Making the case for Drake Maye's Heisman Trophy candidacy: Here are the best Week 6 college football matchups
Posted October 6, 2022 4:00 p.m. EDT
Updated October 6, 2022 6:01 p.m. EDT
Week 6 of the 2022 college football season has many questions.
WRAL Sports anchor/reporter Chris Lea and WRAL senior multiplatform producer Mark Bergin try to answer some of them.
What’s your tweet-length take ahead of Week 6 of the college football season?
Bergin: New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge is the American League home run record holder, the MLB regular season is finished, and now college football fans can enjoy their games in peace. Everybody wins!
Lea: This weekend will start to show true separation in conference play all around the country. There are not a lot of consequential games, but the good teams will start to separate themselves.
What’s the best college football game of the weekend?
Bergin: Texas A&M paid a fortune for head coach Jimbo Fisher to consistently beat Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide.
In the offseason, the two coaches had beef over the role NIL plays in signing players. Last season, Fisher became the first Saban assistant to beat the legendary coach when the Aggies upset the Crimson Tide.
While Alabama enters as a 24-point favorite (8 p.m. ET, CBS), there are eerie similarities between this year’s game and the 2021 contest.
Given the rollercoaster of a season Texas A&M has had, and the uncertainty of whether Alabama quarterback Bryce Young will play due to his shoulder injury, I think this SEC West showdown lives up to the hype for the second consecutive season.
Lea: No. 8 Tennessee at No. 25 LSU (noon ET Saturday, ESPN) is the most exciting, non-ACC game of the weekend for me.
It looks like one of the most even matchups of the weekend, and it’s a good opportunity for Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker to show he’s one of the better quarterbacks in the nation. Hooker is a Greensboro native and has quarterbacking in his family. This will be a huge platform and a huge game for him to help catapult the Vols deeper in the top 10, and keep his name at the top of the Heisman conversation.
What’s the best ACC game of the weekend?
Bergin: Florida State @ No. 14 NC State (8 p.m. ET Saturday, ACC Network).
How will NC State respond after losing to Clemson on the road in primetime?
Clemson has a stout defensive line again. However, I’m still trying to wrap my brain around why NC State sophomore running back Demie Sumo-Karngbaye – the team’s leading rusher who is averaging 6 yards per carry – had only eight touches against Clemson.
Sumo-Karngbaye left the first half of the Sept. 24 game against UConn with an injury. Perhaps he’s trying to return to full health.
Like NC State, Florida State enters with a 4-1 record coming off a loss. The Seminoles will look to regroup after losing to Wake Forest.
Lea: I’m most interested in the UNC at Miami game (4 p.m. ET Saturday, ESPN2). That game will show us which team has a real chance to win the ACC Coastal division this year.
Predict the biggest upset this weekend in college football
Bergin: Washington State upsets No. 6 USC as 13-point underdogs (7:30 p.m. ET Saturday, FOX).
Here’s the case: USC’s offensive line faces a tough test to protect quarterback Caleb Williams.
Last Saturday, redshirt junior Gino Quinones stepped in at right guard in place of injured team captain Justin Dedich. Quinones fewer than two dozen snaps of game experience. Quinones hadn’t played a snap on the offensive line during his three previous seasons.
Dedich remains limited in practice.
Washington State ranks third nationally in tackles for a loss (44) and seventh in sacks (18).
Cougars linebacker Daiyan Henley leads the Pac-12 in tackles for a loss (9.5) and ranks third in sacks (four).
USC left tackle Courtland Ford didn’t play against Fresno State or Oregon State while recovering from an ankle injury. Ford did play some last Saturday, but USC turned instead to its other experienced left tackle, Bobby Haskins, for the second half.
USC is also coming off its lowest rushing total of the season (137 yards).
If the Cougars can consistently pressure Williams, it could lead to an upset.
Lea: None. The ranked teams who are supposed to win will win.
Who is your way-to-early Heisman pick?
Bergin: Alabama’s 49-26 win over Arkansas was closer than the final score indicated.
However, Crimson Tide running back Jahmyr Gibbs provided not one, but two nails in the coffin to prevent the Razorbacks from pulling off an upset. Gibbs had touchdown runs of 72 yards and 76 yards.
During the 72-yard scamper, Gibbs hit a top speed of 22.8 miles per hour. It is the fastest recorded time this year in college football or the NFL.
Alabama’s offensive line has dominated the line of scrimmage so far this season, ranking second in the country at 7.4 yards per carry, trailing only TCU.
Gibbs is also an effective pass-catcher out of the backfield: He leads the team with 19 receptions, ranks third with 207 yards and has the second-most receiving touchdowns (three).
Quarterback Bryce Young will be working his way back from a shoulder injury. Plus, Alabama doesn’t have the elite-level receiver talent as in years’ past.
With Alabama trying to establish young receivers this season to replace previous years’ production, it provides an opportunity for Gibbs.
Alabama’s Derrick Henry was the last running back to win the Heisman trophy during the 2015 season. Perhaps Gibbs is next in line.
Lea: Drake Maye. Right now, his numbers are incredible and not something you’d expect from a redshirt freshman.
Through five games he has thrown for just under 1,600 yards, 19 touchdowns with only one interception.
Maye’s team doesn’t give him the best shot to get a Hesiman look, but we’ve seen another ACC quarterback win the Heisman recently whose team didn’t give him much help – Lamar Jackson in 2016.
Maybe Maye will be able to turn more heads and get enough attention from national writers if he keeps up this production.
Which team will Lee Corso pick during ESPN’s “College GameDay” broadcast? TCU or Kansas?
Bergin: First off, I hope Corso is feeling better after he missed the “College GameDay” broadcast for the NC State-Clemson game. The show’s ending wasn’t the same without Corso.
Because “College GameDay” has never been to Lawrence, Kansas, for football, I think Corso becomes infatuated with the Jayhawk bird. I think he picks the 7-point underdog Jayhawks to continue their winning ways led by quarterback Jalon Daniels.
Also, I can’t believe I’m more excited for TCU @ Kansas than the Red River Rivalry. For the first time since 1998, Texas and Oklahoma are set to meet as unranked teams.
Lea: I think Corso will choose Kansas. What a story! The Jayhawks aren’t supposed to be here as a ‘football’ powerhouse, but they are 5-0 this season with huge momentum.
Now, they’re hosting “GameDay” for the first time ever, there’s no way Corso can pick against that!
What will Sunday’s headline be?
Bergin: Hendon Hooker gets Tennessee off to 5-0 start to set up the “Third Saturday in October” showdown with Alabama. It feels like ̶'̶9̶8 2016.
Lea: North Carolina’s ACC teams continue historic simultaneous start to the season
