College Football Week 9

Well, last Saturday was pretty disappointing. Iowa lost another 17-10 game, this time at Northwestern, in a game where it seemed like they outplayed them most of the day. The offense again looked stale in the second half, they just couldn't get the running game going, and pretty much went away from the deep passes, even though Nate Stanley hit Matt VandeBerg for a beautiful 61 yarder in the first half. Stanley threw for over 180 yards in the first half! Iowa could only come up with 7 points by halftime though, luckily the defense came to play. The defense looked sharp once again, even without Josey Jewell at LB and Brandon Snyder at S. With the offense being so terrible in the second half, it seemed like the defense got worn out as Northwestern picked up the pace a bit. Hopefully, the offense will get it going this week against Minnesota, or it's going to be a long season. I do think Minnesota is a notch below Northwestern though, and Iowa should be able to pull it off. 5-3 heading into the Ohio State and Wisconsin games will be much better than 4-4.


Top 25
1-Alabama 8-0 this week: off
2-Georgia 7-0 this week: vs Florida
3-TCU 7-0 this week: at #25 Iowa State
4-Penn State 7-0 this week: at #7 Ohio State
5-Wisconsin 8-0 this week: at Illinois
6-Miami 6-0 this week: at North Carolina
7-Ohio State 6-1 this week: #4 Penn State
8-USF 7-0 this week: Houston
9-Notre Dame 6-1 this week: #17 NC State
10-Oklahoma State 6-1 this week: at #21 West Virginia
11-Virginia Tech 6-1 this week: Duke
12-Michigan State 6-1 this week: at Northwestern
13-Clemson 6-1 this week: Georgia Tech
14-Washington 6-1 this week: UCLA
15-Washington State 7-1 this week: at Arizona
16-Oklahoma 6-1 this week: Texas Tech
17-NC State 6-1 this week: at #9 Notre Dame
18-Auburn 6-2 this week: off
19-UCF 6-0 this week: Austin Peay
20-Stanford 5-2 this week: at Oregon State
21-West Virginia 5-2 this week: #10 Oklahoma State
22-Memphis 6-1 this week: Tulane
23-USC 6-2 this week: at Arizona State
24-LSU 6-2 this week: off
25-Iowa State 5-2 this week: #3 TCU (it's weird having Iowa State in the rankings)

Other teams to watch
Texas A&M 5-2, Michigan 5-2, Boise State 5-2, South Carolina 5-2, Georgia Tech 4-2, Fresno State 5-2, Arizona 5-2, Mississippi State 5-2, Marshall 6-1, Toledo 6-1, Army 6-2, San Diego State 5-2

Games of the Week
I was 9-2 last week, best week of the year for me, puts me at 38-14 on the season now. Not bad. Quite a few good ones this week, really looking forward to this Saturday.

Georgia Tech at Clemson: Clemson is looking to bounce back after their stunning loss at Syracuse. Georgia Tech will be a solid test, but Clemson should come out on top.

Clemson 35 Georgia Tech 24

NC State at Notre Dame: Notre Dame is a lot better than I expected them to be, they whooped USC. NC State is pretty good, but I don't think they'll hang with the Golden Domers in South Bend.

Notre Dame 31 NC State 21

Texas Tech at Oklahoma: Oklahoma needed a second half rally to knock off Kansas State last week, and Texas Tech got whooped by Iowa State.

Oklahoma 34 Texas Tech 28

TCU at Iowa State: The Cyclones are on a roll right now, unfortunately for them, so is TCU. I think the Cyclones magic will run out this week.

TCU 28 Iowa State 17

Oklahoma State at West Virginia: This could be a very high scoring game, both teams won close contests last weekend. You'll see two of the better WRs in the country in this game, and two of the better QBs.

Oklahoma State 45 West Virginia 38

Penn State at Ohio State: This is a huge game! Not just for the conference standings, but the college football playoff as well. Penn State is on a roll right now, and I just don't think Ohio State can stop them.

Penn State 27 Ohio State 21

Michigan State at Northwestern: Both of teams beat Iowa 17-10, neither one has a dynamic offense, but they can play some defense. Should be a classic Big 10 defensive slugfest.

Michigan State 20 Northwestern 14

Minnesota at Iowa: If Iowa ever needed a win it's definitely this week against the Goophers. If they lose, they'll be at 4-4 with Ohio State and Wisconsin coming up, not good. I think Iowa will bounce back at home, Josey Jewell will be back in the lineup as well. The defense played tough without him, but it's nice having him out there.

Iowa 31 Minnesota 21

New Mexico at Wyoming: I've been to two college football games this year, and I've seen both of these teams in action. New Mexico came up short last week against Colorado State, and has lost two straight. Wyoming lost to Boise State last week, but they have one of the best QBs in the country, Josh Allen, but he has no weapons around him.

New Mexico 24 Wyoming 21

UCLA at Washington: If UCLA can somehow pull this off, I think Josh Rosen will stay in the Heisman race. I don't think they will though.

Washington 34 UCLA 27

Washington State at Arizona: The Cougars bounced back after a disappointing performance against Cal, and Arizona has been on a hot streak lately. They kind of came out of nowhere. This should be a pretty exciting game, two QBs with totally different styles.

Arizona 31 Washington State 28

USC at Arizona State: I pretty much wrote ASU off earlier in the year, especially after barely beating New Mexico State, but they've been surprising much like Arizona. USC got crushed by Notre Dame, and now is fighting for a division title after being knocked out of the playoff hunt.

USC 28 Arizona State 27

Mississippi State at Texas A&M: Texas A&M seems to have gotten on the right track after a rough start to their season. Mississippi State was looking good after beating LSU, but then got crushed by Georgia and Auburn.

Texas A&M 31 Mississippi State 23

Florida vs Georgia: Georgia is really good this year, and Florida has gotten lucky a couple of times, I think this one might be a blowout.

Georgia 38 Florida 14

HEISMAN WATCH
1-Saquon Barkley Jr RB Penn State
last week vs Michigan: 15-108-2 3-53-1 kr 1-15
season: 117-757-8 32-448-3 1,478 ap yards, 12 td

2-Bryce Love Jr RB Stanford
off last week
season: 135-1,387-11 1,406 ap yards, 11 td

3-J.T. Barrett Sr QB Ohio State
off last week
season: 207-138-1,838-21-1 2,197 total offense

4-Baker Mayfield Sr QB Oklahoma
last week vs Kansas State: 41-32-410-2-1 9-69-2
season: 202-149-2,347-19-2 3 rush td 2,517 total offense

5-Mason Rudolph Sr QB Oklahoma State
last week vs Texas: 38-25-282-0-0 -14 yards rushing
season: 242-161-2,650-19-4 6 rush td 2,707 total offense

Others to keep an eye on
Will Grier Jr QB West Virginia
David Sills Jr WR West Virginia
Jonathan Taylor Fr RB Wisconsin
Lamar Jackson Jr QB Lousiville
Josh Rosen Jr QB UCLA
Luke Falk Sr QB Washington State
Rashaad Penny Sr RB San Diego State

PLAYOFF RACE
From here on out I'll take a look at the College Football Playoff race as it begins to take shape. Undefeated teams, obviously are in better shape, but there are some one-loss teams, who could be in the mix at the end of the year. I think it could come down to who wins the conference championships in the ACC, Big 10, Big 12 and SEC this year. Lets take a look at who's still in the race right now.

ACC:
Clemson 6-1
good wins: Auburn, Virginia Tech
loss: Syracuse
they still play GT, at NC St, FSU, Citadel, and at S. Carolina, I could see them running the table to get to the ACC title game.

NC State 6-1
good wins: Florida State and Louisville looked like good wins at the time
loss: South Carolina
they loss to S. Carolina in the season opener, they still play at Notre Dame, Clemson, at Boston College, at Wake Forest and North Carolina. I think they'll lose to Notre Dame this week to knock them out of contention.

Miami 6-0
they don't really have any good wins
no losses
coming up at North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Virginia, at Pittsburgh
Miami could run the table with all of their tough games at home, if they do, a matchup with Clemson in the ACC title game could certainly be a winner gets in the playoff situation.

Virginia Tech 6-1
good wins: West Virginia
loss: Clemson
Virginia Tech is still in the hunt, they have Duke, at Miami, at Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, and at Virginia
they could definitely run the table if they knock off Miami, and could be 11-1 taking on Clemson in the title game

AAC:
USF 7-0
UCF 6-0

Both teams are long shots, neither of them have a big quality win, and they play each other later in the season, the winner could be undefeated and have a very outside shot of making the playoff.

Big 12:
TCU 7-0
good wins: Oklahoma State, West Virginia
TCU has a really good shot at a playoff spot this year, they play at Iowa State, Texas, at Oklahoma, at Texas Tech, and Baylor. A lot of road games, but they're all winnable. Oklahoma and Iowa State could give them the toughest games, but they could win. Even with a loss to Oklahoma they could still make the Big 12 title game.

Oklahoma 6-1
good win: Ohio State
loss: Iowa State
Since beating Ohio State, Oklahoma hasn't dominated like I thought they would and their schedule doesn't get very easy: Texas Tech, at Oklahoma State, TCU, at Kansas, West Virginia. If they don't get their defense in line, they won't even reach the conference title game.

Oklahoma State 6-1
No really good wins at the moment
loss: TCU
We'll find out how good Oklahoma State is in the next few weeks: at West Virginia, Oklahoma, at Iowa State, Kansas State, Kansas. If they can win the next three weeks, then they should certainly be in the playoff race.

Big 10:
Penn State 7-0
good win: Michigan
Penn State steamrolled Jim Harbaugh's Wolverines last week, and now they travel to Columbus to take on the Buckeyes. at Ohio State, at Michigan State, Rutgers, Nebraska, at Maryland. The next two weeks will be big tests for Penn State before three easy ones. A win over Ohio State should get them into the conference title game. A rematch with Wisconsin.

Wisconsin 7-0
The Badgers don't have a solid win on their resume, but they keep winning. I think Iowa could give them a bit of a test, and maybe Michigan. at Illinois, at Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, at Minnesota. They could run the table and meet up with Penn State for a shot at the playoff.

Ohio State 6-1
loss: Oklahoma
Ohio State doesn't have any big wins, but they could get one this week if they knock off Penn State. Penn State, at Iowa, Michigan State, Illinois, at Michigan. Several opportunities for quality wins coming up on their schedule. If they can get through all of them with no blemishes, they will be in the playoff hunt.

Michigan State 6-1
good win: Michigan
loss: Notre Dame
The Spartans have had a huge turn around since last season. The schedule doesn't get easy for them though: at Northwestern, Penn State, at Ohio State, Maryland, at Rutgers. I see a couple of losses here which will knock them out of the race. They don't have the offense to hang with Penn State or Ohio State.

Ind:
Notre Dame 6-1
good wins: USC, Michigan State
loss: Georgia
Notre Dame is on a roll right now, and they need to keep the momentum going, they have some really solid teams and Wake Forest on the schedule: NC State, Wake Forest, at Miami, Navy, at Stanford. This is a tough schedule, but the Fighting Irish looks pretty tough this year. They're only loss was to Georgia by one. Road games at Miami and Stanford will be tough though.

Pac 12:
Washington 6-1
loss: Arizona State
Another team with no real quality wins, but they have a couple opportunities coming up so that could change: UCLA, Oregon, at Stanford, Utah, Washington State. Only one road game the rest of the season, it's a tough one though, and the Apple Cup game could determine who plays for the conference title.

Washington State 7-1
good win: USC
loss: Cal
The Cougars are in the same boat as Washington, a pretty tough schedule the rest of the way: at Arizona, Stanford, at Utah, at Washington. It looks like the Pac 12 might be left out this year.

SEC:
Alabama 8-0
No wins against top notch opponents, but they've been destroying everyone. Schedule: LSU, at Miss St, Mercer, at Auburn. I think Auburn will give them a good test. If Auburn ends up beating Georgia and Alabama, they could make it to the SEC title game and leave Alabama out, which would make the playoff pretty interesting.

Georgia 7-0
good win: Notre Dame
Georgia has looked really good thus far, and they have a pretty favorable schedule: Florida, South Carolina, at Auburn, Kentucky, at Georgia Tech. Even with a loss to Auburn they'll make the SEC title game and have a chance at the playoff, in my opinion.

Here are my predictions
I think Clemson runs the table, Miami loses once to Notre Dame and they square off in the ACC title game with Clemson winning
I think Oklahoma wins out, including on the road at Oklahoma State and the following week beating TCU. TCU beats Oklahoma in the rematch in the Big 12 title game.
Penn State and Wisconsin run the table, Penn State wins in the title game.
Alabama runs the table, Georgia loses to Auburn and then Alabama wins the SEC title game.

Playoff
1-Alabama vs 4-TCU
2-Penn State vs 3-Clemson

Championship
1-Alabama vs 3-Clemson

Alabama wins