Until Saturday Newsletter 🏈 | This is The Athletic’s college football newsletter. Sign up here to receive Until Saturday directly in your inbox.

Happy Week 5. Here’s this week’s schedule breakdown, which includes the biggest game yet.

Week 5 Viewer Guide

Friday night lights

Week 5 kicks off today with Army at Temple (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). And here’s a look at this week’s two Friday night features (all times ET):

• Virginia Tech (2-2) at No. 7 Miami (4-0), 7:30 p.m., ESPN. Both teams are opening ACC play, and while Virginia Tech is coming off a letdown loss to Rutgers, the Hurricanes are rolling in as heavy conference favorites.
• Washington (3-1) at Rutgers (3-0), 8 p.m., Fox. The Huskies are taking their first Big Ten road trip, and after hanging on against the Hokies, this Rutgers team looks like it’s on the rise.

Saturday’s schedule

Here’s a look at the Saturday matchups for every ranked team this week. The darker the highlight = the higher the intrigue.

Early

• Most important game: No. 20 Oklahoma State (3-1) at No. 23 Kansas State (3-1). Both the Cowboys and the Wildcats suffered their first loss last week and dug themselves into an 0-1 hole in conference play. Quarterback play by Oklahoma State’s Alan Bowman and Kansas State’s Avery Johnson fizzled in the losses. It’s still early, but the loser of this game will face a difficult uphill climb to reach the Big 12 title game.
• Most underrated game: Kentucky (2-2) at No. 6 Ole Miss (4-0). The Rebels lead the country in scoring offense (55 points per game) and total offense (670.8 yards per game). While Kentucky might not appear super threatening, it will be Ole Miss’ most difficult opponent yet. Kentucky put a scare into Georgia before losing 13-12 two weeks ago. Will the Wildcats catch Ole Miss by surprise, too?

Afternoon

• Most important game: No. 15 Louisville (3-0) at No. 16 Notre Dame (3-1). Is Louisville a true ACC contender, or are the Cardinals just pretending? We may learn the answer this weekend. The Fighting Irish have outscored their opponents 94-10 since their shocking loss to Northern Illinois.
• Most underrated game: Fresno State (3-1) at UNLV (3-0) (3:30 p.m., FS1). There’s a ton of intrigue here after UNLV starting QB Matthew Sluka made the shocking announcement that he will not play in any more games and plans to redshirt this season because of a disagreement about NIL payments.

Sluka’s agent told ESPN that his client was “verbally promised” at least $100,000 while UNLV donor Bill Paulos told The Athletic there was no agreement with Sluka beyond a $3,000 relocation fee that has been paid. UNLV is off to its first 3-0 start in 40 years and is also right at the middle of this week’s realignment drama.

Night

• Most important game: No. 2 Georgia (3-0) at No. 4 Alabama (3-0). The marquee game of the weekend pits the two SEC powerhouses against each other. Kirby Smart is 1-5 against the Crimson Tide, but that was with Nick Saban on the other side. The college football coaching throne is now up for Smart’s taking. As for the Playoff implications, a loss in this game won’t eliminate either team, obviously, but securing a first-round bye will become tougher. Per The Athletic’s Austin Mock’s model, Alabama’s odds of making the CFP would shrink from 83 percent to 73 percent with a loss, while Georgia’s odds would shrink from 89 percent to 83 percent with a loss.
• Most underrated game: Washington State (4-0) at No. 25 Boise State (2-1). Meeting for the first time since 2017, the two teams are future Pac-12 foes. Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty has become appointment viewing in the late-night window, leading the country in rushing yards per game (195.3) and rushing TDs (nine, tied with Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson). The Broncos have the best odds among Group of 5 teams to make the CFP, and a win over this pesky Wazzu team would boost that resume. Cougars dual-threat QB John Mateer has been fun to watch and leads all QBs with 425 rushing yards this season.

Check out the complete Week 5 schedule.

Need tickets? Go here. Stream the games on Fubo for free.

Best Bets

A Peachy upset pick

Here are Austin Mock’s two best bets for the week.

• Georgia Southern +3.5 (-115) at Georgia State (3:30 p.m., ESPNU). This game opened with Georgia Southern as the favorite, and the market has pushed this all the way out to Georgia Southern getting more than a field goal. That’s a bit too rich in my mind. My number does make Georgia State the favorite but nowhere near a field goal. These teams are about even per my projections, and Georgia State’s home-field advantage isn’t worth a field goal.
• Washington State +7.5 (-110) at Boise State. I’ve been high on Boise State since the preseason, and I believe Jeanty is the best running back in the country. But this price is a bit steep for my liking. The early money disagrees with me, but I have doubts that this gets to double digits, so I’m fine with grabbing more than a touchdown and an extra point. Washington State’s defense hasn’t been great to start the year and Jeanty can score any time the ball is in his hands, but my number is closer to a field goal than above a touchdown.

Read the rest of Austin’s Week 5 best bets here.

Until Saturday Upset Special (2-1): Washington State 35 (+7.5), No. 25 Boise State 32

Arkansas came through for me last week with a comfortable win against Auburn. This week, I’m picking Washington State to pull off a high-scoring upset of the Boise State Broncos. Jeanty will keep Boise State in this one late until Mateer uses his legs to put his team on top.

Listen to more picks on the Until Saturday podcast.

Quick Snaps

Is Michigan-Minnesota still a rivalry? Austin Meek has a story today on the importance of the Little Brown Jug.

After a week of messy realignment news, Chris Vannini answers the central question of how the Pac-12 and Mountain West got to this point.

UCF will host Colorado on Saturday after the Buffs pulled off one of the season’s most stunning wins last week. But can an improved Knights team burst the bubble?

Enjoy this? Sign up for our other newsletters! Scoop City 🏈 | The Bounce 🏀 | Full Time ⚽ | The Windup ⚾ | Prime Tire 🏁 | The Pulse 📣

(Top photo of Kirby Smart: Dale Zanine / Imagn Images)