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College Football 2017: Week 4 games to watch

Roar Guru
22nd September, 2017
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Need a primer for the college football week ahead? Look no further! Here are a few of the games worth checking out in Week 4.

No.17 Mississippi State at No.11 Georgia
The game of the week is between two unbeaten SEC teams who run the ball well.

Mississippi State looked fantastic last weekend, recording a 37-7 win over LSU in Starkville, and Georgia has an impressive road win against Notre Dame this year.

This is a battle between the second and third-best teams in the conference, and it shapes as being a defensive struggle. Georgia put the brakes on Notre Dame’s good run-game two weeks ago, and will need more of the same against the dual-ground threat of Mississippi State’s quarterback Nick Fitzgerald and back Aeris Williams, who combined to torch LSU last week.

Looking forward to seeing what Georgia’s freshman quarterback, Jake Fromm, will do if Mississippi manage to stuff Nick Chubb and Sony Michel out of the Georgia backfield. He made a few key throws in South Bend that helped his team to a big win, and will have plenty of confidence that he can do the same again.

I’m leaning slightly towards Georgia just because the game is between the hedges in Athens, one of the toughest places to go on the road and play.

The Chubb-Michel combination gets it done, just. Georgia by a touchdown in what should be a fantastic spectacle.

No.8 Michigan at Purdue
The Boilermakers have been very good this year under new head coach Jeff Brohm. After a narrow loss to Lamar Jackson and Louisville in the opening week, they’re on a two-game win streak, including an impressive 35-3 road win over Missouri last week. Their offence is humming along, and will have a big test against the Wolverine defence.

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Michigan’s offence is at the other end of the spectrum. They’ve relied on defence and special teams for a bulk of their points.

Quarterback Wilton Speight has looked mediocre at best, and the Wolverines’ inability to score touchdowns when they get down into the red zone hasn’t hurt them against Florida, Cincinnati and Air Force but Purdue, on current form, are the best team Michigan has seen this year. They’re going to need six rather than three each time they make it into the red zone.

Michigan should rise to the challenge and pull out a victory late in the fourth. There’s too much talent on that roster for them to continue to struggle offensively, and even if they do, their defence is in full beast mode.

Wolverines by a touchdown.

No.16 Texas Christian at No.6 Oklahoma State
This could be the first insanely-fun Big XII shootout of the year. Mason Rudolph and the OK State offence has been putting up video game-like numbers, but the Horned Frogs have, to a certain extent, flown under the radar.

After a few down years in Fort Worth, Garry Patterson’s men are back with a vengeance. Their defence is sneaky good, maybe one of the best in the conference, and they look like they’ll be the first team this year to get some traction against Rudolph and company.

We’ll know more about Oklahoma State’s defence at the end of 60 minutes in Stillwater. It helps that the Cowboys’ offence is operating at such a high level.

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They’ll be tested by TCU but I can’t see the Horned Frogs getting enough stops to score a road win. Oklahoma State by a couple of touchdowns.

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No.4 Penn State at Iowa
Remember last year, when undefeated Michigan went to Iowa City on a Saturday night and lost a close, hard-fought game?

There’s a chance this is a trap game for the Nittany Lions. They belted Iowa in Happy Valley a year ago, which the Hawkeyes haven’t forgotten.

Iowa’s defence is pretty good, and they’ll need to be to combat a potent Penn State offence, led by Trace McSorley.

The highlight of this game will be the battle between two great running backs. Akrum Wadley, who was injured last week but is set to go, doesn’t get a lot of national love for Iowa, but he’s as good as there is in the Big Ten, and Saquon Barkley is easily in the top five running backs anywhere in football. These two are going to be the barometers for their teams.

Iowa should run the Nittany Lions close, but Penn State has too much firepower and will pull away late to win by a couple of touchdowns.

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No.7 Washington at Colorado
Another upset chance here, with the Huskies set to be tested for the first time this season.

I love what Mike MacIntyre is doing in Colorado. He’s brought the Buffs back into the national spotlight, just as Chris Petersen has done in Seattle for the Huskies.

Colorado quarterback Steven Montez is a real talent, and he’ll need to be on against a Washington defence that has been good all season, albeit against subpar opposition.

Both teams have stout defensive lines, and neither is giving up much in the run game, so this comes down to which quarterback plays better. I’m taking Washington’s Jake Browning over Montez, simply because Browning has more runs on the board.

Colorado will test the Huskies and impress, but UW will have a little too much class, pulling ahead late.

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