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Tim Tebow seems to think Georgia’s defense dogged it late in a loss to Clyde Edwards-Helaire and LSU. (Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
The first College Football Playoff rankings of the season will come out on Tuesday night, and two of the top four teams in the Associated Press poll — No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 LSU — are off this weekend as they prepare for their meeting in Death Valley on Nov. 3. It thus could be a drowsy weekend in our eternal search for chaos.
All times Eastern.
[Week 9 kickoff: Alabama is a factor even during a week off]
Friday
| Time | Game | TV |
|---|---|---|
| 6:30 | Louisiana Tech at Florida Atlantic | CBS Sports Network |
| 7 | Miami at Boston College | ESPN |
| 8 | Indiana at Minnesota | Fox Sports 1 |
| 10 | Wyoming at Colorado State | CBS Sports Network |
| 10:30 | No. 23 Utah at UCLA | ESPN |
The rather bulky slate of non-Saturday games continues, and the best of Friday’s lot is Miami-Boston College. Hurricanes Coach Mark Richt spent the tail end of the team’s bye week answering questions about quarterback N’Kosi Perry, who posted and then took down a video on social media that showed him in a car with a sizable amount of money on his lap. This week, Richt said the issue “has been addressed’’ and that Perry is eligible to play Friday night, though he was less clear about whether Perry actually would take any snaps (he’s started two games this season and by most accounts has performed better than fellow quarterback Malik Rosier). ACC preseason player of the year A.J. Dillion, who was averaging 130.4 rushing yards per game before rolling his ankle against Temple on Sept. 29, seems on track to return, but the Hurricanes are allowing just 2.85 yards per rush, which is tied for eighth nationally, and rank first nationally in stuff rate (the percentage of carries by running backs that are stopped at or before the line of scrimmage).
Saturday
| Time | Game | TV |
|---|---|---|
| Noon | No. 2 Clemson at Florida State | ABC |
| Noon | No. 20 Wisconsin at Northwestern | Fox |
| Noon | Purdue at Michigan State | ESPN |
| Noon | Texas Tech at Iowa State | ESPN2 |
| Noon | Mbadachusetts at Connecticut | ESPNU |
| Noon | Vanderbilt at Arkansas | SEC Network |
| Noon | Bethune-Cookman at Nebraska | Big Ten Network |
| Noon | Army at Eastern Michigan | CBS Sports Network |
| Noon | Wake Forest at Louisville | NBC Sports Washington Plus (in D.C. area) |
| 12:20 | North Carolina at Virginia | WDCA-20 (in D.C. area) |
| 3 | TCU at Kansas | Fox Sports 1 |
| 3 | Oregon State at Colorado | Pac-12 Network |
| 3:30 | Stony Brook at James Madison | MASN (in D.C. area) |
| 3:30 | Duke at Pittsburgh | NBC Sports Washington (in D.C. area) |
| 3:30 | No. 21 South Florida at Houston | ABC/ESPN2 |
| 3:30 | Arizona State at Southern Cal | ABC/ESPN2 |
| 3:30 | Kansas State at No. 8 Oklahoma | Fox |
| 3:30 | No. 9 Florida vs. No. 7 Georgia in Jacksonville | CBS |
| 3:30 | No. 18 Iowa at No. 17 Penn State | ESPN |
| 3:30 | Northern Illinois at BYU | ESPNU |
| 3:30 | Illinois at Maryland | Big Ten Network |
| 3:30 | Cincinnati at SMU | CBS Sports Network |
| 4 | No. 12 Kentucky at Missouri | SEC Network |
| 6:30 | No. 15 Washington at California | Fox Sports 1 |
| 7 | No. 14 Washington State at No. 24 Stanford | Pac-12 Network |
| 7 | No. 16 Texas A&M at Mississippi State | ESPN |
| 7 | No. 22 North Carolina State at Syracuse | ESPN2 |
| 7 | Tulane at Tulsa | ESPNU |
| 7 | Boise State at Air Force | CBS Sports Network |
| 7:30 | Tennessee at South Carolina | SEC Network |
| 8 | No. 3 Notre Dame vs. Navy in San Diego | CBS |
| 8 | No. 6 Texas at Oklahoma State | ABC |
| 10:30 | No. 19 Oregon at Arizona | ESPN |
| 10:30 | Hawaii at Fresno State | ESPN2 |
| 10:30 | San Diego State at Nevada | ESPNU |
[John Feinstein: For Purdue, the ‘cradle of astronauts,’ a football win over Ohio State feels like one giant leap]
Either Clemson or Florida State has won the ACC Atlantic Division title since 2009, though only the former has any shot of that this year: The Tigers are 4-0 in conference play and are coming off a thoroughly dominant 41-7 win over N.C. State. The Seminoles (2-3 vs. ACC teams) have righted the ship a bit after their dismal start, but wins over Northern Illinois, lousy Louisville and cratering Wake Forest aren’t exactly statements. Clemson’s defense, ranked second nationally in terms of defensive S&P+ rating (an opponent-adjusted measure of overall efficiency), should have little trouble with a Seminoles offense that ranks 109th in the same metric. But Florida State does have one thing going for it: For the first time all season, it’s poised to start the same offensive line for a second straight game. No other Power Five team has started seven different offensive lines in its first seven games, and this newfound health and stability should help against Clemson’s menacing defensive front. . . .
[College Football Playoff projections: Ohio State loss introduces a little chaos]
Georgia’s defense struggled to get off the field in its loss to LSU two Saturdays ago, giving up touchdown drives of nine, 12 and 15 plays, and the Bulldogs appeared gbaded in allowing Tigers running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire to rush for 17 yards to the Georgia 1-yard line in the fourth quarter (Joe Burrow would punch it in to add to LSU’s lead). This got the attention of ESPN badyst Tim Tebow, who chided three Bulldogs defensive players for “jogging to the football” on the play and called the effort “embarrbading” during an SEC Network program. Whether the words of Tebow, a noted Florida alum, are taken as bulletin-board material for Georgia on Saturday against the Gators remains to be seen, but Bulldogs Coach Kirby Smart seemed to suggest this week that Tebow wasn’t completely off the mark, though he chalked it up to a lack of conditioning rather than effort. In any case, Florida, Georgia and Kentucky are knotted atop the SEC East at 4-1, and the loser here might struggle to regain that position (especially if it’s the Gators, who already have lost to the Wildcats this season) . ..
Sixth-ranked Texas last was ranked so high in 2010, but the trick for the Longhorns isn’t getting into the top 25 but staying in it: That 2005 team eventually finished 5-7 (Mack Brown’s lone losing season at the helm in Austin), and Texas has been ranked in the final Associated Press poll only once since then (finishing 19th in 2012). This season looked to be more of the same when the 23rd-ranked Longhorns again flopped against Maryland in their season opener, but they’ve since reeled off six straight, including a win over Oklahoma and two other ranked opponents. But Oklahoma State, Texas’s opponent Saturday night, has beaten the Longhorns in three straight seasons and will be sporting nifty throwback uniforms commemorating the 30th anniversary of the 1988 Cowboys team, which featured someone named Barry Sanders.
Read more:
Report on Maryland football culture cites problems but stops short of ‘toxic’ label
What we know (and don’t know) from the report on Maryland football culture
College football betting Week 9: Boilers up or down after upset of Ohio State?
Maryland’s Kasim Hill and his 12-year-old sister have each other’s back
Jim Harbaugh doubles down on criticism of Michigan State’s ‘bush league’ behavior
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