Week four of the college football season is almost here. It's hard to believe that most teams across the country have already played three games and we are getting into conference play this week. The regular season is already 25% of the way done for a lot of teams. There are a lot good matchups this week, and arguably the best game of the week will be an SEC clash between the Oklahoma football team and Tennessee. This is the first SEC game ever for the Sooners, and they will be hosting the Volunteers for the huge matchup.
ESPN's College GameDay goes to the biggest game each week, and they will be heading to Norman, Oklahoma this weekend for this huge clash between Oklahoma and Tennessee. The Sooners are ranked #15 in the country and the Volunteers are ranked #6.
SEC battle. Two top-15 teams going at. Oklahoma's first ever SEC conference game. This is definitely one of the most intriguing matchups of the weekend, but there are a lot of other good matchups as well. This is technically week four, but this is the fifth week of the college football season as there were a few games in week zero before most teams kicked off.
In terms of ranked vs. ranked matchups this week, we have this Oklahoma-Tennessee clash, #22 Nebraska vs. #24 Illinois on Friday night, #11 USC plays #18 Michigan in Ann Arbor, and #12 Utah will hit the road to take on #14 Oklahoma State.
There are some other good matchups this weekend featuring ranked teams as well. For example, #21 Clemson has a big one at home in ACC play as NC State is coming to town. That should be a good game, and so should Georgia Tech vs. #19 Louisville, another matchup in the ACC.
Two other good games this week will feature Miami hitting the road to take on South Florida in their final non-conference clash of the season, and also #13 Kansas State hitting the road for a tricky matchup against BYU. All in all, there a lot of good matchups this weekend.
If you're an Oklahoma football fan, you couldn't really ask for a better matchup in the team's first ever SEC conference game. The Sooners made the move to the SEC this year from the Big 12, and they have a top-10 team coming to town this weekend to start conference play. This is a great opportunity for Oklahoma to show that they are a threat in the conference. Before we get into predictions for this matchup, let's look at where each team is at heading into this contest.
We will learn a lot about Oklahoma this week
The Oklahoma football team is 3-0 to start the season and they are ranked #15 in the country, but there are definitely some question marks surrounding the team. So far this season, the Sooners have taken down Temple, Houston and Tulane. Oklahoma looked good against the Owls, but they didn't look great in their other two matchups.
Oklahoma cruised past Temple in week one as they earned a 51-3 victory, and the Sooners looked great in that matchup. However, Oklahoma had a bit of a scare in week two as they struggled against Houston, only winning that matchup 16-12. Last week's was performance against Tulane was underwhelming as well. The Sooners won the game 34-19, but the Green Wave were down by only five points in the fourth quarter.
Wins are wins and Oklahoma is 3-0, but they are definitely going to need to play better this weekend against Tennessee if they want to come out with a win. The Volunteers are by far the best team that the Sooners will have faced to this point.
Tennessee has looked very good so far
The Tennessee football team has looked like one of the best teams in the country through three games, and that is why they are ranked #6 in the country. So far, the Volunteers have taken down Chattanooga, NC State and Kent State. The Wolfpack were ranked #24 heading into that big matchup, and it was supposed to be a pretty close game. Tennessee ended up winning 51-10.
The Volunteers have absolutely dominated every team in their way so far, but a road night game against Oklahoma presents a different type of challenge. The Sooners have a lot of talent on their squad, and having their home crowd behind them should give them an advantage. This should be a fun game to watch. Here are three predictions for the biggest game in week three:
Jackson Arnold will be held under 200 yards
Oklahoma football quarterback Jackson Arnold looked good in his debut, but he has struggled a little bit in his past two games. Now, he has to go up against one of the best teams in college football. The Volunteers have made life very difficult on opposing offenses this season, and they will do the same to Arnold and the Sooners. It's going to be tough sledding on Saturday night for Arnold, and he will not hit the 200 passing yards mark. Arnold has been the Oklahoma QB for just three games, and this will be by far his toughest challenge yet.
Oklahoma will score less than 17 points
The Oklahoma football team is going to have some trouble moving the football against Tennessee. The Sooners haven't looked great on offense the past couple of weeks and the competition that they are going up against this week will make things tough. The Volunteers haven't allowed more than 10 points in a game this year, and it's hard to imagine Oklahoma finding much more success than that. They won't get to 17.
Tennessee will win 28-13
We're going with a final score guess for our last prediction here. The Tennessee football team is simply the better team in this one, and they will end up winning comfortably on the road this weekend. Oklahoma's offense just isn't ready to win a game like this yet, but their defense and home crowd will keep them in it for awhile. The Volunteers will end up pulling away for a 28-13 win.
Tennessee and Oklahoma will kickoff from Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma at 7:30 ET/6:30 CT on Saturday night. The game will be airing on ABC, and the Volunteers are currently favored by a touchdown.