Great games before, during, after Ohio State vs. Indiana today

A week after the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes clawed back to a thrilling victory over the Penn State Nittany Lions, OSU is back at the Horseshoe, hosting the Indiana Hoosiers in the 2018 Homecoming game.

The Bucks and Hoosiers will air on FOX at 4 p.m. ET, but there are other games to keep an eye on before, during, and after OSU takes the field.

Noon ET Window

No. 19 Texas vs. No. 7 Oklahoma | FOX

The day of games gets going right away with the first ranked vs. ranked matchup in the Red River Rivalry Shootout Showdown since 2012, as the No. 19 Texas Longhorns and the No. 7 Oklahoma Sooners face off at the site of the Texas State Fair. Tom Herman’s Horns have had impressive victories over TCU and USC so far this season (but let’s not forget their season opening loss to Maryland), but they are stepping up in weight class against the Sooners.

OU has won the last four matchups in the series and are favored by a touchdown. New quarterback Kyler Murray is averaging 349 yards of total offense through his first five games, and will look to claim his first signature victory as a starter today.

Maryland at No. 15 Michigan | ABC

Speaking of the Terrapins, they head to the state up north looking to capitalize on their 42-13 victory over Minnesota last weekend following their incomprehensible 35-14 drubbing by the Temple Owls the week before.

The Wolverines eked out a 20-17 win against Northwestern last week, and will look to get a victory, while staying healthy, before embarking on a brutal three game in four week stretch against No. 16 Wisconsin (10/13), No. 20 Michigan State (10/20), and No. 11 Penn State (11/3).

Afternoon Window

No. 5 LSU at No. 22 Florida | CBS

In the 30 minutes before you watch Ohio State and Indiana (and maybe flipping back and forth after OSU puts the game out of reach), check out former Buckeye backup quarterback Joe Burrow who has brought the Bayou Bengals back to the top 5 for the first time in two years. He will need to be on his game today though, as Dan Mullen’s Gators are tied for the national lead in takeaways with Kansas (?!?!) at 14.

After starting the season with some rocky stat lines, Burrow had his best outing as a starter in last week’s win over Ole Miss going 18-for-25 for 292 yards and 3 touchdowns. He’ll need more of that to come out of the Swamp still undefeated.

Evening Window

No. 13 Kentucky at Texas A&M | ESPN | 7:00 p.m. ET

The Kentucky Wildcats are 5-0. The Texas A&M Aggies are 3-2. However, the Aggies are a 5 ¹⁄₂ point favorite at home in this SEC matchup.

Kentucky’s Benny Snell, Jr.— a Westerville, Ohio native— has the fourth most rushing yards in the country thus far with 639, but the Aggies also boast the best rushing defense in the conference allowing only 85 yards per game. So, it stands to reason that this should be a classic strength vs. strength battle. If Mark Stoops’ team can get out of College Station with the victory, that will go a long way to validating their status as the surprise team in the SEC this year.

No. 6 Notre Dame at No. 24 Virginia Tech | ABC | 8:00 p.m. ET

For the Fighting Irish, this game could legitimately be for a berth in the College Football Playoff. With games remaining against Pitt, Navy, Northwestern, Florida State, Syracuse, and USC, the Domers don’t have a single ranked team remaining on their schedule following today’s trip to Blacksburg.

While certainly some of their future opponents could present a bit of a challenge, the back half of Notre Dame’s schedule is by far the easiest of any potential playoff team, especially considering that they don’t have a conference championship game waiting for them in the first week of December.

Also, who would have thought that the last, best chance to keep ND out of the CFP would fall to a team that lost by two touchdowns to Old Dominion?

Pac-12 (and Others) After Dark

Wyoming at Hawaii | Spectrum Sports PPV or Stadium App | 12:00 p.m. ET

On principle, I have a hard time recommending a game that’s on pay-per-view, even if you can watch it on an app for free, but you will never go wrong watching a Hawaii Rainbow Warriors game after midnight.

Check Saturday’s full slate of games here: