Cole Tollison

This is the 13th and final part of a series where I go week by week ranking what I expect to be the biggest games in college football. For a longer description of what this series is, start with part 1 here!

Rivalry Week is full of great games. There are way too many to list in just this article, but I still narrowed down my top 3. I expect conference realignment to raise the emotions for some games this year, and that’s reflected in this week’s list. But it’s rivalry week, almost every game will be worth a watch for one reason or another.

3rd – Oregon State at Oregon

The Civil War.

The 1st meeting was in 1894, and with 129 meetings, it is the 5th most played college football game at the FBS level. The schools are less than 50 miles apart, and the schools are about to be in different conferences. College Football doesn’t make sense anymore.

This Black Friday game will mean the world to everyone in Corvallis, Oregon. It’s possibly their last chance to stick it to the Big-Evil-Nike Ducks for delivering the death blow to their home, the Pac-12. 

Oregon will want revenge …

This is Part 12 of a series where I go week by week ranking what I expect to be the biggest games in college football. For a longer description of what this series is, start with part 1 here!

Three Big Ten teams are featured this week, they just aren’t in the Big Ten yet. So that means more Pac-12 love. But the best game is obvious. The SEC matchup featured is not only the best game of week 12, but one of the most anticipated games of 2023. 

3rd – UCLA at USC

So USC just had to play Washington, and then Oregon. What’s their reward for getting through that pair of northwest sledgehammers? They get to play inter-city rival UCLA, who is on an upswing, and also capable of winning the Pac-12.

This soon-to-be Big Ten rivalry is for ownership of LA. It’s too bad most of LA cares more about baseball and basketball than football (pro or college). This is the only game for either team where fans can be certain LA will be a majority of the fans in the stands.

2nd – Washington at Oregon State

This series has become a Pac-12 marketing campaign. But …

This is Part 11 of a series where I go week by week ranking what I expect to be the biggest games in college football. For a longer description of what this series is, start with part 1 here!

The Pac-12 has become a staple of this series, and they will continue to show up in future additions. I implore you to follow them this year, especially because it’s the last year of Pac-12 football (as we know it). The competition was fierce this week, and the honorable mentions could turn out to belong on this list by the time we hit week 11.

3rd – Miami at Florida State

Rivalry game alert. A Sunshine State Showdown. Trademark pending.

Emphasis on “A” because there are plenty of other teams in Florida for these two to hate. But this year, these are the top two teams in the state. 

The series is 35-32 all time with Miami on top. 

Both of these teams are used to competing for national championships and dominating TV ratings. Recently, they’ve both been down a bit. But Florida State is rising (appearing in the top 10 of most polls), and Miami has turned the recruiting ship …

My ballot for the AP Top 25 – If they let me have one.

If the AP Top 25 let me have a ballot, this is how mine would look. It’s a ranking, not a power rating. But in the preseason, rankings are irrelevant. So it will have some power rating aspects to it. 

Confused? Good, me too. 

I’ll explain my picks in groups of 5 from 25 to 1. Then, at the bottom, I have a list of 1-40. I went 40 deep to show what my personal “others receiving votes” section would look like. 

25-21

25 – Tulane

24 – Illinois

23 – Maryland

22 – North Carolina

21 – South Carolina

Tulane is the top G5 team. They beat USC in the Cotton Bowl last year, and they return most of that team. But, they are still a G5 with less talent than everyone above them. They will have to earn a higher ranking, not be gifted one.

The middle of the B1G is better than people give it credit for, Maryland and Illinois are quality teams. UNC is a good team with a great QB, but losing OC Phil Longo will hurt. South Carolina has outperformed …

This is Part 10 of a series where I go week by week ranking what I expect to be the biggest games in college football. For a longer description of what this series is, start with part 1 here!

A rare week 10 non-conference game makes this list. And the top 2 are massive conference matchups that will impact who plays their respective conference title games. There are playoff implications all over the top 3 this week. 

3rd – Notre Dame at Clemson

The schedules for Notre Dame and Clemson are very top heavy. They have some huge, must watch matchups, and the rest of the schedules fades into the background noise of college football. 

Notre Dame is the only team in FBS that plays 3 teams with an O/U win total 10 or higher. Three massive games. And this one, against Clemson, completes the set. This is also the only one ND plays on the road. 

Clemson feels like a team that’s been down lately. But that’s just a warped perception. They won 11 games last year and 10 games in 2021. I guess 10 wins is down for Clemson. The fanbase expects to make the playoffs; that’s the …