What to Watch, Week 8: The midseason doldrums offer upset potential
There are always a few weeks during the season where the schedule isn’t pretty.
This is one of those weeks.
There’s only one game bewteen ranked teams and both of those teams are coming off tough losses.
Still, there are a few games worth highlighting and a lost of upset potential across the board.
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Game of the week:
No. 3 Utah at USC, 7:30 p.m. ET
These two teams are trending very different directions.
Utah is 7-0 and has its eyes on a Pac-12 title and one of the coveted spots in the College Football Playoff. USC has lost its last two contests and its head coach and is struggling to make something positive out of what is already a disappointing season.
USC’s offense rolls into this game beaten up on the offensive line and could be missing receivers Darreus Rogers and Steven Mitchell Jr. The Utah defense is plus-12 in turnover margin, which will be key against quarterback Cody Kessler, who has thrown four interceptions in the past two games.
Utah’s offense goes through running back Devontae Booker, who struggled last week (despite what his numbers say), but still ranks third in the conference with 130.5 yards rushing per game.
USC coach Clay Helton said his team is hoping to make its second half of the season better than the first and there would be no better start than dampening Utah’s shot at the College Football Playoff.
Game to Watch:
No. 15 Texas A&M at No. 24 Ole Miss, 7 p.m. ET
This game definitely would have looked a lot better had A&M not lost to Alabama and Ole Miss not loss to Memphis, but this game still has a lot of meaning as both teams try to keep pace ion the SEC West race.
On it’s face, this game pits two strong offenses and against two defenses that have struggled of late. However, Texas A&M quarterback Kyle Allen is looking to get back on track after dismal performances a week ago. Allen threw three pick-six’s to the Alabama defense and overall, A&M committed four turnovers, which is more than it had in its previous four games combined.
Ole Miss likely will be without star defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche and safety Trae Elston, who are both dealing with concussions.
Oddly, this is A&M’s first true road game of the season. The Aggies have lost four of their last six SEC road games.
Also check out…
Kansas State at Texas, noon ET
This is Texas’ first game since it’s big win against Oklahoma two weeks ago and coach Charlie Strong’s first chance to see if that victory actually sparked something in his team or if it was just an aberration.
Kansas State would appear to be the best next opponent simply because of the thrashing the Wildcats took at the hands of the Sooners last week. However, this Kansas State team is better than that result would suggest and Texas might be in for a bit of a struggle to get its third win.
The key for Texas will be stifling Kansas State defensive pressure and for the Longhorns defense to contain the play of quarterback Joe Hubener, who had his worst game of the season against OU.
While it might be easy to think Texas will blow out the Wildcats, this game probably will be more similar to Kansas State’s contests against Oklahoma State and TCU, which both went down to the wire.
Channel surf through…
No. 25 Pittsburgh at Syracuse, noon ET: This game will be all about how Pitt handles being at the top of the ACC Coastal and in the Top 25 for the first time five years. The defense has been tough all year, which should stifle a Syracuse offense that has struggled with injury and consequently with consistency. Pitt has won nine of the last 10 meetings in this series.
Indiana at No. 7 Michigan State, 3:30 p.m. ET: Michigan State’s win against Michigan might have been the most dramatic in the series and people haven’t stopped talking about it for a week. Now how do the Spartans move forward? There’s still a lot on the line for Michigan State and Indiana is coming off a disappointing overtime loss to Rutgers. This is a Indiana team that doesn’t play a lot of defense, but it can score. If Michigan State has any hangover from last weekend, this game could get interesting.
Western Kentucky at No. 5 LSU, 7 p.m. ET: We’ve all enjoyed watching LSU running back Leonard Fournette run all over opponents this season and this game shouldn’t be much different. However, the struggle for LSU might be containing a Western Kentucky offense that’s averaging 535.4 yards per game and 44 points per game. This isn’t exactly an upset watch, but it could be an unexpectedly fun game to watch.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
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