Weekend Watch Guide: An Oklahoma State Fan’s Guide to Week 4 of the College Football Season

College football has an excellent slate of games this weekend.

Oklahoma State is away at Iowa State in a game that features the two worst-scoring offenses in the Big 12, which could be beautiful in its own twisted way. But with conference play starting for much of America, there is no lack of big games this week.

Here is an Oklahoma State fan’s guide to Week 4 of the 2023 college football season.

Big 12 Schedule

No. 16 Oklahoma at Cincinnati — 11 a.m. Saturday on FOX
TCU vs. SMU — 11 a.m. Saturday on FS1
BYU at Kansas — 2:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN
Texas Tech at West Virginia — 2:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN+
Oklahoma State at Iowa State — 3 p.m. Saturday on FS1
Houston vs. Sam Houston — 6 p.m. Saturday on ESPN+
No. 3 Texas at Baylor — 6:30 p.m. Saturday on ABC
UCF at Kansas State — 7 p.m. Saturday on FS1

After TCU and Houston got conference play started last week, there are six league matchups this weekend.

Cincy opens conference play with a home game against the outgoing Sooners and all their tradition. The atmosphere should be good, but it probably would’ve been a lot better had the Bearcats not dropped their Week 3 game to Miami (OH).

TCU and SMU will battle not only for the Iron Skillet, but with the Mustangs readying to join the ACC, this also becomes a game of conference bragging rights. Both teams enter at 2-1 with respectable losses. The Horned Frogs dropped a Week 1 tilt against Coach Prime and Colorado; SMU fell to Oklahoma in Week 2.

BYU and Kansas each enter Saturday’s matchup unbeaten. Neither team has stood out to this point as a true conference contender, but the winner of Saturday’s game takes a big step toward that.

UCF enters its first Big 12 schedule at 3-0 but has a tough first test on the road against a Kansas State team coming off an emotional loss to Missouri.

Friday Night (College) Lights

Boise State at San Diego State — 9:30 p.m. Friday on CBSSN

There is a Big Ten game and an ACC game Friday night, but give me this Mountain West contest. Boise State enters this game at 1-2, but the Broncos’ losses are to Washington and UCF — two unbeaten Power Five teams. San Diego State is 2-2 with losses to UCLA and Oregon State — two unbeaten Power Five teams.

Saturday Selections

No. 4 Florida State at Clemson — 11 a.m. Saturday on ABC
Auburn at Texas A&M — 11 a.m. Saturday on ESPN
No. 19 Colorado at No. 10 Oregon — 2:30 p.m. Saturday on ABC
No. 22 UCLA at No. 11 Utah — 2:30 p.m. on FOX
No. 15 Ole Miss at No. 13 Alabama — 2:30 p.m. on CBS
No. 14 Oregon State at No. 21 Washington State — 6 p.m. on FOX
No. 6 Ohio State at No. 9 Notre Dame — 6:30 p.m. on NBC

Boy, what a slate.

Starting with the two morning games I highlighted: Florida State started the year off with a big win against LSU, but the Seminoles enter Saturday’s matchup with Clemson coming off a 31-29 survival against Boston College.

Meanwhile, Clemson started the year with a 28-7 loss to a still-unbeaten Duke. The Tigers have quietly rebounded with blowout wins against Charleston Southern and FAU, but this will be Clemson’s first time back in the spotlight since that loss to the Blue Devils.

In SEC country, an unbeaten Auburn squad heads to College Station to play the 2-1 Aggies. The noise is going to be deafening if A&M can’t find a way past the Tigers.

The Pac-12’s swansong starts beautifully this weekend with a trio of ranked-vs-ranked matchups.

No matter your thoughts on all the attention Colorado has gotten this season, it’s hard to deny the hype train at this point as it barrels toward Eugene for a matchup with the Ducks. Oregon coach Dan Lanning had some strong words about the Colorado football program before the season even started. If Colorado somehow goes to Oregon and wins, the sports media hype surrounding the Buffs is going to be insane — even more insane that it already is.

Not to be outdone, UCLA and Utah play a game that could also have Pac-12 title implications with both teams being undefeated.

Lastly, I wanted to highlight Ohio State at Notre Dame. It’s both a game college football historians will enjoy and a game with College Football Playoff implications this early in the year. Both teams are unbeaten, Ohio State is the higher ranked, but Notre Dame is at home. It looks to be storybook stuff.