AP College Football Poll 2015: Projections for Week 9 Top 25 Rankings

Last week was considered a slow week in terms of high-profile matches—even though it ended up as another defining week in the race for the playoffs—but Week 9 might be one of the weakest of the season.

With five of the Top 7 in the AP poll on a bye week this week—only No. 3 Clemson and No. 5 TCU are scheduled to play this weekend—it will be a chance for some of the teams lower in the polls to show they are worthy of joining the discussion for the playoffs.

Once again, there is only one ranked matchup on the docket, with No. 9 Notre Dame traveling to take on No. 21 Temple, but there are still a fair number of games that have a direct impact on the title picture and the conference races.

Let’s predict the winners of each AP Top 25 game this week and preview some of the weekend’s biggest matchups:

Rank	Team	Record	Week 9 Matchup	Predicted Result
1	Ohio State	8-0	Bye	-
2	Baylor	7-0	Bye	-
3	Clemson	7-0	at NC State	Win
4	LSU	7-0	Bye	-
5	TCU	7-0	West Virginia	Win
6	Michigan State	8-0	Bye	-
7	Alabama	7-1	Bye	-
8	Stanford	6-1	at Washington State	Win
9	Notre Dame	6-1	at Temple	Win
10	Iowa	7-0	Maryland	Win
11	Florida	6-1	Georgia	Win
12	Oklahoma State	7-0	at Texas Tech	Loss
13	Utah	6-1	Oregon State	Win
14	Oklahoma	6-1	at Kansas	Win
15	Michigan	5-2	at Minnesota	Win
16	Memphis	7-0	Tulane	Win
17	Florida State	6-1	Syracuse	Win
18	Houston	7-0	Vanderbilt	Win
19	Ole Miss	6-2	at Auburn	Win
20	Toledo	7-0	Bye	-
21	Temple	7-0	Notre Dame	Loss
22	Duke	6-1	Miami (FL)	Win
23	Pittsburgh	6-1	North Carolina	Loss
24	UCLA	5-2	Colorado	Win
25	Mississippi State	6-2	Bye	-

No. 21 Temple vs. No. 9 Notre Dame

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

There has been a lot of bandwidth spent on the rise of the American Athletic Conference in recent weeks. Houston rising up the polls under former Ohio State assistant Tom Herman and Memphis taking down Ole Miss have been headline-stealing events in this topsy-turvy season.

But while the Tigers and Cougars feel validated in their Top 25 rankings, there are still those wondering about the Temple Owls. A season-opening win against Penn State was impressive, but a number of close wins have people wondering if Temple can keep it up for the rest of the season.

After this weekend, though, everyone will know where Temple stands in college football’s power structure. With a prime-time matchup in Philadelphia with a perennial powerhouse coming this week, the Owls will either validate their status or fall back in with the rank and file.

This season, Temple's strength has been on defense, holding its opponents to just 307.7 yards per game, while the offense has struggled at times to put up consistent numbers, which isn’t a good sign against a high-scoring Notre Dame squad.

If Temple can capitalize on early adrenaline and take an early lead, or at least keep up with the Irish through the first half, there could be an upset in the cards. But Notre Dame won’t give the underdog the chance to keep things close, pulling away early en route to a big win.

Prediction: No. 9 Notre Dame 38, No. 21 Temple 21

Washington State vs. No. 8 Stanford

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

Just a quick recap about Washington State’s up-and-down season. The Cougars started the year off with a loss to Portland State, an FCS school, and barely beat a weak Rutgers side 37-34 on the road.

Since then, though, Washington State has won four of five games, with victories against Arizona and Oregon in that span, and barely lost to a ranked California team 34-28 on the road. This run in form has the Cougars up to second place in the Pac-12 North and a win away this weekend from taking the division lead.

Unfortunately for Washington State, its opponent is the No. 8 Stanford Cardinal, who have been one of the country's best teams since an upset loss to Northwestern in the season’s opening fixture.

Following the loss, Stanford has won six straight games, all by at least 10 points, and looks comfortable atop a disappointing Pac-12 North. With an offense in the top 25 in points per game and a defense in the top 35 this season, the Cardinal are one of the most balanced teams in the nation and don’t appear to have any glaring weaknesses.

The run by the Cougars to a point of contention has to be respected and enjoyed while it can, but Stanford will prove too talented to fall to Washington State Saturday and will solidify its spot in the Pac-12 with a big victory.

Prediction: No. 8 Stanford 42, Washington State 17

Texas Tech vs. No. 12 Oklahoma State

Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

It might sound a little bit disrespectful to Kliff Kingsbury’s squad but so far this season, Texas Tech has been the Big 12’s equivalent of a midcard jobber in WWE: good enough to test the main event stars, but not quite good enough to be one itself.

This season, the Red Raiders are 5-3, with all of their losses coming against the top teams in the conference. A 55-52 loss to TCU, a 63-35 loss to Baylor and most recently a 63-27 loss to Oklahoma last week are the only times this year Texas Tech has found itself in the loser’s column.

Coming up this week, an undefeated and scrappy Oklahoma State team has to travel to Lubbock, Texas, and prove that it deserves to be considered one of the best teams in the Big 12.

The Cowboys haven’t been blowing out their opponents like some of their conference brethren have been all season, but starting 7-0 has Oklahoma State up to No. 12 in the AP poll and on the verge of breaking into the Big 12’s top tier with Oklahoma, TCU and Baylor.

But after an incredibly emotionally charged game in Stillwater, Oklahoma, last weekend, can the Cowboys continue their surprising undefeated run against one of the best offenses in the country? It should be close, especially if the Red Raiders don’t offer up any resistance on defense, but Texas Tech has been close to pulling the upset this season and looks poised to do so this weekend against Oklahoma State.

Prediction: Texas Tech 56, No. 12 Oklahoma State 45