Culture
Week 8’s top 10 college football games: Georgia-Texas, Alabama-Tennessee and much more
On the heels of two of the more riveting weeks of college football in recent memory comes a jam-packed Saturday that features a trio of SEC headliners, including a top-five clash between blue bloods. There’s also multiple rivalry games that feature boots (sort of), and a potential College Football Playoff showcase in Bloomington, Indiana, of all places.
Bless this sport.
Let’s rank the top 10 games of Week 8, starting with honorable mentions and counting down.
Honorable Mention: Oklahoma State at No. 13 BYU, Ohio at Miami (Ohio), Virginia at No. 10 Clemson, Auburn vs No. 19 Missouri, Louisiana at Coastal Carolina, Toledo at NIU, Colorado at Arizona, James Madison at Georgia Southern, UCF at No. 9 Iowa State.
(All point spreads come from BetMGM; click here for live odds. Stream college football on fubo. All kickoff times are Eastern and on Saturday unless otherwise noted.)
Let’s give flowers to two teams that have exceeded expectations in the Big 12. Both were projected to finish near the bottom of the conference, but the winner on Saturday will have played its way into the conference title conversation. Arizona State and wrecking-ball running back Cam Skattebo have been proving the doubters wrong for weeks. But the Sun Devils will be without starting quarterback Sam Leavitt due to a rib injury; fifth-year journeyman Jeff Sims will start in his place. The Bearcats and gunslinging transfer QB Brendan Sorsby will try to take advantage of a depleted ASU crossing two time zones for an early kickoff.
Line: Cincinnati -4.5
9. UNLV (5-1) at Oregon State (4-2), 10 p.m., Fubo, The CW
The Rebels rebounded from an overtime loss to Syracuse by hanging a 50-burger on Utah State last week, keeping pace with Boise State in the Mountain West standings. It sets up a massive game in Las Vegas next week against the Broncos that will have huge implications on the conference race and battle for the Group of 5’s spot in the CFP. But a win this Saturday in Corvallis would add a nice bullet point to UNLV’s resume in the meantime. Oregon State, looking to recover from a surprising loss to Nevada, should eventually make for an instructive common opponent between the two. The Beavs play at Boise State next month.
Line: UNLV -7
8. No. 17 Kansas State (5-1) at West Virginia (3-3), 7:30 p.m., Fubo, Fox
There are intriguing matchups involving the Big 12’s three ranked teams this week, including Oklahoma State at No. 13 BYU and UCF at No. 9 Iowa State. But K-State has the most at stake. It is the only of those three ranked squads going on the road, and the only one with a loss. Of the teams in the top five of the Big 12’s preseason poll, the Wildcats are also the only one that hasn’t been a disappointment thus far. A second defeat, however, would quickly put their conference title and CFP hopes on life support, even in the ever-chaotic Big 12. Kansas State can’t afford to stumble in Morgantown against a streaky but resilient West Virginia, in a face-off of two proficient rushing attacks.
Line: Kansas State -3
7. No. 24 Michigan (4-2) at No. 22 Illinois (5-1), 3:30 p.m., Fubo, CBS
A bit surprising for a ranked matchup to be this low on the list — except for the fact that Michigan has one of the worst offenses in college football (and maybe shouldn’t be ranked?). Illinois just needed overtime to beat a terrible Purdue team that scored 40 points second-half points. Still, hat tip to the Illini, who are 5-1 and playing the first ranked matchup at Memorial Stadium since 2000. Illinois will also honor legendary halfback Red Grange — the Galloping Ghost — a century after his epic 402-yard, six-touchdown game against the Wolverines. The Illini will sport throwback uniforms and hand-painted helmets that took 18 months to create.
Line: Michigan -3.5
GO DEEPER
What does Michigan-Illinois mean? Previewing a sneaky big game for Wolverines, Illini
Expect this one to play out differently than the 55-0 shutout that Notre Dame pitched when these teams last met in 2021. Unfortunately, injuries will be a storyline. The Irish lost All-American cornerback Benjamin Morrison to a season-ending hip injury, and Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King will be a game-time decision after suffering a knock in last week’s win over North Carolina. If King can’t go, the job will fall to sophomore backup Zach Pyron, who has completed 5 of 7 passes and rushed for four touchdowns in limited action. Either way, the Irish can’t take this one lightly, with a remaining schedule that looks a lot tougher than we all expected, including ranked games against Navy and Army ahead of the regular-season finale at USC.
Line: Notre Dame -12.5
5. Nebraska (5-1) at No. 16 Indiana (6-0), Noon, Fubo, Fox
I have thoroughly enjoyed the Indiana and Curt Cignetti media blitz this week, including this stellar profile of Cignetti by Joe Rexrode. The Hoosiers are basking in the glow of their first 6-0 start since 1967, and rightfully so. They’ve been one of the biggest surprises this season in Year 1 under Cignetti, and have yet to trail through six games. Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff is headed to Bloomington as IU faces Nebraska and freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola, who is acting wise beyond his years. Big-time game featuring a pair of top-10 defenses (and a top-five offense for Indiana). The Huskers, who have lost 25 straight to ranked opponents, will get two cracks in a row at Indiana and then at Ohio State. On the other side, another win for the Hoosiers will shift the chatter from fast start to legit Playoff contender.
Line: Indiana -6.5
4. No. 8 LSU (5-1) at Arkansas (4-2), 7 p.m., Fubo, ESPN
It’s the Battle for the Golden Boot, one of the more underappreciated rivalry names and trophies in college football. LSU has won seven of the last eight matchups, but both teams are coming off mammoth victories.
The Tigers won a classic in overtime against Ole Miss despite never leading until the game’s final play, and Arkansas popped the first leak in Tennessee’s balloon a couple of weeks ago. The Razorbacks are better than anticipated — and Sam Pittman may have saved his job — while LSU has clawed back into the top 10 and CFP picture after the season-opening loss to USC. The Tigers will need more consistency out of Garrett Nussmeier to make some noise in the SEC, but his performance at the end of the Ole Miss victory showed how high his ceiling can be.
Line: LSU -2.5
3. No. 6 Miami (6-0) at Louisville (4-2), Noon, Fubo, ABC
More top-notch rivalry hardware — and footwear: The Schnellenberger Trophy, which was introduced last season and currently resides with the Cardinals. Battle for the Golden Boots???
The Louisville Sports Commission announces Louisville and Miami will play annually for The Schnellenberger Trophy: “Which features the actual western dress boots, now bronzed, worn by Coach Howard Schnellenberger when he led both programs to national prominence.” pic.twitter.com/khBoFZOpHQ
— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) July 24, 2023
This game is flying under the radar thanks to a loaded SEC slate, but it should be a fun, high-scoring barnburner. Miami desperately needed a bye after a pair of close calls against Virginia Tech and Cal, but Heisman hopeful Cam Ward and the Hurricanes remain one of 11 unbeaten teams in college football. Louisville ended a two-game skid last Saturday with a win at Virginia, with a top-15 offense (7.2 yards per play) led by quarterback Tyler Shough. Miami has the top offense in FBS at 8.2 yards per play, and Ward leads all FBS quarterbacks in passing yards per game (369.8).
Line: Miami -5
2. No. 7 Alabama (5-1) at No. 11 Tennessee (5-1), 3:30 p.m., Fubo, ABC
An almost top-10 matchup between two teams that are either national title contenders or complete frauds, depending on which message board thread you read. Either way, the Third Saturday in October should provide some insight, and it’s a critical one as both teams try to avoid a second loss and spiraling fan bases. This is a tough game to handicap: Alabama has a top-10 offense, Tennessee has a top-two defense, but both teams have been mercurial on the field. David Ubben did a nice job digging in on that variability for an anonymous coaching confidential on the game, and Kennington Smith III examined how first-year Alabama head coaches have fared in the Tennessee rivalry.
Line: Alabama -3
GO DEEPER
What’s going on with Alabama and Tennessee? Coaches who faced them weigh in
1. No. 5 Georgia (5-1) at No. 1 Texas (6-0), 7:30 p.m., Fubo, ABC
Praise be: It’s our third top-five showdown of the season. The first two — Georgia vs Alabama and Ohio State vs Oregon — resulted in two of the best games of the year to this point. This is the sixth all-time meeting between Georgia and Texas and first since the 2019 Sugar Bowl.
The Dawgs are underdogs for the first time in the last 50 games (!), and might need a road win over the top-ranked team in the country to preserve their CFP hopes. Texas, meanwhile, has been stellar on both sides of the ball and is arguably in a class of its own right now, though it has yet to face an opponent as good as Georgia. Quinn Ewers did look a tad rusty in his return from injury against Oklahoma last week, so we’ll see if that lingers. But coaches we spoke with for our coaching confidential on the game see Texas having the upper hand.
Another win for the Longhorns would cement them as the clear national title favorite. But if the chaos timeline of this college football season continues, we’ll see a slightly diminished Georgia take down the Horns in Austin, and the top of the sport will officially look as vulnerable as it has in years.
Line: Texas -4.5
GO DEEPER
Coaching confidential: Texas has the edge against Georgia in SEC showdown
Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images
Where do you turn when you need advice? A chatbot? A life coach? A wise and trusted friend?
How about a poet? Poets may not be famous for making the best life choices, but because they subject the mess of human existence to the discipline of language, they can be as helpful as any therapist or mentor.
Good poets know the rules and when to break them, which is something they can teach the rest of us.
To wit:
Giving advice is a peculiar literary undertaking. It flourishes in certain popular genres — graduation speeches, newspaper columns, country and western songs and poems like this one — but what, in these contexts, is it really for?
I’m thinking of situations when you don’t urgently need help but nonetheless enjoy reading answers to questions you may not have thought to ask. What interests you isn’t the content of the advice — you could get all the life hacks you want from A.I. — so much as the voice of the person dispensing it.
Wendy Cope is an English poet, born in 1945, who has been a fixture of her country’s literary scene since the 1980s. More recently, her short, buoyant poem “The Orange” has been widely memed online, bringing her to the attention of new readers beyond Britain.
Cope favors rhyme, meter, brisk jokes and tart aperçus. She addresses romance, friendship and the petty absurdities of modern life with disarming good humor. The last line of “The Orange” is “I love you. I’m glad I exist.” Somehow she makes it the opposite of cringe.
This isn’t the kind of poetry you would describe as “confessional.” And yet …
Question 1/7
Stop, if the car is going “clunk”
Or if the sun has made you blind.
Don’t answer e–mails when you’re drunk.
Tap a word above to fill in the highlighted blank.Want to learn this poem by heart? We’ll help.
Fill in the missing words below. You can always refer to the reading by A.O. Scott and full
text above.Let’s start with the first stanza.
A strong sense of place can deeply influence a story, and in some cases, the setting can even feel like a character itself. This week’s literary geography quiz highlights places where authors were born (or lived) that later became locations in their books. To play, just make your selection in the multiple-choice list and the correct answer will be revealed. At the end of the quiz, you’ll find links to the works if you’d like to do further reading.
AMERICA, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries, by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
For those of us in the national memory-keeping business, anniversaries hold near-totemic power. Satisfyingly round units of time, ideally bearing fancy, Latin-derived names, serve as the overburdened pegs on which to hang think pieces and museum exhibits, revisionist documentaries and maudlin public ceremonies. The arbitrary nature of such occasions is precisely what gives them their charge, inviting us to set aside complacency and submit to a comprehensive check-in.
In his new book, “America, U.S.A.,” Eddie S. Glaude Jr. presents an intriguing variation on the genre, seeing the country’s 250th birthday as an anniversary of anniversaries: 50 years since the malaise-ridden, schlock-heavy Bicentennial. A century since the subdued Prohibition-era Sesquicentennial. A century and a half since telegraphed reports of George Armstrong Custer’s defeat by the Lakota and Cheyenne at Little Bighorn rudely interrupted the Gilded Age Republic’s 100th birthday party.
If an anniversary offers a snapshot of a moment, the core of Glaude’s book is an old-timey photo album, a collection of notable episodes from earlier national reckonings, long-ago glances in the mirror. An estimable scholar of Black history, politics and religion at Princeton — best known for “Begin Again,” his 2020 meditation on James Baldwin’s relevance for our times — Glaude focuses, as his subtitle puts it, on “how race shadows the nation’s anniversaries.”
Such celebrations, he contends, have never really been the moments for honest self-reflection they are often advertised to be. Instead, the nation usually shatters the mirror, refusing to accept what it prefers not to see. “American anniversaries are often moments to turn a blind eye to the evils of the past and the present,” Glaude writes, “to suppress the fact of America’s divided soul.”
It’s a clever concept, and, needless to say, perfectly timed. Last year, Glaude notes, the Trump administration executed a hostile takeover of the government’s studiously bipartisan 250th anniversary planning. It is now preparing a program that is certain to conceal more than it reveals about the country ostensibly being celebrated.
Glaude, in no mood for celebration, argues that such omissions and evasions also defined commemorations in the past. In 1875, Frederick Douglass predicted “one grand Centennial hosannah of peace and good will to all the white race of this country.” He was right: The nation reached 100 years old at a crucial moment in the post-Civil War fight over racial equality, with white Northerners ready to give up on Southern Reconstruction. The occasion would help the once-warring sections to reunite around a shared commitment to white supremacy. On May 10, 1876, at the opening of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the police tried to bar Douglass from the grandstand, until a white politician vouched for him.
The 150th anniversary came soon after a resurgent Ku Klux Klan successfully pushed for a restrictive immigration law aimed at keeping America a “Nordic” nation. At the lavishly funded, lightly attended celebrations in Philadelphia, Black veterans of World War I were excluded from marching in the opening parade. A writer with The Associated Negro Press wondered “what was in the breast of those black men who fought to make America safe for Democracy and on Monday stood on the sidelines, forgotten, as the Nordic strode by in all his vain pride.”
By 1976, when the nation marked its Bicentennial, the violence of the ’60s had destroyed any semblance of consensus. Vietnam and Watergate had eroded trust in the government. The commission initially tasked with organizing the anniversary was disbanded amid reports of corruption. Corporations filled the vacuum, Glaude explains, with “star-spangled whoopee cushions; patriotic toilet seats; Liberty hamburgers; red, white and blue beer cans.” The author, around 8 years old at the time, dimly remembers donning a pair of tricolor trousers.
A half-century later, Glaude is refreshingly honest about the depths of his despair. “I do not love America, and never have, especially now,” he writes in one of the more startling opening sentences I’ve read in some time. He dismisses this year’s Semiquincentennial as reaching back “to a storybook America that requires either the banishment of Black people from view or the reduction of our role in the country’s history, so as to affirm America’s ongoing quest to be a more perfect union.”
Undoubtedly true. But Trump doesn’t own the country, at least not yet, nor the 250th anniversary of one of the most radically liberatory and confusingly contradictory events in world history — an inspiration, as Glaude shows, even to critical observers of the American experiment, like Douglass. Far from the revanchist MAGA-palooza in Washington, I suspect this summer’s unasked-for invitation to national soul-searching may surprise us yet.
Despite his despair, Glaude concludes that “the past still offers resources for us to freedom-dream.” So, too, does this book.
AMERICA, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries | By Eddie S. Glaude Jr. | Crown | 270 pp. | $31
-
California1 minute agoCalifornia governor’s race tightens as primary day approaches
-
Colorado6 minutes agoColorado weather: Severe thunderstorm watch active for Eastern Plains
-
Connecticut13 minutes agoFire extends from attic of well-known Clinton donut shop
-
Delaware16 minutes agoDelaware history in News Journal May 31-June 6: royal visit, oil plea
-
Florida21 minutes ago‘She was smashed’: Florida woman accused of driving onto golf course while intoxicated
-
Georgia28 minutes agoLIVE UPDATES: Georgia Baseball vs Liberty – Regionals Game Two Updates and Scores
-
Hawaii31 minutes agoMind-bending mural brings greenery into the city
-
Idaho36 minutes agoIdaho Chukar Foundation hosts rattlesnake, skunk, and porcupine avoidance training
