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ESPN staff
We’ve hit October, and Week 6 already snuck up on us. Consider this your pumpkin spice-flavored guide to everything you need to know about another big Saturday across the college football landscape. We’ve got the Top 25 games, including a big Auburn-Florida top-10 battle of unbeatens, and an Iowa team hoping to prove it’s for real against Michigan, which has some proving to do itself. Here are all the picks, tips and news you need to know.
Jump to: Top 25 games | Best of Week 6
Injury updates and latest news
Picks and gambling tips
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Scott Van Pelt makes his predictions against the spread with Auburn-Florida and Texas-West Virginia among the games.
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Here’s a look at the week’s betting trends. One good one: Auburn is a road favorite. Since 1978, in a matchup of two undefeated AP top-10 teams at least four games into a season, the road favorite is 5-16 against the spread.
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These betting tips are based on practice reports and coaches’ media conferences.
College GameDay going to Ireland in 2020
For the first time, College GameDay is going overseas next season, heading to Dublin, Ireland for the Navy-Notre Dame game to be held on Aug. 29 in the 2020 Aer Lingus College Football Classic at Aviva Stadium.
This will be the third time Navy and Notre Dame have played in Dublin with the two playing in 1996 at Croke Park and in 2012 at Aviva.
Top 25 games
In order of game time; all lines courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook
Utah State at No. 5 LSU
Time: Noon ET
How to watch: SEC Network and ESPN App
Line: LSU – 27
And our best line: Burrow’s 80.6% completion percentage is the best in the FBS, and he ranks second in yards per attempt (12.3) and yards per game (380).
No. 6 Oklahoma at Kansas
Time: Noon ET
How to watch: ABC and ESPN App
Line: Oklahoma – 32
And our best line: Jalen Hurts is one of two players in the past 15 years to average at least 300 passing and 100 rushing yards per game in his team’s first four games over the past 15 years, joining Lamar Jackson in 2016, when he won the Heisman Trophy.
Kent State at No. 8 Wisconsin
Time: Noon ET
How to watch: ESPNU and ESPN App
Line: Wisconsin – 35
And our best line: Jonathan Taylor is 186 rushing yards away from passing Melvin Gordon for the third-most career rushing yards in Wisconsin history. Taylor has nine career games with at least that many rushing yards.
Purdue at No. 12 Penn State
Time: Noon ET
How to watch: ESPN and ESPN App
Line: Penn State – 28.5
And our best line: Purdue averages 2.6 yards per rush, third worst in the FBS. Penn State’s defense allows just 1.9 yards per rush, third best in the FBS.
No. 14 Iowa at No. 19 Michigan
Time: Noon ET
How to watch: Fox
Line: Michigan – 3.5
And our best line: Michigan has lost four straight games to an AP-ranked Iowa team. The Wolverines’ last such win came in 1997, when they shared the national championship.
No. 21 Oklahoma State at Texas Tech
Time: Noon ET
How to watch: FS1
Line: Oklahoma State – 10
And our best line: Chuba Hubbard has 938 rushing yards — including three 200-yard games — this season, with nearly 300 more yards than any other player in the FBS (J.K. Dobbins‘ 654 is second).
No. 7 Auburn at No. 10 Florida
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
How to watch: CBS
Line: Auburn – 2.5
And our best line: Auburn QB Bo Nix faces a Florida defense that is tied for second in the FBS with 24 sacks. Nix’s 24% completion rate when pressured ranks 121st out of 126 qualified quarterbacks this season.
Bowling Green at No. 9 Notre Dame
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
How to watch: NBC
Line: Notre Dame – 45.5
And our best line: Bowling Green is allowing 221 rushing yards per game, 11th in the MAC and 117th in the FBS. Notre Dame’s Tony Jones Jr. ran for a career-high 131 yards and three touchdowns last week.
No. 11 Texas at West Virginia
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
How to watch: ABC and ESPN App
Line: Texas – 10
And our best line: The Texas defense has allowed 314.5 passing yards per game (124th in FBS), but WVU QB Austin Kendall has been inefficient on throws 20 yards downfield, completing 22.2% (109th in FBS) and being off target on 66.7% (124th in FBS).
No. 3 Georgia at Tennessee
Time: 7 p.m. ET
How to watch: ESPN and ESPN App
Line: Georgia – 24.5
And our best line: Tennessee has lost 21 straight games against AP top-5 opponents since beating No. 4 LSU in 2005, the third-longest such streak in SEC history.
No. 25 Michigan State at No. 4 Ohio State
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
How to watch: ABC and ESPN App
Line: Ohio State – 20
And our best line: Ohio State has won the past three meetings, including the previous two by a combined 65 points. But the Spartans have won in two of their past three visits to Columbus.
Tulsa at No. 24 SMU
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
How to watch: ESPNU and ESPN App
Line: SMU – 13
And our best line: SMU is off to a 5-0 start for the first time since 1983. A win would give the Mustangs their first start of 6-0 or better since 1982, when the Eric Dickerson/Craig James-led squad won its first 10 games and finished 11-0-1 and ranked second in the final AP poll.
California at No. 13 Oregon
Time: 8 p.m. ET
How to watch: Fox
Line: Oregon – 20
And our best line: Oregon has won nine of the past 10 meetings, with Cal’s only loss in 2016. The Golden Bears have not beaten the Ducks in Eugene since 2007.
No. 15 Washington at Stanford
Time: 10:30 p.m. ET
How to watch: ESPN and ESPN App
Line: Washington – 15
And our best line: Washington is seeking its first win in Palo Alto since 2007. The Huskies’ five-game road losing streak is tied for their longest in series history.
No. 16 Boise State at UNLV
Time: 10:30 p.m. ET
How to watch: CBS Sports Network
Line: Boise State – 23
And our best line: UNLV, which has never been ranked in the AP poll, is 4-41 against ranked opponents and has lost 21 straight such games. The last time the Rebs defeated a ranked opponent was 2008 against No. 15 Arizona State.
What the games mean
Cincinnati 27, No. 18 UCF 24 (Friday)
You can’t really beat UCF with speed, but on Friday night at Nippert Stadium, Cincinnati outdid the Knights — barely — with everything else: physicality, tactics, takeaways, field position and a crowd as boisterous as the one typically found at UCF’s Bounce House. Cincy is now in the AAC East driver’s seat, and Josh Heupel’s Knights are facing more adversity than they have in a while: They’ve now lost twice in three games for the first time since late 2016. — Bill Connelly
Best of Week 6
The story behind the alternate uniforms
Louisville is honoring Muhammad Ali, a Louisville native, with black-and-white uniforms featuring typography that mimics Ali’s boxing robe.
Fresh 🔥 from @adidasFballUS for this weekend!#BeatBC | #GoCards pic.twitter.com/lhPQj49GEZ
— Louisville Football (@UofLFootball) October 1, 2019
Ole Miss will pay tribute to Chucky Mullins, who was paralyzed 30 years ago this week while making a tackle and died two years later from a pulmonary embolism. The Rebels will wear the same powder-blue helmets and uniform combination that Mullins wore in that game.
To honor Chucky and the significance of this game 30 years ago, the Rebels will take Hollingsworth Field in the same uniform as that day.#NeverQuit 3️⃣8️⃣ #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/RqNeJrmPUq
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 3, 2019
A Cinderella story
First, Cincinnati ended UCF’s 19-game conference winning streak. Then, Cincinnati football’s twitter account added a extra sprinkle of pixie dust.
FINAL:
Cincinnati 27
#18 Central Florida 24 pic.twitter.com/pGxu42SvqB— Cincinnati Bearcats (@GoBEARCATS) October 5, 2019
Fight or flight
In the mood to get weirdly creeped out by the fight song of the Montana Grizzlies? Watch Dateline’s Keith Morrison read the lyrics.
Honoring Florida trailblazers
Leonard George and Willie Jackson, Florida’s first two African-American players, will serve as honorary captains for Saturday’s Florida-Auburn game to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Gators team.
Playing lights out
There was a bit of an outage during Temple’s 27-17 win over East Carolina on Thursday night.
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The lights cut out as Temple WR Jadan Blue is being tackled at East Carolina.