Last week certainly had some nail-biters. Clemson struggled with Georgia Tech, a team that lost to Northern Illinois, who lost by 53 to Michigan. Ohio State pulled away late with a 41-20 win against Tulsa, but if anyone watched that game, the first half was not typical Ohio State football that we are all used to seeing. Down 21-3 at the end the first quarter, Florida battled back only to lose 31-29 to Alabama. For what it’s worth, I still don’t think they’ll lose a game. Oh, and Fresno State defeated UCLA on a last second touchdown. College football is fun.

Here are my top five college football games on the docket for week 4.

Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin

This will be a homecoming of sorts for Notre Dame senior quarterback Jack Coan, who transferred from Wisconsin to Notre Dame. The game will be played in Chicago, and College Game Day will be hosted from there. Neither team has looked particularly great so far this season. Notre Dame had a 41-38 win over Florida State in the opening week of the college football season, but as it turns out, Florida State isn’t good. They’re 0-3. The Fighting Irish then defeated Toledo in Week 2 32-29 and took care of Purdue 27-13 last Saturday. On paper alone, Notre Dame should beat these teams by a lot more, especially with Coan at quarterback and star junior running back Kyren Williams. Wisconsin’s opening 16-10 loss to Penn State looks pretty good. But the Badgers aren’t a team that’s going to score a lot. They have to win their games on defense. They tend to always have a massive offensive line and a talented running back. They no longer have Jonathan Taylor or Melvin Gordon in the backfield, so things seem to be a bit different at Camp Randall. This game might be a sight for sore eyes, but I expect it to be close.

Texas A&M vs. Arkansas

Raise your hand if you expected Arkansas to be undefeated three games into the season? Anyone? Bueller? The Razorbacks handily defeated the Texas Longhorns two weeks ago, but this will be a much tougher test. KJ Jefferson appears to be the real deal at quarterback for Arkansas. I know it was against Georgia Southern, but he went 13-23 for 366 yards and three touchdowns. I don’t care who you’re playing, that’s an impressive stat line. Texas A&M lost their starting quarterback Haynes King in their second game against Colorado. But their backup, Zach Calzada, has showed, at least so far, that maybe that job should have been his from the beginning. He went 18-38 for 183 yards and one touchdown against Colorado and 19-33 for 275 yards and three touchdowns and one interception against New Mexico. A battle of good quarterbacks in Jerry World? Sign me up.

West Virginia at Oklahoma

Oklahoma is another team that, while they’re 3-0, has gotten off to a slow start. Quarterback Spencer Rattler is in the hunt to be the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, but he hasn’t shown he’s worthy of that. Oklahoma beat Tulane 40-35, dominated Western Carolina 76-0 and only won 23-16 against Nebraska, which hasn’t been a great team for a long time. Are they really the No. 4 team in the country? I’m not so sure. West Virginia is 2-1, they’re quarterback is Jarrett Doege, former signal caller at Bowling Green State University (my alma mater). By the way, speaking of BGSU and on a completely unrelated and unimportant note to the readers, they won their first game since 2019, defeating FCS Murray State 27-10. Needless to say, I’m happy. Embarrassed, but happy. Talons Up.

Clemson at NC State

As I have been writing this and looking over games for the weekend, I realize there may be only two worth watching outside of whoever your favorite team is. The only reason to keep any eye on this game is to see if Clemson loses again, because based on their first few weeks, it seems likely. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Trevor Lawrence isn’t running back down the hill at Memorial Stadium again.

Rutgers at Michigan

Am I actually telling readers to watch a Rutgers football game on television? What is going on? We’re clearly not living in normal times. Both teams are 3-0, both teams have looked good, albeit neither of them has played a real good team. I assumed Washington was at least decent, but they lost to FCS Montana. As a Michigan fan, watching running backs Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum has been quite enjoyable. Corum has 48 carries for 407 yards and seven touchdowns. As a football fan, I highly suggest checking them out Saturday. Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara had a good game against NIU this past weekend, going 8-11 for 191 yards and one touchdown. That doesn’t necessarily prove anything, but one thing he hasn’t done is turn the ball over. That’s been huge for the Wolverines. But knowing me and my luck and hope for my favorite teams to be good, this will probably jinx it. I don’t have much to say about Rutgers, other than Greg Schiano is a good coach and I have never been more cold in my life than when I went to the Michigan-Rutgers game in Piscataway, New Jersey, a few years ago.

—Devlin can be reached at travis@athensnews-courier.com