College Football 2021: Top 3 under-the-radar games to watch in Week 9

2. (19) SMU at Houston

Some separation will be in the offering as two of the leading American teams face off Saturday night. The Mustangs are undefeated overall but the Cougars have only one loss and are a perfect 4-0 in the conference. SMU is riding a two-game winning streak in the series.

If you want to watch two very evenly matched, this is the game for you. WynnBET has the Cougars as only a one-point favorite and ESPN’s FPI has it as close to a 50/50 matchup as one could get.

The Mustang offense is straight fire right now. They rank sixth in the FBS in both total (525 yards per game) and scoring offense (42.7 points per game). Junior quarterback Tanner Mordecai runs the show for the Mustangs, completing over 71 percent of his passes with 29 going for touchdowns. In all but one game this season, Mordecai has eclipsed the 300-yard passing mark.

On the other side, Houston wins with stellar defense. The Cougars rank fourth in FBS in total defense, giving up 276 yards per game. The key to this game will be stopping the pass and the Cougars have been impressive here too. They rank 12th in the FBS, giving up 173 yards through the air which is just over half of Mordecai’s game average.

So the question in this one is clearly which strength will win the day. The stellar passing attack of SMU or the shut down defense of Houston. Should be fun to watch. The winner gets a leg up on earning one of the top spots for the conference’s championship game.