Fantastic week of College Football matchups this week. Several undefeated and untested teams are going on the road this Saturday, and we’ll find out who’s for real, and who’s just taken advantage of a weak early season schedule. As always, there are several juicy lines this weekend. Multiple Top 10 teams are favored by small margins vs. unranked opponents. Truly the perfect week to feel great about your picks then lose all of your money by the end of the night. So hold onto your hats folks. Do not release your horses. We have some HUGE games this weekend, and none of them even feature SEC teams.
12pm
10 West Virginia (-3.5) @ Oklahoma State — FOX
Sneaky tough game here for undefeated West Virginia as they go on the road for only the second time this year to Boone Pickens Stadium (amazingly fitting name) to face a very capable Oklahoma State team. West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen (former Offensive Coordinator of Oklahoma State) has his team playing surprisingly well on both sides of the ball this year, and they have a legitimate shot at the playoff.
Oklahoma State, on the other hand, has an explosive offensive that scores 41 points per game with Mason Rudolph at Quarterback. Oklahoma State has a variety of weapons at Wide Receiver, and they’re going to throw the ball all day long, but the best way to beat the West Virginia defense is with a solid run game. I feel like I say every game will be high scoring, but I truly expect this one to be as well. It is Big 12 football after all. Oklahoma State will be able to keep this game close if they can establish some sort of a rushing attack to offset their passing game and keep the Mountaineers on their toes. If they’re unable to do so, West Virginia is going to roll.
3:30pm
4 Washington (-11) @ 17 Utah — FS1
Washington comes out of left field in Week 9 with a 4th overall ranking as an 11 point favorite on the road against 17th ranked Utah. Since when did the Washington Huskies get good at football? Since right now apparently. Washington is the new Oregon. They’re scoring 48 points per game this year, while only allowing 14 points against on the defensive side of the ball. This will be Washington’s toughest game of the year prior to the PAC-12 Championship. They did beat Stanford early on when we all thought Stanford was good, but holy crap were we wrong. The Huskies have somehow managed to climb into a playoff spot without playing anyone decent, and if they beat Utah, they’ll have 4 games remaining that on paper should be cake walks for them (Cal, USC, Arizona State, Washington State).
I have zero clue what to make of Utah this year. Rumor has it they have a formidable defense. That’s what the experts say. But last weekend they let up 45 points to UCLA, so I see no reason to be confident in it. The best thing Utah has going for them against Washington this week is the fact that they’re playing at home at high altitude. Aside from that, another thing to keep an eye on is Utah running back Joe Williams. Joe Williams started this season with 2 horrific performances against Southern Utah and BYU. In fact, Joe Williams was so upset with his play that he promptly RETIRED after the BYU game. I didn’t think it was possible to retire from something that isn’t a paid job, but he managed to do so anyways. However, after Williams retired, every other running back on Utah immediately got injured, so Joe UNRETIRED and returned to the team. Joe Williams has run the ball for 511 yards and 5 touchdowns in the 2 games since he’s been back. Can’t make this stuff up. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this one will be a high scoring/entertaining game as well, because that’s how college football works.
8 Baylor (-3.5) @ Texas — ABC
Yet another undefeated/untested team playing on the road this weekend. Baylor has had nothing but bad publicity since their troubles over the offseason, and rightfully so. Sweeping sexual assault allegations under the rug is never a good look. But despite all the misconduct, Baylor is undefeated this year. Although they’ve played exclusively trash teams, Baylor is in a decent spot to make a run at the playoff. If Baylor does end up undefeated, it will be interesting to see if Baylor’s off the field issues will affect the opinions of the voters.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, Baylor has to take care of the Longhorns first. I would say Charlie Strong is coaching for his job, but I’m pretty sure he’s already lost it at this point. Best case scenario, Strong is coaching for a chance to finish out the year as opposed to being fired mid-season. Texas has had a ton of problems this year, but they have talent on offense, and they are capable of playing with anybody if they can avoid shooting themselves in the foot with dumb penalties and copious turnovers. Vegas certainly thinks they have a chance. Baylor at -3.5 is hardly a vote of confidence for the bears. Texas is still undefeated at home this year, and this is arguably the toughest game Baylor has played to this point. This will be a high scoring football game (duh). Likely a comedy of errors. High entertainment value. A great second option in the 3:30 slot to Washington vs. Utah.
7pm
7 Nebraska (+9.5) @ 11 Wisconsin — ESPN
Huge Big Ten battle here. The winner of this game will be in the driver’s seat of the Big Ten West and will likely face the winner of Ohio State vs. Michigan in the Big 10 Championship. Nebraska is undefeated so far this year, but there aren’t many people giving love to the Cornhuskers. This is due to the fact that much like Baylor, Nebraska has not really been tested yet. Their only “big win” was over the Oregon Ducks who have been hot garbage all year long. We’re really going to see what the Cornhuskers are made of this week against the Badgers. Nebraska’s quarterback Tommy Armstrong is electric on his feet and has developed a solid passing game as well. Wisconsin’s defense will by far be his toughest test of the year.
This is a great matchup for Wisconsin at home. The Badgers are big time favorites in this game, largely due to the fact that starting running back Corey Clement is back to full strength after dealing with injuries early this year. Nebraska has a solid rush defense but is also susceptible to giving up big plays on the ground. Clement is going to get the ball early and often this game, especially considering the fact that Wisconsin plays redshirt freshman quarterback Alex Hornibrook, and Nebraska has one of the best secondaries in the Big Ten.
Nobody is giving Nebraska much respect. Especially not the oddsmakers who have Wisconsin at a 9.5 point favorite. If Nebraska can get a big win on the road this weekend, expect that to change in a big way, and get ready for a showdown in Columbus against the Ohio State Buckeyes next week.
8pm
3 Clemson (-4) @ 12 Florida State — ABC
Deshaun Watson is a great quarterback, and Florida State has a questionable defense. Especially in the secondary. Lamar Jackson made them look like a bottom tier Pop Warner defense. Clemson is leading the ACC this year, and the smart money is on the Tigers to win the conference and make an appearance in the playoff for the second straight time. However, Clemson has been wildly inconsistent this year. They’ve proven that they can lose to anyone with incredibly narrow victories over NC State and Troy University (Side Note: Troy University has 6 votes to be ranked which is nuts). I’m not even going to say if I expect a high scoring or a low scoring game because it’s a complete toss-up.
Florida State has been all over the map this year as well. It’s hard to have confidence in the Seminoles. They’ve played maybe the toughest schedule in college football up to this point with wins over Ole Miss & Miami, and losses to North Carolina & Louisville. But after an unimpressive 17-6 win over Wake Forest last week, nobody knows what’s going on with Florida State. Realistically, the Seminoles have nothing to play for anymore. They already have 2 ACC conference losses, but teams playing spoiler are sometimes the most dangerous. We all know they have the talent. Dalvin Cook is one of the best players in all of college football, and Jimbo Fisher has been one of the best coaches over the past few years. If they can finally put a full 4 quarters of quality football together, this “should be” an evenly matched game.