Week 9 Viewing Guide: Two Primetime Rivalry Games, a Crucial Big 12 Showdown, and Luke Fickell Heads to Disney World

Nooners

Notre Dame vs. #16 Syracuse, 12 p.m. on ABC

Most of the noon slates this college football season have lacked considerably in interesting matchups, and Week 9 presents no exception. For Ohio State fans, that presents a fortunate break for the second week in a row given the team's clash with Penn State today, but those searching for a commercial-flip option are left to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Enter Notre Dame and Syracuse.

The Orange lost their bid for an undefeated season last week despite their defense showing up in a big way on the road early on against Clemson. Prior to a 17-point late rally from the Tigers, ’Cuse held the leaders in the ACC to just a touchdown and field goal through three quarters on the way to getting D.J. Uiagalelei benched for the remainder of the afternoon.

SYRACUSE 90-YARD SCOOP-AND-SCORE

(ABC) pic.twitter.com/LOWzL6E1R1

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 22, 2022

The Fighting Irish have pulled themselves together a bit relative to their letdown of a start to the 2022 campaign, winning by their largest margin of victory to date last week in a 44-21 triumph over UNLV at home. That game served as the first time this season Notre Dame has had a hundred-yard rusher and receiver in the same contest.

Syracuse may have let their best opportunity to make an appearance in the conference championship game slip away last weekend, but Dino Babers remains in the hunt for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award and will want to finish the year strong in the event Clemson falters over its final two ACC games. As for the other head coach in this matchup, Marcus Freeman needs to keep the momentum positive for the Fighting Irish as the team prepares to face three ranked opponents over its final five games of the season.

Afternooners

Cowboys, Cocktails, and Cincy

Thankfully for Buckeye fans, the best football on today outside of Ohio State/Penn State won't kick off until after Ohio State wraps up its visit to Happy Valley. The afternoon window includes a top-25 showdown in the Big 12, the (unofficial) World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party and Luke Fickell's first appearance in the Viewing Guide since the start of the season.

• #9 Oklahoma State vs. #22 Kansas State, 3:30 p.m. on FOX
  In the second of only three meetings between ranked teams today, a couple of schools with 3-1 conference records will duke it out for second place in the Big 12 behind TCU. Kansas State could have claimed pole position in the standings for themselves last week, but squandered an 18-point lead prior to the half in allowing the Horned Frogs to score 28 unanswered points over the game's final 38 minutes. Even so, the Wildcats' rushing attack continues to make dazzling strides behind the efforts of Adrian Martinez and running back Deuce Vaughn.

  THE DEUCE BREAKS LOOSE FOR THE TD @KStateFB takes an 18-point lead against TCU pic.twitter.com/Q4BGywy9UW

  — FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 23, 2022

  As for Oklahoma State, the Cowboys didn't quite shut down Quinn Ewers last week, but did just enough to force the former Ohio State quarterback to his worst collegiate performance to date. Ewers completed less than 39% of his nearly 50 attempts last week and threw a pair of interceptions in the final two minutes of the game to seal Texas' fate on the road. Martinez does not have nearly the same talent in his arm that Ewers does, but as Oklahoma State prepares to host a ranked opponent for the second time in as many weeks, the Cowboys defense will need to step up again to limit the dynamic ground game of KSU.
   
• Florida vs. #1 Georgia, 3:30 p.m. on CBS
  ☣ H A Z A R D  ☣  W A R N I N G ☣
  While this afternoon's most hazardous college football game easily qualifies as Northwestern vs. Iowa, for contests concerning at least one ranked team, it's hard to pick against what profiles as a runaway performance for the number one team in the nation yet again. Georgia has had its share of hiccups over the last two months, but the team still boasts some of the best efficiency metrics on both sides of the football and its bewilderingly dominant win over Oregon to open the season continues to age like fine wine.
  
  Meanwhile, Florida's season has gone from full of promise to ripe with despair. The Billy Napier era began with a massive upset win at home over Utah, but the Gators since have hardly looked impressive in any of their other meetings with up-to-par competition. Early Heisman-hopeful Anthony Richardson did throw for a whopping 453 yards against Tennessee at the end of September, but otherwise has yet to throw for more than 200 yards against any other FBS-level opponent this season. Florida travels to Jacksonville for this neutral-site rivalry game coming off a bye, but an early lead for the Bulldogs would make it awfully difficult for the Gators to throw themselves back into making matters competitive.
   
• #20 Cincinnati vs. UCF, 3:30 p.m. on ESPN
  Cincy saw its preseason poll ranking evaporate immediately after an opening loss on the road to Arkansas, but the Bearcats have since rallied to win all six of their games heading into Orlando. However, before Coach Fickell can score any Mickey Mouse ears from the Most Magical Place on Earth down the road, Cincinnati will need to hold off a UCF squad currently averaging the sixth-most offensive yards per game in college football.
  
  This game profiled as a pick 'em up until Wednesday, when home-field advantage slightly tilted the betting lines in favor of the Knights by only a single point. Given UCF's shortcomings in a 34-13 loss to East Carolina that featured as the Viewing Guide's Wildcard of the Week last weekend, the Bearcats could be in a prime spot to deliver on plus odds and achieve their seventh win in a row.

Primetime

Two Top-5 Teams in Rivalry Games and the Wildcard of the Week

The evening offers a similar slate of games for viewing consideration to that of the afternoon — including the final top-25 showdown of the day, a regional rivalry game featuring a College Football Playoff contender and a G5 showdown starring a school on the banks of the Ohio River.

• #19 Kentucky vs. #3 Tennessee, 7 p.m. on ESPN
  After arguably the biggest win Volunteer football has seen thus far this century two weeks ago, last week was a much quieter one in Knoxville as Tennessee steamrolled UT Martin for a 65-24 win. Hendon Hooker continues to remain hot on C.J. Stroud's tail in the Heisman race, but now the Volunteers will get a much stiffer test in the form of a Kentucky team that had a bye week to prepare for this game and has already taken down two other ranked opponents earlier this season.
  
  The Wildcats are going to need to make this a shootout if they want to pull off the upset, but certainly have the path to doing so given the passing defense of each side. For all the praise heaped on Tennessee to this point as they sit at the top of the SEC, the Volunteers are still surrendering the second-most yards through the air per game to opponents at the moment, while Kentucky's defense owns a 34% success rate against passing plays that currently ranks as 10th-best among FBS teams.
   
• Coastal Carolina vs. Marshall, 7 p.m. on NFL Network
  W I L D C A R D of the W E E K
  The Chanticleers have been a beloved commodity among underground college football fans for a few years now, and though they lost their first game of 2022 to Old Dominion two weeks ago, Coastal Carolina still sits at the top of the Sun Belt East as it prepares to enter the most critical stretch of its schedule. For those that have yet to enjoy the pleasure of watching junior quarterback Grayson McCall operate the team's patented triple-option RPO attack, now could be the best chance to do so.

  ANOTHER 50+ yard TD for @CoastalFootball to go up 14-0 less than three minutes in pic.twitter.com/d96LCbFLEh

  — ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) September 22, 2022

  Despite Coastal's success and superior record, the Chanticleers travel to Marshall as slight underdogs ahead of arguably the most significant home game of the year for the Thundering Herd. Marshall sits at just 1-2 in the Sun Belt at the moment, but already owns wins over the likes of formerly ranked teams including Notre Dame and James Madison this season. Behind one of the most impressive defenses on paper in the country, which has given up more than three touchdowns only once in any game this season, the Thundering Herd should serve as a formidable challenge for one of the most fun offenses in college football.
   
• Michigan State vs. #4 Michigan, 7:30 p.m. on ABC
  For the Midwestern purists that absolutely need to watch another Big Ten game today, the battle in Michigan for the Paul Bunyan Trophy will have to do. Funny enough, Jim Harbaugh has yet to beat Mel Tucker since the latter arrived at MSU a few years ago. Considering the previous two installments of this in-state rivalry have ended by a scoring margin of four points or less, the Spartans could step up following their bye and continue to turn their season around after breaking their losing streak with an overtime win over Wisconsin in their most recent game.
  
  Then again, given the Wolverines also enter this game off of their own bye week, it's hard to imagine Michigan tripping up despite some underwhelming performances against other Big Ten teams prior to a commanding victory over Penn State. Michigan State's passing defense remains just as full of holes as it did when Ohio State faced Sparty earlier in October, which positions J.J. McCarthy quite well for a season-best performance under the lights in Ann Arbor.

On the Radar for Next Week

• Buckeyes: #2 Ohio State vs. Northwestern, 12 p.m. on ABC
• Afternoon: #3 Tennessee vs. #1 Georgia, 3:30 p.m. on CBS
• Primetime: #6 Alabama vs. #18 LSU, 7 p.m. on ESPN