the future. Get blown out in that first-round game and Group of Five access could be lessened for that reason. Don’t think it can’t happen. Remember, the Big Ten and SEC were floating four automatic qualifiers each earlier this year. Everything in terms of structure and format is on the table after this season. 

Deion Sanders’ team just played its most complete game of his tenure: Yet, all the Colorado coach wants to talk about is … us, the media. Much was made about his players yapping last week at the end of the Colorado State win. They did. It was considerable. I was there. Ear muffs, kids, if you go try to find some of it. But to single out Colorado (vs. Baylor this week) is unfair. I’ve still got video on my phone from Michigan winning at Ohio State two years ago. Players were dancing on the bench while taunting the crowd. Stuff you’d expect with young adults jacked up on testosterone in a rivalry to do in that situation. Don’t even get me started about Miami in the old days. Those Canes had their DJ (Luther Campbell). They beat you and humiliated you at the same time. Point is, Colorado is no different except for one key metric: It hasn’t won enough to be popping off like this. CU under Deion is like Miami of old without the victories. Let it go, Prime, and let your players bask in some praise they have earned.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the food chain: It’s no surprise New Mexico State is 1-2 heading to Sam Houston this week. Coming off a 10-5 season, the Aggies were stripped for parts in the portal. The program lost 50 of its 117 players listed on the 2023 roster. The beneficiaries include a sampling of the Power Five (Duke, Vanderbilt, Utah, Cincinnati, Missouri, Arizona State, Mississippi State, Syracuse, UConn) all the way down to Division II Fort Hays (Kansas) State. Former coach Jerry Kill, frustrated with the roster losses, left and ended up as a consultant to Clark Lea at Vanderbilt. Kill took five players with him, including quarterback Diego Pavia, who is blowing up with the Commodores. The 10 wins were the most for the Aggies since 1960. Of those 50 departures, 11 played one or no games in Las Cruces. Two are still in the portal. Considering the current state of the game, this is going to keep happening to teams like New Mexico State that don’t have the NIL resources. 

Quick kicks

• Question while digesting Tennessee’s 10% ticket increase: If NIL is truly quid pro quo, does the Tennessee team — where the money is going — have to increase scoring 10%? That would be scary at this point. Tennessee leads the country with 63.7 points per game. Since the beginning of the 2022 season, the Vols have scored 154 touchdowns (41.4 points per game).
• USC and Michigan are meeting in the regular season for the first time since 1958.  They have met a record eight times in the Rose Bowl.
• USC’s Miller Moss can become the first FBS quarterback to beat a ranked opponent in three of his first four starts since Cardale Jones in 2014-15. 
• UNLV (No. 25 in Coaches Poll) is ranked for the first time. 
• Oklahoma is a home underdog of more than three points for the first time since 1999. Tennessee is favored by 7.5 points. 
• Florida State (vs. Cal) could become the fifth preseason AP top-10 team ever to start 0-4. Cal has won six straight regular season games for the first time since 2006-07. 
• Five quarterbacks younger than Saturday’s starters in Utah-Oklahoma State game have started an NFL game this season. You can read about Rising, 25, and Alan Bowman, 24, here.
• Miami (at USF) has won consecutive games by at least 45 points for the first time since 1933. 
• Sentence that would have been impossible to imagine a year ago: UCLA (at LSU) is last in the Big Ten with one touchdown pass.
• Rutgers could start 3-0 for the fourth consecutive year. The only teams currently on that list are Georgia, Oklahoma and Ole Miss. (Penn State, 3-0, could also join that list.)