Weekly Syllabus: College football regular season heats up with unexpected heavyweight showdowns (and Clemson's last stand)

On Monday, Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack spoke about the challenges of facing Taylor, telling reporters, "He just has a great feel and a great touch right now.

"He is probably as good as we have seen in the last three years at the quarterback position," Wommack added. That's a bold a claim. Facing a defense that ranks third-worst in pass explosiveness, defined as the average predicted points added on a successful pass attempt, among SEC teams, per Fourth and Short data, Taylor might back it up.

Iowa Hawkeyes look to further shake up Big Ten race

No. 14 Iowa (4-0, 1-0 in Big Ten) handed Michigan its second first loss of the season on a stunning walk-off touchdown in The Big House last Saturday, and its reward is an even higher-stakes game against the No. 5 Ohio State Buckeyes (3-1, 1-0 in Big Ten). 

No one has been able to stop Ohio State wideout Jeremiah Smith, who already has 617 receiving yards, and Iowa outside corners Deshaun Lee and Jaylen Watson will be the next to slow him down. Per Pro Football Focus data, the duo have combined to allow eight receptions on 21 targets for 111 yards (5.3 yards per target) and two interceptions, both by Lee.

Eli Drinkwitz, No. 25 Mizzou aim for respect versus the No. 8 Florida Gators

Since taking over as Missouri Tigers (3-1, 0-1 in SEC) head coach in 2020, Drinkwitz is 0-10 against AP top 10 teams, including five losses when Missouri was also ranked. Four of those came a season ago, but the Tigers have a chance to snap the streak — overall, Missouri has lost 14 consecutive against top 10 opponents, with its last win coming in October 2013 at Georgia — when Florida (4-0, 2-0 in SEC) comes to town. Will the same old Mizzou show up, or can Drinkwitz finally lead the Tigers to a different result?

Clemson Tigers try to enter the ACC title conversation

Clemson was left for dead somewhere along Interstate 10 in Baton Rouge after being pummeled by LSU, 51-10, in its season opener. But a funny thing has happened in the weeks since. Despite not playing very good football, the Tigers have won three in a row entering a pivotal ACC matchup with the No. 4 Miami Hurricanes (4-0, 2-0 in ACC).

ESPN Analytics gives Clemson (3-1, 2-0 in ACC) slightly better than no chance of pulling off the home upset, with the Tigers' odds of winning a measly 12.6 percent. Considering we're a month into the regular season and Miami quarterback Darian Mensah still has more touchdown passes (14) than incompletions (12), the computers might be overselling Clemson's chances.