College Football Week 6: The most intriguing game in each conference

Each week, On3 takes a look at the most intriguing matchup in each Power 5 conference, along with a Group of 5 game worth keeping an eye on.

Here’s our Week 6 edition, excluding our game of the week — No. 4 Penn State at No. 3 Iowa.

All games are Saturday unless otherwise noted and all times are Eastern.

ACC: No. 14 Notre Dame (4-1) at Virginia Tech (3-1)

Time/TV: 7:30 p.m., ACC Network

Justin Fuente needs a strong close to the season to avoid being at risk of losing his job, especially after lackluster showings from Virginia Tech in its past three games — a loss to West Virginia and underwhelming wins over Middle Tennessee and Richmond. A win over Notre Dame likely would cool the hot seat for now. The Irish are coming off a loss to Cincinnati and continue to have big-time issues offensively. They’ve finished with 343 yards or fewer in each of their past three games, including 341 in the 24-13 loss to Cincinnati. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly has declined to answer this week whether he’s sticking with Jack Coan as his starting quarterback or switching to Drew Pyne, who subbed in against Cincinnati and threw for 143 yards and a touchdown. Virginia Tech is a one-point favorite.

Big 12: No. 6 Oklahoma (5-0) vs. No. 21 Texas (4-1) in Dallas

Time/TV: Noon, ABC

Casey Thompson’s father and brother were quarterbacks at Oklahoma, and now Casey faces the Sooners as the starting quarterback for archrival Texas. The Longhorns are 3-0 since turning to Thompson, aided by the play of star running back Bijan Robinson — who has produced 570 scrimmage yards (190 per game) and six touchdowns during the three-game winning streak. This will be the biggest challenge thus far for Oklahoma, which has escaped with one-score wins over each of its four FBS opponents — Tulane (40-35), Nebraska (23-16), West Virginia (16-13) and Kansas State (37-31). All four are unranked. The Sooners are a three-point favorite.

Big Ten: No. 9 Michigan (5-0) at Nebraska (3-3)

Time/TV: 7:30 p.m., ABC

Nebraska has rebounded from its Week Zero loss to Illinois, to the point that the Huskers are just a 3.5-point underdog against the Wolverines in Week 6. Nebraska was competitive in losses to No. 6 Oklahoma (23-16) and No. 11 Michigan State (23-20), then crushed Northwestern 56-7 last week. The margin of victory (49) was the largest for the Huskers since joining the Big Ten in 2011. Michigan, which won 38-17 at Wisconsin last week, is off to its best start since Jim Harbaugh’s second season as coach in 2016.

Pac-12: Stanford (3-2) at No. 22 Arizona State (4-1)

Time/TV: Friday at 10:30 p.m., ESPN

Arizona State may be the best team in the Pac-12. Here’s another shot to prove it for the Sun Devils, who are fresh off a 42-23 victory over then-No. 20 UCLA. They’ll be a facing a Stanford squad that’s won three of its past four since switching to Tanner McKee at quarterback, including a 31-24 upset of then-No. 3 Oregon last week. Arizona State is a 13-point favorite.

SEC: No. 2 Georgia (5-0) at No. 18 Auburn (4-1)

Time/TV: 3:30 p.m., CBS

For Georgia, it’s game two of a four-game stretch against ranked opponents. Auburn likely will need a lot of Bo Nix magic to have any chance in this one. The Bulldogs’ defense hasn’t given up a touchdown since September 18 and is surrendering an FBS-low 4.6 points per game. The biggest question for Georgia is at quarterback, with J.T. Daniels still working back from a lat injury. Stetson Bennett has been the Bulldogs’ starter the past two games. Georgia enters as a 15.5-point favorite.

Group of 5: UConn (0-6) at UMass (0-5)

Time/TV: 3:30 p.m.

The loser here will earn the distinction of being the nation’s worst team. Neither has won since 2019 — a string of 16 consecutive losses for UMass and 10 in a row for UConn, which didn’t play in 2020. On a slightly positive note for UConn, its losses of late have at least been more respectable than the ones suffered by UMass. The Huskies, who are a 3.5-point favorite over the Minutemen, fell by just two each of the past two weeks — Wyoming (24-22) and Vanderbilt (30-28).