Alright
Week 9 is here and we’re two undefeated teams shorter with Utah and Florida
State both biting the dust in conference play. That leaves us with 12
undefeated teams left and listed below. And once again the ones playing this
week are bolded. No Tuesday or Wednesday games this week but plenty of funky
Halloween action to come Thursday thru Saturday. This week looks a bit like
last without the marquee matchups, but hopefully college football comes through
for us like it usually does.
Undefeated:
Temple (AAC), Houston (AAC), Memphis
(AAC), Clemson (ACC), TCU (BXII), Baylor (BXII), Oklahoma State (BXII), Michigan State (B1G),
Ohio State (B1G), Iowa (B1G), Toledo
(MAC), LSU (SEC)
Thursday,
October 29th, 2015
North
Carolina at #23 Pittsburgh, 6:00 pm ESPN
West
Virginia at #5 TCU,
6:30 pm FS1
A
night of, underrated?, games. Especially the first one where North Carolina and
Pitt are playing for a substantial advantage in the ACC Coastal. With three
teams (Duke being the third) all undefeated and no one else with more than one
win these games are of the utmost import. Pitt
has enough offense to get to 20 and enough defense to hold UNC under and get to
5-0 in the conference, 20-17. A half
hour later we get an offensive matchup, against a pair of injury depleted
teams. I think Trevon Boykin and the Horned
Frogs will be just too much and they pull away in the fourth 52-38.
Saturday,
October 31st, 2015
USC
at California, 2:00 pm FOX
#3 Clemson at NC State,
2:30 pm ABC/ESPN2
#11
Florida at Georgia, 2:30 pm CBS
#12 Oklahoma State at Texas Tech,
2:30 pm ESPN
Maryland
at #10 Iowa,
2:30 pm ABC/ESPN2
The afternoon
slate is interesting if unspectacular and includes three undefeated teams. This
feature four games in which I think you have to put the ranked team on upset
alert. The only matchup where the ranked team isn’t on upset alert is
Iowa-Maryland, and… “Oh no, my eyes, my eyes.” Don’t watch that game, Iowa 28-10. So we’re not
watching Iowa especially because USC-Cal is going to be fun especially with the
extreme letdown factor for the Trojans on the road. Let’s call it 38-35 Cal and enjoy. If high
flying acts aren’t your thing, let me tell you about the World’s Largest
Cocktail Party or whatever bullshit they are calling it now. Florida comes in
with one win looking to take full control of the SEC East. Georgia is looking
to “build” off a 9-6 win over Vanderbilt in their last game. That being said this
rivalry has produced a lot of stupid over the years and I can’t shake the
feeling that 2015 is one of those years. Georgia
17-13. Alright, maybe that slowed things down a little too much for you,
well Clemson-NC State is a classic look ahead trap game for the Clemson Tigers
with a mantle stealing matchup against Florida State just on the other side of
the horizon. NC State is led by Jacoby Brissett who has kind of dropped off the
map this season, but he’s good enough to at least get the upset started. Give
me Clemson, but by way too few, 31-28. Lastly, if you just have a
Pac-12 prejudice and a southwestern drawl, then OK State-TTU is the game for
you. There will be points, there will be weird decisions by QBs and there will
be punts, but there will be little defense dictated action. OK State is probably overrated
but I’m not sure a Tech team that plays a similar style is the one to exploit
them. Let’s call it a Big XII shootout, 45-41.
Tulane
at #16 Memphis,
6:00 pm CBSSN
Oregon
State at #13 Utah, 6:00 pm Pac-12 Network
Vanderbilt
at #18 Houston,
6:00 pm ESPN2
#15
Michigan at Minnesota, 6:00 pm ESPN
#9
Notre Dame at #21 Temple,
7:00 pm ABC
The
evening slate features three undefeated teams as well, and in this case all
three are AAC teams and two have matchups with Power Five teams. But first, Memphis gets Tulane and is going
to romp, 31-10. Houston gets the not
too tough, not a cakewalk matchup with a Vanderbilt team that scored touchdowns
against Missouri and has a defense that has given even the best of offenses
trouble. This one is gonna be a lot of fun if only to watch a Derek Mason
defense verses a Tom Hermann offense. Houston
takes it in the end, but it’s ugly, 24-10.
Lastly, in the AAC, Temple hosts Notre Dame and College Gameday. This will be
Temple’s first loss of the season, and there’s no shame in that. The problem is
this team has a habit of starting slow and Notre Dame’s offense and defense are
just too good to let them get away with that. Give Notre Dame to win, Temple to cover, 24-20. I’m sorry Oregon State, your gift this week is a pissed off
Utah that wants to beat some ass and your Beavers are heading to them. Utah wins, 38-10. Lastly, we head to the saddest story of the week and the
retirement of Jerry Kill. I was at Minnesota when he was hired and watched as the
athletic department oversold who they could hire and ended up hiring the
perfect man for the job, who was a profound disappointment to fans. I’m glad
coach Kill will be able to focus on his health but he was greater teacher of
men, and a damn fine football coach. Michigan
28-24.
#8
Stanford at Washington State, 9:30 pm ESPN
Lastly,
this game is going to be batshit insane, you should stay up late and watch it.
I have no idea what is going to happen in Pullman, Washington on Halloween
night in a game involving two disparate styles and Mike “God Damn” Leach on the
sideline. Washington State 41-38.
Enjoy
Week 9. This is a boring week, so, chaos and we get to end it in Pullman.
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