NCAA Football Rankings 2015: Early Predictions for Week 9 College Polls
After another thrilling week of close games, surprising upsets and shuffle among the rankings, the College Football Playoff picture is taking a more definitive form. This week's games will be the last before the playoff committee’s first rankings will be released, giving a true gauge of contenders and pretenders.
The Florida State Seminoles and Utah Utes were the latest undefeated teams to fall, leaving seven unbeatens among the Associated Press Top 10 and nearly no wiggle room for error:
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
With just five weeks remaining in the regular season, here's a look at a few key matchups and storylines heading into the final week of October:
Georgia Bulldogs vs. No. 11 Florida Gators
No. 11 Florida has been arguably the biggest surprise this season under first-year coach Jim McElwain, who has the Gators poised to reach the SEC Championship Game for the first time since 2009.
Florida takes on a beleaguered Georgia Bulldogs bunch that hobbles into this neutral-site game having los two of its last three and with its best player, Nick Chubb, lost for the season with a knee injury.
Georgia, the preseason favorite to win the SEC East, was spanked at home 38-10 by No. 7 Alabama, then blew a 21-point lead in a 38-31 loss to Tennessee a week later. The Bulldogs beat Missouri 9-6 on Oct. 17 in a game decided by field goals. Florida is coming off a late, but respectable 35-28 loss to No. 4 LSU, which should by no means hinder morale, per Tony Barnhart of CBS Sports:
Florida has won 19 of the past 25 meetings between the two, including last year’s dominating upset over the then-No. 9 Bulldogs. There’s no reason to think things will change.
Georgia suffers from a lack of offensive identity now without Chubb and behind struggling quarterback Greyson Lambert, whose numbers—1,276 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions—don’t accurately tell his story. Lambert has been relieved for backup Brice Ramsey twice in close games this season (though every time he went on to relieve Ramsey after the backup struggled).
Florida should roll again in Week 9 and then has only to get by Vanderbilt and South Carolina to reach the conference title game in what could be an anticipated rematch against LSU.
Prediction: Florida 31, Georgia 13
No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish at No. 21 Temple Owls
The Gators are only a surprise because they returned to relevance sooner than expected. The Temple Owls, however, have emerged as the marvel among non-Power Five conferences.
No. 21 Temple is 7-0 for the first time in school history, yet it trails the No. 16 Memphis Tigers and No. 18 Houston Cougars in the upward-trending American Athletic Conference. The Owls will face their biggest test yet in what should be a revealing game when the No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish visit in Week 9.
Temple may be a very long shot at the playoff, but a win over Notre Dame will certainly catch the committee’s attention. The Fighting Irish are 6-1 with a lone loss to the red-hot No. 3 Clemson Tigers, narrowly falling 24-22 in Week 5.
It’s a juicy matchup between Temple’s 14th-ranked defense (307.7 yards per game) against Notre Dame’s high-scoring offense (38.3 points per game). But despite what may look like a showdown on paper, Brian Hamilton of Sports Illustrated thinks otherwise:
Notre Dame is still in the hunt for the final four, with three games against ranked opponents remaining, including in Week 9. The Fighting Irish play the No. 23 Pittsburgh Panthers in Week 10 and finish the regular season against the No. 8 Stanford Cardinal.
If the Fighting Irish run the table—particularly with what would be formidable wins and a respectable loss—the committee will be hard-pressed to keep them out.
Prediction: Notre Dame 45, Temple 21
Byes for five Top 10 teams
Week 9 may be the final (somewhat) quiet slate among playoff hopefuls, as five of the top seven teams are on a bye—the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes, the No. 2 Baylor Bears, the No. 4 LSU Tigers, the No. 6 Michigan State Spartans and the No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide.
But the drama among these four is coming.
Alabama and LSU meet in Week 10 in what will likely determine the fate of the SEC West. These two have accounted for five of the last 10 division titles in the nation’s toughest conference.
The Crimson Tide and Tigers, respectively, rank third and fourth in SEC total offense and reached those marks through outstanding rush attacks. Tigers tailback Leonard Fournette is the Heisman Trophy front-runner with an FBS-high 1,352 yards and 15 touchdowns. But Alabama’s Derrick Henry has been nearly as impressive, churning out 1,044 yards and 14 touchdowns. The tasty matchup was highlighted by Gil Brandt of NFL.com:
Ohio State and Michigan State meet in Week 12 in what will likely amount to a Big 10 East division championship game. Both teams are 4-0 in conference play with a one-game lead over the Penn State Nittany Lions.
The Spartans opened the season ranked fifth, but they have slipped in light of less-than-spectacular wins much closer than they should’ve been. Ohio State has also fielded criticism for not blowing out teams as forecasted with their high-powered offensive arsenal.
The Buckeyes in Week 8 shifted to J.T. Barrett as their starting quarterback and dominated Rutgers 49-7. The same day, the Spartans were trailing unranked Indiana at halftime before winning 52-26.
Michigan State won a miraculous game against the Michigan Wolverines to keep its playoff hopes alive, but it must stay disciplined against the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Maryland Terrapins before their showdown against Ohio State.
In the interim, there may not be much shuffling among the Top 10 in Week 9, but with four of the Top 10 away this week, there's room for others to make their mark and catapult for consideration.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
