BYU-UCLA, ND-GA Tech Headline College Football Schedule

Notre Dame-Georgia Tech and BYU-UCLA highlight this Saturday’s college football action.

The flagship universities for the two major religions won on late, long passes and now challenge our picks for ACC and Pac-12 champions last Saturday, with the winners thinking national championship. Five Big Ten-ACC games and six Pac-12-Mountain West games will impact conference rankings.

I picked Georgia Tech as a surprise playoff team, but only give them a two-point edge in their trip to Notre Dame, the Catholic flagship in the US. I picked UCLA to win the Pac-12, and the Bruins host the flagship of the Church of Latter Day Saints in a Brigham Young team that won twice on late bombs into the end zone.

A season-ending injury to Notre Dame (#8 AP) quarterback Malik Zaire seemed to end national title hopes, but back-up DeShone Kizer looked great in the comeback win, bringing back memories of Ohio State winning the title last year under similar circumstances. Georgia Tech (#14 AP) won by an average of 67-8 in their first two games, and if the Irish can stop them they will be in heavy consideration for the playoffs.

If No. 19 BYU follows two miracle come-from-behind wins with an undefeated season that includes road wins at No. 10 UCLA of the Pac-12 Saturday and later No. 22 Missouri of the SEC they would very likely make the four-team playoff. We have them as 9-point underdogs against the Bruins.

Here are the match-ups of all FBS teams listed by conference, with our projected margin and their percent chance of winning. Our conference standings to date are: 1). SEC +12 points better than average FBS team, 2). Big 12 +10, 3). Big Ten +9, 4). Pac-12 +8, 5). ACC +6, 6). American Athletic +0, 7). CUSA -7, 8). MAC -7, 9). Mountain West -11, 10). Sun Belt -15.

ACC: Five games against Big Ten and Georgia Tech vs. Notre Dame.

American Athletic: South Florida at Maryland may be best shot to build on last week, but all playing Power 5 conferences are double digit underdogs.

Big 12: Texas needs to win at home vs. Cal.

Big Ten: We have Illinois, Indiana and Northwestern all in exact toss-ups (+0), and Purdue and Nebraska as very tight games. With five virtual toss-ups, this week will prove a lot one way or the other.

Conference USA: They get shots at three of the five Power Conferences.

Independents: BYU and Notre Dame thinking playoff.

MAC: A Central Michigan win at Syracuse would built on a big last week.

Mountain West: It looks like another tough week – they need a couple of upsets after going 1-11 last year.

Pac-12: The two most populous states face off as Cal (39 million people) travels to Texas (27 million). Colorado must hold off Colorado State in one of six clashes with the Mountain West.

SEC: After stumbling last week, the SEC faces only three (easy) non-conference opponents.

Sun Belt: New Mexico State, South Alabama, and Texas State are the three teams with a chance.