2014 NCAA Football: Week 9 Saturday Schedule And Select Game Analysis

Welcome to Week 9 of the college football season and Kentucky’s first shot at SEC Nation as well as yet another shot at a #1 football team. It would be really nice if Kentucky could make Commonwealth Stadium a place where #1 teams go to die. But whatever, let’s look at some of the non-Kentucky games today that should be interesting.

Early games

• Texas Longhorns at Kansas State Wildcats — Texas has been very, very down this year winning only three games out of eight. They have been getting more and more competitive, though. But I think the Wildcats are too much for them at home.
• San Jose State Spartans at Navy Midshipmen — This looks like a very competitive matchup to me. The Spartans have only three wins so far, but they have been very competitive in all their games. Navy has that throwback Flexbone veer attack that can really befuddle teams these days. Looks like a fun game.

3:30 games

• Michigan Wolverines at Michigan State Spartans — This rivalry may not be as hot as Michigan-Ohio State, but this year, it has a lot of implications if the Wolverines were to upset. But I don’t think they can get that job done.
• West Virginia Mountaineers at Oklahoma State Cowboys — OSU is a very dangerous matchup for the Mountaineers at Boone Pickens Stadium. I think the Cowboys pull the mild upset here.
• Texas Tech Red Raiders at TCU Horned Frogs — Kliff Kingsbury’s team has some near misses against good teams, but coming into Fort Worth and beating the outstanding Horned Frogs is a task that the Red Raiders simply aren’t up to. Still, this one could have a lot of fireworks.

Late Afternoon/Early Evening games

• Ole Miss Rebels at LSU Tigers — As Kentucky found out last week, going into Death Valley at night and coming away a winner is a tall, tall task. I think Ole Miss runs into a problem in this one. The Tigers are clearly moving in the right direction, and I think I favor them to pull a surprise.
• Alabama Crimson Tide at Tennessee Volunteers — The Third Saturday in October is always worth a few minutes, but Tennessee looks hopelessly overmatched against the resurgent Tide.
• South Carolina Gamecocks at Auburn Tigers — Unless South Carolina’s defense suddenly gets and infusion of about three Jadeveon Clowneys, I don’t think they can stop the Tigers on offense, and I don’t think their offense can put up enough points in Jordan-Hare stadium to win.
• Ohio State Buckeyes at Penn State Nittany Lions — This should be a really interesting game, because if Ohio State’s offense is for real, they’ll have to prove it tonight. I don’t think Penn State can stop them.

Late games

• USC Trojans at Utah Utes — USC has yet to impress on the road this season, and the Utes are on a roll. USC doesn’t get this job done.

That’s it. Enjoy the games.