College Football Picks Week 4: Odds, Predictions, Schedule, Rankings for Top 25
The Week 4 college football schedule features a smorgasbord of marquee matchups.
Each one of the three main television windows has multiple must-watch games that will shake up the Top 25.
The Ohio State Buckeyes' visit to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish carries the most College Football Playoff consequences.
Ohio State gets to prove itself for the first time with Kyle McCord as the starting quarterback, while the new-look Notre Dame offense, led by Sam Hartman, has a chance to beat a quality opponent to bolster its resume.
Plenty of other marquee programs will be watched closely on Saturday, including the Alabama Crimson Tide and Colorado Buffaloes.
Alabama needs to prove it is a playoff contender in 2023, while Colorado faces its first major test under first-year head coach Deion Sanders.
Saturday, September 23
All Times ET; For the latest lines on these games, go to DraftKings.
Rutgers at No. 2 Michigan (-26) (Noon, BTN)
No. 4 Florida State (-1.5) at Clemson (Noon, ABC)
No. 16 Oklahoma (-14) at Cincinnati (Noon, Fox)
No. 19 Colorado at No. 10 Oregon (-20.5) (3:30 p.m., ABC)
No. 22 UCLA at No. 11 Utah (-5) (3:30 p.m., Fox)
No. 15 Ole Miss at No. 13 Alabama (-6.5) (3:30 p.m., CBS)
No. 18 Duke (-22) at UConn (3:30 p.m., CBSSN)
No. 20 Miami (-25) at Temple (3:30 p.m., ESPN2)
UTSA at No. 23 Tennessee (-20) (4 p.m., SEC Network)
Arkansas at No. 12 LSU (-18) (7 p.m., ESPN)
No. 14 Oregon State (-2.5) at No. 21 Washington State (7 p.m., Fox)
Charlotte at No. 25 Florida (-28) (7 p.m., ESPN+)
UAB at No. 1 Georgia (-40) (7:30 p.m., ESPN2)
No. 3 Texas (-14.5) at Baylor (7:30 p.m., ABC)
No. 6 Ohio State (-3) at No. 9 Notre Dame (7:30 p.m., NBC)
No. 24 Iowa at No. 7 Penn State (-14) (7:30 p.m., CBS)
No. 17 North Carolina (-6.5) at Pittsburgh (8 p.m., ACC Network)
No. 5 USC (-34) at Arizona State (10:30 p.m., Fox)
California at No. 8 Washington (-21) (10:30 p.m., ESPN)
A strong case can be made that Saturday's Top 10 clash in South Bend, Indiana means much more to Notre Dame than Ohio State.
Notre Dame's schedule only gives it two chances to make a significant imprint on the College Football Playoff selection committee.
Hartman and Co. need a strong showing against Ohio State on Saturday and then against the USC Trojans on October 14 to put themselves in good standing with the committee.
Hartman holds the edge in experience over McCord, who will make the second road start of his career inside Notre Dame Stadium.
This will be the first time McCord faces a truly hostile environment. The Indiana Hoosiers do not have a football atmosphere that matches what the quarterback will see in South Bend.
Both signal-callers have star pass-catches they can trust. McCord has Marvin Harrison Jr. and Hartman will connect with Chris Tyree.
However, the difference-making offensive element could come on the ground game, where the Irish have an edge with Audric Estime.
Estime has 521 rushing yards and five touchdowns compared to TreVeyon Henderson's 191 yards and four scores.
Notre Dame also had another week to work out its offensive issues since it played in Week 0. Ohio State took two weeks to resemble something close to a complete product.
The Irish's offense has more going for it at the moment, and if Estime is the perfect complement to Hartman, they could have one of their biggest wins in recent program history.
Alabama might be the No. 1 team that bettors stay away from in Week 4.
The Crimson Tide have given us every reason to either fade them or avoid their games as a whole over the last two weeks.
Nick Saban's team lost at home to the Texas Longhorns and followed that up with one of the most underwhelming performances of Saban's tenure with a 17-3 win over the South Florida Bulls.
Ole Miss enters Tuscaloosa with the edge at quarterback. Jaxson Dart has been more reliable than any of the three quarterbacks used by Alabama.
But Dart's effectiveness could be hampered by his top playmakers not being at 100 percent.
Running back Quinshon Judkins played in Week 3, but he was listed as doubtful. Wide receiver Tre Harris, who has 188 yards and five touchdowns, was listed as out, per ESPN.com's Chris Low.
The two injury statuses must be monitored throughout the week, but it is not ideal for Lane Kiffin's team to have some substantial question marks going into Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Alabama is far from perfect, but if its defense contains Dart, its offense only needs 20-24 points to win and cover the spread.
The Crimson Tide held their two Group of Five foes to a combined 10 points and it took some time for Texas to find a rhythm against them, so it is not out of the question for them to win a low-scoring battle at home.
Colorado produced all sorts of warning signs about its potential in the Pac-12 in its double-overtime win over the Colorado State Rams.
The Buffaloes had to claw their way back into the home contest just to force the extra periods.
Now they have to travel to Autzen Stadium without two-way star Travis Hunter and attempt to contain an Oregon team with playoff aspirations.
Oregon is the first playoff contender Colorado will face, and if it struggled to contain Colorado State's offense, the concern is that Bo Nix and Co. will run rampant.
The 10th-ranked Ducks averaged 587 total yards and scored 174 points in their first three games.
Colorado's defense conceded 42 points in Week 1 and 35 points last week. That unit may not be able to hold up without Hunter against players of a much higher talent level than the teams it faced already.
Nix could use Saturday as a starting point for his Heisman Trophy campaign. The quarterback has 893 passing yards and eight touchdown passes, but he has not played a game in the national spotlight yet.
A year ago, Nix led Oregon to three 30-point performances in four Top 25 matchups. You can make the case that all of those defenses were better than Colorado's current unit.
If Colorado blew out Colorado State, the narrative around its Pac-12 opener might have been different, but after Saturday, it feels like its defense will be vulnerable to a high concession against a Heisman Trophy hopeful.
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