Week 4 is top to bottom the best week of the young season. This is first week that we sat in our ivory tower, (built by Caleb Alexander's picks against the spread this season, 24-11!), high atop the Columbia and had to debate which games to put on our pick'em contest. The week kicks off with a Top 25 matchup on Friday night. Kudos to FOX and the Big Ten for realizing the NFL has killed Thursday night college football and scheduling quality games for Friday. A couple seasons of strong ratings on Friday will probably give the NFL ideas. Saturday has two featured heavyweight matchups with Southern Cal at Michigan and Tennessee headed to Norman to welcome OU to the SEC. Utah at Oklahoma State is another top 14 matchup. It's a good Saturday for football.

All lines are locked on Monday, some may have moved by the date of this article's publication. All games times are listed in EDT and the rankings are the AP.

This week's celebrity guest picker is former Gamecock and Batesburg-Leesville DB Ty Erving. Sheldon lettered at Carolina from 2003-2007. He came in to Columbia as part of Lou Holtz's 8th-ranked Rivals recruiting class. In 2006, he was named the Most Improved Defense Back after spring practice. Ty can also lay claim to tackling Tim Tebow twice on a night in Williams-Brice where he wasn't tackled often. After football, Ty got into the insurance business and has spent the last 15 years helping people across the Midlands take care of the "what ifs" in life at Palmetto Assurances. Give Ty a call or check out the website here.

True to form, a Matt Rhule coached team (college anyway) is competitive in year two. Rhule reset the culture in his first year with the Huskers and developed a stout defense by the end of 2023. NIL funds helped land highly touted freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola in the offseason. Nebraska has yet to face a defense that could even pose a challenge, but that will change on Friday.

Bret Bielema has his best team to date at Illinois. The Illini are built eerily similar to Bielema’s old Wisconsin teams - a deep running back corps, efficient quarterback play, and a strong defense. Bielema has been as good as any coach in college football having his teams prepared for rematch games where they lost the year before. Expect the Illini to put on a better showing than the 2023 contest.

The Textile Bowl, or the game formerly referred to as the Textile Bowl. NC State has played Clemson about as well as any team has since 2015, the year the Tigers first played for a national championship under Dabo Sweeney. The Pack are only 2-6 against Clemson during that time, but three of those losses were by 10 points or less. Clemson had a week off after dismantling App State. The Wolfpack have not yet clicked under former Coastal QB Grayson McCall. State was not competitive with Tennessee and was far too competitive with Louisiana Tech and Western Carolina. This looked like one of Clemson's more difficult ACC games this season, not anymore based on the first three weeks.

The 3-0 Chanticleers return to Conway after knocking off Temple in Lincoln Financial Field last weekend. Kansas transfer Ethan Vasko has looked solid replacing the departed QB Grayson McCall. Virginia well be the first ACC program to ever play a game at Coastal. Coastal has previously hosted Power 4 programs in BYU and Kansas, both wins.

Tony Elliot needs a strong third year in Charlottesville. The Hoos are 8-17 overall and 4-12 in the ACC. They haven't won more than three games in a season under Elliot.

Michigan gets a second chance in September to show they are a playoff contender in 2024, after losing big in the Big House to SEC power Texas. Southern Cal was fortunate to get to play LSU 11-on-11 and they won. These two powers have played 10 times. The Trojans have won six. Eight of those matchups have come in the Rose Bowl with the most recent in 2007. Saturday will mark only the second time that the Men of Troy will travel to the Big House, Michigan won the other meeting 20-19 in 1958.

Louisville is coming out of its first bye week, showcasing an attack that ranks 13th nationally and 3rd in FBS in scoring with 55.5 points per game, but the schedule gets tougher starting this week. The Yellow Jackets have already upset a Top 25 team away from Atlanta this season, OK, FSU should have been nowhere near the Top 25 but they were Tech beat them.

Everyone likes good-on-good right- how about this:

Georgia Tech is one of eight FBS teams without a sack allowed, helping mobile quarterback Haynes King become one of the nation’s best passers. Tech will face the most aggressive pressure yet from a Louisville defense that averages 4.5 sacks per game (second nationally) and has recorded 19 tackles for loss (fifth nationally).

We're not sure what each of these teams has this season. Auburn looked dreadful in a home loss to Cal and blew out New Mexico and Alabama A&M. Arkansas struggled to put away a pesky UAB team last week after letting one slip away where it had Oklahoma State beat in Stillwater. The Hogs and Sam Pittman need this game worse than Freeze and Auburn. The Tigers have won seven-of-eight in this series. Ja'Quinden Jackson is a name to know for the Hogs. The Utah transfer running back is currently fifth nationally with 397 yards rushing.

Utah quarterback Cam Rising's health status has been biggest story of the week in the Beehive State. Rising missed all of last season with a torn ACL. He has played this season but he suffered an injury to his hand two weeks ago. Rising is expected to go this week.

As always, the Cowboy offense is humming under Mike Gundy. The defense has struggled. The Cowboys haven’t shown they can stop anyone under second-year defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo. They rank 127th in explosive plays allowed and 98th in PFF's rush defense metric. The Pokes are also 87th in their tackling metric- that spells disaster against a physical and disciplined Utah offense.

Oklahoma makes their long awaited SEC debut Saturday night against sixth ranked Tennessee. The two storied programs have played four times, with the Sooners winning three. The new SEC rivals played and home-and-home series in 2014/2015, with the Sooners winning both of those meetings. This is a different Tennessee under Josh Heupel and a favorable NIL climate, no more McDonalds' bags needed.

Heupel was the runner-up to the Heisman Trophy when he quarterbacked Oklahoma to a national championship in 2000. Heupel's current QB, Nico Iamaleava, has the fifth best odds to capture the Heisman this season. The Vols lead the nation is scoring at 63.7 points per game, while their defense is allowing only 4.3 points per game. Brent Venables is 19-10 in 2+ years in Norman. Getting beaten handily in their first SEC game at home wouldn't sit well with boosters.

The weather forecast looks much better than the last time Akron came to Columbia. What also looks better and better, a subscription to GamecockScoop for all the best coverage of South Carolina Athletics.

Lavell Edwards Stadium is high up on the list stadiums that I want to catch a game. Nestled in the Wasatch Range of the Rockies, it's one of the most picturesque stadiums in the country. Its always an interesting story to see how non-Rocky mountain schools fare playing at 4,649 feet. Manhattan, Kansas sits at just over 1,000 feet above sea level. The other reason to catch this game, if you missed K-State's beatdown of Arizona last Friday, is K-State sophomore QB Avery Johnson. One of BYU's coaches compared him to Lamar Jackson this week. I think he'll be a better passer and I see more Josh Allen. If you are looking for a dark-horse Heisman bet, Johnson is +2,500. He won't have those odds for long.