Good morning New York Giants fans! Happy Saturday and welcome to Week 8 of the college football schedule.
This year has been, frankly, insane. If the NFL has been unpredictable, college football has been utterly chaotic. We’ve seen teams that are highly ranked before the season — like Texas or Michigan — fall off a cliff, while some teams who were completely off the radar are now ranked.
The good news for us is that while we’re always going to pay attention to the powerhouse schools, even in down years, the chaos is surfacing programs and prospects we might overlook until much later in the process.
So, who could be on the Giants’ radar this week?
(17) Vanderbilt vs. (10) LSU
ABC – noon
This has the potential to be a very interesting game. It looked like a cakewalk for LSU when the schedule was released, but LSU hasn’t quite played up to expectations while Vandy has been much better than expected.
Commodores’ quarterback Diego Pavia has been steady and efficient this year, completing 71 percent of his passes, averaging 8.8 yards per attempt, and carries a 14-4 touchdown to interception ratio. He’s a bit undersized at 6-foot, 205 pounds, but could be worth watching as a later round quarterback.
LSU might not be playing up to expectations, most notably QB Garrett Nussmeier, but they still have plenty of talent around their roster.
Players to watch
(17) Vanderbilt
- Diego Pavia (QB – 2)
- Eli Stowers (TE – 9)
- Miles Capers (EDGE – 29)
- Martel Hight (CB – 4)
(10) LSU
- Garrett Nussmeier (QB – 18)
- Nic Anderson (WR – 4)
- Whit Weeks (LB – 40) *Questionable
- Harold Perkins Jr. (LB – 7)
- Mansoor Delane (CB – 4)
- A.J. Haulcy (S – 13)
(9) Georgia vs. (5) Ole Miss
ABC – 3:30 p.m.
This is will be the third time we’ve looked at Georgia, which is a bit more frequent than I’d like. However, it’s been a while since we’ve checked in on Ole Miss, and we always like to get games that should be “good against good”.
Georgia always has NFL talent on their roster, and the Giants are likely well acquainted with Ole Miss’ squad after their deep dive into Jaxson Dart. Both of these squads should interest the Giants, and this could even be the game that Joe Schoen attends this week.
Players to watch
(9) Georgia
- Earnest Greene III (OL – 71) * Hasn’t played since Week 3, but is listed as “probable”
- Lawson Luckie (TE – 7)
- Zachariah Branch (WR – 1)
- Christen Miller (iDL – 52)
- C.J.Allen (LB – 3)
- Daylen Everette (CB – 6)
(5) Ole Miss
- Trinidad Chambliss (QB – 6)
- Diego Pounds (OT – 61)
- Harrison Wallace III (WR – 2)
- Zxavian Howard (iDL – 51)
- Suntarine Perkins (EDGE – 4)
- Princewill Umanmielen (EDGE – 1)
(13) Notre Dame vs. (20) USC
NBC – 7:30 p.m.
It might not be rivalry week, but we’ve got a classic rivalry for our evening game. Notre Dame are the heavy favorite this week (9.5-point favorites per FanDuel), though they have a fairly lengthy injury report.
This could wind up being a very entertaining game, as each team boasts one of the best offensive skill players in the nation at his respective position. The Giants might not be interested in Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, but he has been excellent this year and last. The Giants might want to keep an eye on WR Malachi Fields, who has excellent size (6-foot-4, 222 pounds) and no drops on the season while averaging 18.8 yards per catch.
Meanwhile, USC receiver Makai Lemon has been among the very best wideouts in college football, and absolutely should be in consideration for the Giants. His skill set may be redundant with Malik Nabers… But it’s a very good skill set to have.
Players to watch
(13) Notre Dame
- Aamil Wagner (OT – 59)
- Jeremiyah Love (RB – 4)
- Malachi Fields (WR – 0)
- Boubacar Traore (EDGE – 5)
- Jalen Stroman (S – 7)
- Aden Shuler (S – 8)
(20) USC
- Jayden Maiava (QB – 14)
- Makai Lemon (WR – 6)
- Ja’Kobi Lane (WR – 8)
- Keeshawn Silver (iDL – 9)
- Anthony Lucas (DE – 6)
- Kamari Ramsey (S – 7)
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