College football preview: Red River Rivalry, Ohio State-Oregon and more ahead of Week 7

Week 7 is here as we look toward some exciting conference matchups this weekend that you won’t want to miss.

The Red River Rivalry game is Saturday as No. 1 Texas will face No. 18 Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. In just his second career start, Oklahoma’s true freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. will be making history. Oklahoma has won four of the past five Red River Rivalry games, but will Hawkins’ poise be enough to take down its top-ranked opponent?

No. 3 Oregon and No. 2 Ohio State will face-off as conference opponents for the first time this weekend, but this isn’t their first time playing against each other. Ten years ago, Ohio State leaned on its third-string quarterback to rally the Buckeyes after injuries rocked the team at the position. Ohio State and Oregon met in the national championship game that year and the Buckeyes’ third-string quarterback did indeed step up.

Our college football experts preview big games and storylines to know about and share quotes of the week ahead of Week 7.

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Ohio State-Oregon | Red River Rivalry
New conference enemy | Quotes of the Week

How Cardale Jones stepped up when the Buckeyes needed him most

Safety Tyvis Powell remembered “all the oxygen” evaporating from Ohio Stadium when J.T. Barrett couldn’t get up with a fractured right ankle. Tailback Ezekiel Elliott called it a “shock” seeing Ohio State’s quarterback get carted off the field against Michigan a decade ago.

“J.T. was having a crazy season,” Elliott said. “He probably would’ve won the Heisman.”

The Buckeyes had already lost star quarterback Braxton Miller in the preseason to shoulder surgery. With the season on the line, Barrett was headed for surgery, too.

“It was like, ‘Oh man, here we go again,'” Powell said. “We overcame the Braxton [injury], which was hard enough. We finally got this train rolling and boom, we get hit by another quarterback injury.”

Powell, Elliott and the Buckeyes felt devastated. But they also knew their third-string quarterback, Cardale Jones, owned a rocket arm.

“I don’t know if I’ve played with a quarterback with a stronger arm,” Elliott said. “We knew he had all the tools. We just hadn’t seen it yet.”

Saturday in Eugene, Ohio State visits Oregon in their first showdown as Big Ten rivals — 10 years after facing off for the national title in Arlington, Texas, where Jones and fourth-seeded Ohio State completed an unlikely championship season.

“The closest person to do what Cardale did was a fictional character by the name of Steamin’ Willie Beamen,” said Powell, referring to the Miami Sharks backup quarterback played by Jamie Foxx in the 1999 film “Any Given Sunday.”

With Jones, the Buckeyes didn’t miss a beat. They finished off Michigan, then annihilated Wisconsin 59-0 for the Big Ten championship, to slip into the inaugural four-team playoff. They stunned Alabama in the Sugar Bowl semifinal 42-35. Then, they took down Oregon 42-20 for the national championship. Over those three games, Jones passed for 742 yards, rushed for another 90 and totaled six touchdowns.

“I knew the expectations. I knew the culture we developed,” said Jones, who, until Barrett’s injury, had never played a meaningful snap. “Everybody was expected to do their job, and that’s how they treated me, from the coaching staff on down. No one babied me, no one tried to walk me into things. It was, ‘Hey, you know your f—ing job, let’s do it.”

Powell realized Jones meant business when he got home from class the Monday after the Michigan game. Powell usually found his roommate playing Call of Duty in the living room. That evening, Jones was at the football facility studying film with then offensive coordinator Tom Herman.

“That was a calming thing, like ‘Oh, you’re locked in,'” Powell said. “At that point, I knew we’re going to be fine.”

Later that week, Herman compiled a highlight tape of Jones’ best plays from Cleveland Glenville High School and showed it to him.

“He wanted to make sure I was reassured that hey, I belong here,” Jones said, “and that I have all the ability in the world to help us.”

Barrett kept telling him the same: “You’re here for a reason.”

After thumping Wisconsin, the Buckeyes didn’t gather to watch ESPN’s playoff selection show. In fact, Jones was driving home to Cleveland when he started getting texts and calls from teammates and coaches, telling him Ohio State had jumped TCU and Baylor, to secure the selection committee’s coveted No. 4 seed.

Ohio State fell behind No. 1 Alabama early in their semifinal matchup. But in the second half on third-and-long, Jones lofted a 47-yard touchdown strike to Devin Smith to give the Buckeyes the lead. They never handed it back.

Against Oregon in the title game, Jones kept on completing big passes, matching the play of Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota. Along with a stingy defense — highlighted by Powell’s fourth-down, goal-line stuff — and Elliott’s relentless rushing, the underdog Buckeyes rolled past the Ducks.

Elliott, who ran for 246 yards and four touchdowns, earned offensive MVP title game honors. Powell, who also had the game-ending interception against Alabama, was named defensive MVP. And Jones, in just a little over three games, cemented an Ohio State legacy. — Jake Trotter

The presence of Oklahoma’s Michael Hawkins Jr.

Dontonio Jordan is the founder of 940 Elite, a Denton, Texas-based, 7-on-7 program. And before Michael Hawkins Jr. started eluding SEC defenders, Jordan chased the young quarterback for the better part of two years.

It took until the spring of 2023 for Jordan to finally get Hawkins to join his team for a training session. When Hawkins stepped onto the turf, Jordan needed all of two minutes to identify the young quarterback’s poise, the same aura Hawkins has oozed since taking over as No. 18 Oklahoma’s starter against Tennessee on Sept. 21.

“I saw it before he even tied his shoes,” Jordan, who played wide receiver at Stanford from 2012 to 2015, told ESPN. “I trained with Andrew Luck and I played with Christian McCaffrey. Guys like that have a certain energy. They don’t even try to do it. It’s just their presence. And Mike Hawkins has that kind of presence.”

Hawkins’ composure, as well as his propensity for hurling himself into and over opposing defenders, has defined a brief, yet bright start to life as Oklahoma’s quarterback. At the Cotton Bowl on Saturday, 38 miles from the high school field where Jordan first worked with Hawkins, the Sooners’ freshman will make Red River Rivalry history against No. 1 Texas.

Hawkins will become the first Oklahoma true freshman quarterback to start against the Longhorns in the 120-game lore of this bitter rivalry, in the same Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex where he once tormented opposing high school defenses and learned to throw under the tutelage of Kyler Murray‘s father.

“It means a lot just going to a big stage,” Hawkins said last week. “It’s my first time playing in this stadium and against this team, too. So this is a big moment for me.”

Murmurs of Hawkins’ immediate promise and maturity flowed out of the Sooners’ spring and fall camps earlier this year. But ESPN’s No. 7 dual-threat quarterback in the 2024 class only took center stage after Brent Venables pulled Jackson Arnold before halftime against Tennessee last month, benching the former five-star passer just five games after handing him the reins. Hawkins’s composure showed when he steadied Oklahoma in an eventual 25-15 loss to the Volunteers. A week later, when Hawkins made his first career start at Auburn, his poise overflowed during an 11-point, fourth-quarter comeback, which Hawkins flourished by careening into the end zone on a pivotal, late-game 2-point conversion.

“He’s a guy to bet on just from a maturity, process-driven, consistency [standpoint],” Venables said of Hawkins this week. “How he handles tough moments … he’s got a lot of really good qualities that maybe sometimes a younger player doesn’t have.”

Those qualities quickly became clear to Jordan. From that initial training session, Hawkins joined 940 Elite, and soon, he was a commanding presence within the 7-on-7 program that has produced players such as Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby, Texas Tech freshman All-American linebacker Ben Roberts, Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson and a handful of Hawkins’ Oklahoma teammates, including defenders Peyton Bowen and Eli Bowen and tight end Davon Mitchell.

At Frisco Emerson High School, where Hawkins transferred for his senior season after three years at Allen High School, head coach Kendall Miller saw Hawkins’ traits, too. Beyond the physical tools that powered Hawkins’ 4,211 all-purpose yards and 55 touchdowns in 2023, Miller saw something special in the maturity of the quarterback who led Emerson to the 5A state semifinal in his lone season at the school.

“He had the same demeanor in the semifinal as he did in Game 1,” Miller said. “I think he’s just got something inside of him. If I could just find what he has, I’d go get some of it and give it to a lot of other guys.”

Before he became Oklahoma’s freshman quarterback, Hawkins’ poise was a driving force of his game. When he steps onto one of college football’s biggest stages Saturday, it may be his greatest asset. — Eli Lederman

Get to know your new conference enemy

These two programs are not totally unfamiliar with each other. In 2017, James Franklin and Penn State held a 14-point lead heading into the fourth quarter of the Rose Bowl Game. USC then scored 17 points, including a game-winning field goal in the final seconds to win one of the most thrilling versions of the bowl game in recent years.

Now, seven years later, the No. 4 Nittany Lions are headed back to the West Coast to face the Trojans again, this time as a conference opponent.

The Trojans are 1-0 (beat Wisconsin) in home games against Big Ten opponents and 0-2 on the road (lost to Michigan and Minnesota).

The Nittany Lions have one of the best defenses and USC’s offense has looked overpowered in the trenches when facing tougher opponents, which has, in turn, asked a lot of its improved but not flawless defense. This is not exactly the kind of get right game that the Trojans needed after a brutal loss in Minnesota. But it also may be the kind of trap game that Franklin’s team needs to avoid on its quest for a playoff spot.

As Lincoln Riley explained recently, Big Ten games have had fewer possessions and are slower paced than what he and the Trojans are accustomed. Franklin and Penn State, perhaps more than most teams, thrive in such games.

Riley has argued that the Trojans are two plays away from being 5-0. On one hand, that’s not necessarily wrong. On the other, they have allowed themselves to lose two games because of two plays. Whether it’s the slower-paced games with fewer plays, the physicality or simply the travel, USC has struggled to perform. It dropped being ranked No. 11 to unranked after its most recent loss.

This week, the task won’t be any easier. The Trojans will need a win to keep any slim playoff or conference hopes alive. — Paolo Uggetti

Quotes of the week

“[They’re] not a measuring stick for myself or for this program. Their success doesn’t have anything to do with ours. And their lack of success doesn’t have anything to do with ours. So we’re focused on us — the things that we can control. We compete on the field once a season, and it’s a big game, always is.” — Oklahoma coach Brent Venables, on whether his job is more difficult when Texas is riding high.

“I’m buddies with him. He’s a good guy. … Man, he’s a good player. He can sling it. Ball comes out of his hand well. … He’s a dude, for sure. I’m excited to go against him in this big matchup.” — Ohio State quarterback Will Howard, on facing former Big 12 rival and Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel. The two previously faced each other when Howard was at Kansas State and Gabriel at Oklahoma.

“One of the things I think we have to discuss is increasing the size of the runway here and the size of the airport for a lot of reasons, for the university, for the community, for businesses, and for the athletic department. You’re talking about adding another two hours on top of your flight. … That’s pretty much a whole day.” — James Franklin, on Penn State having to drive to Harrisburg to be able to fly across the country to Los Angeles and face new Big Ten member USC.