“Nothing means nothing.” When the “Macho Man” Randy Savage (R.I.P.) laid that self-evident piece of nihilistic philosophy on us he wasn’t talking about college football, but he could have been talking about the first three weeks of the 2023 college football season. Aside from Florida State’s win over LSU and Texas’s triumph over the Tide in Tuscaloosa, it doesn’t feel like any of the season’s year-to-date results have any playoff implications. Some teams, like my beloved Crimson Tide, are justifiably in a position they’d rather not be in, but there’s still plenty of time for the cream to rise to the top. This weekend will be the first chance to really separate the cream of the crop from the rest of the field.

Side Note: I think I write some variation of this gimmick every year. I’m sorry I’m not sorry it never gets old.

Rose Bowl (#1 vs. #4)- Washington vs. Penn State

Strength of opponent aside, Washington has been the most impressive college football team of the season. Period. Michael Penix and his crew of receivers are shredding defenses, and it seems like beating them in a track meet might be the only shot of taking down this Huskies team. Good luck with that. We’re still waiting for Washington’s first real test, but they do open conference play against Cal this weekend.

Penn State has been what it needed to be for the most part with a pair of Power Five wins of Illinois and West Virginia. Drew Allar is still coming into his own as a college quarterback, but he has flashed some tantalizing potential. Fortunately, with this Nittany Lion defense and running game, Allar just needs to play smart and safe, and Penn State should be in any game they play. Iowa’s secondary could make life a little difficult on Saturday night, but if he plays keep away from Cooper DeJean, I like the Nittany Lions’ chances.

Sugar Bowl (#2 vs. #3)- Texas vs. Florida State

Some would look at Texas’s follow-up performance against Wyoming as a letdown, but that overlooks a Cowboys team that is a legitimate Mountain West contender. The Longhorns are just fine. A trip to Waco against the struggling Baylor Bears is a game that recent iterations of the Texas Longhorns have struggle to win. It’s easy to feel like Texas’s performances against the likes of Alabama and Oklahoma will signify whether the Longhorns are truly #back, but the truth of the matter is avoiding inexplicable losses to Baylor and Kansas and Iowa State will truly tell us when Texas is back.

Florida State was the closest team to screwing up last weekend. Jordan Travis went down with a minor left shoulder injury and played wounded for the second half. The Seminoles were also careless with the football and allowed a Boston College offense without much to offer to cash in on a few chunk plays. The Noles will re-focus this weekend and take the torch from Clemson as the pole sitters in the ACC, and they’ll do it in Death Valley.

Orange Bowl- Miami vs. Notre Dame

I talked about the merits of this game last weekend, so I won’t re-hash. Miami and Notre Dame coasted to wins last weekend with sights set on bigger fish upcoming. Miami will have to wait a bit longer, but will need to show up in a sleepy road trip to Philly to take on the Temple Owls. Notre Dame, on the other hand, has the biggest game of #CreamOfTheCropSaturday with a trip to Columbus. The Fighting Irish offense has been smooth sailing under Sam Hartman so far, but the Buckeyes are stacked with talent at all three levels of the defense and Ryan Day will have a plan to slow down Hartman’s unique spread attack. On the other side of the ball, the major question will be: does Notre Dame have the secondary to slow down Marvin Harrison, Jr. and Emeka Egbuka?

Fiesta Bowl- Fresno State vs. Washington State

Parsing out the Group of Five teams is even more difficult than the Power Five, but Fresno State has two wins over Power Five teams already and that’s more than anyone else can say. Granted, Arizona State is definitely a bad team, and all the evidence suggests that Purdue might be a bad team without Jeff Brohm at the helm. Jeff Tedford is a good coach in the right job for him, so it isn’t surprising to see Fresno State perform, but it’s a long season and the Mountain West is in for a competitive season.

Washington may be my darling team of the first quarter of the season, but their Apple Cup rival has been more than a wicked stepsister. The crowning achievement so far is the #Pac12AfterDark upset of Wisconsin, but they’ve bookended that by putting up monster offensive numbers against Northern Colorado and Colorado State. The same Colorado State that just took Deion’s team to double overtime. The Coogs are another team in put-up-or-shut-up mode this week hosting DJ U and the Beavs.

Peach Bowl- North Carolina vs. Ole Miss

Seriously if my life ends suspiciously this college football season, please let someone investigate Mack Brown. He hates expectations and that’s all I’ve given the Tar Heels this season. Drake Maye continues to show why he will be a first-round draft pick and North Carolina shouldn’t struggle against a disappointing Pitt team.

Here’s Lane Kiffin’s chance. I hope he has his popcorn ready. Hugh Freeze won the hearts of Ole Miss faithful by beating Alabama twice…that is until his phone records leaked. The Rebels catch an Alabama team that’s as vulnerable as it has been in a decade. Ole Miss not only has a chance to drive the final stake in Alabama’s 2023 Playoff hopes, but they also have an opportunity to move into the driver’s seat in the SEC West race. That’s a position they’ve never been in and justifiably one they’d love.

Cotton Bowl- Oklahoma vs. Duke

Was last year an anomalous down year for the Sooners or a sign of a program in decline? Many thought the latter heading into 2023, but the early season results suggest the former. Brent Venables’ team not only looks tougher, but they are putting up points consistently this season too. They are fortunate to be able to sit back and eat bon bons while other prominent teams sweat it out against each other this weekend, but their time is coming.

Riley Leonard has the Duke offense rocking and rolling with an average margin of victory of 36-9.3 albeit against the doormats of Lafayette, Northwestern and…Clemson. Duke gets one more tune-up game this week against UConn before a real showdown against a Notre Dame team that will either be riding high coming off a road win over Ohio State or pissed off and looking for revenge.

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