Houston Cougars' senior punter, Australian ice-cream salesman turned superboot, Dane Roy, dives into the week 9 College football matches to keep an eye on.

#2 Louisiana State University vs #9 University of Auburn

Week 9 is here and there are a few interesting games this weekend in College Football. First up we take a look at the huge SEC match-up between the #9 ranked Auburn Tigers vs #2 LSU Tigers. If you love tigers, then this game is for you. With only 1 loss between the two teams, (Auburn against Florida 3 weeks ago) and both offenses capable of some high scores, this game is sure to be a cracker.

The LSU offense are 2^nd in the nation in points scored per game with 50.1 and that is because they are led by Heisman hopeful Joe Burrow. The senior QB leads the nation in TD passes with 29 and has a total of 2,484 passing yards, which puts him 2^nd in the nation in that category. Justin Jefferson, junior WR, is relishing the form of Burrow, adding 9 TDs and 759 receiving yards to his stats column so far this season. Jefferson is on a 4-game TD streak too.

Auburn have had a lot of publicity about their freshman QB, Bo Nix, this season. Nix has thrown for 1,301 yards and 11 TDs so far but when he faces Top 25 opponents his completion rate drops from 56% to 46%. Nix threw 3 TDs last week against Arkansas and that might give him the confidence he needs for this week. Key player for Auburn, sophomore RB Jatarvious Whitlow recently had surgery on his injured knee and is out for 6 weeks. Whitlow was responsible for a third of the teams rushing TDs with 7 and will be very hard to replace.

Look out for:

Auburn’s Aussie punter, Arynn Siposs, who is averaging 43 yards per punt this season.

Verdict:

With LSU being ranked #2 now, behind the consistent Alabama, it's really all being set up for that big game on November 9th. Expect LSU to do enough to win. Everything points to an LSU win, Joe Burrow averaging 4 TD and 300 yards per game, the LSU defense vs Bo Nix, home field advantage for LSU. Should still go down to the wire though.

#3 Ohio State University vs #13 University of Wisconsin–Madison

The next big game on the list is a huge BIG10 game between the #13 Wisconsin Badgers and the #3 Ohio State Buckeyes. Wisconsin was all set to come into this game undefeated, but stumbled against the up-and-down Illinois last week, losing by a field goal as time expired, final score of 24-23. Ohio State had another easy game last week, this one against Northwestern, winning 52-3. They haven’t really been challenged all year, with their closest games being 24-point wins against Florida Atlantic in week 1 and Michigan State in week 6.

Crazy stat is that these are the best defenses in the nation, when looking at points allowed per game. Wisconsin average 7.6 and Ohio State 8 points conceded per game. Wisconsin have recorded 4 shutouts and Ohio State have recorded 4 games where they have conceded 10 or less points. It's safe to assume that this game is going to be heavily dominated by the defense, and one defensive player to look out for is Buckeye DE Chase Young. The Junior has a nation leading 9.5 sacks this season.

The Buckeyes also have a few weapons on their offense, sophomore QB Justin Fields and junior RB JK Dobbins. Fields has thrown for 1,492 yards and 22 TDs, but has been sacked 13 times, which is worrying for the Buckeyes. The sophomore has also rushed for 291 yards with 8 TDs. Dobbins has 7 rushing TD and is 4^th in the nation in rushing yards with 947.

Wisconsin on the other hand has Jonathan Taylor who is 3^rd in the nation in rushing yards with 957. The junior RB also leads the nation in scoring with 19 TD. If Wisconsin is any chance of winning, they need a big game from Jack Coan, their junior QB. Coan has thrown for 1383 yards and has only thrown 9 TDs this season while being sacked 9 times. If the Badgers have to rely on Taylor to do all the scoring, then it could be long day if the Buckeyes find a way to stop the explosive RB.

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Look out for:

Can't go past Badgers RB Jonathan Taylor. Should add to his TD tally for this year.

Verdict:

If both teams came into this game undefeated, then I would have gone in favor of the Badgers. But after last week’s loss, they showed their weaknesses. Maybe that’s the wakeup call they needed and now they run the table and go to the CFB playoff? Who knows? But what we do know is that this game will definitely be entertaining. Buckeyes should get the win at home.

#19 University of Michigan vs #8 University of Notre Dame 

The third must-see game of the weekend is the game between the #8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the #19 Michigan Wolverines. Michigan haven’t beaten Notre Dame since 2013, when they won at home, 41-30. The Wolverines are 5-2 this season but aren’t having a good run of late, giving up 23 points on average in the last 2 games and losing to #7 Penn State last week 28-21. Notre Dame are 5-1 and their last game was 2 weeks ago where they won 30-27 against a fast finishing USC and their only loss coming against #3 Georgia a few weeks ago. Notre Dame are 1-1 against Top 25 teams and Michigan are 1-2.

If Notre Dame are to beat the Wolverines and win their first game at Ann Arbor since 2005, they need a huge game from QB, Ian Book. The senior has thrown for 1,419 yards and 14 TDs this season, while running in 3 himself. Junior RB, Tony Jones Jr, rushed for 176 yards last game vs USC to bring his season total to 557 yards with 4 TDs.

For Michigan, they need a much better game from senior QB Shea Patterson, who seemed to struggle last week vs Penn State, throwing 1 interception and 0 TDs. Patterson has 1,522 yards and 9 TDs this season. Freshman RB, Zach Charbonnet, played last week after reports he may miss with an injury and that really helped the Wolverines stay in the game. Charbonnet scored 2 TD and through 81 yards.

Look out for:

A classic finish to this game. Overtime anyone?

Verdict:

The experts have labeled Michigan as the team to beat in this one, but I can see it going the other way. Notre Dame have everything going for them, even that loss to Georgia may have helped them in some way. The Michigan team from the last few weeks isn’t anything to write home about and they need to change dramatically if they want to record a win this weekend.

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