The calendar has flipped to October and enough college football has been played to begin the process of sorting out the contenders from the pretenders. There’s no better way to do that than by unveiling ’s weekly watchability rankings, where we’ll sort through the best games on the docket each week from now until bowl season.
Whether it’s a dominant player, an intriguing matchup, a collision of titans or a scrap between upstarts, this will be a space to try and highlight a little bit of everything. Without further ado, let’s take a look at what jumps out on the slate in Week 6:
8. Duke Blue Devils (5–0) at Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (3–2)
Only three programs can clinch bowl eligibility in Week 6: Miami, Indiana and … Duke. Bringing the program to a third straight bowl in his first year at the helm would be a coup for Manny Diaz after Mike Elko’s departure for Texas A&M.
The eye test, at least for Duke’s offense, hasn’t inspired confidence that an undefeated record will last, but the Blue Devils have scraped out come-from-behind Power 4 wins at Northwestern and vs. North Carolina because of Diaz’s defense. The group, which has allowed just 16.2 points per game (28th in FBS), faces a stiffer challenge against the Yellow Jackets and Texas A&M transfer Haynes King.
Player/Matchup to Watch: Georgia Tech QB Haynes King vs. Duke pass rush
Not surprisingly, the Diaz-coached Blue Devils get after the quarterback among the best in the country, averaging 3.4 sacks per game (eighth nationally). King hasn’t been sacked once this season and has shown he can pick apart a defense (73.9% completion percentage) with time. Something’s gotta give.
