Best College Football Games Today on TV | 2023 Week 5

(Here are two disclaimers for anyone who’s sick of the Buffs making an appearance in this column for the third time in five weeks:

1. Colorado turned a late-night regional rivalry game into ESPN’s fifth-most watched regular season college football game ever, and the ratings for last week’s paving against Oregon nearly tied Ohio State vs. Notre Dame. Coach Prime gets eyeballs! (And we’ve got bills to pay, man.)
2. Colorado’s schedule slows down after this week, so unless Arizona State suddenly gets way cooler, we promise we’ll take a Buffs break.)

On the field, this game boils down to the Pointing Spider-Man meme. Both teams have phenomenal quarterbacks (defending Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams and Shedeur Sanders), high-powered offenses (Trojans wideout Zachariah Branch is good for five highlights per game), and middling to bottom-dwelling defenses that could guarantee a buckets-of-points kind of game.

As for the implications, the Buffs are USC’s first defensive stress test this season. If the Trojans can keep them in check, they might finally be able to pair their best-in-class offense with a serviceable defense. It’ll also be USC’s first 12:00 p.m. game of the season, giving everyone their first chance to see Caleb Williams on a platform that’s not a pirated highlight on YouTube Shorts.

For Colorado, expectations finally returned to earth after last week’s 42–6 disemboweling at Oregon. But like jam band fans enjoying a four-hour show at Red Rocks, Buffs fans can still fall back on some positive vibes. Your team’s fun again! No one wins a national championship off the bat, Deion’s got the rebuild rolling, and the Boulder dispensary celebrity sightings will remain top-notch.

South Alabama made headlines after Week 3’s 33–7 upset win against Oklahoma State, and over in Mobile, Ala., the Jaguars have quietly been building a solid Sun Belt squad. Last year, South Alabama went 10–3, and their two regular-season losses were to Troy and UCLA by a combined five points.

Outside of a Week 1 clunker against Tulane, the Jaguars have performed well against their non-conference schedule. This week, they face off against an undefeated James Madison team that’s coming off a 45–38 win against Utah State and tied atop the Sun Belt standings with Georgia State.

Oklahoma had its growing pains under coach Brent Venables last year, but this season, they’re back to the scorched-earth Sooners outfit we’re used to seeing. Oklahoma nuked Arkansas State and Tulsa off the field, opened Big 12 play with a 20–6 win against Cincinnati last week, and currently rank a solid 10th in offensive yardage per game.

This week’s game against Iowa State doubles as a lesson in a movable force versus a stoppable object. For yet another year, the Cyclones have saddled an excellent defense with an unwatchable offense. Oklahoma should comfortably beat Iowa State, but they’ll be a good litmus test for the Sooners ahead of next week’s Red River Showdown against Texas.

(Let’s also take a moment to highlight the plight of Cyclones coach Matt Campbell, who went from reportedly turning down a $68.5 million NFL contract to getting heckled post-game by fans on the street. As always, take the bag of money when the bag’s in front of you.)

Oregon State kicks off its Pac-12 revenge tour this week against the Utes in Corvallis, Ore. On the field, the Beavers and resurgent quarterback DJ Uiagalelei blazed through their non-conference slate and narrowly lost to Washington State last week in a 38–35 squeaker.

Meanwhile, Utah gave UCLA quarterback Dante Moore a brutal welcome to the Pac-12 in a 14–7 Utes win. Utah’s gone a perfect 4–0 despite injuries to quarterback Cam Rising and a raft of other players—their gameplans have largely been built on a great defense alongside a MacGuyver-esque approach to offense with their available players.

Off the field, we’re Beavers and Washington State fans for purely chaotic neutral reasons. Rationally, we know it’d take a lot for either team to get past Oregon, Utah, and USC unscathed.

But after being shanked and pushed into a gorge by two-thirds of the Pac-12, how good would it be to have a Pac-12 Championship Game filled with triumphant Beavs or Cougs fans booing Pac-12 execs off the field? Dream the change you want to see in the world, folks.

Syracuse looks to continue its winning hot streak as they face off against the Tigers this week. Quarterback Garrett Shrader’s a do-it-all player for the Orange, as he’s paired a solid passing line (972 yards and a 6–3 touchdown touchdown-to-interception ratio) with an additional 316 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground.

This week’s game will also tell us a lot about Syracuse’s hot start. After Clemson, the Orange will play against ACC frontrunners UNC and Florida State.