Week 10 Viewing Guide: A College Football Playoff-Caliber Showdown, Three Ranked Matchups in Primetime, and Marcus Freeman vs. Dabo Swinney

Nooners

Texas Tech vs. #7 TCU, 12 p.m. on FOX

Another early kickoff for Ohio State gratefully coincides with another weak early window. Buckeye fans won't miss much while watching their favorite team slog it out against Northwestern amid what may prove to be a Midwestern November hurricane in Evanston. However, the Big 12 does offer one game worth consideration of flipping to during commercial breaks.

TCU continues to roll through its schedule on the way to what would be the school's first appearance in the conference championship since 2017, but the Horned Frogs have had a habit of making games closer than they would like. Five of their last six meetings have finished with a winning score of 10 points or less, including all four of their games since dismantling Oklahoma on the first day of October. Even so, Max Duggan has kept up his sharp command of TCU's offense, most recently putting up his fourth 300-yard passing performance of the season in last weekend's win over West Virginia.

Taye Barber 71-yard house call#Big12FB x @TCUFootball

@ESPN pic.twitter.com/m63q1kFNOB

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) October 29, 2022

As for Texas Tech, the Red Raiders played arguably their worst game of the 2022 campaign last week in the team's 45-17 loss to Baylor. However, Tech played five consecutive AP Top 25 opponents from mid-September through the start of October, and remained competitive in each game while managing to beat both Houston and Texas in overtime. Joey McGuire's defense still owns a top-15 success rate against passing plays despite his team's stout competition through the first two months of the season, so Duggan should still have a solid test in front of him today as the Horned Frogs tune up for the Longhorns next week.

Afternooners

#1 Tennessee vs. #3 Georgia, 3:30 p.m. on CBS

One of the most important games of the regular season will commence in the afternoon. Today's bout between the Bulldogs and Volunteers should ultimately decide the winner of the SEC East and likely which of these teams will still have the ability to make the College Football Playoff.

After Tennessee dismantled Kentucky 44-6 last weekend, quarterback Hendon Hooker overtook C.J. Stroud as the current betting favorite for the Heisman Trophy. The win marked Hooker's second effort with over 250 total yards of offense and four touchdowns this season, and the senior still has yet to throw any interceptions outside of the Volunteers' win over Alabama last month.

Hendon Hooker finds Jalin Hyatt for the early TD pic.twitter.com/fMepqo0jLb

— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) October 29, 2022

Despite Tennessee claiming the top spot in the initial CFP rankings earlier this week, Georgia still enters this game as roughly a touchdown favorite and with the aids of home-field advantage and championship experience. In this week's Eleven Warriors Roundtable, two of the three staff members chose the Bulldogs to come out on top, so feel free to check out the discussion for those curious about how this game should play out.

Michigan State vs. #16 Illinois, 3:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network

☣ H A Z A R D  ☣  W A R N I N G ☣

There are two games on in the afternoon featuring ranked Big Ten teams against schools in the Big Ten East with 3-5 overall records. For the conference loyalists that refuse to watch SEC football out of principle, the clash featuring the first-place team in the Big Ten West appears to be the optimal viewing choice as opposed to Buckeye fans looking behind to Penn State or ahead to Indiana.

Fighting Illini running back Chase Brown continues to impress, as the leading rusher in college football has yet to post less than 100 yards on the ground in any contest this season despite amassing only five rushing touchdowns through eight games. Last week, Brown posted over 160 total yards and a pair of scores in Illinois' win over Nebraska on the road.

If Illinois' playing, Chase Brown's having himself a day.

That's TDs, so far, for 2.@chasebrown____ x @IlliniFootball pic.twitter.com/5FTr5VE1E6

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 29, 2022

Meanwhile, Mel Tucker and Michigan State have been dealing all week with the fallout of their postgame fight with Michigan in Ann Arbor last Saturday. Tucker has gradually suspended eight of his players in wake of the altercation, which leaves an already suspect Spartan defense even more short-handed as the team heads to Champaign on a second straight road trip.

It remains possible MSU rallies its troops as Tucker successfully did the last time Sparty faced a Big Ten West opponent this season, when it beat Wisconsin 34-28 in overtime. That said, it would require bold stubbornness to prioritize this meeting over the one in Athens, Georgia this afternoon.

Primetime

Seven Ranked Teams in Action and the Wildcard of the Week

The evening window offers no shortage of exciting action to choose from after a narrow start to the day. Three games featuring pairings of AP Top 25 teams, a former Buckeye coaching opposite an enemy of the (Ohio) State and one of the final competitive chances to check out Malik Cunningham feature as the range of options available to dial into or flip between well into the night.

• #6 Alabama vs. #10 LSU, 7 p.m. on ESPN
  The Crimson Tide's playoff hopes are not dead yet, but Nick Saban will have to go through a familiar enemy with a fresh face at the helm if Alabama wants to get its season back on course. Meanwhile, as both sides emerge from their bye weeks, Brian Kelly has the Tigers surging after delivering Ole Miss their first loss this season. Quarterback Jayden Daniels currently leads LSU in both passing and rushing this season, while also leading all FBS players in runs of 10 or more yards.

  Look At That Smile. Touchdown. 5. @JayD__5
  
  CBS pic.twitter.com/66xL6Oic6G

  — LSU Football (@LSUfootball) October 22, 2022

  As good as the Tigers have been offensively on the ground, their rushing defense will need to step up if Kelly wants to take down Saban in his third try since the 2013 national championship game. LSU owns a success rate against rushing plays of only 42.8% that ranks outside the top 100 schools at the FBS level, which bodes poorly against a running back such as Alabama's Jahmyr Gibbs who has gone for over 100 yards on the ground in three of the Crimson Tide's last four games.
   
• #24 Texas vs. #13 Kansas State, 7 p.m. on FS1
  Adrian Martinez's absence led to arguably the most shocking result in college football a week ago, as Kansas State shut out a previously top-10 opponent in Oklahoma State 48-0 while putting up just shy of 500 total yards of offense. This came a week after the Cowboys limited Quinn Ewers to the worst performance of his career at Texas thus far.
  
  Now with a bye week to recover, the Longhorns will look to bounce back and avoid losing their ranking while Ewers continues to search for his first road win as a starter. The Wildcats' solid pass defense figures to challenge the former Buckeye quarterback once again this week, while Texas' stout run defense matches up well against Kansas State's ground-heavy attack.
   
• #4 Clemson vs. Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m. on NBC
  After a comeback win over Syracuse two weeks ago gave Dabo Swinney his third win over a ranked team in the Tigers' last five games, Clemson appeared to have a clear path into the College Football Playoff. However, after Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish took down the Orange in far more impressive fashion last week, suddenly the favorites in the ACC have a far greater challenge on their hands than what they could have anticipated a month ago.
  
  Clemson does enter this game with a bye week's worth of preparation, but Notre Dame will have home-crowd advantage and currently find themselves as underdogs by barely more than a field goal. Tigers quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei did make his second career start in South Bend two years ago after replacing Trevor Lawrence due to a COVID-19 absence, but Clemson ultimately lost that game despite their current signal-caller throwing for over 430 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
   
• James Madison vs. Louisville, 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU
  W I L D C A R D of the W E E K
  The JMU Dukes make their Viewing Guide debut after moving up from FCS at the start of the 2022 campaign and briefly crashing the AP Top 25 poll in October. James Madison has fallen from grace a bit over its last two games after a 5-0 start, but the Dukes still boast the top rushing defense in college football at the moment as the only team limiting opponents to less than two yards per carry. That figures to come in handy against Viewing Guide veteran Malik Cunningham and the Louisville Cardinals.

  Monty Montgomery executes the PICK & LATERAL with Josh Minkins, then Malik Cunningham takes care of the rest with a 9 yard score!@LouisvilleFB pic.twitter.com/2pRZekrqsq

  — ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) October 30, 2022

  By this time last season, Cunningham was one of the leading touchdown scorers on the ground in all of college football. While he has not quite had the same success in that area this year, his 11 rushing touchdowns still rank tied for ninth overall, while Oregon's Bo Nix serves as the only quarterback to equal that amount. As Clemson looms on Louisville's schedule next week, Cunningham will want to use today to sharpen himself against the sport's most statistically-elite run defense if the senior desires his first win over the Tigers in five years with the Cardinals.
   
• #21 Wake Forest vs. #22 N.C. State, 8 p.m. on ACC Network
  The Demon Deacons had slowly crept back into the ACC Atlantic conversation following their loss to Clemson at the end of September, but found themselves blindsided by Louisville last week in an alarming 48-21 upset on the road. Wake Forest will have little time to lick its wounds as Sam Hartman and the rest of the team take on their first of three straight ranked opponents in November beginning with N.C. State.
  
  The Wolfpack had a bad break in losing their second-year captain Devin Leary to injury last month, but appear to have found a capable replacement at quarterback in freshman MJ Morris. Last week, Morris guided N.C. State to a narrow win over Virginia Tech in which the team's new starter completed 20 of his 29 throws for 265 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Neither of these teams may have postseason conference glory in their future, but this game still figures to play out in highly competitive fashion given the in-state rivalry existing between these schools that at one time stood just 18 miles apart from each other.

On the Radar for Next Week

• Buckeyes: Indiana vs. #2 Ohio State, TBD on TBD
• Afternoon: #6 Alabama vs. #11 Ole Miss, 3 p.m. on CBS
• Primetime: #7 TCU vs. #24 Texas, 7:30 p.m. on ABC