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Saturday of the college football slate hasn’t even started yet, but there’s already been a game played that impacted the playoff outlook this week. On Friday, #24 South Florida beat the undefeated North Texas 63-36. Going into the game, North Texas had a 14.8 percent chance to make the playoff and a 7.7 percent chance of winning out, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index. That chance of winning out was the 15th-best in all of the FBS.
Fun fact: 0-6 Oregon State has an eight percent chance to win out, the 14th-best mark in the FBS, which goes to show you how weird of a place college football is in right now. The Beavers finish out the season against Wake Forest, Lafayette, Washington State twice, Sam Houston and Tulsa.
As of now, the Group of 5’s autobid appears to be down to South Florida, Memphis, Old Dominion, Tulane and UNLV.
Now, let’s get into Saturday’s top-25 matchups, along with the draft prospects who will play in those games that are ranked in the top 250 players of the consensus draft board.
Saturday will start off hot with FOX and ABC putting on two of the three top-25 matchups at the same time. Obviously, Ohio State has a little more gas in the tank than Illinois in this game.
If you want to watch some blue-chip football players, it’s hard to argue that there are two better defenders in college football right now than Caleb Downs and Avrell Reese. Downs was probably the best defender in college football last season, while Reese had his breakout in the win over Texas in the 2025 season opener.
The Packers had scouts to watch Ohio State versus Texas, so don’t be surprised if they pick a Buckeye in 2026.
A player who is rising up draft boards right now is Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, who has seemingly taken the next step...
