Howdy, folks!

So, look, cards on the table here - pretty much everything I thought I knew about college football so far this season has turned out to be wrong. Which is fun in its own way, because every game is more of a surprise, but also a little bit frustrating, because I write these game previews with a certain slant, and more than half the time, things just haven't gone at all the way I expect. So this week I've brought you a game where I have absolutely no idea how things are going to go, which is exciting and also gives me a week off from feeling silly. But the more important thing here is that you guys get a couple of really fun games to watch this weekend, and what could possibly be wrong with that?

Cincinnati vs. Arizona, Saturday, 10/3, 8:00pm PT / 11:00pm ET, FOX
Nobody in college football has figured out halftime quite like Cincinnati. The Bearcats are 4-0, and they've gotten there by sleepwalking through first halves and waking up furious — they trailed Miami of Ohio 28-7 at the break two weeks ago and won anyway, then came from behind again against Kansas State last Saturday. That's a dangerous habit to bring to Tucson, because the last time these two met, Arizona walked into Cincinnati and knocked a ranked Bearcat team right out of the Big 12 title race. The Wildcats' quarterback that night, Noah Fifita, is still around, a fifth-year senior with more career touchdown passes than anyone else in college football, and Arizona is happy to let him throw it all over the yard. Cincinnati would rather run it straight at you and let the defense take over — opponents have scored just 27 second-half points against the Bearcats all season. So Arizona's job is to build a lead big enough that the second half doesn't matter, which, as Miami of Ohio found out, is harder than it sounds.

Dallas vs. Houston, Sunday, 10/4, 10:00am PT / 1:00pm ET, FOX
The very first game the Houston Texans ever played, back in 2002, was against the Dallas Cowboys, and the expansion kids won it. Twenty-five years later the Cowboys are back in town, and Houston could use another birthday present like that one: the Texans are 0-3 and haven't won a game of any kind since the playoffs in January. They aren't bad so much as snakebit — two weeks ago C.J. Stroud threw for over 350 yards without an interception and his team scored six points, which apparently no quarterback in NFL history had ever pulled off. Dallas, meanwhile, was supposed to be past all this. Jerry Jones opened training camp talking Super Bowl and promising a defense that would be "significantly improved," and three weeks in, it looks an awful lot like the one that gave up more points than anybody in the league last year. The offense can move the ball but can't finish: last week in Rio, Dallas had first-and-goal at the 2 with 23 seconds left, settled for a game-tying field goal, and then watched Baltimore win it on a 56-yarder as time expired. Whoever loses Sunday has a lot of explaining to do.

That'll do it for me this week, everyone. Enjoy the games, and I'll be back next week with more squares, including a much-anticipated SEC heavyweight fight that I've been looking forward to all season long.