Week 7 college football viewer's guide: With two top-10 matchups and four other top-25 games, get ready for an epic Saturday

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Welcome to the biggest weekend of the 2026 college football season. So far, anyway.

Week 7 features two games between top-10 teams and six games between teams ranked in the AP Top 25. With just five games featured, we had to cut one. And it was an incredibly tough decision.

If the football lives up to the hype on Saturday, it's going to be a great day. Here are our games to watch.

If the Hoosiers win their 23rd straight game on Saturday, should they become the new No. 1 team in the country?

A big Georgia win probably keeps the Bulldogs in the top spot in Sunday's AP poll, but it's a conversation worth having. Ohio State would be a top-five win for an Indiana team that handed Nebraska its first loss of the season in Week 6 and also has a win over a ranked Northwestern team.

It's the biggest home game in Indiana history, too. The Hoosiers' previous massive regular-season contests have been on the road, in both Columbus in 2024 and Eugene in 2025 against Oregon. And they of course beat Ohio State 13-10 in Indianapolis in December in the Big Ten title game.

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Given the way the Big Ten is unfolding this season, it's very likely that we're going to see these two teams back in Indianapolis in December. It's hard to pick anyone else at the moment.

Indiana's Josh Hoover hasn't thrown an interception while he has 17 TD passes on just 129 attempts. Ohio State QB Julian Sayin has also thrown 17 TDs, but he's done it on 34 more passes.

Ohio State's pass defense presents the biggest challenge of Hoover's career. Opposing QBs are completing just 53% of their passes for 151 yards this season. Illinois' Katin Houser is the only QB to throw for more than 200 yards this season against the Buckeyes, and a lot of those came late in a 23-point loss.

Can Ohio State run on Indiana? The Hoosiers are once again stifling opponents on the ground while the OSU tandem of Bo and Ja'Kobi Jackson — no relation — have rushed 138 times for 814 yards and 10 touchdowns so far this season for the Buckeyes. In the Big Ten championship game, Bo Jackson had 17 carries for 83 yards, but Indiana sacked Sayin five times. His ability to navigate the Indiana pass rush could be the Buckeyes' key.

Will Kamario Taylor play on Saturday? The Mississippi State quarterback was listed as questionable as the Bulldogs come off their bye week. Taylor has been dealing with a foot injury and his status for the game truly does seem in question. The same goes for RB Fluff Bothwell, who left the Bulldogs' Week 5 loss to Alabama after getting one carry.

If they're out, the Bulldogs are in trouble. If they play, the chances of an upset are very real while LSU's hopes of immediate national contention under Lane Kiffin would further spiral.

It's fair to call Saturday's game a must-win for the Tigers. LSU has a schedule tough enough to get to the College Football Playoff with a 9-3 record. But at 4-2, LSU can only afford one more loss. And with games remaining against Alabama, Texas and Tennessee in November, is this Tigers team really going 3-0 in that stretch?

The LSU offense is averaging 6.5 yards a play, but has turned the ball over nearly twice a game thanks to Sam Leavitt's six interceptions. The former Arizona State quarterback has arguably been a more effective rusher than passer; he leads the team with seven rushing touchdowns and his 60 carries are second on the team behind Dilin Jones.

If there's a unit he can pick apart, it's the Mississippi State defense. The Bulldogs are allowing opponents to complete 63% of their passes and LaNorris Sellers, Austin Simmons and Keelon Russell each averaged over 7 yards an attempt.

Welcome to the rivalry, George MacIntyre.

The sophomore QB made the first start of his career against Arkansas in Week 6 and was 18-of-20 passing for 247 yards with a TD and two interceptions. He replaced Faizon Brandon, who is listed as questionable on UT's availability report.

Alabama has at least one interception in each of its six games this season and has picked off just over 5% of opposing QB's passes. Though Georgia QB Gunner Stockton threw a pick in the Bulldogs' Week 6 win, he was incredibly efficient. Stockton finished with just four incompletions on 22 attempts as he threw for 249 yards and a TD.

It was also the second time this season that an Alabama opponent had rushed for 200 yards a game. The Tide have been stingy against the rush in its other four games — no one other than South Carolina and Georgia has averaged more than 3 yards a carry — but this could be a game for DeSean Bishop to carry the Tennessee offense if the Vols can pull the upset.

Bishop has rushed for 678 yards on just 107 carries and followed up his 220-yard performance against Auburn with 19 carries for 138 yards and a TD against Arkansas.

Alabama will be without star wide receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams after he suffered a lower-body injury against Georgia and was not 100% in the second half. Lotzeir Brooks has become the 1B to Coleman-Williams' 1A in the pass game, and Coleman-Williams' absence should open up more opportunities for WR Rico Scott and TEs Kaleb Edwards and Marshall Pritchett.

If you're wondering why the two best SEC games of the weekend are being played at the same time, it's because of the conference's scheduling philosophy. Earlier this year, the conference and ESPN designated gametime windows for every week of the season. Both Auburn's visit to Georgia and Mizzou's trip to Ole Miss were set as afternoon games, while the Alabama-Tennessee game was given a flex designation.

With Notre Dame playing at BYU — we'll get to that game in a moment — and ESPN having partial Big 12 rights, it was clear that the top-10 matchup in Provo would get the prime-time treatment. ESPN doesn't get the chance to have Notre Dame on its networks all that often.

Got that? OK, let's get to the game.

Three of the biggest offensive stars on the field will be playing against their former teams. Ole Miss RB Kewan Lacy began his career with the Tigers, while Missouri QB Austin Simmons and Tigers WR Cayden Lee both came to Mizzou from Ole Miss in the offseason.

The connection between Simmons and Lee has powered the Missouri pass game. Lee has 42 catches for 616 yards and has five touchdowns. He had seven career TDs over his first three seasons with the Rebels.

Lacy returned from a shoulder injury against Vanderbilt in Week 6 but he wasn't needed much in the blowout win. As the Rebels won 52-17, Lacy had seven carries for 39 yards and a TD. You might not find a better matchup between QB-RB duos all season in Ole Miss' Lacy and Trinidad Chambliss and Missouri's Simmons and Jamal Roberts, who is second in the country in rushing yards.

This game would have a lot more luster if LJ Martin was available for the Cougars.

Yes, it's still a top-10 matchup, but there's a reason that Notre Dame is a double-digit favorite. Martin, the 2025 Big 12 offensive player of the year, is out after suffering a lower-body injury in the Cougars' win over TCU in Week 5.

Without Martin on the field, sophomore QB Bear Bachmeier was the entire offense against Iowa State last week. Bachmeier was 22-of-30 for 329 yards and two scores while also rushing nine times for 109 yards. Every other Cougar player combined for 20 carries for 74 yards. Bachmeier is going to have to get a lot of help against a Notre Dame defense that's one of the best in the country.

The Irish are allowing less than 60 rushing yards per game and just 4.1 yards a play. Yes, you can quibble with the quality of opponents Notre Dame has faced so far, but no one has gained more than 286 yards against the Irish in a game all season. That's incredibly impressive.

RB Aneyas Williams entered the season as the presumptive No. 1 back after the departures of first-round picks Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price. Instead, Williams has been the least-effective rusher on a per-carry basis among the Irish's top three backs.

Williams has 67 carries for 294 yards, while Nolan James Jr. has 65 carries for 335 yards. Jonaz Walton, meanwhile, has emerged as the team's leading rusher. After rushing 23 times for 120 yards against North Carolina, the freshman had 13 carries for 181 yards and two scores against Stanford. Will he get the start on Saturday night?

Florida at No. 7 Texas (-10.5) (Noon ET, ABC): Both teams enter this game off embarrassing losses. Florida was smacked at home by a South Carolina team that was 0-3 in the SEC entering Week 6 and Texas' miscues gave Oklahoma all the opportunity it needed in a 27-24 Red River win. Given the way the Gators have looked over the last two weeks, this game feels like a Texas win. But we want to see more from the Texas offense.

North Carolina at Duke (-3.5) (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2): Are we setting up for another logjam in the middle of the ACC? Miami is clearly the best team in the conference, with Wake Forest emerging as the No. 2 team at the moment. But the Hurricanes are the only undefeated team in conference play through six weeks and 10 of the league's 17 teams have one conference loss. Duke and North Carolina are among that 10.

Florida State at No. 3 Miami (-21.5) (7 p.m. ET, ESPN): Yes, this spread is exceptionally large. But don't you want to see what Darian Mensah and Malachi Toney can do in a game that used to be one of the biggest of the season in the 1990s and early 2000s? A big Miami win will only raise more questions about the future of Florida State coach Mike Norvell, whose continued tenure may be more about university finances than anything else.

No. 15 Kentucky at Oklahoma (-7) (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network): What have the Sooners done to be giving the Wildcats a touchdown? The Oklahoma offense is still in rough shape. It got a special teams TD and a pick-6 in its win over Texas. A win for the Wildcats further establishes UK as a legit contender in the SEC — and backs up Will Stein's SEC media days confidence.

No. 18 Oklahoma State at No. 20 Houston (-4.5) (7:30 p.m. ET, Fox): This game just missed out on the cut for our top five. In any other week, it's a surefire inclusion. We've been bullish on the Cougars since the preseason and their blowout win over Kansas State solidified why. The winner of this game should deservedly be in the Big 12 title game conversation with Texas Tech, BYU and Utah. And don't be surprised if the victor actually appears in the game, too. If Martin is out for an extended period of time for BYU, it could be vulnerable. And Texas Tech doesn't look like the machine it was a season ago.

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