It's already Week 9?

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Ty Hildenbrandt & Jake Faigus
October 25, 2024

HOW DID WE GET HERE? How is it already Week 9? Actually, how is it Week 9 and we still have all these questions about which teams are genuinely good at college football? Maybe it’s conference realignment, maybe it’s the transfer portal, maybe it’s just a weird year… whatever it is, there is a high strangeness to this season that is very reminiscent of 2007. Could we get more weirdness in Week 9? Anything is possible.

Let’s get you caught up before the games get rolling…

In today’s college football newsletter:

  • The 8 things to know before Week 9

  • 🔥 How to win a fire pit with our Week 9 pick’em contest

  • A full menu of audio and video preview content to get you ready for the weekend

-Ty Hildenbrandt & Jake Faigus

THE LOOKBACK

The 8 things to know before Week 9

Photo by LSU Athletics/University Images via Getty Images

1) THERE’S A PARTY IN BLOOMINGTON AND THIS SATURDAY IS THE EXCLAMATION POINT. Indiana is 7-0 and looks amazing in head coach Curt Cignetti’s first season. This week, it’ll get its second-ever visit from ESPN’s College Gameday, ranked as the No. 13 team in the land playing host to the Washington Huskies. Yes, it feels a little weird to say it, but the Hoosiers are legit in the College Football Playoff hunt. Per the number crunchers at ESPN, Indiana has a 63% chance of making the CFP.

2) DID SEC REFS OVERTURN A CALL BECAUSE OF FANS? Last weekend was Texas’s welcome-to-the-SEC moment when Georgia came to town, punched them in the mouth and knocked them from atop the polls. It wasn’t without controversy, though.

In case you haven’t seen the above clip, Texas was flagged for a questionable pass interference call that negated an interception. Upon seeing the replay in the stadium, the fans erupted and threw cans and bottles onto the field, prompting a delay. And during the delay, the officials just undid the call without a great explanation as to why.

In response, the SEC fined Texas $250,000 and is requiring the Longhorns to identify every fan who threw something on the field. More importantly, Texas’s most famous ambassador had some of his own thoughts:

3) SPEAKING OF TEXAS, QUINN EWERS IS NOT OPTING OUT, DESPITE THE RUMORS. Yeah, so, Monday was a weird day for the Longhorns after the home loss to Georgia even before a random post by 247Sports claiming that Ewers was opting out for the remainder of the season and focusing on the NFL Draft.

The news was quickly debunked by On3, which cited a possible hack. Eventually, Ewers himself denied the report in an Instagram post.

4) WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KENNESAW STATE. Normally, the mighty Owls of Kennesaw State aren’t much of a discussion point in these parts, but they might’ve pulled up the biggest upset of the year on Wednesday night. In their first season at the FBS level and as a winless, 27-point underdog, Kennesaw randomly knocked off unbeaten Liberty by a 27-24 score. This is a Liberty team, mind you, that had serious College Football Playoff aspirations after jumping out to a 5-0 start. Nothing is quite like college football.

5) GRAYSON MCCALL CALLS IT A CAREER. After repeated concussions, NC State’s Grayson McCall is walking away from football. The decision came after a scary incident against Wake Forest in which he was carted off the field. It’s an unfortunate break for a high-ceiling prospect who was incredibly fun to watch at Coastal Carolina under Jamey Chadwell. McCall’s transfer to NC State never took flight. We wish him well.

N.C. State quarterback Grayson McCall retires from football at 23 after concussions

McCall was carted off the field earlier this month after a hit to the head. After consulting with brain specialists, he wrote on Instagram that the injury was "one that I cannot come back from."

www.npr.org/2024/10/24/g-s1-29711/nc-state-quarterback-qb-grayson-mccall-retires

6) “EVERYONE’S WORRIED ABOUT F***ING TIKTOK!” Former Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron is fed up with what he has seen from the Crimson Tide this year. McCarron sounded off on a recent appearance on the McCready and Siskey podcast:

“Everybody’s worried about f*cking TikTok and having a reel and being on highlights for their personal self and personal gain, and how much money they can get from NIL. We just didn’t have that sh*t back then. It was a team sport. You came together as a team because you had one common goal because you knew that’s how you were going to make your money, was by winning.”

Is this true? Is this an old-man-yelling-at-sky take? You be the judge. McCarron’s full appearance is linked below.

7) FAKE NEWS OR FAKE BOOS? Tennessee beat Alabama 24-17 last week in an emotional rivalry win. But because this is the SEC, everything is at least somewhat controversial. Enter Alabama's play-by-play announcer, Chris Stewart, who poured gasoline on the fire by saying that the Vols are piping in crowd noise on top of the 101,915 screaming fans at Neyland Stadium. It feels like this comment is all the rage lately. Naturally, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel felt the need to address the accusations at his presser.

8) THE BOWLING GREEN-TOLEDO RIVALRY IS HERE. These two teams hate each other, and it’s arguably the best rivalry in the MAC. Also, Toledo has a real rocket outside its stadium that is pointed at Bowling Green’s stadium. We made a short video explaining the most college football rivalry nugget in the entire sport.

@solidverbal

Toledo has a *REAL* rocket outside its stadium and is *DEFINITELY* sending a message

🔥 WIN A FIRE PIT IN OUR PICK’EM GAME 🔥

You’ve got a little over 24 hours to join our pick’em game, Run The Board, for a chance to win a Solo Stove Mesa XL desktop fire pit. Just sign up for any of our paid Patreon tiers (starting at just $5) and pick winners (against the spread) for these games and props:

  • Notre Dame vs. Navy

  • Riley Leonard total passing yards

  • Nebraska vs. Ohio State

  • Washington vs. Indiana

  • Illinois vs. Oregon

  • BYU vs. UCF

  • Texas vs. Vanderbilt

  • Missouri vs. Alabama

  • Penn State vs. Wisconsin

  • Michigan vs. Michigan State

  • LSU vs. Texas A&M

  • Garrett Nussmeier total passing yards

Sign up now to play Run The Board and reap the other benefits of our Patreon perks, including ad-free episodes, bonus content, unfettered access to our Discord community and much more!

The game locks at 11:59 AM ET on Saturday!

THE LOOKAHEAD

Our Week 9 Locks are…

🔒️ Ty’s Lock: Colorado -6.5

It feels like Colorado is playing some of its best football right now as Cincinnati comes to town for a night game. The defense has continued to improve to a point where it’s actually better than the offense. The way to beat the Bearcats is through the air, and the Buffs definitely can play that style of game.

🔒️ Dan’s Lock: Michigan St +3.5

It’s a road rivalry spot against a reeling Michigan offense that can’t definitively say how it’s going to score points. And, Sparty just demonstrated that it can scrape and claw its way to a win over an Iowa team with a statistically better defense than the Wolverines.

But there’s more to Week 9 than our questionable locks…

Your full Week 9 Preview Pod is live!

Though we’re now nine weeks into the season, there are just some teams that we can’t quit. In this episode, we look ahead to a Saturday where our fires still burn for a handful of teams, as Notre Dame and Navy renew their rivalry, Alabama is a double-digit favorite against Missouri, Penn State travels to Wisconsin, LSU and Texas A&M play in a toasty Kyle Field, and Michigan and Michigan State battle in the Big Brother game. Plus, BYU as an underdog against UCF, Texas as Diego Pavia’s next target, a MAC rivalry and a possible shootout in the AAC.

Also, don’t forget that a new episode of our video series, Big Ten Breakfast, is out with a fun game of this-or-that to get you ready for this week’s Big Ten slate:

Thanks for your continued support! Don’t forget to give our Reverb Line a call throughout the day on Saturday at 855-VERBAL3 to let us know your hottest college football takes. We’ll play our favorites on the Sunday recap pod.

If you’re a regular listener to the podcast, please consider leaving us a review out on Apple Podcasts and giving us five stars wherever you listen to the show. It really helps!

Stay solid!