Week 9 of the college football season is absolutely loaded with four key conference rivalry games set to steal the spotlight this week. No game will be bigger than the massive ACC showdown between Clemson and Florida State that will be played under the bright lights in Tallahassee but there will be at least a couple of other games worth making sure you tune in to watch. Here is a look at the top televised games for Week 9 of the college football season.
#2 Michigan @ Michigan State
Saturday, 12:00 PM ET – ESPN
The Wolverines are firing on all cylinders heading in to their showdown with Michigan State. Michigan has dominated every game except its wins over Colorado and Wisconsin while the Spartans have dropped five in a row including four straight Big Ten losses. The memory of last year’s loss on a late fumble return as time expired will be fresh in the memory of Jim Harbaugh when his team takes the field and it’s not lost on Wolverines’ fans that their team has dropped seven of their last eight games in this series. Still, 24 points is a pretty steep number to expect Michigan to cover on the road in a rivalry game and there is a good chance Mark Dantonio and his staff will have a few tricks up their sleeves. The Wolverines will win this game but the final score could be a lot closer than the experts are predicting it will be.
Pick: Michigan State +24
#4 Washington @ #17 Utah
Saturday, 3:30 PM ET – FS1
Nobody is overlooking the Huskies anymore as Washington has climbed to No. 4 in the college football rankings with seven straight wins to open the season. Jake Browning has put himself in the Heisman conversation with an outstanding start to the year and the Huskies have outscored six of their first seven opponents by at least 24 points. Now comes the toughest test yet on the road against the No. 17 team in the country in Utah. The Utes offense will put Washington’s top-rated defense in the Pac-12 to the test and it will be interesting to see if they can break through. There isn’t any reason to expect Browning and running back Myles Gaskin to slow down so it will be on Troy Williams and Joe Williams to try to keep pace.
Pick: Washington -10
#8 Baylor @ Texas
Saturday, 3:30 PM ET – ABC
Baylor’s football program has overcome a lot to win six straight games including three straight in the Big 12. All eyes will be on the Bears Saturday afternoon as they roll in to Texas for a massive college football showdown. The Longhorns have disappointed after being projected to contend in their conference before the season started but they have kept it close in narrow losses to Oklahoma and Kansas State and are very capable of taking down Baylor. Seth Russell and the Bears offense will need to be at its best to take down Texas with a chance to make a statement with another key road win this weekend.
Pick: Baylor -3
#3 Clemson @ #12 Florida State
Saturday, 8:00 PM ET – ABC
The college football game of the week belongs to the ACC and the massive showdown that will take place in Tallahassee. The third-ranked Tigers are rolling at 7-0 but they will face another really difficult test on the road against a Florida State program that would like nothing more than to end their perfect season. The Seminoles have lost two games to Louisville and North Carolina but that won’t mean anything when these teams met on Saturday night. Clemson has a small cushion over Florida State in the standings but that will only ramp up the urgency for the Seminoles knowing that if they win this game they will be only one game back of forcing a potential three-team deadlock with the Cardinals at the top of the conference standings. Slowing down Deshaun Watson and the electric Tigers’ offense will be the top priority, especially considering Florida State has averaged just 18.5 points in back-to-back wins over Miami and Wake Forest. The Seminoles didn’t have an answer for Lamar Jackson and company when they played Louisville and while they have home advantage for this one, we still aren’t counting on them slowing down Watson enough to win this game or even cover the spread.
Pick: Clemson -4
