Week 9 Preview

How is it already week 9 of the college football season? I guess time flies when you watch way too many games at once like I do. Unfortunately I won’t have that problem this weekend. I will be in Oklahoma for a softball double header (I’m a student manager for the Arkansas softball team) and will miss all but the late Pac-12 and MWC games. At least there aren’t many big games this weekend, but much like last week, there are lots of potential trap games for ranked teams.

Notable Games
Oregon at Arizona State (Thurs) Thursday brings us another very interesting Pac-12 game. This week it is Oregon and Arizona State. Both already have two conference losses. The key to Arizona State winning this game is holding Oregon under 20 points. Oregon has struggled on offense in recent games and barely escaped Washington two weeks ago. ASU’s last game was a loss at Utah where they only scored 18 points. I think this is kind of a toss up game. A close game favors the Sun Devils, but there is always a possibility Oregon will find their stride and score 45+ points. This game is in Tempe, and I think that will tip the scales. I am picking Arizona State.

9Notre Dame at 21Temple I don’t really think that this will be a close game, but Temple has nothing to lose and those kinds of teams are scary. College GameDay is going to be there for this game so I expect a pretty hostile environment. Notre Dame is the better team, but Temple has found ways to win this season. The Owls barely got by ECU last week and played closer to UCF than they should have. Notre Dame had a bye last week and came back in the 4th quarter to beat USC at home in their last game. I wouldn’t be surprised if this game was close until the 4th quarter, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if Notre Dame was up by 2TDs at the half. The only thing that would surprise me would be Temple winning. I am picking Notre Dame.

11Florida vs Georgia (Jacksonville) Both of these teams are coming off bye weeks. Florida went to Death Valley and lost a close one to LSU in their last game and Georgia barely beat Missouri. Florida is the better team in this matchup but that doesn’t mean too much in a rivalry game. Georgia’s offense has been a little sluggish since the loss of RB Nick Chubb. Both of these teams have the potential to score a lot of points, but each defense is also capable of holding the other team to not a lot of points. I think Florida has the edge even with Treon Harris at the helm. This could be a very good game. I am picking Florida.

Vanderbilt at 18Houston Houston should be on upset alert this weekend. Vanderbilt has a very good defense and should challenge Houston’s offense. My concern with Vanderbilt is their lack of offense. If they can’t score any points, holding Houston to a low score won’t matter. I think this will be a pretty competitive game, but I just don’t see Vandy scoring enough points to beat Houston. I am picking Houston.

19Ole Miss at Auburn Last week Ole Miss held Texas A&M to just 3 points and 192 yards of total offense. Ole Miss also only scored 23 points. I think they will have a much better game this week. Auburn is coming off a tough 4OT loss to Arkansas where the receivers couldn’t hang on to the ball. I think Auburn is in for another tough game. The Rebel defense is very good and their offense can score. Ole Miss needs to make sure they don’t overlook the Tigers or they could easily lose this game. I am picking Ole Miss.

USC at California USC had a very strong game against Utah last week. Both the offense and defense looked strong. California lost bad to UCLA and QB Jared Goff didn’t look that great. After having watched the Trojans dominate Utah, I would be surprised if they didn’t beat Cal. These are two good Pac-12 teams that should give us a good game. It all depends on which USC team shows up and if they can string together another 4 quarters of good football. I am picking USC.

Tennessee-Martin at Arkansas Arkansas is coming off a huge 4OT win over Auburn. This should be a win for the Hogs, but hopefully Toledo taught them to never overlook an opponent. As a fan, I would like to see Arkansas get a big lead early so the backups can get some more experience and the starters can get some rest. Injuries have been a major issue for the Razorbacks so it would also be great if everyone can stay healthy. Sadly, this game is the end of a major streak for me. As I said earlier, I won’t be at this game. The last time I wasn’t at a Razorback home game (including Little Rock games and the Texas A&M game in Dallas this year) was when Arkansas hosted Tulsa on November 3, 2012. Starting with LSU that season, I have been to 20 straight Arkansas home football games. The Hogs are 10-10 in those games. I don’t even know how long it’s been since I didn’t watch a game live, but that streak will be broken too. So cheer extra loud for the Hogs this week for me.

Top 25
1Ohio State BYE
2Baylor BYE
3Clemson at NC State
4LSU BYE
West Virginia at 5TCU (Thurs)
6Michigan State BYE
7Alabama BYE
8Stanford at Washington State
Maryland at 10Iowa
12Oklahoma State at Texas Tech
Oregon State at 13Utah
14Oklahoma at Kansas
15Michigan at Minnesota
Tulane at 16Memphis
Syracuse at 17Florida State
20Toledo BYE
Miami(FL) at 22Duke
North Carolina at 23Pittsburgh (Thurs)
Colorado at 24UCLA
25Mississippi State BYE

Other Games
Texas at Iowa State
Arizona at Washington
South Carolina at Texas A&M
Tennessee at Kentucky