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BURNING QUESTIONS

Five Week 4 Ponderings

1️⃣ Is Texas Tech a Big 12 title contender or just an expensive team with a ceiling?  

Texas Tech spent the offseason assembling an ultra-expensive roster, one like the Big 12 Conference has likely never seen. In poker terms, the Red Raiders pushed all their chips to the center of the table.

Tech has its quarterback in senior Behren Morton. It has reconfigured offensive and defensive lines. And it has enough skill position talent to change football games, or so they think.

Through three games of the still-young season, Texas Tech has done everything it's supposed to do. Win big and stay relatively healthy. That's the name of the game when you play a ho-hum three-game slate to open the season.

But now? That expensive, all-in roster is about to be put to its first big test of the season with a road trip to 16th-ranked Utah on the horizon.

We should find out a lot about the readiness of Texas Tech and whether the Red Raiders are serious Big 12 and College Football Playoff contenders by how this team performs on Saturday.

It's early, but the Utes look like the bullies of the Big 12, sporting a ground-and-pound offense, led by quarterback Devon Dampier, with some of the best offensive and defensive linemen in the league. Utah will be unlike anything Texas Tech has seen or will see the rest of the way.

One game referendums often don't tell the story of a season. But this one feels massive for head coach Joey McGuire. After gobs of money spent and an offseason of sky-high expectations, Saturday could give us a clue as to whether Texas Tech is a Big 12 title contender or an expensive team with a clear ceiling.

2️⃣ Year 3 Matt Rhule teams tend to take a leap. Does the Huskers' leap start with a win over Michigan? 

If history tells us anything, Year 3 Matt Rhule teams are a real thing.

When he was at Temple, the Owls went from 2-10 to 10-4 in Year 3. At Baylor, the Bears made a miraculous jump from one win to 11 during his third year in charge. Now, the Huskers sit at 3-0 and have a date with Michigan on the horizon.

Thus far, Nebraska has largely been untested. The Huskers opened the season with a cagey victory over a Cincinnati team I'm not sure is very good. What followed were huge blowouts against Akron and Houston Christian. Michigan should challenge Nebraska in unique ways. The Wolverines boast a hard-hitting defense, a strong running game, and a freshman quarterback with as much promise as any freshman in college football.

So what should we expect from Matt Rhule's bunch?

If Nebraska is truly poised to go up a level, it starts with beating Michigan at home. Last season, the Huskers fell short of a statement win against eventual national champion Ohio State. Then they got blown out by Indiana in another high-profile spot.

If it's going to happen, it feels like the time is now. Quarterback Dylan Raiola looks comfortable in the new Dana Holgorsen offense. The defense feels new, but it showed promise against the Bearcats in Week 1. And Matt Rhule is talking and acting like a man who knows he's on the precipice of something big.

Saturday should tell us a lot about this team. Are these the same old Huskers or a team on the verge of a leap? I can't wait to find out.

3️⃣ Can Jackson Arnold spoil Oklahoma's dream start in his return to Norman? 

Auburn's season-opening win over Baylor was anything but ordinary.

After the Tigers assembled a lethal wide receiving corps, traditional wisdom suggested that new quarterback Jackson Arnold would look to play the role of distributor, spraying the ball to playmakers Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton Jr. The game, however, didn't play out that way.

Opposite of Baylor gunslinger Sawyer Robertson, who finished the game with over 400 passing yards, Arnold threw for a measly 108 yards on 11 completions. He did change the game with his legs, chipping in a career-high 137 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. His ability to run the ball and extend drives was arguably the biggest factor in Auburn notching that first critical road win.

Fast forward to now, Arnold and Auburn are embarking on another big road trip, this time to Arnold's old stomping grounds in Norman, Oklahoma. Since the Baylor win, Auburn has taken care of business against lesser opponents and sits at 3-0. Similarly, OU rolled through Illinois State and Temple, with a primetime victory over Michigan sandwiched in there.

I can't wait to see how Arnold performs against a vaunted Brent Venables' defense. Against Michigan, the Sooners made UM quarterback Bryce Underwood look mortal. Venables' defenses have that effect on people.

Last season, Arnold struggled as the Sooners' signal-caller, ultimately losing his job. Now, he's got a chance at redemption in the place he once called home. Sometimes storylines write themselves.

4️⃣ Did Lane Kiffin do it again with QB Trinidad Chambliss?

In the lead-up to the season, Ole Miss fans were salivating at the prospect of quarterback Austin Simmons getting a full season in Lane Kiffin's offense. 

The charismatic coach has a track record of doing wonders for quarterbacks. Simmons, a two-sport spectacle, appeared primed and ready to take up the mantle from outgoing NFL quarterback Jaxson Dart.

But once a ball was snapped, things didn't exactly go as planned. In the season-opener against Georgia State, Simmons threw for 341 yards and three touchdowns, but tossed a pair of interceptions. The following week against Kentucky, Simmons threw another pair of interceptions, and this time, the yards and touchdowns didn't follow. Against the Wildcats, he suffered an ankle injury, limiting his availability for the Arkansas game, and opening the door for backup Trinidad Chambliss.

Chambliss, a former Division II superstar at Ferris State, transferred to Ole Miss in the spring portal window. Suddenly, after Simmons’ injury, Chambliss had his time to shine. And boy, did he.

Chambliss was phenomenal against Arkansas, leading the Rebels to a big SEC win, while putting up an ultra-impressive stat line of 25 completions for 412 yards and two touchdowns. Chambliss was so good that, in some corners of the college football Internet, people are whispering things like "quarterback battle" and calling Simmons the "Wally Pipp" of Ole Miss football.

It's difficult to say for certain whether Kiffin would be so willing to pull the plug on Simmons for a former three-star after just one game. But I'm here to tell you: Kiffin's done it again. It's only a one-game sample size (against a pretty questionable Arkansas defense), but in the spirit of overreaction, I'm here to report that little-known Trinidad Chambliss suddenly looks like one of the more exciting quarterbacks in the SEC.  

5️⃣ Were we wrong about the 2026 NFL QB draft class? 

Through 1/4th of the college football regular season, I'm starting to wonder if we were collectively wrong about this season's draft-eligible quarterback class.

Entering the season, draft experts were touting this class as "special" and predicting five or six quarterbacks to go in the first round. So far, I'm struggling to find many guys who are living up to the first-round hype.

Texas quarterback Arch Manning is playing like a guy with the yips or some mystery injury more than he is a top draft pick.

LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier has yet to take the top off any defenses and has greatly benefited from what appears to be a dynamite defense.

Clemson sits at 1-2, with quarterback Cade Klubnik looking afraid of the big moment.

Penn State's Drew Allar has thrown just three touchdowns and posted a 49.7 QBR through three cupcake games.

LaNorris Sellers has just two touchdown passes and hasn't hit top gear yet.

If anything, guys like Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia or Miami's Carson Beck have looked more "NFL ready" than the guys who got all the preseason hype.

This is not to say these guys can't be good, won't be good, or won't eventually look like first-rounders. But what's clear as day is that none of these guys have lived up to the hype through the early part of the season.

THE PODCAST

Your Week 4 Predictions Special is live!

We're calling it "Sock'em in the Mouth Saturday" – and for good reason. Week 4 has all the makings of a weekend where untested favorites get their first real taste of adversity. In this college football podcast episode, we dive deep into how teams might respond facing their first legitimate punch in the mouth.

We circle back on games discussed earlier in the week (Texas Tech vs TCU, Auburn vs Oklahoma, Illinois vs Indiana) and pose the most important questions about other marquee matchups in Week 4. Can a struggling Florida team find any answers on the road against a red-hot, in-state rival in Miami? Is this the weekend that Nebraska officially joins the Big Ten and CFP discussion with a win over Michigan? In the Battle for the Iron Skillet, should we expect another 100-point shootout between SMU and TCU, or can either questionable defense find a way to make a game-winning stop? And in a classic "styles make fights" matchup, will Baylor's undeniable offense be enough to overcome its struggling run defense, or can Arizona State control the clock and grind out a win on the road? We ask the important questions for all the biggest matchups.

We also hand out our locks of the week (what could go wrong?) and break down why this might be the optimal weekend to plant yourself in front of the TV all afternoon.

Finally, we discuss why USC might be the biggest wildcard in college football, as Lincoln Riley's squad has quietly assembled all the pieces for a disruptive season, and we break down why the Trojans could be a talking point sooner than later. Plus, we address the Clemson situation after Dabo's animated press conference.

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