By Dallas Jones

IOWA CITY, IOWA – Week nine of the college football season is here, which means a fresh slate of matchups and opportunities to be great are plentiful.

There are very few scenarios in life where I would consider a tie a win, the betting world is one of those. After Indiana took Nebraska’s lunch money and Alabama failed to get back on track, I was worried the bad knee may have lost all of its magic.

Thankfully, Georgia handled the Longhorns from start to finish and point in East Lansing came in bunches. The hype last weekend was met with some fantastic battles and there are a lot of great matchups again this week in the Big Ten as well as the rest of the country.

Why not do something great this week? Here are my favorite plays.

Washington @ #13 Indiana (-6):

An apology is owed to Indiana, I was not familiar with their game. The Hoosiers have arguably been the most efficient team in the country this year on both sides of the ball.vThe 7-0 Hoosiers are ranked first (!!) in scoring offense and seventh in scoring defense in the entire country this year. Their closest game so far was a 42-28 victory over Maryland at home.

On the other side Washington is coming off of the bye week. Before that bye, they had lost two of their last three, most recently a 41-16 loss in Kinnick Stadium. Look for Indiana to stay hot and win this one by two scores or more.

Northwestern @ Iowa (O37.5):

It may be hard to accept the experienced Iowa defense is not at the level Hawkeye fans are used to, but one way to help fans feel a little better it to bet the over! The Hawkeyes have gone over that 37.5 number in every single game this year, win or loss.

Northwestern does rank in the top 20 in scoring defense, but any game to finish under 40 total points is a lot to ask. An opportunity to bounce back for the Hawkeyes and it’s no question that Iowa QB Cade McNamara will want to be a key factor in that.

#20 Illinois (+22) @ #1 Oregon:

The only ranked matchup in the Big Ten this week will take place in Eugene this week. Fresh off a huge win over THE Ohio State Buckeyes and a 35-0 domination of Purdue, vibes could not be higher for #1 Oregon. BUT the Fighting Illini are simply too good of a football team to be a three score underdog.

Oregon failed to cover 22 points against both Michigan State and UCLA earlier this season, the 6-1 Fighting Illini should be able to put together a game plan that makes this a much close competition. Do not be surprised to see an upset in the Pacific Northwest.

#8 LSU @ #14 Texas A&M (O54.5):

This was purely a bad knee pick, then I looked into the stats a bit more and liked it even better. Texas A&M is coming off of back to back games with totals in the 50’s, while trotting out a top 15 rushing attack.

LSU on the other hand has failed to reach at least 29 points in every game except for week one against USC and boast the eighth best passing offense in the country. The spread is almost even with Texas A&M getting a single point.

I just hope everyone stays healthy and has fun. Let’s have a good weekend.

Season Record: 7-12-2 (2-2-1 last week)