4 key games highlight college football weekend

For college football’s elite, it’s more than just winning a game this weekend.

That’s because the only rankings that matter will appear for the first time Tuesday, and the Final Four committee will be playing close attention to what unfolds Saturday at Ohio State, Notre Dame, Clemson and Iowa State.

Ohio State is a 6½-point favorite against Penn State, a year after the Buckeyes were upset 24-21 at Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions went on to win the Big Ten championship, and they still remember being bypassed on selection day by the Buckeyes. The point here is that folks have been saying the Buckeyes will gain redemption, but I’m thinking that Penn State is still fueled by last year’s snub.

Saquon Barkley leads the country in all-purpose yards, and he has scored a touchdown in 14 consecutive games for the Nittany Lions. A week ago, Barkley and Penn State crushed Michigan 42-13. Ohio State coach Urban Meyer is certainly aware of that. As he put it, Barkley is “as good an all-purpose running back as we’ve seen, and that’s 30 years.”

Still alive for the playoff, North Carolina State makes its first visit to South Bend, Indiana, in what could be an elimination match. In a game between 6-1 teams, Notre Dame is a 7½-point favorite. The Irish are 6-1 against the spread, but the Wolfpack are 3-4.

The most impressive stat belongs to N.C. State quarterback Ryan Finley. He has thrown the ball 248 times with no interceptions. His 313 straight passes without being picked off go back to last year, giving him the longest streak in the country.

The showdown, though, will be on the line of scrimmage when Notre Dame has the football. NFL scouts say two Irish seniors — left tackle Mike McGlinchey and left guard Quenton Nelson — have “first round” written all over them.

On the other side of the line is N.C. State’s Bradley Chubb, another top-five pro prospect. He and the rest of the Wolfpack defense will be challenged trying to stop Notre Dame’s Josh Adams, who has rushed for 967 yards, seventh-best in the nation.

Clemson is a 14-point favorite against a Georgia Tech team that could be undefeated. The Yellow Jackets lost 42-41 in double overtime in their season opener against Tennessee and 25-24 at Miami (Florida) two weeks ago.

The Tigers are coming back two weeks after losing at Syracuse. Clemson has not lost back-to-back games since 2011. That was 78 games ago, and they have no room for error now. As coach Dabo Swinney said, “The story is all about how you respond, how you grow, how you develop. When you get beat, it’s an awesome opportunity to teach.”

The under-the-radar game that the committee might be paying more attention to than you might think finds undefeated Texas Christian at Iowa State, where Cyclones coach Matt Campbell has put together a dangerous 6½-point underdog. I think the two blue-chip openings after the season will be at Nebraska and Tennessee. I have every reason to believe that Campbell’s agent has been contacted by both schools.

The winners of these four games are going to see their names in bright lights. The losers still will be getting ready for bowl games, but they probably won’t be Jan. 1 semifinals in Pasadena, California, and New Orleans.

Brent Musburger’s betting column appears Saturday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. His show on the Vegas Stats & Information Network can be heard on SiriusXM 204 and livestreamed at reviewjournal.com/vegas-stats-information-network.