We don't just get seven ranked matchups on Saturday.
We get six top-20 matchups, and then an elimination game between the preseason No. 1 and No. 2 team in the country. Four ranked in the top 12 on Tuesday night could be absolutely dead in the water by Saturday night. It's everything we hoped for when the schedule was set and then some.
Enjoy this Saturday while we have it, because the empty suits we call leadership in this sport have sucked the air right out of the balloon with the 24-team Playoff.
1. No. 1 Miami at No. 11 Notre Dame (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC): Well, this is it for Notre Dame. A 60-minute season.
A year after going 10-2 but missing the Playoff because it lost the only two games that mattered, the Irish are in the exact same position. That message was sent loud and clear on Tuesday night after a terrible weekend for the Irish's strength of schedule -- Wisconsin (30-0 to Iowa) and SMU (30-27 to 4-4 Syracuse) each suffered debilitating losses.
It's not as if Notre Dame is getting blown out in these games. After falling 27-24 to Miami and 41-40 to Texas A&M a year ago, they were throwing into the end zone in the 28-24 loss at BYU earlier this season. Saturday night will likely go down to the wire. If and when it does, Notre Dame needs to have the ball in its hands. The Miami pass defense has been the worst in the country over the past three weeks, averaging 10 yards per attempt allowed and a touchdown every 6.5 completions. Darian Mensah is first or second in the nation in completion percentage, yards per attempt, touchdowns, and interceptions.
We could spin this into some sort of referendum on Marcus Freeman, but he and Notre Dame will be fine in the long term. The 24-team Playoff will make sure of that. In the meantime, enjoy this make-or-break showdown while we have it.
2. No. 2 Georgia at No. 10 Ole Miss (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC): Pete Golding already won The One Home Game He Had To Win, can he do it again?
Ole Miss's season boils down to Saturday night in the Grove. It's really as simple as that.
Win, and the Rebels are in, or as close to 'in' a 2-loss SEC team can be on Nov. 7. Their remaining schedule: at Oklahoma, vs. Wofford, at Mississippi State.
Easy schedules, or easy stretches of a schedule in the Rebels' case, are double-edged swords. Just ask Notre Dame and Texas Tech. A loss to the Bulldogs gives Golding's squad zero opportunities to make up ground as a 3-loss team.
And, not for nothing, Georgia is playing for a No. 1 overall seed and the opportunity to close down the SEC Championship -- not official yet, but expected -- having won the last three of them. Their schedule isn't as soft as Ole Miss's -- vs. No. 18 Mizzou, at No. 21 South Carolina -- but at 6-1 they'd be the overwhelming favorites to return to Atlanta.
3. No. 23 Oregon at No. 12 Ohio State (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS): This wasn't the game CBS expected back in the spring, when the network used its No. 1 pick in the B1G draft on the preseason No. 2 at preseason No. 1. Instead, CBS got the 5-3 Ducks and 6-2 Buckeyes playing in an elimination game, with Dante Moore and Julian Sayin in street clothes.
Nevertheless, one of the top two teams in the preseason rankings is guaranteed to miss the CFP, and we'll know for sure by 7 p.m. local time in Columbus.
In a 24-team world, Ohio State could lose a 20-point fourth quarter lead to Texas, their starting quarterback, and two late-season showdowns, and only then will they be in peril of missing the Playoff.
4. No. 7 Texas at No. 18 Missouri (noon ET, ESPN): We've covered preseason No. 1 and No. 2, now it's time for No. 4.
The committee sent a message Tuesday that a 9-3 Texas would have a good path to make the field, but Texas has to get to 9-3 first. They close the year in Kyle Field, and trip to Tiger Stadium next week. Who wants to walk into Death Valley with oblivion at their back?
Meanwhile, Mizzou is in the CFP at 10-2, but only at 10-2. They're hosting Texas for the first time in 15 years. Should be a wild atmosphere.
5. No. 9 BYU at No. 3 Utah (noon ET, ABC): It's clear the committee loves BYU's win over Notre Dame, and only BYU's win over Notre Dame. Not sure how the Cougars are five spots behind Indiana, who has no quality wins, but here they are. Beat the undefeated, 3rd-ranked team in the country on their turf -- who happens to be your biggest rival -- or else, I guess.
BYU has won three straight Holy Wars, after Utah won the previous nine.
Utah is not home free even with a win, they visit No. 22 Arizona next week.
Bear Bachmeier is the most fascinating player in this game (when is he not?). Every 3rd- and 4th-and-short is going to be Bear Ball, and the battle for the line of scrimmage is going to be an all-out war.
6. No. 6 Kentucky at No. 13 Tennessee (6:15 p.m. ET, ESPN): Kentucky and Tennessee will play for the 121st time, and the other 120 combined may not have had much on the line for both teams as this one.
Kentucky is a deserving No. 6 with a 3-0 SEC road record and a 3-0 mark in one-score games, but winning games on 2-point conversions in overtime is not a sustainable strategy in the long term. Will Stein's team choked out Texas A&M in College Station in September and Vanderbilt at home last week, but this will be a different challenge. It's Neyland at night.
Tennessee has the nation's best rushing offense and would really rather not throw the ball in tight situations, so whoever leads after three quarters wins the game.
7. No. 5 Alabama at No. 14 LSU (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC): Remember when the entire college football schedule revolved around Alabama-LSU? These are better times, I think.
That's not to say this game won't be fun. Keelon Russell on the road against the No. 3 FEI defense in the country.
The Tide are the highest-ranked of the SEC's six 2-loss teams because of their 2-1 road record against the CFP Top 25. Get to 3-1 and they're likely golden -- at Vanderbilt, vs. Chattanooga, vs. Auburn is remaining schedule -- with a win and out with a loss. Alabama's ranking is dependent upon their strength of schedule, so a Tide loss combined with a Tennessee win over Kentucky and a South Carolina loss at some point could crater them.
LSU, meanwhile, could move from the outside to the center in the next three weeks. After No. 5 Alabama, Lane Kiffin's team hosts No. 7 Texas and then visits No. 13 Tennessee. The Tigers could be unranked or headed for a showdown with Georgia to possibly be the No. 1 team in the field, with a Sugar Bowl semifinal dangling in the distance.
8. No. 8 UCLA at Minnesota (noon ET, Fox): As expected, the committee was not as sold as the AP on an 8-0 UCLA with only one ranked win, slotting the Bruins three spots lower than they were on Sunday.
Minnesota is adept at luring opponents into playing typical B1G West football: in games with Michigan, Iowa and Indiana, only one quarterback threw for 200 yards. UCLA's Ty Diffenbach has been below 200 yards in each of his last two starts. When this game is 17-14 with two minutes to play with a 4th-and-5 coming, would you rather be the team with the ball or without it?