Three of those ranked bouts will feature Pac-12 Conference members, and the conference couldn’t have gotten out to a better start to the year beginning 17-0. 

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This week’s top-10 game will take place in South Bend, Indiana, while the No. 1 Bulldogs and No. 2 Wolverines will play at home and No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Florida State will be on the road. 

Here are several games to watch this week. 

No. 16 Oklahoma at Cincinnati 

The first Big 12 matchup between the Sooners and Bearcats will take place at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati, and both teams will bring an amount of momentum that will make for a competitive contest. 

No. 16 Oklahoma is 3-0 to start the season under second-year head coach Brent Venables, who recalled the challenge and prestige the Cincinnati football program has attained in recent years. 

“That’s a team that used to winning,” Venables said. “They have high standards when they play at home or when they play on the road, but it’s going to be a, again, a great atmosphere. they got a strong culture, great belief system. Those players expect success. And again, they had a tough loss in overtime. They were a play away from winning the game so I’m sure they’ve got great perspective. They haven’t lost their mind through a little adversity, and they’ll be ready to compete.” 

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Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel earned a place on this week’s Big Board after a big outing last week. Gabriel set the program record with a 90.3% completion against Tulsa, and he added five touchdowns and 421 passing yards. 

Saturday will mark Cincinnati’s first-ever Big 12 game, and it comes with high stakes. The Bearcats suffered a home rivalry loss to Miami (OH) in overtime a week ago. 

Gabriel will go against Cincinnati quarterback Emory Jones, who started the season hot with five touchdowns in Week 1 and has seven touchdowns and a 66.3% completion rate this far. 

No. 19 Colorado at No. 10 Oregon 

Colorado’s hype train is about to face its biggest test of the season. 

The No. 19 Buffaloes eked out an overtime win over rival Colorado State in Week 3, taking a 43-35 victory and riding momentum between a 3-0 start to the year. 

READ: Quotables: Week 3 

Across the field in Week 4 will be the No. 10 Ducks who entered the top-10 for the first time this season. Oregon head coach Dan Lanning earlier this season took a big picture approach and questioned whether Colorado has “won anything” in its program history. 

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders had only respect for Lanning and the way he runs the Oregon program. 

“I respect the heck out of this man. What he’s accomplished stepping in, taking over a program and keeping it not only rocking steady, but accelerating it,” Sanders said. “I’m not a fan of anybody I mean, except for, you know, some of the celebrities that got a tremendous gift but not in sports — I respect the heck out of him. I love what he’s accomplishing. I love who he is, the way he runs his team. I love the way he operates. So I’ve got a lot of respect for him.” 

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Lanning said he didn’t regret what he said about Colorado’s program and clarified that he wasn’t talking about Sanders’ team specifically. 

Ducks quarterback Bo Nix and Oregon have outscored opponents 174-47 so far this season. Nix has 893 passing yards and eight touchdowns along with no interceptions this season. 

Lanning said the Pac-12 is off to a great start this season and that only showcases the talent the conference has, and a lot of it will be on display between Colorado and Oregon on Saturday. 

“I think there’s a lot of great teams in this conference and I think that’s really evident with how they’ve performed outside of the conference,” Lanning said. “We kind of talked to our players about, ‘Hey, preseason (is) over, right. You’ve been playing opposing conferences, other teams but now this is when we get into the meat and potatoes of what really matters for us and our goals that we want to accomplish.’ So there’s some great teams. I think we’ll continue to see that each week. I think we have a really tough schedule, and certainly a tough opponent coming up here this week.” 

No. 6 Ohio State at No. 9 Notre Dame 

In a rematch of last season, the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish will meet to determine which top-10 team this time around has the edge over the other. 

READ: SMU raises $100 million in 1 week to support transition to ACC 

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman will look to upend his alma mater at home when the Fighting Irish host the Buckeyes at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Buckeyes took a big season-opener a year ago 21-10 in a game that showed both defenses were strong. 

Offense in this matchup will likely take the focus. Ohio State will trot out Kyle McCord at quarterback, as he is in his first year as starter, while Notre Dame will do the same with Sam Hartman. 

Hartman has played like a veteran. After four games, he leads the NCAA with 13 touchdown passes and has 1,061 passing yards. 

McCord and Ohio State will face a different level of adversity. McCord has had his fair share of ups and downs to start his campaign, but has settled in well and has thrown 815 yards with six touchdowns albeit alongside an interception. 

In a battle between two highly ranked, top-10 teams, Saturday will give way to one team over the other and show which is ready for the limelight after four weeks of the season. 

“This is, again, a top-10 game on the road and this is why, again, these are the kind of games why you come to Ohio State,” Day said. “This is an exciting series because it’s not something that happens very often. Ohio State-Notre Dame, two of the bigger teams in the Midwest getting together for a home-and-home. Last year’s atmosphere was electric. It’ll be the same way on Saturday night so our guys are really fired up for this.” 

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Deion Sanders and Colorado began Saturday with an upset of then-No. 17 TCU, emerging from a four-quarter battle victorious 45-42 and knocking the Horned Frogs out of this week’s Associated Press Top 25. 

Riley Leonard and Duke pulled off one of the bigger upsets of Week 1. The Blue Devils tangoed with Clemson during the first half and pulled away in the second, thanks in large part to their defense forcing three turnovers. 

Caleb Williams maintained his footing in this season’s early Heisman Trophy race. He has some contenders to compete against, and this week will feature several Heisman hopefuls play one another including in a showdown between Quinn Ewers and No. 11 Texas and the No. 3 Crimson Tide and Jalen Milroe. 

Here are several players and notes to keep a tab on in this week’s Big Board. 

Emory Jones, Cincinnati 

Jones had one of the more prolific performances in all of college football against Eastern Kentucky on Saturday. 

Jones collected Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honors after being responsible for seven touchdowns, throwing for five and rushing for two. He broke a Cincinnati program record in the process. 

The Arizona State transfer welcomed himself to Cincinnati well in his first game as a Bearcat. Jones willed Cincinnati to touchdown scores during each of its first six drives, and the Bearcats comfortably held a 42-7 halftime lead thanks in large part to Jones. 

Jones completed passes to 10 different receivers. He looked for no one more than receiver Xzavier Henderson to whom Jones found seven times for 149 yards. 

Cincinnati played more than well enough in its first game as a member of the Big 12. Jones should have the Bearcats involved in competitive matchups as the season continues whether he’s making 40-plus yard touchdown passes or diving across the goal line for a score on 4^th and goal. 

Jalen Milroe, Alabama 

Milroe and the Crimson Tide have a tall task ahead of them when they host future Southeastern Conference member Texas on Saturday. 

Not to be overlooked is Milroe’s first performance as Alabama’s starting quarterback. Milroe had his hand involved in five touchdowns on the day, throwing three through the air and rushing for two more. 

Milroe threw for 194 yards and completed 72% of his passing attempts. He also was Alabama’s leading rusher and ran for 48 yards on seven carries. 

Milroe went on to earn SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors as his 217.8 passing efficiency rating ranked No. 9 among quarterbacks. 

Alabama appears to have found its successor to Bryce Young from a season ago. Young kept opponents off balance with his ability to sling the ball down the field and take off and run to make plays, and Milroe showed he can step up and do similarly for Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide program. 

Michael Penix Jr., Washington 

The journey for Michael Penix Jr. has been a thorough one. 

Since suffering a torn ACL and transferring from Indiana, Penix appears to have found his home at Washington — and he helped the Huskies to a big 56-19 win over Boise State in the season opener. 

Penix threw for an eye-popping 450 yards against the Broncos, and he had a balanced game in which he threw for over 200 yards in each half. 

He had three touchdown passes of 20 yards or more in the victory. A veteran of six seasons, Penix displayed both his grasp on Washington’s playbook and his ability to be a dangerous passer, somethings that could help him go far in a possible Heisman Trophy-caliber campaign. 

Shedeur Sanders, Colorado 

Sanders and his father who doubles as his head coach Deion Sanders could have their own places on this week’s Big Board, and it would be worthwhile to include cornerback and wide receiver Travis Hunter in addition to other Buffaloes as well. 

Shedeur Sanders, who played quarterback at Jackson State each of the past two seasons, embraced the challenge of competing with a new team on a new stage. 

And he thrived. 

Colorado fueled itself off the arm of Shedeur Sanders, who ended up throwing for a program-record 510 yards in the Buffaloes’ 45-42 victory over then-No. 17 TCU. He completed 81% of his passes and four of which went for touchdowns. 

The former Southwest Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year went 38-for-47 on the football field and came through with the go-ahead touchdown pass to Dylan Edwards late in the fourth quarter. Shedeur Sanders also landed a spot on the rise in CBS Sports 2024 NFL Draft quarterback rankings, and his stock is on the rise. 

Caleb Williams, USC 

Williams returns to the Big Board after another strong week in defense of his Heisman Trophy that he earned a season ago. 

A week removed from throwing four touchdowns in the season-opener against San Jose State, Williams upper the ante and threw for five this time around as No. 6 USC moved past Nevada 66-14. 

Williams’ nine passing touchdowns are three more than the next closest quarterback in the NCAA. His 236.42 passing efficiency rating is fourth-best among quarterbacks, and Williams has shown every bit of his ability across the first two games. 

Williams found freshman standout Zachariah Branch, who had two touchdowns including a 96-yard kickoff return during his collegiate debut in Week 0, on a 22-yard score in the first quarter against the Wolfpack. 

He had three more touchdown passes in the first half and finished 18-for-24 with 319 passing yards. Williams is just warming up to play this season, and his dynamic ability to create a play — he had three carries for 42 yards — makes him a constant threat week after week. 

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