Week 9 of the college football season features three games between ranked teams in the last week of October.
No. 13 Wisconsin travels to No. 3 Ohio State (Noon ET, FOX), No. 9 Auburn visits No. 2 LSU (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS) and No. 8 Notre Dame visits No. 19 Michigan (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC). Those are the three games that will have the most impact on the College Football Playoff rankings – where are nearing their first unveiling on Nov. 5.
Every week, Sporting News will survey the landscape looking for Heisman contenders, coaches on the spot, upset alerts and other trends. With that in mind, get ready for Week 9:
WEEK 9 PICKS: Straight up | Against the spread
Heisman watch
Of the four running backs who entered Week 9 with at least 900 yards rushing, Ohio State's J.K. Dobbins (947 yards, 7.1 yards per carry) has the highest yards per carry. That's better than Oklahoma State's Chuba Hubbard (1,265, 6.5), Boston College's AJ Dillon (968, 5.4) and Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor (957 yards, 6.1).
Dobbins and Taylor will be on the same field Saturday when the Buckeyes and Badgers meet. Taylor has more than twice as many TDs as Dobbins at 15 to seven, but Dobbins is on the higher-ranked team– one that could knock the Badgers out of the College Football Playoff race on Saturday.
Dobbins has 470 rushing yards in Ohio State's last three games, and he could emerge as at least the same kind of Heisman candidate as teammate Justin Fields with a big showing here. Showing up the nation's top run defense would go a long way in doing that.
Eddie George, Ohio State's last running back to win the Heisman Trophy, hit up Wisconsin for 26 carries, 141 yards and three TDs in a 27-16 victory in 1995.
An effort like that would put Dobbins right in the mix as a Heisman candidate.
Coach on the spot
Gus Malzahn's job status is never a dull topic, and that could kick up if Auburn gets run out of Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., on Saturday.
It's a chance for Auburn to play against another top-10 opponent after losing 24-13 at Florida on Oct. 5. Malzhan is 7-13 against top-10 teams since taking over in 2013. A look at his year-by-year record:
| YEAR | RECORD |
| 2013 | 3-2 |
| 2014 | 1-2 |
| 2015 | 0-1 |
| 2016 | 0-3 |
| 2017 | 2-2 |
| 2018 | 1-2 |
| 2019 | 0-1 |
A loss would drop him to 7-14 – or a 33.3 percent success rate against top-10 teams. No. 1 Alabama and No. 10 Georgia visit Jordan-Hare Stadium. If Malzahn goes 0-4 in those big games, then the conversations could get creative at the end of the season.
Upset alert
Two playoff hopefuls should be careful this week.
No. 6 Penn State, fresh off a 28-21 victory against Michigan, looks like the better bet than Wisconsin to challenge Ohio State for the Big Ten championship. The Nittany Lions, however, must avoid the upset bug at Michigan State.
The Spartans have won five of the last six meetings and are coming off a much-needed bye week. Penn State coach James Franklin is 1-4 against the Spartans with one-score losses the last two seasons.
No. 11 Oregon is generating some playoff buzz for the Pac-12, but face Washington State – which has won the last four meetings. The Ducks were ranked in last year's matchup, too, and all bets are off when Mike Leach is involved.
Over/under
Clemson dropped to No. 4 in the AP Poll this week, which prompted the always-quotable Dabo Swinney to offer up a pointed defense of the Tigers.
"I'm not surprised at all," Swinney said via 247Sports.com. "We are winning by an average of 28 points and last year this time we were winning by 28.7 points. That 0.7 is elusive. It's probably the greatest 0.7 there is. We're chasing that."
When it comes to that point differential, the chase is on with the other unbeaten Power 5 teams …
| TEAM | PF | PA | DIFF |
| Ohio State (7-0) | 348 | 56 | 292 |
| Alabama (7-0) | 341 | 115 | 226 |
| Oklahoma (7-0) | 353 | 136 | 217 |
| LSU (7-0) | 351 | 140 | 211 |
| Penn State (7-0) | 280 | 70 | 210 |
| Clemson (7-0) | 280 | 84 | 196 |
| Baylor (7-0) | 272 | 134 | 138 |
| Minnesota (7-0) | 255 | 105 | 150 |
That point differential is a good barometer knowing this is probably the top six teams in the first Playoff rankings if the chalk holds.
Clemson is right where they need to be knowing Alabama plays LSU and Ohio State plays Penn State. All the Tigers need to do is keep winning in the ACC, and the margin of victory does not matter as much as everybody thinks it does.
Even if Dabo will chase that elusive 0.7 anyway.
Think about it …
Notre Dame and Michigan will meet for the last time for the foreseeable future on Saturday – so expect two members of the 900-win club to play like they mean it.
It's a weird spot in the schedule for this game, but it should produce the usual close game at Michigan Stadium.
Consider that since the teams began playing on a semi-regular basis in 1978, Notre Dame leads the series 16-15-1. Both teams have been ranked 29 times, and the higher ranked team is 12-16-1 in that stretch. A total of 19 of those games have been decided by a TD or less.
The winner will have that trump card for years to come unless they meet in a bowl game.
Enjoy every second of this classic knowing there is no telling when we might see it again.
