College Football Predictions 2018: Picks for the biggest games of Week 9

No. 21 South Florida at Houston (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN2)

Spread: Houston -7

USF has been begging to get exposed as a fraud for weeks now, and Houston is just the team to expose them.

The Bulls have won four of their last five games by eight points or less, and all four of those games have come against teams ranked 99th or worse in S&P+. The last two weeks, in particular, have been rough as they labored through wins over a pair of 1-6 teams in Tulsa and UConn.

A big part of their struggles has been the inconsistent play of their quarterback, junior Blake Barnett, who has struggled to take care of the football. After a pair of strong performances to open the season against Elon and Georgia Tech, Barnett has thrown just five touchdown passes to six interceptions over the last five weeks.

The USF defense has also struggled in containing the bottom-feeding offenses of UMass and UConn, and now have to go against one of the most prolific offenses in all of college football.

Houston has looked dominant since their loss to Texas Tech, reeling off four consecutive victories by at least two touchdowns apiece. Led by quarterback D’Eriq King and receivers Marquez Stevenson and Keith Corbin, the Cougars have lit up the scoreboard in every stadium they’ve played in this season to the tune of 48.7 points-per-game, which is 2nd to only Alabama.

Look for the Cougars to expose USF and, in the process, announce themselves as a serious threat to UCF’s autonomy in the American.

Pick: Houston 56, USF 38