The chase for conference title berths and Playoff bids are starting to get real: On the Line

We set a record for longest FootballScoop podcast earlier today. Week 9's schedule demands it. I've got 1,300 words on the "other" games on the schedule. Again, Week 9 demands it.

We're going shorter than usual on the bigger games this week, because there's just so much to discuss.

A must-win game for UNLV and Boise State. Then known as Nevada Southern, UNLV started football in the game's 100th year, 1968, playing as a Division II independent. Since then, they've played in a Division II semifinal, five bowl games as an FBS program, and won one conference championship. 

Safe to say, Friday night's visit from No. 17 Boise State (10:30 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network) is the biggest regular season game in UNLV history. It's also up there for Boise State.

The Broncos are currently the AP's highest-ranked Group of 5 team by a relatively safe margin of six spots ahead of Army and seven of Navy. Their only loss was an impressive performance at now-No. 1 Oregon. They have a strong brand and perhaps the nation's best player.

But they do not have the upside of Army and Navy, who both get to face No. 12 Notre Dame and, presumably, each other in the AAC championship game. Boise State pummeled a respected Washington State team and went on the road to beat current Sun Belt leader Georgia Southern. The Mountain West, though, is not as strong as the American, and that's why Boise State needs to win this game and likely beat UNLV again (who beat two Big 12 teams and lost close to 5-1 Syracuse) to build a resume worthy of the CFP's 12th seed.

An important Navy-Notre Dame feels as good for the soul as a crisp autumn breeze. It's not quite 1944, when a sixth-ranked Navy upset No. 2 Notre Dame in Baltimore, but No. 12 Notre Dame meeting No. 24 Navy in East Rutherford (noon ET, ABC) in a game with real College Football Playoff implications just feels right.

Notre Dame continues to play behind the 8-ball after the Northern Illinois loss; the only Irish opponents likely to end up in the CFP's top 25 are Texas A&M, Navy and Army. Ergo, a 10-2 Irish with that resume are unlikely to make the field.

Because of that, Navy oddly has less to lose in this game given that the Middies can win their way in via the Group of 5 auto-bid, but Boise State and possibly others will have something to say about that.

The aerial attack have helped both Navy and Army revive their offensive dominance, and it feels like Navy will need to repeat their passing performance from the 56-44 win over Memphis (10-of-14 for 205 yards, 2 TDs vs. 0 INTs) to win this game.

The winner of LSU-Texas A&M can start thinking about playing in a College Football Playoff semifinal. Seriously. The winner Saturday night in Kyle Field (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) becomes the mathematical favorite to make it to Atlanta. A&M would be alone in first place at 5-0, while LSU would be 4-0, with an off week before hosting Alabama. Make it to Atlanta and you're in the Playoff, period. Win and you're likely a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, one win away from the semifinals.

A lot has to happen between now and Dec. 8, but no two teams will feel better about reaching The First Big Dance than Oregon and LSU or A&M.

Both teams dropped their openers in high-profile non-conference matchups, and since then both teams have gotten back to work and improved by the week. LSU allowed 7.45 and 6.52 yards per play to USC and South Carolina, but has remained around 5.5 since. Conner Weigman averaged 3.3 yards per attempt against Notre Dame, and 10.5 against Missouri and Mississippi State. 

Since 2020, Texas A&M is 3-0 at home against AP Top 10 teams, but those wins came as A&M was ranked 21st (vs. No. 4 Florida, 2020), unranked (vs. No. 1 Alabama, 2021) and unranked (vs. No. 5 LSU, 2022). A&M has never started SEC play 5-0; until this year, the Aggies had only started 4-0 once. 

Everything Texas A&M envisioned happening eventually under Mike Elko is there for the taking right now, all they've got to do is win on Saturday. 

Additional Games: 

-- Syracuse at No. 19 Pitt (7:30 p.m. ET Thursday, ESPN): Pitt is in the top 20 nationally in yards per play offense and defense, while Syracuse is below 100th defensively. As one of four undefeated ACC teams with a trip to undefeated (in conference play) SMU, Pitt needs a win.

-- Rutgers at USC (11 p.m. ET Friday, Fox): USC is the worst fourth quarter team in America or, as the esteemed John Brice calls them, the worst bullpen in college football. Perhaps the antidote is facing a Rutgers team that's lost three straight while playing them at 2 a.m. body-clock time in the fourth quarter. 

-- Nebraska at No. 4 Ohio State (noon ET, Fox): Nebraska might've felt like it was playing Ohio State in last week's 56-7 loss but, no, that was just Indiana. Big Red took their first Big Ten meeting from Ohio State, but the Buckeyes have won the last seven and scored 48 or more in five of those seven. Nebraska is 0-6 in Big Noon games.

-- Washington at No. 13 Indiana (noon ET, BTN): Nebraska went to Bloomington allowing 4.37 yards per play and surrendered 7.86 to Indiana. With starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke temporarily sidelined, what does IU have in store for U-Dub's eighth-ranked yards per play defense?

-- Oklahoma at No. 18 Ole Miss (noon ET, ESPN): We're still trying to find the bottom of this Oklahoma team. It's possible last Saturday's loss to South Carolina -- in which the Sooners trailed 21-0 5:20 into the game, and 32-3 at the half -- was it. Then again, Ole Miss is in the top three nationally in offensive and defensive yards per play, so it's entirely possible OU still has further to fall. 

-- Tulane at North Texas (noon ET, ESPN2): ESPN has existed since 1979, ESPN2 since 1993, and North Texas plays its first Saturday home game on ESPN/2 as the Green Wave meet the Mean Green. With six teams in the AAC at 2-1 or better, this is a de facto elimination game in the race for the American Championship. 

-- Charlotte at Memphis (noon ET, ESPNU): Of the six teams in the running for the AAC championship, five are a combined 29-5 on the season. And then there's Charlotte, at 3-4 with losses by scores of 30-7, 38-20, 52-14 and 51-17, and wins over Gardner-Webb, 2-5 Rice and just-fired-their-coach East Carolina. 

-- North Carolina at Virginia (noon ET, ACC Network): It's the 129th edition of the South's Oldest Rivalry -- not to be confused with the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry, of which Georgia won the 129th edition a few weeks ago. UNC leads 65-59-4, but UVa won last year and has taken five of seven. 

-- No. 20 Illinois at No. 1 Oregon (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS): Illinois is 6-1 with three wins over (at the time) AP Top 25 teams for the first time since 1990, and now has an opportunity to beat a No. 1 as a ranked team since 1950. The Illinis are 3-12 all-time vs. the AP No. 1, but do ride into Eugene on a 1-game winning streak in such games, still riding the high of their 2007 win over No. 1 Ohio State. 

-- No. 11 BYU at UCF (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): UCF threw for 62 yards and ran for 354 in last week's loss at Iowa State. That is the Gus Bus operating at peak efficiency (aside from the two picks). 

-- No. 21 Missouri at No. 15 Alabama (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC): An Alabama running back hasn't topped 45 yards in the Tide's four SEC games to date, and Alabama is second-to-last in third down conversions in conference play. Feels like those two are related. Either way, I'll still be shocked if Alabama loses this game. 

-- Texas Tech at TCU (3:30 p.m. ET, Fox): It's the 67th West Texas Championship, where Tech holds a 33-30-3 lead and owns scoreboard, but TCU had won four straight prior to that. These teams had diametric opposite experience last week, as TCU held Utah to seven in an upset victory and Tech surrendered 59 in an upset loss to Baylor. 

-- Bowling Green at Toledo (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+): The 89th Battle For I-75 is basically a MAC elimination game, with both teams carrying 2-1 records. Toledo leads 43-41-4 and has won 12 of 14, though BGSU did win the last game in Toledo.

-- No. 5 Texas at No. 25 Vanderbilt (4:15 p.m. ET, SEC Network): Vanderbilt plays its first home game as a ranked team since Oct. 5, 2008, and its second since Nov. 17, 1958, while seeking its first 3-game SEC winning streak since Nov. 9-23, 2013. So, it's a huge game for Clark Lea. It's also a huge game for Texas and Steve Sarkisian, as explained here. Texas has won eight straight true road games. 

-- Florida State at No. 6 Miami (7 p.m. ET, ESPN): The largest margin of victory in this rivalry is 47 points, a mark shared by both teams with dueling 47-0 victories at various points across their 68 previous games. So, that's Miami's target in this one. Perhaps returning to Hard Rock Stadium is a good thing for Florida State, giving Mike Norvell opportunity to destroy the amulet that is tormenting his program. FSU had won 19 in a row before last season's Orange Bowl, and is an ugly 1-7 since.

-- No. 3 Penn State at Wisconsin (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC): They haven't come against good teams, but Wisconsin has won three straight by a combined 117-16. With No. 4 Ohio State coming to Happy Valley next week, Andy Kotelnicki needs to draw up a Tarantino-like script to put Penn State in front early. You don't want to have to come from behind at Camp Randall at night.

-- Michigan State at Michigan (7:30 p.m. ET, BTN): An absolutely massive game for Jonathan Smith and Sherrone Moore, who both make their debut in this heated rivalry, but more so for Moore. At 4-3, Michigan has No. 1 Oregon, No. 13 Indiana and No. 4 Ohio State ahead. Unlikely to think they're winning any of those games. So to avoid going from national champions to missing a bowl in the same year, Moore needs to win here and Nov. 23 against Northwestern to avoid his debut season becoming a complete failure. 

-- Auburn at Kentucky (7:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network): Six of these teams are a combined 36-4 on the year, and then there's 2-5 Auburn.

-- Kansas at No. 16 Kansas State (8 p.m. ET, ESPN2): In the 122nd Sunflower Showdown, the two schools don't agree on the all-time series record, but what's beyond dispute is K-State has won 15 straight games and is heavily favored to push that streak to 16. 

-- No. 22 SMU at Duke (8 p.m. ET, ACC Network): Duke is 17th in the country in turnover margin, with a plus-4 in last week's 23-16 win over Florida State. Problem: SMU is 13th, with multiple takeaways in five of their last six games. Duke will need to be plus-4 again to win this game.

-- Cincinnati at Colorado (10:15 p.m. ET, ESPN): TV ratings have fallen off since Colorado started playing good football, a fact that I'm sure hasn't gone unnoticed in Boulder. Undefeateds BYU and Iowa State, but 3-1 Cincinnati gets Iowa State next month, so this game is enormous for both teams. Wonder how many will watch.