It’s a good thing Notre Dame plays at noon this weekend because it’ll give everyone plenty of time to prepare for what really matters on Saturday: Louisville at Clemson. The Tigers host their biggest home game of their season and one that could define their season, take over the ACC, and vault themselves into national title contention.

Enemy Watch

FRIDAY

#7 Stanford (+3) at #10 Washington

SATURDAY

Virginia (+3.5) at Duke

Navy (+7.5) at Air Force

Wake Forest (+10) at NC State

#17 Michigan State (-7) at Indiana

Arizona State (+10) at USC

Nevada (-3.5) at Hawaii

This might be THE major test for Chris Petersen’s Huskies this year. They have been rolling below the radar this year–even scraping past Arizona in overtime last week–and have a big chance to step up to the plate and take over the Pac-12. This is a classic case of one team (Stanford) possibly tired and going through a tough early schedule and whether they will be fresh enough for this game or submit to too many body blows.

It’s kind of interesting to see Navy such large underdogs when they’ve won 18 out of their last 20 games.

Wasn’t it the Arizona State game that ultimately forced USC to leave Lane Kiffin at LAX? This has been a rocky start for the Trojans and somehow they are favored by double-digits? Even if it’s at home I’m having flash backs to 2013 and I wonder if USC is going to throw their name in to the coaching search to compete with LSU following a loss this weekend?

Raised Eyebrow Game

Oregon (-1.5) at Washington State

I looked to see when the last time Oregon lost 2 games in a row, got to 2008, and stopped looking. That’s a pretty amazing streak that came to an end, in Colorado, of all places. Wazzu is coming off a bye week and defeated Oregon last year. I’ve got a feeling the Cougars take this one and the heat really gets turned up on Mark Helfrich.

Double Eyebrow Game

Memphis (+14.5) at #16 Ole Miss

Everyone thought Memphis was going to slump back into irrelevance after losing their head coach and 1st round quarterback. Not so fast! The Tigers have been displaying a powerful offense once again while scoring a ludicrous 56 points in the first half against Bowling Green last week. Ole Miss is due for a let down game and may not take Memphis all that seriously. I’m looking for a shootout, granted Ole Miss is totally comfortable with that.

National Spotlight

North Carolina (+10.5) at #12 Florida State

#11 Tennessee (-3.5) at #25 Georgia

#8 Wisconsin (+10.5) at #4 Michigan

Oklahoma (-3.5) at #21 TCU

#3 Louisville (-1.5) at #5 Clemson

At the top we have a slightly intriguing ACC game where North Carolina could make a move to return to the ACC Title game for the second straight year. Meanwhile, FSU has to keep pace with the winner of the big game below. Also, would an 0-2 start in league play for the Seminoles ratchet up the Jimbo Fisher to LSU talks again?

The Vols have survived a couple early tests this year and find themselves in position this early in the season in week 5 where they’d put a stranglehold on the SEC East by defeating the Dawgs. Or maybe, Georgia comes back from their embarrassing loss and upset Tennessee to make this division completely back in play again?

Go Badgers.

Somehow Oklahoma was ranked last week. The voters corrected themselves this week although Vegas is feeling the Sooners a lot more on the road in Fort Worth. This could be a sneaky important game that gets lost this weekend but could play a huge part in deciding the Big 12.

It’s been a while since I’ve looked forward to a non-Notre Dame game than this weekend’s clash between Louisville and Clemson. On the one hand, my heart sides with Clemson for multiple reasons not the least of which is that I like Dabo Swinney a lot and Bobby Petrino a lot less so. Still, watching Lamar Jackson is like watching someone from 2048 descend upon this silly, slow game that he can take in his hand and shape any way he wants.

He’s on pace for 100 total touchdowns in the regular season alone! Louisville just needs to find any way possible to win this game and the Heisman is Jackson’s full stop. He can play mediocre and it won’t matter. Win here and Louisville is going to go no worse than 11-1, probably make the playoffs, and a Jackson will put up something in the neighborhood of 4,000+ passing yards, 1,800+ rushing yards, and 60+ total scores. And that feels really conservative right now.