It's Big Ten vs. SEC Week.
No. 1 Ohio State at No. 4 Texas has been a red-letter game on the college football calendar for months, a litmus test in the debate over conference supremacy and possibly a factor down the road in College Football Playoff seeding but definitely not a knockout game.
The Big Ten-SEC undercard Saturday has No. 11 Oklahoma at Michigan and Mississippi State at Minnesota.
The Bryce Underwood-John Mateer quarterback matchup at the Big House lost some of its shine in the wake of Michigan's controversial, second-chance Hail Mary win over Western Michigan. The Wolverines punted six times, with three three-and-outs, and turned over the ball twice after scoring on their first possession. The Sooners' defensive-minded head coach, Brent Venables, surely was taking notes watching film.
Mississippi State is picked near the bottom of the SEC and can do the conference proud if it knocks off the Gophers on the road. The Bulldogs amassed a school-record 762 yards in a rout of Louisiana-Monroe. Minnesota's Anthony Smith-led defense is an entirely different challenge.
The SEC is a combined 16-0 through Week 1, including 10-0 against Bowl Subdivision opponents with an average winning margin of 38.7 points per game.
The Big Ten is 17-2 after Rutgers took a horrid loss against UMass and Wisconsin lost to a top-five Notre Dame. Of those 17 wins, only two were decided by fewer than 10 points.
Best game
No. 1 Ohio State (1-0) at No. 4 Texas (1-0), Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
This is the first regular-season top-five matchup since these teams met in Columbus last year, a 14-7 Buckeyes win.
There are stars aplenty with quarterbacks Julian Sayin and Arch Manning, receivers Jeremiah Smith and Cam Coleman and running backs Bo Jackson and Hollywood Smothers.
The key matchup is Smith vs. the Texas secondary. The Longhorns have done a fabulous job on him in their previous two meetings, holding him to one catch for 3 yards in a College Football Playoff semifinal and to six catches for 43 yards last season.
The Longhorns will be going for their first win over a No. 1 team since they beat Oklahoma 45-35 in 2008.
Heisman Trophy watch
Miami quarterback Darian Mensah needed no ramp-up time to get comfortable with his new team. Against Stanford, he did exactly what the No. 7 Hurricanes hoped he would when they offered him a pile of money to transfer from Duke.
Of course, it helps that Mensah has rising Heisman candidate Malachi Toney and fellow Duke transfer Cooper Barkate catching his passes.
Mensah shouldn't have to play much more than the first half when Miami hosts Florida A&M on Thursday night in a tuneup for next week's ACC opener at Wake Forest.
Numbers to know
6 — Consecutive seasons Notre Dame has returned an interception for a touchdown after DJ McKinney's 55-yard pick-6 against Wisconsin.
24 — Years since Clemson lost by as lopsided a score as its 51-10 defeat at LSU.
56.4% — National fourth-down conversion rate through Week 1. FBS newcomer North Dakota State has converted the most, going 5 for 6 over two games.
79 — Navy's consecutive wins when leading after the third quarter, the longest active streak in the nation.
2011 — The last time a Big 12 team visited Kyle Field before Arizona State plays at Texas A&M. That was the Aggies' final year in the Big 12.
Under the radar
Memphis (2-0) at Boise State (0-1), Saturday, 6 p.m. ET (USA)
The winner gets a leg up in the race for the Group of Six spot in the CFP assuming it wins its conference title.
The Tigers have been a revelation in the early going under new coach Charles Huff, knocking off UNLV on the road and beating Arkansas State at home. Huff brought in 61 transfers, including 20 of his 22 starters, and the Tigers could supplant Navy as the team to beat in the American Conference.
Boise State gave then-No. 2 Oregon all it could handle last week, confirming its status as the class of the new Pac-12. The Broncos haven't had a signature nonconference win since they beat Florida State on the road in 2019.
Hot seat
Rutgers' Greg Schiano this week lamented being the butt of jokes nationally after his team laid an egg against UMass and it won't be easy to change the narrative with the Scarlet Knights 3.5-point road underdogs against Boston College and Southern California coming up next week.
AJ Surace gets the start at quarterback against BC, but the Scarlet Knights' problems extend to defense. They allowed 397 yards to a UMass team that ranked last in the nation in offense in 2025.
Schiano followed back-to-back 7-6 seasons with a 5-7 campaign last year that ended with losses in seven of nine games. Schiano's contract runs through 2030, and he would be owed north of $17 million if he were fired after the season. That's no small amount for an athletic department deep in the red, but a change could be coming if Schiano doesn't make a bowl game.
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