THE WORD

No. 4 South Dakota visits No. 12 Youngstown State in a matchup with early playoff résumé implications, while No. 7 North Dakota looks to bounce back at Indiana State, No. 3 Illinois State takes its unbeaten record to Northern Iowa and No. 2 South Dakota State turns to its quarterback depth against Eastern Illinois.

Week 4 brings one of the Patriot League’s deepest slates yet, with No. 25 Colgate visiting Villanova, unbeaten No. 9 Lehigh heading to Penn and several teams facing pivotal early-season tests. Add potentially rough weather across the Northeast, and Saturday could get interesting quickly.