Guest Post: College Football Marquee Matchups Week 6

Week six of the college football season is here and the national championship picture is starting to become a bit clearer as the Alabama Crimson Tide continue to distance themselves from the rest of the teams in the country. Alabama is clearly the number one team in the country and will play for another national championship if the Crimson Tide can remain unbeaten. The rest of the nation will be vying for the second spot in the polls for the right to play Alabama at season’s end. Here is a closer look at some of the marquee matchups for this Saturday. #4 LSU Tigers at #10 Florida Gators – the LSU Tigers will travel to the Swamp in Gainesville, Florida this Saturday for an SEC showdown with the Florida Gators. Even though LSU has been winning in recent weeks, the Tigers have seen their ranking slip two spots from #2 to number #4. Two lackluster performances have been the reason for the slip in the polls as the LSU Tigers beat Auburn 12-10 and Towson 38-22. With a convincing win on the road this Saturday, LSU can jump back into the national championship conversation. This game will be a huge test for the Florida Gators who have gotten off to a great start to the season. Currently, the Gators are averaging 224.5 rushing yards per game but will face a much tougher defense this week. LSU’s defense averages just 86 rushing yards allowed per game. If Florida is unable to find success on the ground this week, it could be a very long game for the Gators faithful. #8 West Virginia Mountaineers at #11 Texas Longhorns – Offensively, the West Virginia Mountaineers impressed a lot of people around the country last week when they scored seventy points against the Baylor Bears. However, with their defense allowing sixty-three points, the Mountaineers did not gain as much national title contender respect as they would have liked. There is no question that Geno Smith is flourishing in head coach Dana Holgorsen’s spread offense, but the defense needs to make significant strides if the Mountaineers hope to win a Big 12 title. The Texas Longhorns will be another excellent challenge for the West Virginia Mountaineers. After a horrible offensive season a year ago, the Longhorns have appeared to figure things out this season, scoring 47.3 points per game. However, Texas is having trouble of its own on defense as the team ranks 64th in total defense. With two of the top ten scoring teams in the country facing off in this game, college football fans can expect another high scoring affair. #5 Georgia Bulldogs at #6 South Carolina Gamecocks – In a battle of top ten teams, Georgia and South Carolina may be the best game of the day. Both teams enter this game 5-0 on the season and 3-0 in conference play. A victory on Saturday night would set up the winner with a clear path to the SEC conference championship game. In order for the Georgia Bulldogs to stop a two game losing skid to South Carolina, running back Todd Gurley will need to continue his impressive play. Gurley leads the league in rushing but will be facing one of the best defensive units in the nation. South Carolina only allows 77 rushing yards per game, so Gurley will have his work cut out for him. If Georgia is unable to get their rushing attack going, quarterback Aaron Murray will need to step up with a few big plays in the passing game. So far this season, Murray has been very proficient, throwing for 1,378 yards, twelve touchdowns and just three interceptions. The South Carolina Gamecocks will rely on their imposing defense to limit the Georgia Bulldogs in this contest while handing the ball off to running back Marcus Lattimore. Lattimore has 440 rushing yards and eight touchdowns this season. With Georgia’s defense not being nearly as dominant as the team had hoped, expect Lattimore to have a good day running the ball. #21 Nebraska Cornhuskers at #12 Ohio State Buckeyes – The Nebraska Cornhuskers will play their second consecutive night game when they travel to the Horseshoe to face the Ohio State Buckeyes. Last week the Cornhuskers battled back from a 14-0 deficit to defeat the Wisconsin Badgers 30-27. During that game, Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez racked up 288 yards of total offense including 107 rushing yards while accounting for all three of Nebraska’s touchdowns. The Cornhuskers got off to a slow start and will not be afforded that same luxury this weekend against Ohio State. The Buckeyes are coming off a hard fought victory of their own after they defeated the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing by a final score of 17-16. After an impressive opening drive, Ohio State did not do much else offensively in the game. Even though the Buckeyes racked up 383 yards of total offense, three turnovers nearly cost the Buckeyes the game. Saturday night’s showdown between Nebraska and Ohio State will feature two electric mobile quarterbacks in Taylor Martinez and Braxton Miller. Both players ran for over 100 yards last weekend against good defenses and should receive more carries this week. With each team facing a mobile quarterback in practice every single day, both the Buckeyes and Cornhuskers should be prepared to stop the opposing team’s quarterback from running wild on them during the game. By Don Phan - Just another sports enthusiast.