Week 9 will have three games featuring two ranked teams on its schedule even as Alabama enjoys its bye. Wisconsin and Nebraska clash in Madison in a contest that could give the Badgers a much-needed lifeline in the B1G West championship picture. No. 4 Washington travels to No. 17 Utah as a 10-point favorite in what might be the toughest game remaining on the Huskies' schedule. Clemson puts its undefeated record on the line in Tallahassee in which Louisville fans will have a clear rooting interest.
Let's dive into the schedule.
Thursday
Virginia Tech at Pittsburgh (ESPN, 7 p.m.). Thurday night gives us an amazing five games to watch and it starts with the No. 25 Hokies playing again on Thursday night. A Pittsburgh wins creates an interesting intransitivity scenario for the ACC Coastal. Pittsburgh would have defeated Virginia Tech, which routed North Carolina, which rallied to beat Pittsburgh by a point in September.
Akron at Buffalo (ESPN3, 7:30 p.m.). You'll have to fish to find this battle between the top team in the MAC East (Akron) and arguably its worst team in the conference (1-6 Buffalo).
Ohio at Toledo (CBS Sports Network, 7:30 p.m.). This MAC affair will be a much more compelling matchup. Toledo is 6-1 and undefeated in the MAC with a season-finale matchup against No. 20 Western Michigan to possibly decide the MAC West. Ohio, meanwhile, is 3-1 in league play and could secure the MAC East with a win over Akron in its season finale no matter what happens on Thursday night.
Appalachian State at Georgia Southern (ESPNU, 7:30 p.m.). Former FCS heavyweights and new Sun Belt teams will clash with important league championship implications. Georgia Southern is done with another loss but Appalachian State could jump to the top of the conference with a road win.
California at USC (ESPN, 10:30 p.m.). USC has rattled off three straight wins since starting the year 1-3. That even includes a 21-point win over Arizona State and a home win over Colorado, possibly the best team in the Pac-12 South. Still, the AP voters just aren't buying the Trojans yet. USC has only five points in the AP Poll.
Friday
Navy may be having a season for the ages, depending on what happens with Boise State. (Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports)
Navy at South Florida (ESPN2, 7 p.m.). These are the two best teams in the American Athletic Conference and possibly a preview of the conference championship game. South Florida needs a win on Friday night for that to happen. Its road loss at Temple put it behind the eight-ball in the East since Temple has just one conference loss as well.
San Diego State at Utah State (CBS Sports Network, 8 p.m.). That 18-point road loss at South Alabama took San Diego State off every college football fan's radar. Perhaps that's not fair. The Aztecs are still 6-1 with a Heisman candidate at tailback. Give this team a watch. It may be your best chance to see the Aztecs notwithstanding CBS Sports Network's limited availability.
Air Force at Fresno State (ESPN2, 10:30 p.m.). The Tim Deruyter era has hit a major snag in Fresno. He started 20-6 in his first two seasons with two Mountain West titles. His Bulldogs are 1-7 this year and are already bowl-ineligible.
Saturday
Kentucky at Missouri (SEC Network, 12 p.m.). Kentucky secured the first, and conceivably only by season's end, win for an SEC East team over an SEC West team with a two-point home win over Mississippi State. It travels to Missouri against a Barry Odom-coached team still looking for its first SEC win.
UCF at Houston (ESPNU, 12 p.m.). Could Central Florida make things worse for Tom Herman? The wheels are effectively off the wagon in Houston, which is still a nine-point favorite on Saturday afternoon.
Connecticut at East Carolina (ESPN News, 12 p.m.). These are the two worst teams in the American Athletic East. You can probably skip this contest without missing much.
Louisville at Virginia (ABC/ESPN2, 12 p.m.). Louisville hasn't gone anywhere since rallying from a large halftime deficit in Clemson to a narrow loss to keep it afloat in the playoff picture. It's going to need Florida State to do it a solid on Saturday night, though.
Kent State at Central Michigan (CBS Sports, 12 p.m.). Middle-of-the-pack teams from the MAC West and MAC East clash in Mount Pleasant.
Dana Holgorsen is having his best season in Morgantown since the Orange Bowl year in 2011. (Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports)
West Virginia at Oklahoma State (FOX, 12 p.m.). Is this West Virginia's first loss of the season? The Mountaineers are in the top ten for the first time since early into the 2012 season in which it was still on its post-2012 Orange Bowl honeymoon. Oklahoma State is unranked in large part because of the home loss to Central Michigan. We forget it's still 5-2.
West Virginia is a four-point favorite in this contest.
Minnesota at Illinois (BTN, 12 p.m.). Minnesota travels to Champaign with the goal of putting the Illini one loss closer to bowl-ineligbility in Lovie Smith's first year.
Michigan at Michigan State (ESPN, 12 p.m.). Remember when we were thinking Michigan was probably a ten-win team this year that would lose both its road tilts against Michigan State and Ohio State? And that Michigan State was possibly a favorite to repeat as B1G East champions? That seems so long ago. Michigan State is a 24-point underdog at home.
It'll always have this, though.
Penn State at Purdue (ABC/ESPN2, 12 p.m.). Ohio State makes the conference championship game if it wins out and Michigan wins everything except its season finale in Columbus. Penn State doesn't need another loss to help, but it couldn't hurt.
It won't happen in West Lafayette, though. Penn State's an 11-point favorite.
Cincinnati at Temple (CBS Sports Network, 3:30 p.m.). Temple controls its destiny in the American East after its big win over South Florida last Friday. It's a 7-point favorite over Cincinnati at home.
This sign's claim is debatable, but at least Florida is back on top the SEC East. (Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)
Florida at Georgia (CBS, 3:30 p.m.). It's the "the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" and a contest with almost no fanfare. Florida controls its destiny in the SEC East thanks to back-to-back losses by Tennessee. Georgia, meanwhile, is 3-3 after its season-opening win over North Carolina. That loss against Vanderbilt at home won't age well.
Florida is an eight-point favorite. It's also won the last two meetings.
Baylor at Texas (ABC, 3:30 p.m.). You wonder if this is make-or-break for Charlie Strong. A win over the No. Bears is a lifeline or a stopgap. A loss drops Texas to 3-5.
Baylor is just a three-point favorite in this contest, which is surprising given the different records.
Miami at Notre Dame (NBC, 3:30 p.m.). Notre Dame is back in action after a bye. This would've looked like a sure Notre Dame win in the pre-season. Now, the 2-5 Irish are two-point underdogs at home.
This feature would be remiss if it did not recount some classic moments in the history of this series. Here's the 1988 contest—the "Catholics vs. Convicts" game—that Notre Dame won en route to its most recent national championship.
Samford at Mississippi State (SEC Network, 3:30 p.m.). Mississippi State surely won't lose to an FCS team this year, right?
Washington at Utah (FOX Sports 1, 3:30 p.m.). This is one of three contests this weekend featuring two ranked teams. It's also undefeated Washington's most likely loss on the remainder of its regular season schedule. Washington's favored by 10 points in this possible preview of the Pac-12 Championship Game but the game is in Salt Lake City.
Texas Tech: good at offense; awful at everything else. (Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports)
Texas Tech at TCU (ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.). The only interesting aspect of Texas Tech is the over/under for any game in which it is involved. The over/under for this game is 85. Take the over.
Northwestern at Ohio State (ESPN, 3:30 p.m.). This is your personal game of the week. Stay tuned to Eleven Warriors for comprehensive coverage of this game.
Remember this was originally supposed to be a 5:30 game. It became a 3:30 kickoff two weeks ago amid concerns that the Cubs and Indians would make the World Series. That was... prescient.
Southern Methodist at Tulane (ESPN News, 4 p.m.). 3-4 SMU scored Chad Morris' first major win with a 22-point win over Houston. It'll follow that with a trip to 3-4 Tulane where the Mustangs are three-point underdogs.
Arizona State at Oregon (Pac 12 Network, 5 p.m.). Oregon is 2-5 and Arizona State is 5-3. Somehow the Ducks, losers of five straight games, are eight-point favorites at home.
Boise State at Wyoming (CBS Sports Network, 7 p.m.). The Cotton Bowl is going to fall on the Boise State grenade. Might as well get a sneak-peek on Saturday night.
Kansas at Oklahoma (FOX Sports 1, 7 p.m.). Oklahoma is a 41-point favorite against a Kansas team that has not won a league game in a few years.
Nebraska at Wisconsin (ESPN, 7 p.m.). This is the second of three contests on Saturday featuring two ranked teams. We could qualify that the winner is the favorite to win the B1G West, but Wisconsin already has two league losses. It would need to beat Nebraska (a nine-point underdog) and hope Nebraska loses again.
Incidentally, Nebraska comes to the Horseshoe next week.
Auburn at Ole Miss (SEC Network, 7:15 p.m.). It's still incredulous to me that Auburn is the No. 15 team in the country.
Tennessee at South Carolina (ESPN2, 7:15 p.m.). Tennessee had a bye last week to think about what it's done in its past two games. It'll be 14-point favorites at South Carolina, though.
New Mexico State at Texas A&M (ESPNU, 7:30 p.m.). It was clever for the SEC to encourage its programs to spread out its "Chickenshit Saturdays" throughout October and November this year rather than concentrate them all in the third week of November, per its custom.
Tulsa at Memphis (ESPN News, 8 p.m.). Both Tulsa and Memphis are alive in the American West picture but need some help ahead of it. The loser of this game is done, though.
Clemson at Florida State (ABC, 8 p.m.). This game, the last of three games featuring two ranked teams this weekend, looked a lot more interesting in the pre-season.
Clemson's been fine, but "fine" wasn't the expectation for Clemson fans or Deshaun Watson. (Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports)
Clemson entered this season as national championship runner-up. Its quarterback was the safest pre-season pick to win the Heisman as well. The offense returned all but three starters. Clemson is still alive and well in the playoff picture, but it just doesn't look as good. It's regressing to what observers thought it would be last year in its first year without Chad Morris.
Florida State may have had the most talented team entering fall camp. Then its fifth-year senior quarterback suffered an injury that sidelined him to start the season. Then its offensive line morphed into a tire fire and forgot how to play first-half football. Its two losses effectively eliminate it from the playoff.
It could do Louisville a solid, though. Louisville needs two Clemson losses in ACC play. Those better start happening soon.
Clemson is a four-point favorite on the road.
UNLV at San José State (CBS Sports Network, 10:30 p.m.). It's a 3-5 team playing at a 2-6 team on CBS Sports Network.
Washington State at Oregon State (ESPN2, 10:45 p.m.). The Pac-12 After Dark contests on Saturday night might intrigue you. It starts with 5-2 Washington State, one of just two teams still undefeated in league play, travelling to 2-5 Oregon State. Washington State is a 14-point favorite, but it doesn't look so good that it will just roll Oregon State in Corvallis.
Stanford at Arizona (FOX Sports 1, 11 p.m.). Stanford is 4-3 and won't reach any of its goals it had in the pre-season. There will be no Heisman for Christian McCaffrey, no conference championship, and no playoff berth. It could still take out some frustration on Arizona, even if Stanford is just a six-point favorite.
