Hey, New England Patriots fans…
Do you have plans to go apple picking Saturday? Cancel them. Did your wife buy pumpkins and ask you if you’d like to carve them over the weekend? Tell her to find someone else. Do your kids have some sporting events they have to be at? I’m sure a little bike ride won’t hurt ’em.
It’s imperative that you park your behind on the couch at 12 p.m. ET on Saturday because the college football slate is chock full of star-studded matchups that just might feature future members of the Patriots.
Do we have your attention now?
New England is going to host the Houston Texans on Sunday, and while that will be interesting to watch because of Drake Maye’s debut, there’s something special happening the day before. The NCAA lucked into some of the best matchups we’ve seen in recent years, including No. 1 Texas vs. No. 18 Oklahoma, No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 3 Oregon, No. 9 Ole Miss vs. No. 13 LSU, Florida vs. No. 8 Tennessee and No. 4 Penn State vs. USC.
The Patriots are entering an extremely important year for their rebuild, and while we’re acutely aware that the draft won’t take place for another six months, it’s never too early to take a look at top prospects. New England just might end up with the No. 1 pick, after all.
Maye is going to do some fun things over the next couple months, but there’s almost nothing he can do that will prevent New England from having a premium pick in the draft. Ohio State, Oregon, LSU, Texas and all the other teams we mentioned will feature the players they’ll be considering, so it’s worth spending a weekend afternoon watching those guys.
NESN.com was already nice enough to list out some individual players for you to watch, so you can check out those names for yourself.
Oh yeah, it’s also going to be fun. If you miss one of the best college football weekends in the last decade, don’t say we didn’t warn you.