A chaotic start to the college football season has set the pieces in place for a midseason stretch unlike any other. With nonconference games cycling off the schedule, we begin the week-to-week grind with an eye on league play in expanded conferences with rapidly shifting landscapes.
The Week 4 schedule is filled with enticing matchups across the country, with some of those new rivalries taking center stage. Saturday will be highlighted by three games between top-20 teams who are facing each other for the first time as conference foes. No. 11 USC squares off with No. 18 Michigan in the Big House, No. 12 Utah heads to Stillwater to play No. 14 Oklahoma State in its first-ever Big 12 road game and No. 6 Tennessee will be the first SEC visitor to No. 15 Oklahoma as Vols’ coach Josh Huepel faces the program where he won a national title as a player.
Week 4 lines are out, so let’s take a look at what oddsmakers are thinking as well look ahead.
Odds via SportsLine consensus
The big games
No. 24 Illinois at No. 22 Nebraska (-8.5) (Friday): Dylan Raiola and the Cornhuskers have looked like the team that many saw coming. Meanwhile, Illinois came from off the radar to crash the top 25 with a 3-0 start that includes a nonconference win against Kansas. Playing in Lincoln has been a tremendous home field advantage for Nebraska so far and the oddsmakers think it will be again, giving Matt Rhule’s group a two-score edge on the points spread.
No. 11 USC (-6.5) at No. 18 Michigan: This spread, maybe more than any other in Week 4, shows two teams who have gone in opposite directions in the eyes of the oddsmakers since the season started. The Wolverines were picked by as many as double digits when this game was first posted at sportsbooks over the summer, and now the Trojans find themselves favored by nearly a touchdown in the Big House. Michigan’s offensive struggles and USC’s defensive improvement have provided the on-field reasons for the huge adjustments in the power ratings. Now, for the second time in a month, the reigning national championships are home underdogs.
No. 12 Utah at No. 14 Oklahoma State (-2.5): One of the games of the year in the Big 12 arrives early in the schedule and will be pivotal is setting up the conference title race for the rest of the season. With a 16-team league the imbalanced schedule will make head-to-head results between contenders crucial to deciding who gets to play for the Big 12 championship, and likely the College Football Playoff bid that comes with it.
No. 6 Tennessee (-7) at No. 15 Oklahoma: Tennessee is starting to look like one of the best teams in the country, but it has yet to put its championship hopes on the line like it will on Saturday night Norman. The Sooners have been up-and-down in their 3-0 start, but a home win against Tennessee could help things really fall into place as they begin their first-ever season of SEC play.
Best of the rest
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