If you've become tired of the same old storylines in every college football season, Week 6 is a lovely departure from the norm.
On a day featuring Oklahoma and Texas, the Red River Rivalry is merely a sidebar. In fact, the showdown in Dallas isn't even the biggest game on the Big 12 calendar. That matchup, as if TCU isn't rare enough, includes Kansas.
Bleacher Report's experts—Max Escarpio, David Kenyon, Adam Kramer, Kerry Miller, Morgan Moriarty and Brad Shepard—are back for another week of projections, analysis and more.
Along with those Big 12 headlines, we have Utah taking on UCLA in a critical Pac-12 matchup, LSU hosting Tennessee in an SEC affair and some major questions to address at Texas A&M and Wisconsin.
What's the Best Matchup Outside the Top 25?
Max Escarpio
There’s a tremendous Big 12 battle this weekend featuring Oklahoma and Texas. With healthy lineups, this would be a runaway pick for the best matchup outside the Top 25, although both would likely be ranked if their star quarterbacks weren't already on the injury report.
Sooners quarterback Dillon Gabriel may return and Longhorns QB Quinn Ewers is reportedly set to play, but they’ll continue to be evaluated throughout the week. If they're in, these high-scoring offenses can highlight one of the biggest conference games of the season.
If the two signal-callers are unable to suit up this Saturday, other marquee matchups include North Carolina at Miami and Oregon State at Stanford. All of these games feature offenses that have the ability to light up the scoreboard.
Kerry Miller
Buddy, I'm going to rank the unranked options.
No. 5: Purdue at Maryland. The Terrapins are flying under the radar at 4-1, with the lone loss coming by seven points at Michigan. But Purdue knocked off Minnesota this past Saturday right when the Gophers started to look like a possible contender. We'll see if the Boilermakers can do it again.
No. 4: James Madison at Arkansas State. If Appalachian State couldn't do it in Boone, can anyone stop JMU from running the table in its first season at the FBS level? It's a shame the Dukes are ineligible for bowl season, but they're eligible for a great story and eligible for the AP Top 25. Win at Arkansas State, and maybe they find their way into next week's poll. (They're already No. 22 in our Top 25. Get with the program, AP.)
No. 3: UNLV at San Jose State. The 4-1 Rebels vs. the 3-1 Spartans? Is that even allowed? In seven of the last eight meetings, both of these MWC teams had a sub-.500 record. But we might have to start taking UNLV seriously as a threat to win the MWC if it wins this Friday night road game.
No. 2: Iowa at Illinois. Are the Illini actually good? Can Iowa avoid what would be its first 3-3 start since 2008? (Even the 4-8 team in 2012 started out 4-2.) Will either team score 17 points? Even if all three answers are "no," it should be an entertaining affair.
No. 1: The Red River Rivalry. It's the first time since 1998 that neither Oklahoma nor Texas is ranked for this annual contest. The losing coach is going to face some serious "hot seat" questions for the foreseeable future.