It’s easy to bust out all the spooky cliches when Halloween happens to fall on a college football Saturday. But, as we’ve seen on numerous occasions over the years, there’s nothing scarier for a ranked team than playing a conference game away from home. Four of the top five squads in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll will not have the benefit of dressing in their familiar locker rooms in Week 9, a fact that might force our panel of pigskin prognosticators to proffer some perilous picks.
No. 1 Miami heads north in ACC play to take on Bill Belichick’s North Carolina Tar Heels. Second-ranked Ohio State, with a first-time starter at quarterback, travels to the Big Ten’s west coast enclave to meet No. 25 Southern California. No. 3 Georgia doesn’t have
to go too far to meet archrival and 20th-ranked Florida in Atlanta, but that rivalry game often defies prediction. Finally, No. 5 Utah heads to Cincinnati, the same Bearcats’ team that knocked Texas Tech from the ranks of the undefeated a week ago. No. 4 Indiana is the only member of the top-five club that gets to play at home, but the Hoosiers might still get a challenge from visiting Minnesota.
There are a few other tasty matchups for our staff to consider as well. The aforementioned Texas Tech, No. 14 this week, returns home to take on streaking No. 21 Arizona. A couple other ranked Big Ten teams are in action as No. 18 Northwestern visits Oregon and No. 24 Iowa hosts Wisconsin. Who do our experts think will get their favorite candy bars in their goody bags, and who will get rocks? Read on to see, and if you want to look at something really scary, check out the season standings thus far.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football picks: Halloween surprises coming in Week 9 predictions?
