This Weekend in College Football: Week 9

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Oklahoma @ Kansas State (ABC): Okay, let’s get this show in the road. K-State is doing about as well as could be expected in Year 1 after Synder, and I mean that in a good way. But Oklahoma shouldn’t have any issues.
  • Wisconsin @ Ohio State (FOX): Well, so much for an undefeated battle in Columbus. Wisconsin would’ve had hard a time of it regardless, but losing to Illinois last weekend inspires zero confidence in the Badgers.
  • Miami @ Pittsburgh (ESPN): This Miami team is more talented, sure, but they looked completely discombobulated while losing to us last weekend. I’m taking Pitt.
  • Iowa @ Northwestern (ESPN2): Northwestern will make it tough, but I’m going with the Hawkeyes here.
  • Appalachian State @ South Alabama (ESPNU): App State should have no issues here.
  • Mississippi State @ Texas A&M (SEC): TAMU isn’t have a fun time of it right now, but the Miss State team is impossible to judge so far this year. I’ll go with the Aggies.
  • Liberty @ Rutgers (BTN): Rutgers could lose this game. Seriously. I don’t think they will, but the possibility is there.
  • Illinois @ Purdue (BTN): Illinois? This game is solidly in the mediocre cement mixer that’s the second tier of the Big Ten right now.
  • San Jose State @ Army (CBSS): Army’s dropped a couple games now, but they shouldn’t have any problem with the Spartans.

1:00: Southern Mississippi @ Rice (ESPN+)

2:00: Ohio @ Ball State (ESPN+)

3:30:

  • Auburn @ Louisiana State (CBS): Auburn is the closest thing the SEC has to a CHAOS TEAM, for sure, and of course this goes hand-in-hand with Gus Malzahn’s perpetual on-again-off-again hotseatedness. That said, I think Auburn is on the relatively cool part of that cycle right now, so I’ll go with LSU here.
  • Texas @ Texas Christian (FOX): Tom Herman did nothing to shrug off the idea the plays both up and down to his opposition by nearly losing to Kansas last weekend. But I’m not as soured on the Longhorns as most, and I’m willing to say that I think they’ll win in Ft. Worth.
  • Pennsylvania State @ Michigan State (ABC): Penn State survived a massive test at home against a good Michigan team, so now the natural question is “can they go on the road to a kind of bad Michigan State team”. If it were just about any other team, the answer would be obvious. But it’s Michigan State, and as anyone who follows college football knows, Sparty has ~ways~ to make any game a 12-10 rock fight. Penn State wins, but an apt descriptor on Sunday will probably be “survived East Lansing”.
  • Maryland @ Minnesota (ESPN): Minnesota is still undefeated, and figures to remain so.
  • Syracuse @ Florida State (ESPN2): No. Clue. Who. Will. Win. This. Florida State?
  • Oklahoma State @ Iowa State (FS1): Speaking of mid-tier cement mixers, welcome to the Big 12, where the “mid-tier” is approximately 8 of the teams in the conference. Who will this? Iowa State, probably. Am I at all sure about it? Nope!
  • Florida International @ Middle Tennessee State (NFL): Uh, MTSU?
  • Indiana @ Nebraska (BTN): Yeah, uh, this looks like a game set of Hoosiers and a not so much game set of Cornhuskers. I think Indiana pips one.
  • Tulane @ Navy (CBSS): I like Tulane to be able to recover and get back on track after getting, well, kind of dominated by Memphis last weekend.
  • Virginia @ Louisville (ACCN): I still think UVA is good, so I’m sure they’ll spend the early evening in Louisville making me look dumb.
  • Arizona @ Stanford (Pac12): Stanford is just kinda bad this year. I like the Wildcats to win on the road and spoil the Cardinal’s homecoming.
  • Miami @ Kent State (ESPN+)
  • Central Michigan @ Buffalo (ESPN+)
  • Eastern Michigan @ Toledo (ESPN+)
  • North Texas @ Charlotte (ESPN+)
  • Florida Atlantic @ Old Dominion (ESPN+)

3:45: South Florida @ East Carolina (ESPNU): I wouldn’t advise watching this. USF I guess?

4:00:

  • South Carolina @ Tennessee (SEC): Well, it turns out the Vols didn’t get obliterated in Tuscaloosa last weekend. If there were ever such a thing as a moral victory, I guess that was it. Regardless, this figures to be an unwatchable knife fight as the Vols come crashing back to Earth against South Carolina.
  • Duke @ North Carolina (ACC/RSN): Why isn’t this this their end-of-year rivalry? I need to look into that sometime. At any rate, Mack Brown and Co figure to keep rolling.

7:00:

  • Arkansas @ Alabama (ESPN): No Tua, no problem. Arkansas is a mess, and Bama doesn’t figure to be the kind of team looking ahead to LSU next weekend.
  • Central Florida @ Temple (ESPN2): UCF is still good, and Temple’s limitations have been kind of exposed in the last couple of weeks against the other good teams in the AAC.
  • Texas Tech @ Kansas (FS1): It would be the most Kansas thing possible to get on the verge of upsetting Texas and then getting the doors blown off by the Red Raiders, so I’m going to go with that.
  • Memphis @ Tulsa (CBSS): The Tigers figure to have no issues here.
  • Texas State @ Arkansas State (ESPN+)
  • Troy @ Georgia State (ESPN+)

7:30:

  • Notre Dame @ Michigan (ABC): No, it’s not wrong that you’re not excited about this. It’s perfectly understandable, honestly. This figures to be a repeat of the Notre Dame-Georgia game: tight, conservative playcalling to the point of unwatchability. I guess this time ND will win, though.
  • Colorado State @ Fresno State (ESPNU): Things are getting off the rails for the Rams, who don’t figure to present any issues for Fresno.
  • Missouri @ Kentucky (SEC): I’m not sure how Mizzou lost to Vandy last weekend, so given that bit of ignorance I’m still going to pick them against Kentucky.
  • Boston College @ Clemson (ACCN): Still on the Clemson bandwagon.
  • Arizona State @ California-Los Angeles (Pac12): This game figures to be kind of like a trainwreck, which is definitely a scenario that will favor Herm Edwards and the visiting Sun Devils.

10:00: California @ Utah (FS1): Cal has no offense to speak of, which means even their defense can’t keep them in games. Utes all the way.

10:15: Utah State @ Air Force (ESPN2): This should be a fun one. Utah State is a pretty solid MWC team, and Air Force has solid wins over Colorado, Fresno State, and Hawaii. I’ll take the Falcons at home.

10:30:

  • Washington State @ Oregon (ESPN): Wazzu is just… man, who knows. Who knows. Ducks all the way.
  • San Diego State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (CBSS): And finally, we’ve got our MWC closer, but unfortunately a solid Aztecs squad against the hapless Rebels.