Week four of the 2017 College football season has begun. Here are some of the games, Georgia football fans can enjoy watching this Thursday through Saturday.
As Georgia football fans, lets hope this week is one rich in upsets. Right now, our Bulldogs are sitting right outside the top-10 at 11th in the country. Several teams in the top-10 this week are playing very formidable opponents and Georgia fans will want to keep an eye on those games this weekend.
Of course, all that is moot if Georgia cannot defeat Mississippi State so we should worry about our Bulldogs first before we worry about the rest of the nation. But with 12-plus hours of football set for Saturday, and more games throughout Thursday and Friday, there’s plenty for Georgia fans to watch around kickoff of our game at 7:00 p.m.
Thursday
7:30 – Temple at no. 21 South Florida
If you have a craving for college football this Thursday night, there’s only one option. But at least it’s a meeting of some importance. South Florida is ranked in the top 25 and are the favorites to win the American Conference. They’re also considered dark horse playoff contenders.
Temple on the other hand, are the defending AAC Champions. So don’t be surprised if these two have a rematch for the conference championship later this season.
Friday
8:00 – Virginia at Boise State
Virginia travels far west to meet Boise State on the smurf turf. If you miss the days when Boise State and their blue turf was a big deal, here’s a game you should tune into because it should be entertaining.
10:30 – no. 23 Utah at Arizona
Once you’ve had all you can stand of the smurf turf, change the channel to watch a more important contest. Arizona may be unranked, but they’ve been known to put together an eight or nine-win season every now and then.
Utah, however, have a Pac-12 Championship on their mind. A loss in this game would hurt those goals and see them fall outside of the top-25. What more could you ask for out of a Friday night game?
Saturday
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- Nick Chubb is America’s running back, and he will return
- Georgia Football: Should laundry list of injuries be a cause to panic?
- Georgia Football: Report cards for Week 3 game against South Carolina
12:00 – North Carolina State at no. 12 Florida State
The day gets started with an ACC match between one of the favorites to win the conference, versus a team that is no stranger to giving top ACC teams trouble. Florida State has not played since losing 24-7 to Atlanta the first week of the season. So they’ve had plenty of time to work with quarterback James Blackman who’s taking over for Deondre Francois.
North Carolina State will be a test for the true freshman. The Wolfpack are 2-1, but in their one loss, they vastly outgained South Carolina and only lost because of turnovers and Deebo Samuel’s punt return for a touchdown.
12:00 – Texas A&M at Arkansas
If you just need SEC action at noon, Texas A&M and Arkansas will have to suffice. With the rate both teams are going, neither will retain their head coach for next season. But it’s SEC, what more do you want?
3:30 – no. 1 Alabama at Vanderbilt
A month ago, who would have thought that this would be one of the biggest SEC games of week four? But here we are, both teams are undefeated with wins against top-25 opponents. Alabama began the year by beating then no. 4 Florida State while Vanderbilt defeated former no. 18 Kansas State last week.
Alabama is the clear favorites based on the stature of their program, their defense and quarterback Jalen Hurts. But don’t sell Vandy too short. They also sport one of the SEC’s best defenses and running back Ralph Webb is hard to stop if he gets going. This will be more entertaining than you’re being led to believe.
3:30 – no. 16 Texas Christian at no. 6 Oklahoma State
Here’s one of those games I mentioned earlier that Georgia fans should keep an eye on, and in case Alabama does end up blowing out Vanderbilt, here’s the game to watch. These are two teams with high goals for 2017 and those are to win the Big 12, go the playoffs and compete for a national title. A win over the other will go a long way towards achieving those goals.
But for us, a win for TCU means Georgia will likely climb into the top-10 with a win over Mississippi State later in the evening. We know what TCU is capable of, we met them in the bowl game and they led for a chunk of that game.
4:00 – no. 8 Michigan at Purdue
Again, here’s another game to watch Saturday for Georgia fans. A Michigan loss would certainly move Georgia into the top-10 next week. The Wolverines are sitting at no. 8 and looked good week one against Florida, but that’s a Florida team that dealt with a ton of suspensions.
Michigan is still a team that’s young and inexperienced on both sides of the ball and looked sloppy last week against Air Force. Purdue did not look sloppy however, they crushed Missouri on the road. They’ll be looking to take the momentum back home to play Michigan.
7:00 – no. 17 Mississippi State at no. 11 Georgia
Finally we get to our game. I shouldn’t need to tell you to watch this one. It’s the biggest game of the year so far and might be our biggest home game of 2017. Mississippi State is coming off a 37-7 drumming of LSU and quarterback Nick Fitzgerald is proving himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC.
A loss wouldn’t be devastating, especially considering how weak Florida and Tennessee are this year. But the confidence and momentum that would come from beating a top-20 team would be huge.
7:30 – no. 20 Florida at Kentucky
It’s hard to believe now, but Kentucky used to control the series with Florida. before 1967, Kentucky led the series 12-5. The Gators began to take over after that and by 1986, they had a slight 20-17 edge over the Wildcats. Since then, Florida has a 30-game winning streak over Kentucky. It’s the longest active win streak in the SEC
But, if there’s ever a year for Kentucky to beat Florida, it’s this year. The suspension problems are getting worse for the Gators, earlier this week, word broke that some of the suspended players are facing felony credit card charges. That will definitely lead to those players being dismissed from the team.
Florida is distracted, but Kentucky is also a good team. They play good defense and they’re coming off a big win over South Carolina. 2017 is looking like the year Kentucky finally beats Florida.
10:00 – no. 7 Washington at Colorado
The last game Georgia fans should pay attention to, especially if Georgia defeats Mississippi State is a rematch of the 2016 Pac-12 Championship Game. Washington is trying to bounce back from their loss in the Peach Bowl to return to the playoffs this year. Colorado is unranked despite being undefeated and finishing 2016 10-4.
The Buffaloes are a good team and should be considered contenders for the Pac-12 South Championship. They’re good enough to beat Washington. And Georgia will break into the top-10 if Colorado does so.
Next: Players who need to step up against Mississippi State
Sunday
12:00 East Carolina at Connecticut
If you haven’t had enough college football yet, there is one more game. A couple of American Conference bottom feeders kickoff an hour before the first NFL game. Plus, UConn’s quarterback is from Athens so if you like seeing local players succeed, you might not want to watch this because he has no help on offense.
But East Carolina is just as bad this season. So this game will either be an entertaining match-up between two evenly matched teams. Or it’ll be a sloppy mess. Either way, it’s college football on a Sunday. There isn’t an abundance of options.