NCAA Football: Bye Week: Five Games, Five Bites and a Whole Lot of Smoke
UNC is on a bye this weekend, which means Tar Heel fans have a choice: spend Saturday replaying the Clemson loss in their heads, or fire up the smoker and enjoy some college football without having to care quite so much about the final score.
At Between Two Grills, we choose the second option. There are some fantastic games on the schedule, so let's build the perfect bye-week football menu. Five games, five foods, a smoker, a Weber and just enough food to make it through the day without needing a halftime nap.
Friday Night: Northwestern at Indiana: Smoked Queso and Sausage
Friday night should be easy. Fire up the smoker, grab a cast-iron skillet and make smoked queso with sausage, peppers and a little heat. Let the smoker do the work while you settle in for the game. It's the perfect appetizer for a Friday night because it can sit beside you for three hours and somehow disappear before halftime.
No. 5 Indiana hosts Northwestern at 8 p.m. in the defending national champion's first real test of the season. The Wildcats are coming off a statement win over Colorado, dominating the Buffaloes 41-7 last Saturday. Northwestern forced four turnovers, and quarterback Aidan Chiles accounted for five touchdowns in the victory.
Now the Wildcats get to find out just how good they are. Indiana enters Big Ten play as the defending national champion and is 3-0, but Northwestern has already shown it can create problems when it gets pressure and forces mistakes.
So pour the queso, grab a chip and settle in. If Northwestern can carry the energy from that Colorado beatdown into Bloomington, Friday night could give us a much better idea of whether the defending champs are ready for another run.
Saturday Noon: Texas at Tennessee: Smoked Chicken Wings
Saturday starts with the game everybody will be watching, so it is time for wings. Put them on the Traeger or smoker early enough to pick up some smoke, then finish them hot to crisp the skin. Go buffalo, dry rub or even a Texas-inspired seasoning. The important thing is that you can eat them with one hand while the other stays firmly planted on the remote.
No. 1 Texas travels to No. 14 Tennessee for a noon kickoff at Neyland Stadium, and this is the kind of environment that can tell us a lot about the Longhorns. Texas is 3-0 and enters as the nation's top-ranked team, but this will be Arch Manning's first trip to Knoxville and his first game in front of more than 100,000 Tennessee fans.
And then there is Arch. After a week in which his press conference comments became part of the national conversation, Manning had considerably fewer words for reporters this week, answering 19 questions in less than a minute. He certainly found a way to keep the press conference quiet. Now comes the fun part: will his play inside Neyland Stadium be loud enough for the entire country to hear?
That is what makes this such a great football game. Tennessee gets the home-field advantage, Texas brings the No. 1 ranking, and Manning gets his first chance to show that all the talk surrounding him this week is a lot less important than what he does between the lines.
Saturday 2 p.m.: Notre Dame at Purdue: Smoked Sausage Bites
By the time Notre Dame and Purdue kick off, we're moving into the afternoon without committing to another full meal. Cut your favorite sausage into bite-sized pieces, put them on the smoker and let them pick up some smoke. Finish them with a little barbecue glaze and serve them with toothpicks. Simple, smoky and easy to keep coming back to.
For UNC fans, this game comes with a little homework. Notre Dame is coming up on the Tar Heels' schedule, so this is a chance to watch the Irish without the stress of actually playing them. Pay attention to the quarterback, the offensive line and how the defense handles Purdue. You can call it scouting. We can call it an excuse to eat more sausage.
Saturday 3:30 p.m.: Oklahoma at Georgia: Pulled Pork Sliders
By late afternoon, it's time for something a little more substantial, but we're still saving room for the final game of the night. That's where pulled pork sliders come in. Smoke a pork shoulder on the Traeger or smoker, pull it and pile it onto small slider buns with some slaw. They're big enough to count as food but small enough that you can keep eating while the football gets interesting.
And Oklahoma has plenty to chew on heading into Athens. John Mateer and the Sooner offense have a lot of questions that need answers. Oklahoma is coming off an ugly 14-6 win over New Mexico in which Mateer threw two interceptions, while the Sooners managed just 299 total yards and averaged only 1.9 yards per carry. Mateer has acknowledged the mistakes and said he believes he will persevere, but now comes a trip to No. 2 Georgia.
Unfortunately for Oklahoma, the Dawgs have not exactly been the environment for resurrecting the life into a struggling quarterback's passing arm. Georgia's defense is physical, aggressive and built to make offenses uncomfortable, and Kirby Smart knows Mateer's athleticism means Oklahoma can create problems in more ways than just throwing the football.
That's what makes this game fascinating.Can Mateer settle down, protect the football and find enough explosive plays to keep Oklahoma in the game? Or does Georgia turn those questions surrounding the Sooner offense into four very long quarters?
Either way, pulled pork sliders feel appropriate. Oklahoma needs to find some answers, Georgia is ready to ask some very uncomfortable questions, and we'll be sitting there with barbecue in one hand and the remote in the other.
Saturday Night: Texas A&M at LSU: Weber-Grilled Peach Cobbler
By Saturday night, we're skipping the giant steak and going straight to dessert. Fire up the Weber, grab a cast-iron skillet and build a peach cobbler with peaches, brown sugar, cinnamon and a simple crumble topping. Let the Weber add a little heat and smoke, then serve it warm with vanilla ice cream. That's how you end a football Saturday.
But this game is about a lot more than dessert. Both Texas A&M and LSU are coming off disappointing losses, and both are looking for a response. Texas A&M took a 31-21 loss to Kentucky at home, ending the Aggies' regular-season home winning streak that dated back to 2024. LSU traveled to Ole Miss and lost 32-24 after building a 24-7 lead. Both teams are now 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the SEC, which makes this more than just another Saturday night game. The loser will start conference play 0-2 and have a lot more explaining to do.
For Texas A&M, the challenge is figuring out whether the Kentucky loss was a bad night or a warning sign. For LSU, it's about showing that blowing a three-score lead at Ole Miss was an isolated mistake rather than the beginning of a bigger problem. And they have to settle it in Tiger Stadium, where LSU has won 25 of its last 27 night games.
That's why this feels like the perfect way to close out the bye-week menu. The peach cobbler is sweet, but the football could get a little bitter for somebody. By 7:30, the smoker is cooling down, the Weber is doing the final work and two SEC teams are trying to keep one bad Saturday from turning into a bad September.
The Bye Week Menu
That's the beauty of the bye week. UNC doesn't have to be involved in every game for us to enjoy college football. Start Friday night with smoked queso, move into Saturday with wings and sausage, break out the pulled pork in the afternoon and finish the night with peach cobbler.
Five games. Five foods. One smoker. One Weber.
And not one minute spent yelling at the UNC offense, Bill Belichick, or Pat Welter.
That's a pretty good bye week.
