It's another great week of college football games, but once again, there are too many to watch all of them. With your viewing time being so precious, here are a few games worth watching.
No. 25 Maryland (4-0) vs. No. 8 Florida State (4-0, 2-0 ACC)
The Seminoles have shown they can put points on the board, averaging 51.2 points per game, but the Terrapins defense will be the stiffest test FSU has faced all year. The Terrapins defense is allowing only 10.3 points per game and will try to make FSU freshman quarterback Jameis Winston’s life difficult. Maryland ranks second in the country in sacks, averaging 4.25 per game.While it’s easy to focus on Winston, the freshman phenom who averages 293.5 total yards per game for the Seminoles, you really should take time to watch Maryland’s senior quarterback C.J. Brown. Brown currently ranks No. 12 in the country in total yards per game averaging 331.5 and is arguably more dangerous with his feet than with his arm.
West Virginia (3-2, 1-1 Big 12) vs. Baylor (3-0)
Living in Pac-12 country, we might assume nobody can put up points like the Oregon Ducks, but we'd be wrong in doing so. Cue the Baylor Bears, who run one of the most explosive and dynamic offenses in college football. Baylor’s offense ranks tops in the country in total yards per game (751.3), passing yards per game (444.3) and points per game (69.7). But not only is the Bears offense good, so is their defense. Baylor is only allowing 7.7 points per game, a fact that tends to be lost because of its ability to do ridiculous things on offense.West Virginia will have had about as much preparation as they could have had coming off a 30-21 win over Oklahoma State, which runs a comparable offense to Baylor. But nobody runs the up-tempo spread quit like Baylor and the Mountaineers will be hard-pressed to keep up.
Small School Game of the Week: East Carolina (3-1, 1-0 C-USA) vs. Middle Tennessee (3-2, 1-0, C-USA)
East Carolina hasn’t had a problem hanging with the big boys. In their last two games, the Pirates narrowly lost to Virginia Tech 15-10 and then turned around and beat North Carolina 55-31. The Pirates are led by junior quarterback Shane Carden, who is completing 72.6 percent of his throws for 1172 yards and 11 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Carden only has four interceptions.Middle Tennessee also faced the Tar Heels but fell to them 40-20. The Blue Raiders struggled with Florida Atlantic beating the 1-4 Owls 42-35 in overtime. Middle Tennessee has a duo of talented running backs in sophomore Jordan Parker and junior Reggie Whatley, though. Parker is the workhorse with 101 carries for 466 yards, while Whatley is more dynamic averaging 7.1 yards per carry.
This clash of Conference USA teams could have post season implications as well. The Blue Raiders and Pirates are the only teams in C-USA’s eastern division with winning records, and winning this game could go a long way when it comes time to see who plays in the conference championship game.
Reach the reporter at ejsmith7@asu.edu or follow him on twitter @EricSmith_SP
