We missed on the Alabama – Tennessee game last week but were able to pull off 4 points in our 3 picks and nailed the Texas-Georgia tiebreaker. Let’s aim for the sweep this week, including an upset pick for the biggest game this slate has to offer.
The week 9 college football contest is 12 questions with the winner taking home 75 PLAYS. Let’s jump into our picks.
#12 Notre Dame @ #24 Navy
Notre Dame pulled off a big win over Texas A&M in College Station and appeared to be off to the races. However, a week 2 loss to Northern Illinois shocked the CFB world and could have derailed the season. Since that loss, the Irish have allowed just 54 in 5 games and are now 6-1 and ranked 12th in the country.
Navy runs a hybrid Wing-T offense, which looks like a traditional triple option system, but incorporates RPO elements that make it especially tricky to defend. Quarterback Blake Horvath has 888 passing yards, 621 rushing yards, and 20 touchdowns to just 1 interception.
Navy has dominated bad teams all season, and have a quality win against a 6-1 Memphis team. But, this is a completely different monster. We just don’t see a way for the Midshipmen to score enough points to pull off the upset here.
Our pick: Notre Dame (+1 Point)
#8 LSU @ #14 Texas A&M
This is clearly the biggest game from the week 9 CFB slate. The (6-1) LSU Tigers travel to Kyle Field to take on the (6-1) Texas A&M Aggies. The season has played out eerily similar for these two teams. Both teams lost their season openers, have won six straight, and beat the #9 team in the country in overtime.
Despite the two seasons mirroring one another, these teams could not be more different. LSU has the #8 passing attack in the country but rank 95th in rushing yards per game. Texas A&M have the #9 rushing attack but rank 107th in passing yards per game.The fact that this game is in College Station is huge for the Aggies. They did lose the home opener, but went 7-1 at home last season and are always a tough out playing at Kyle Field. If this game were at a neutral site, we’d probably go with the Tigers in a close one, but in College Station, we have to pick the Aggies.
Our pick: Texas A&M (+3 Points)
Will #13 Indiana throw for 300 yards against Washington?
This is arguably the best question from this contest. On one hand, you have an Indiana team that sits at 7-0 but has only 1 win against a team over .500. On the other hand, who is the best passing attack Washington has faced? Probably Washington State, but coming in at #2 is Iowa, so we have no clue how good this pass defense is.
What we do know is that this Washington defense has allowed almost 600 yards rushing over it’s last 3 Big 10 games. That’s plenty of film for Curt Cignetti to use to build a gameplan around his rushing attack. We think the Hoosiers win, but they lean heavily on the ground game to do so.
Our pick: No (+1 Point)
#3 Penn State @ Wisconsin
On paper, this game looked like a blowout just a month ago. Wisconsin had dropped two straight games, losing to Alabama by 32 and USC by 17. However, the Badgers have stepped back from their move to a spread offense and Tawee Walker has carried them to 3 straight blowout wins, rushing for 418 yards over that stretch.
The problem for Wisconsin is that Penn State has the 8th-best rushing defense in the country. If the Badgers are going to pull off the upset, they will have to do so through the air, and Braedyn Locke has looked incapable of doing so. Nittany Lions roll in Wisconsin and head into Ohio State week undefeated.
Our pick: Penn State (+1 Point)
