College football preview: Looking at conference title contenders and big matchups ahead of Week 10

Week 10 in college football is here as we look toward some exciting conference games.

Saturday will feature a must-see matchup between No. 4 Ohio State and No. 3 Penn State at Beaver Stadium. Ohio State quarterback Will Howard is ready to take on the team he rooted for growing up in Pennsylvania, while Penn State quarterback Drew Allar is a game-time decision after sustaining a left knee injury. What changes would the Nittany Lions have to make if Allar is unable to play?

No. 18 Pitt and No. 20 SMU face each other in a big ACC matchup Saturday evening, with both teams entering this game undefeated in conference play. While both teams underwent some changes in the offseason to help them get to this point, how have those changes affected their game this season?

Our college football experts preview big games and conference title contenders and share quotes of the week ahead of Week 10’s slate.

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Ohio State-Penn State | Conference title contenders | SMU/Pitt changes
Quotes of the Week

What does each team need to capitalize on to win?

Ohio State: Penn State coach James Franklin said this week that the status of quarterback Drew Allar will be a game-time decision. Allar is coming off a left knee injury that forced him to sit the second half of this past weekend’s win at Wisconsin. Led by defensive ends Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau, the Buckeyes have the Big Ten’s best sack rate (9.7%). If Allar plays, his mobility could still be limited by the injury. That figures to give Sawyer, Tuimoloau and Ohio State’s other pass rushers prime opportunities to sack or pressure Allar.

If the Nittany Lions are forced to go with sophomore backup quarterback Beau Pribula, then Ohio State will have the chance to exploit his relative inexperience. Either way, the Buckeyes have to do a better job pressuring the passer than they did in their Oct. 12 loss at Oregon. In that 32-31 defeat, they failed to sack Dillon Gabriel once. Ohio State’s defense also failed to force a turnover. If the Buckeyes can’t force Penn State’s quarterback — whoever it turns out to be — into negative plays, they could have a hard time coming out of State College with a victory. — Jake Trotter

Penn State: Regardless of whether Allar or Pribula is at quarterback, Penn State needs to display creative offense that supplies big plays. Franklin hired offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki precisely for games like this. In last year’s 20-12 loss at Ohio Stadium, the Lions averaged only 3.5 yards per play with only one play longer than 20 yards. Kotelnicki can take some clues from Oregon, which really challenged Buckeyes cornerback Denzel Burke and others with an aggressive game plan. He also has versatile options such as tight end Tyler Warren. Penn State’s defense also has a chance to control the line of scrimmage against an Ohio State offensive front that has dealt with injuries and inconsistency, recording just 64 rush yards last week against Nebraska.

Abdul Carter (four sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss) could be a significant factor in pressuring Will Howard, and the Lions would really be helped if Dani Dennis-Sutton plays to provide a nice complement for Carter. Penn State also must be acutely aware of Tuimoloau, who delivered the best single-game defensive performance I’ve ever witnessed live two years ago at Beaver Stadium, when he had 2 interceptions, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery and a tipped pass that led to another interception. He hasn’t had a game anywhere near that good since, but Penn State can’t ignore him. — Adam Rittenberg

Who’s looking like a conference title contender going into Week 10?

ACC: The ACC used to be known for Coastal Chaos — the annual lunacy in its Coastal Division that upended expectations and resulted in tiebreaker scenarios so complicated NASA would have to get involved. Now, the virus has spread. SMU, Clemson and Miami all remain undefeated in ACC play — and none of them play against each other. That leaves a very real chance that all three will end up tied with only two able to move on to the ACC title game. And that’s not even mentioning Pitt, which is 7-0 (but does play SMU and Clemson over the next three weeks) with eyes on the title game, too. What does it all mean? At this rate, perhaps Virginia Tech (3-1 in ACC play) will end up winning it all. — David Hale

Big Ten: Oregon and Penn State are the two obvious answers, and Ohio State still has arguably the most star power in the conference, despite some line-of-scrimmage concerns. But Indiana absolutely has displayed the look of a true contender. The Hoosiers have controlled games from the get-go, outscoring their opponents 87-0 in the first quarter and 372-113 overall. Yes, the schedule concerns are valid, but that type of dominance in a Power 4 league isn’t a fluke. Even last week, without starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke, Indiana struck first against Washington on D’Angelo Ponds‘ 67-yard interception return for a touchdown. The Hoosiers aren’t overreliant on one player or position group.

Rourke isn’t their only effective quarterback, and Justice Ellison is one of several capable backs and Elijah Sarratt is one of six players with 15 or more receptions. The offensive line, meanwhile, has been exceptional, tying for 10th nationally in fewest sacks against. IU’s defense has individual standouts such as linebacker Aiden Fisher and end Mikail Kamara, but the collective strength of the unit — 13 players with two or more tackles for loss, 15 with at least a half a sack — consistently shines through. The Hoosiers probably will be tested Saturday at Michigan State and in the coming weeks, but they display the qualities of a legitimate contender in the Big Ten. — Rittenberg

Big 12: Let’s start with the obvious: BYU (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) and Iowa State (7-0, 4-0) remain undefeated and would not play each other unless they meet in the Big 12 title game. If both manage to reach the finish line without a loss, it’s possible the winner would receive the playoff bye with the loser still qualifying for the playoff. There are too many variables to understand what would happen in that scenario, but it’s in play. But considering the parity in the conference, it’s probably premature to look that far ahead.

BYU was a play away from losing to winless Oklahoma State (0-5 Big 12), so it would be silly to feel confident about the result of any conference game left on the schedule. With only one loss each, Kansas State (4-1) and Colorado (4-1) are very much in the mix, and it wouldn’t be a surprise, at this point, if either played its way to the title game. Those appear to be the four primary contenders, but five others sit at two conference losses — TCU, Texas Tech, Cincinnati, West Virginia and Arizona State — which means their hopes aren’t dead. — Kyle Bonagura

SEC: Fans across the league are already coming up with scenarios that could produce a four-way tie in the SEC heading into the conference championship game. There are some very intriguing possibilities, too, with so many teams in the mix playing each other over the next five weeks. But the team that looks to be hitting its stride, getting well and playing its best football at just the right time is Georgia, which is coming off a bye week after beating up on then-No. 1 Texas 30-15 two weeks ago in Austin. It’s Kirby Smart time, which means he has been exceptionally good at getting his teams to play their best in the games that mean the most. The Bulldogs have won six of their past seven top-five matchups. They also had this past week to rest up and get healthy, and Smart is hopeful his best offensive lineman, senior right guard Tate Ratledge, will be able to play Saturday against Florida after sitting out the past four games because of a high ankle sprain that required surgery.

On defense, having Mykel Williams back and healthy has made a huge difference, especially when it comes to rushing the passer. Now, opposing offenses have to account for Jalon Walker and Williams, who combined for five sacks in the win over Texas. It won’t be an easy path for Georgia. After the rivalry game against Florida in Jacksonville, the Bulldogs travel to Ole Miss the next week and then come home to face Tennessee. There’s still a lot to sort out in the SEC, but the top Dawg appears to be the same one we’ve seen over much of the past three years. — Chris Low

In what ways have SMU/Pitt changed from last season to maintain a top 25 spot?

SMU: SMU’s defense has been the story of this season, living by the old adage that stopping the run and winning the turnover battle will win you some ballgames. The Mustangs’ run defense has been stout, giving up 88.4 yards per game and 2.72 yards per carry, both fifth best nationally. They’re tied for ninth in the country with 17 turnovers and have four games with at least three takeaways, tied for the most. The result is they’re giving up just 21.4 points per game, including a remarkable stand last week in which the SMU offense lost six turnovers and the defense gave up zero points off those, with Duke reaching SMU territory 11 times and coming away with only 27 points.

The Mustangs have sought to beef up the defense in recent years, and that has paid dividends: A pair of Miami transfers, Elijah Roberts and Jahfari Harvey, are tied for the team lead with six tackles for loss, and they lead the team in hurries, with nine for Roberts and seven for Harvey, also adding three sacks each. Then Harvey blocked a 30-yard field goal attempt by Duke on the last play of regulation to save a 28-27 win. — Dave Wilson

Pitt: After last season’s 3-9 misery, Pat Narduzzi decided he needed wholesale changes on offense. He brought in Kade Bell to run a tempo system, which is often anathema to defense-minded coaches like Narduzzi. So far, the results have been what one might’ve expected: Pitt has scored more, but the defense has been on the field a ton as a result of the speed at which the offense moves (the Panthers are 133rd in time of possession). The miracle for Pitt is that all of those plays for the defense haven’t seemed to matter. Pitt picked off Kyle McCord five times in this past weekend’s win over Syracuse, and the defense has held its ground despite playing more plays per game (76.3) than any other team in the country. — Hale

Quotes of the week

“I’m stoked, I’m stoked, I cannot wait. It’s going to be a homecoming for me. I grew up a Penn State fan. I wanted to go there my whole life, they didn’t think I was good enough. I guess we’ll see [Saturday] if I was.” — Ohio State QB Will Howard, who grew up in Downingtown, Pennsylvania

“I’m looking forward to going down to Dallas and seeing what they’ve got down there. I’ve never played SMU. It’s one of those games you never played at, so different stadium. Growing up, Eric Dickerson in those goggles, that’s kind of what I grew up in, that era. That guy was a dude, watching him run down there. It’s homecoming. We’re a homecoming team, so maybe I’ll get to meet Eric Dickerson at the 50-yard line or something like that.” — Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi, on making friends in new conference stops.

“We try to concentrate on one game, and that’s the next one. I don’t know that it benefits us to kind of look out ahead and talk about the possibilities of a season. The most important thing is to attack the week and try to get prepared for the upcoming game, which is what we’re doing in this one. There’s enough emotion and enough at stake in this game. … Our guys know, and they’re mature enough to know what’s out there if we can continue to have success, but there’s not a more important game on our schedule than this one.” — Army coach Jeff Monken, whose Black Knights (7-0, 6-0) are ranked No. 21 in the AP poll and vying for the Group of 5’s spot in the College Football Playoff and a second straight Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.