College football Week 9 predictions: Four big-name teams in survival mode

Week 9 of the college football season is finally here and we have a massive block of games with major College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six bowl game implications.

There are no shortage of storylines going into this week, but the bulk of college football fans will have their eyes on a handful of one-loss teams looking to avoid a fatal knockout punch to their post-season hopes. More on that later.

Let’s dive into five bold predictions for this week, starting with one of the all-time great rivalries in all of sports: Michigan vs Michigan State.

College Football Week 9 Prediction: No. 4 Michigan earns its biggest win over Michigan State since 2002

The 115th meeting between Michigan (7-0) and Michigan State (3-4) will be a memorable one even though it seems like the gap in talent between these two teams has not been this wide in a few years. The Wolverines last got a huge win over the Spartans back in 2019, winning 44-10. But I’m predicting a win closer to the 49-3 routing they handed Michigan State back in 2022.

Michigan has shown few blemishes in their game throughout their first seven games of the season, including last week when they staved off then-ranked No. 10 Penn State 41-17.

The Michigan Wolverines boast one of the best defenses in college football this season, surrendering just 12.1 points per game (third-fewest in the nation) and allowing an average of 250 yards of offense per game (fifth-fewest in the nation) so far this college football season.

The Spartans have just one win over Power Five teams this season and that came last week against Wisconsin— and they had to go into double overtime to do it.

When you combine the stringent defense of Michigan with the anemic offense of Michigan State, you have the perfect recipe for a massive blowout win for the Wolverines this weekend.