Notre Dame and Temple are the only two ranked squads that square off this weekend in college football.
No. 9 Notre Dame (6-1) travels to No. 21 Temple (7-0), which is one of three members of the American Athletic Conference that is currently undefeated.
Irish Head Coach Brian Kelly is impressed with what Temple Head Coach Matt Rhule has accomplished during his third season in Philadelphia.
“If you just look back on our game in 2013 and where he’s taken this program, they are deserving of their ranking,” Kelly said. “They have earned everything that they have gotten this year as a football team.”
Temple fell 28-6 in South Bend during Rhule’s first game with the Owls in 2013. That is the only time the two teams have ever met.
“It’s an outstanding defense,” Kelly said. “They do everything very well. Phil (Snow) is a veteran defensive coordinator. He’s seen a little bit of everything in his career, from the NFL to college, and implements a lot of different looks defensively.”
“I think they just are solid in everything that they do, fundamentally sound,” Kelly added. “They can bring pressures. They played very good zone. Two-deep, three-deep, man, combination coverages. Just (a) well-coached football team.”
Temple is coming off a 24-14 road win over East Carolina last week, while Notre Dame hasn’t played since beating Southern Cal 41-31 at home on Oct. 17.
Thursday Games
A pair of contests for ranked teams start the week on Thursday.
No 5 TCU (7-0, 4-0) entertains Big 12 foe West Virginia (3-3, 0-3), while No. 23 Pittsburgh (6-1, 4-0) faces North Carolina (6-1, 3-0) in an important Atlantic Coast Conference affair.
“It’s always a fun game with TCU,” West Virginia Head Coach Dana Holgorsen said. “These guys are pretty good. Obviously, they came into the league at the same time as us. They have put themselves into position where they are pretty hot here lately.”
The Horned Frogs beat West Virginia 31-30 last season and Holgorsen is expecting the same type of contest.
“They don’t look any different to me this year,” he said. “They have some new bodies on defense, but they don’t look any different to me. It will be a huge challenge for our team. This game is always exciting and entertaining and this year it is not going to be any different.”
Pittsburgh leads the ACC Coastal Division With North Carolina and Duke (6-1, 3-0) right behind the Panthers. The No. 22 Blue Devils have Miami (4-3, 1-2) at home on Saturday.
Tigers on the Prowl
With No. 1 Ohio State (8-0) and No. 2 Baylor (7-0) idle this week, Clemson (7-0, 4-0) is the highest ranked team in action.
The No. 3 Tigers are on top the the ACC’s Atlantic Division as they visit North Carolina State (5-2, 1-2) on Saturday.
The American
In addition to Temple, the American has No. 16 Memphis (7-0, 3-0) and No. 18 Houston (7-0, 4-0) still among the nation’s unbeaten squads.
Memphis entertains Tulane (2-5, 1-3) and Houston gets a visit from Vanderbilt (4-3) for a non-conference match-up.
The Tigers picked up a 66-42 win at Tulsa last weekend.
“It was a tremendous challenge for a team coming off the Ole Miss game,” Memphis Head Coach Justin Fuente said. “It was a physical and emotional challenge for the team. We had several starters that did not practice. It was the result of playing a very physical and tough football team. The Ole Miss game took an emotional toll on us and to find a way to rebound and win the game shows how tough our kids are.”
Houston is coming off a 59-10 win at Central Florida, but the Cougars trailed in the second quarter.
“I was really proud of the way when we were down 10-7 in the second quarter, there was no panic, no heads hanging,” Houston Head Coach Tom Herman said. “There was a lot of positivity on the sidelines. Then to go rattle off 52 straight points and hold them to 105 yards total in the final three quarters is a testament to the resolve that our team has.”
Here are the rest of the Top 25 games: No. 8 Stanford (6-1, 5-0) at Washington State (5-2, 3-1), Maryland (2-5, 0-3) at No. 10 Iowa (7-0, 3-0), Georgia (5-2, 3-2) at No. 11 Florida (6-1, 4-1), No. 12 Oklahoma State (7-0, 4-0) at Texas Tech 5-3, 2-3), Oregon State (2-5, 0-4) at No. 13 Utah (6-1, 3-1), No. 14 Oklahoma (6-1, 3-1) at Kansas State (0-7, 0-4), No. 15 Michigan (5-2, 2-1) at Minnesota (4-3, 1-2), Syracuse (3-4, 1-1) at No. 17 Florida State (6-1, 4-1), No. 19 Mississippi (6-2, 3-1) at Auburn (4-3, 1-3) and Colorado (4-4, 1-3) at No. 24 UCLA (5-2, 2-2).
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