College Football: Week 9

Hokies face Duke, Wahoos face the worst season in a decade, and this weekend gives you a chance to see a real, live Pac-12 game!

October 23, 2013; 7:35 AM • by Ross Catrow

Highlights & Recaps

So many top-25 upsets! Eight of the top 25 (that’s 32% for those of you too lazy to divide) lost last week–three of them at home!¹ Here’s a handy list:

1. UCF over #8 Lousiville, 38-35
2. #5 Florida State over #3 Clemson, 51-14 (ouch)
3. Ole Miss over #6 LSU, 27-24
4. #24 Auburn over #7 Texas A&M, 45-41
5. #13 Stanford over #9 UCLA, 24-10
6. Tennessee over #11 South Carolina, 23-21
7. Vanderbilt over #15 Georgia, 31-27
8. Arizona State over #20 Washington, 53-24

Also of interest:

• Duke over Virginia, 35-22. This week the Cavs allowed 35 unanswered points in an embarrassing home-loss to Duke. With Virginia’s toughest schedule still in front of them, we could be witnessing the worst UVA football season in a decade.

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Virginia Tech vs. Duke

ESPNU • 3:30 PM • VT -13.5

This isn’t the Duke team of yore. They’ve shown that they can put up points and yards when needed, and for the Hokies to sleep on this weekend’s matchup with the Blue Devils would be foolish. Duke QB Anthony Boone is completing almost 70% of his passes, throwing five TDs and two INTs, and has returned from an early-season injury looking pretty sharp. The Hokies’ game plan should remain the same as it’s been all season long: rely on the defense to shut down the other team, don’t turn the ball over, and limit special teams mistakes.

Tech should be focused and ready to play after a much needed bye week. But remember, in last year’s game against the Blue Devils, the Hokies started the second quarter down 20-0.

Virginia vs. Georgia Tech

ESPNU • 12:30 PM • GT -10.0

Man, what a rough year for Virginia. With zero realistic wins remaining on the Cavaliers’ schedule, the Wahoos could be looking at the worst season in recent memory. The season to “beat” is 2009 when UVA went 3-9 and head coach Al Groh lost his job.²

This week Virginia takes on Georgia Tech who are fresh off a 56-0 beatdown of Syracuse. GT’s option-focused offense puts up a ton of yards on the ground—304 yard per game in fact. That’s a lot of yards, and after a disappointing home-loss to Duke, I just don’t know if the Wahoos have anything left in the tank. At least the game is in Charlottesville!

Richmond vs. #8 Towson

12:00 PM • CNS

The Spiders return home after a close, 10-12 loss to Rhode Island to face #8 Towson. At this point in the season Richmond sits at 2-5 (just like UVA!) and 0-3 in the CAA. A win over the Tigers would be a HUGE upset. Go Spiders, and good luck!

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National game of the week

• #3 Oregon vs. #12 UCLA • 7:00 PM • ESPN

ACC game of the week

• #9 Clemson at Maryland • 3:30 PM • ESPN

Worth watching

• #16 Texas A&M vs. Vanderbilt • 12:21 PM • ESPN3
• #1 Alabama vs. Tennessee • 3:30 PM • CBS
• #5 Mizzou vs. #21 South Carolina • 7:00 PM • ESPN2
• #4 Ohio State vs. Penn State • 8:00 PM • ABC

The Theoretical Playoff

And lo! The BCS:

1. Alabama
2. Florida State
3. Oregon
4. Ohio State

If you watched any of the Florida State-Clemson game, you know that the #2 ranking is justified.

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October 23, 2013 7:35 AM 0