College Football Picks Week 9: Predicting Top 25 Matchups Based on Vegas Odds
There aren't many other adjectives to assign the 2015 college football season than "fun."
With upsets seemingly coming every week with some shocking finishes, the AP Top 25 poll has been in constant shuffle mode all season.
Which, of course, means that Week 9 should be no different with a full slate of games. But before we get into the schedule, here are the current rankings:
| 1 | Ohio State | 8-0 | 1 | W 49-7 at Rutgers |
| 2 | Baylor | 7-0 | 2 | W 45-27 vs. Iowa State |
| 3 | Clemson | 7-0 | 6 | W 58-0 at Miami (FL) |
| 4 | LSU | 7-0 | 5 | W 48-20 vs. Western Kentucky |
| 5 | TCU | 7-0 | 4 | Bye |
| 6 | Michigan State | 8-0 | 7 | W 52-26 vs. Indiana |
| 7 | Alabama | 7-1 | 8 | W 19-14 vs. Tennessee |
| 8 | Stanford | 6-1 | 10 | W 31-15 vs. Washington |
| 9 | Notre Dame | 6-1 | 11 | Bye |
| 10 | Iowa | 7-0 | 12 | Bye |
| 11 | Florida | 6-1 | 13 | Bye |
| 12 | Oklahoma State | 7-0 | 14 | W 58-10 vs. Kansas |
| 13 | Utah | 6-1 | 3 | L 42-24 at USC |
| 14 | Oklahoma | 6-1 | 17 | W 63-27 vs. Texas Tech |
| 15 | Michigan | 5-2 | 15 | Bye |
| 16 | Memphis | 7-0 | 18 | W 66-42 at Tulsa |
| 17 | Florida State | 6-1 | 9 | L 22-16 at Georgia Tech |
| 18 | Houston | 7-0 | 21 | W 59-10 at UCF |
| 19 | Ole Miss | 6-2 | 24 | W 23-3 vs. No. 15 Texas A&M |
| 20 | Toledo | 7-0 | 19 | W 51-35 at UMass |
| 21 | Temple | 7-0 | 22 | W 24-14 at East Carolina |
| 22 | Duke | 6-1 | 23 | W 45-43 at Virginia Tech |
| 23 | Pittsburgh | 6-1 | 25 | W 23-20 at Syracuse |
| 24 | UCLA | 5-2 | Unranked | W 40-24 vs. No. 20 California |
| 25 | Mississippi State | 6-2 | Unranked | W 42-16 vs. Kentucky |
Ohio State and Baylor are the two teams that remain in the Top Four from the preseason. Ohio State has not left its perch at No. 1, while Baylor, who started the year in fourth, now sits in second.
They're joined by Clemson and LSU, who used convincing victories over lesser opponents to assert their dominance among college football.
Clemson is the only Top Four team in action this week as seven of the Top 25 get to rest up during Week 9.
Let's take a look at the upcoming schedule, the current odds and who I think you should pick based on those spreads. All odds are courtesy of OddsShark.com:
| No. 19 Ole Miss at Auburn | 12 p.m. | Ole Miss -6 | Ole Miss |
| Syracuse at No. 17 Florida State | 12 p.m. | FSU -19.5 | Florida State |
| Colorado at No. 24 UCLA | 3 p.m. | UCLA -18.5 | Colorado |
| No. 3 Clemson at NC State | 3:30 p.m. | Clemson -9.5 | Clemson |
| Georgia at No. 11 Florida | 3:30 p.m. | Florida -2.5 | Florida |
| No. 14 Oklahoma at Kansas | 3:30 p.m. | Oklahoma -39 | Kansas |
| No. 12 Oklahoma St. at Texas Tech | 3:30 p.m. | OK State -1 | Oklahoma St. |
| Maryland at No. 10 Iowa | 3:30 p.m. | Iowa -16 | Maryland |
| Tulane at No. 16 Memphis | 7 p.m. | Memphis -27.5 | Memphis |
| Oregon St. at No. 13 Utah | 7 p.m. | Utah -21.5 | Oregon St. |
| Vanderbilt at No. 18 Houston | 7 p.m. | Houston -13.5 | Houston |
| Miami (FL) at No. 22 Duke | 7 p.m. | Duke -8 | Duke |
| No. 15 Michigan at Minnesota | 7 p.m. | Michigan -10 | Michigan |
| No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 21 Temple | 8 p.m. | Notre Dame -10.5 | Temple |
| No. 8 Stanford at Washington St. | 10:30 p.m. | Stanford -12.5 | Stanford |
Game of the Week
No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 21 Temple
Two programs with very different histories will face off at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia as Notre Dame, the national powerhouse, takes on the Temple Owls, who are enjoying their first rankings in the Top 25 since 1979.
For Notre Dame, who prepares for its eighth game of the season, it is just its third road game of the season. And it hasn't necessarily fared well away from South Bend.
Their second game of the season saw the Irish narrowly escape Virginia with a late touchdown, and they later lost at Clemson.
Temple, who is undefeated this season, has no problem playing as the underdog. According to ESPN, the Owls are 3-0 in games they aren't favored to win, which includes victories against Penn State, Cincinnati and East Carolina.
Head coach Matt Rhule spoke with ESPN.com about the upcoming game:
"Obviously we're excited about this week, as I know everybody is. A tremendous opportunity to play a great team in Notre Dame, a team we had a chance to play two years ago. They're probably still a national title contender even though they lost one game by a point or two points. They're loaded, they're absolutely fantastic.
"
ESPN has Temple's chances to win at just 19.5 percent.
It's not hard to see why it's given such a little chance to win. C.J. Prosise has rushed for 922 yards to lead a trio of dangerous Notre Dame runners, and quarterback DeShone Kizer has one of the nation's top receivers in Will Fuller to throw to all day.
Only once this season, which was their loss to Clemson, has the Irish been held to under 30 points in a game.
But Week 9 will bring one of the best defenses they've played against this season in Temple. The Owls allow an average of 14.6 points per game, ranked eighth in the country, to go with 307.0 yards per game, ranked 14th.
ESPN Stats & Info delved deeper into their defense before last week's win over East Carolina:
Temple will need to get the most of its offensive threats in quarterback P.J. Walker and running back Jahad Thomas—who have combined for 21 touchdowns this season—if it has any hopes of keeping up with the Irish. But if its defense is on point, then we could possibly see an upset brewing.
And I love upsets. This one is going to be awfully close, and I'm not anticipating a shootout, either.
Prediction: Temple wins 24-21
Stats courtesy of NCAA.com
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