Buffalo Rumblings
Several key SEC, Big Ten matchups in Week 9 should keep CFB fans glued to their screens
Today’s slate of college football games isn’t as dynamite as recent weeks were from an on-paper standpoint. But there’s plenty to keep an eye out for, including some ranked matchups featuring teams that appear to have Las Vegas odds believing some are on fraud watch.
The weekend gets started with two teams playing impressive football between No. 12 Notre Dame and No. 24 Navy. The Midshipmen are enjoying a special season and have a chance to continue that Saturday in a game where they’re two touchdown underdogs. In recent years, Notre Dame has shown they have a different caliber of body and athleticism compared to Navy. We’ll see if that shows itself in this game or not, but Navy has dominated opponents in 2024.
Twentieth-ranked Illinois hits the road to face No. 1 Oregon on the backs of a two-touchdown win over Michigan a week ago. The Ducks are 22-point favorites on their home turf, which feels like a ballooned number for two ranked teams. Perhaps Vegas doesn’t believe in Illinois as much as the current rankings do.
Another team not respected despite their similar ranking is No. 21 Missouri against No. 15 Alabama. The Tide are 17-point home favorites over the Tigers. Missouri has an explosive offense that went radio silent for approximately three quarters as quarterback Brady Cook worked back from injury. There’s some question as to his availability for this game, which may be playing into the spread. He was eventually able to come back and assist in a comeback win against Auburn last week, but it appears that an injury may be lingering. Alabama is licking their wounds off a loss where the offense wasn’t able to execute for four quarters of the game against Tennessee.
Fifth-ranked Texas wasn’t expecting to have to go into Nashville against a ranked Vanderbilt team in the preseason coming off a huge game against Georgia, but that’s exactly where they find themselves right now heading into the weekend. Vanderbilt runs a fun system behind a very good college quarterback in Diego Pavia. But Texas should be coming in angry off a blowout loss against the Bulldogs last week.
In the primetime slate, we’ve got a true “pick ‘em” game with No. 8 LSU heading to College Station to face No. 14 Texas A&M. Both teams are desperate to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive. One of the best offenses in LSU meets one of the nation’s best defenses at Texas A&M.
Let’s talk some of the best prospect matchups to keep an eye on as well as a game of the week as we soar into Week 9 of the season. Let us know in the comments what you’re watching this weekend.
Both of these teams have excellent players in the trenches on each side of...
