Picks for the College Football Playoff Week 9
What might be the best college football weekend of the season is upon us. The Pac-12 coming back, Florida-Georgia, and Clemson-Notre Dame should all do plenty to move the playoff needle. We saw Clemson get pushed to the brink with Trevor Lawrence out with COVID-19, but cleaning it up after halftime to put away BC. The rest of the top four convincingly took care of business.
I was… wrong about Michigan. I called the Wolverines a sneaky playoff last week before Harbaugh and co. lost to Michigan State AGAIN (Harbaugh is now 3-8 against Michigan State and Ohio State) in another disappointing loss. It’s one thing if the game was a tossup, but another, if you are a nearly three-touchdown favorite like Michigan, was Saturday. Minnesota might be a little overrated, which boosted the resume of the Wolverines, but MSU was coming off a loss to Rutgers. It seems like we go through this story every year.
With that, let’s get to the picks.
No. 1: Clemson Tigers (7-0) (LW: 34-28 W vs Boston College)
I’m not going to ding the Tigers for struggling out of the gate without Trevor Lawrence, playing without the best player in the country takes some adjusting. What a first start for freshman DJ Uiagalelei (30/41 342 yards and 2 TD), the game plan was pretty conservative, but the talent just jumped off the screen. The Tigers are in a fantastic spot after Lawrence leaves for the NFL after the season. The score was a little more lopsided thanks to a scoop and score after a Travis Etienne fumble in the second quarter (for example, halftime score would’ve been 21-20 instead of 28-13), but the senior made up for it leading the Tigers in both rushing and receiving (84 rushing yards and 140 receiving yards). No Lawrence this weekend in South Bend vs Notre Dame, we will see if the freshman Uiagalelei can limit the mistakes against one of the most talented defenses in the country. I still think Clemson wins, but we will see.
No. 2: Alabama Crimson Tide (6-0) (LW: 41-0 W vs Miss State)
The air raid didn’t seem to rattle Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide. The Alabama defense looked like its old self shutting out Mississippi for four quarters while the offense hummed along even without the services of Jaylen Waddle. Mac Jones is the Heisman frontrunner for me now with Lawrence out and he showed it against (291 yards and four touchdowns). Remember when we speculated Bryce Young might overtake him? Seems like ages ago. Watch out for this group, if Clemson struggles against Notre Dame and Bama dominates, we might have a change at No. 1.
No. 3: Ohio State Buckeyes (2-0) (LW: 38-25 W vs Penn State)
The Buckeyes started hot and kept their foot on the gas pedal throughout the night against an outmatched Penn State team. Justin Fields is playing at a level even higher than last year (318 yards and four touchdowns) with a very good ground game against an elite defense as well (208 yards rushing). The defense gave up some yards with the Buckeyes up late, but nothing too alarming. Still not impressive enough to move them above Alabama, but a very nice win.
No. 4: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-0) (LW: 31-13 W vs Georgia Tech)
I’m mad we’re going to be robbed of the matchup of this Notre Dame defense vs Lawrence, but that actually means we’ll get a better game. The Irish took care of business against Georgia Tech with another strong defensive performance and a complementary effort by Ian Book. If ND wants to challenge Clemson on Saturday, Book can’t just turn around and hand the ball off, he is going to need to make some plays with his feet and with his arm downfield. The last time Book faced a Clemson defense in the 2018 playoffs, he scored 3 points. He needs more than that this time.
Next few:
Georgia
Texas A&M
Cincinnati
Writer
-By: TJ Mathewson