Week 9 Preview: Georgia without Brock Bowers, can Ohio State avoid a letdown, Bucky Irving show for Oregon

Week 9 features just a pair of Top 25 matchups — Oregon at Utah and Duke at Louisville — but that doesn’t mean it’s not an enticing slate with a slew of ranked teams as road favorites in some sticky spots. 

There’s also top-ranked Georgia in a rivalry game without its best player against a Florida squad playing with nothing to lose. 

So as we ready for another exiting Saturday of football, here are four pressing questions I have about four of the more intriguing games of the weekend. 

What will Georgia’s offense look like without Brock Bowers?

The Bulldogs lost standout tight end Brock Bowers to a high-ankle injury early in its win over Vanderbilt, and now they’ve had two weeks to figure out an offensive plan for the foreseeable future without Bowers’ services.

What will that look like Saturday in Jacksonville against a solid Florida defense?

Georgia isn’t simply going to lean heavier on tight ends Oscar Delp or Lawson Luckie, a blue-chip freshman who was a star during the spring but has been hurt for most all of the 2023 season. Without Darnell Washington this year, Georgia was already running less 12 personnel. Instead, I think Bowers’ injury opens up the opportunity for a wideout room that’s suddenly healthier to see more targets. In recent weeks, transfers Rara Thomas and Dominic Lovett have become more involved in the passing game, same for UGA’s top wideout last season in Ladd McConkey. 

All three receivers have had their best showings in one of Georgia’s last two games, and quarterback Carson Beck has grown more and more comfortable with both transfers — particularly on 3rd downs (14 total targets for 12 receptions). 

I’m sure the Bulldogs would love to lean on the ground game against a Gators run defense that ranks 11th in the SEC and gave up all sorts of yards to Kentucky and South Carolina, but Georgia is still shorthanded at tailback (no Kendall Milton, Roderick Robinson or Branson Robinson), so this is an offense that’s going to run through Beck and the playmakers on the perimeter. 

No single individual is going to make up for Bowers’ absence, but collectively, UGA’s wideouts — particularly the aforementioned trio which were at No. 1 receivers for three different teams (Thomas, Mississippi State; Lovett, Missouri; McConkey, Georgia) — has a major opportunity to step up. 

Is it the Bucky Irving show for Oregon at Utah?

Dating back to the early summer, the Ducks have engineered a months-long Heisman Trophy campaign for quarterback Bo Nix, but with apologies to the most experienced QB in college football, Oregon’s best player in 2023 is Bucky Irving. 

The star tailback is torching teams as both a runner (7.5 yards per carry for 649 yards and seven touchdowns) and a receiver (27 receptions and a touchdown), and the Ducks may need to ride their junior workhorse to a road win at the vaunted Rice-Eccoles Stadium against the Utes. 

Utah has won 29 of its last 30 games at home and is coming off an upset over USC. It was a get-right game for a Utes offense that hadn’t settled on a quarterback, but unlike USC’s picket fence defense, Oregon presents a much stiffer test. 

Still, while former walk-on quarterback Bryson Barnes provided some steadiness for Utah’s offense, this is a game that’s going to be won or lost at the line of scrimmage. 

In what is essentially a College Football Playoff (and maybe Pac-12?) elimination game, there are major rock fight vibes here — with Oregon having the game’s best player in Irving. 

In last season’s nail-biting 20-17 win over Utah, Irving had a season-low 53 total yards, including just 20 yards rushing on 10 carries. He should fare better against a Utah defense this season, that while still boasts a strong front seven, is too reliant on negative plays. The Utes are allowing just 2.97 yards per carry — a Top 10 metric nationally — but when take out their Pac-12 best 25 sacks and the yardage lost, that number 4.7 yards per rush. They rank 60th nationally in rushing success rate. 

Can the Buckeyes avoid a letdown after last weekend’s win over Penn State?

How’s this for a dangerous cocktail: Ohio State is 7-0 and riding high after physical, emotional win over Penn State last weekend. Meanwhile, Buckeyes fans are obsessively focused on the Michigan sign-stealing scandal, salivating at the thought of their archrival getting hammered by the NCAA. Oh, and Ohio State is a two-touchdown favorite in a primetime road game at Camp Randall versus a Wisconsin team that’s fighting to win the Big Ten West. 

Tricky, tricky. 

Wisconsin has not been all that great in Year 1 under Luke Fickell. Not bad, mind you, just the same really. Phil Longo’s ‘Dairy Raid’ offense is missing the cheese because the Badgers still can’t throw the ball with any real explosiveness. They recently turned to Mississippi State transfer Braedyn Locke after losing to starting quarterback Tanner Mordecai to a season-ending injury. The redshirt freshman made his first-career start in the comeback win over Illinois last week, throwing for 240 yards (21 of 41, just 5.9 yards per attempt) with two touchdowns. 

But it’s still the Braelon Allen show for Wisconsin. The junior tailback ranks No. 2 in the Big Ten in rushing (704 yards), and he’s coming off a performance where he went for 145 on a whopping 29 carries. Allen might see 30+ carries on Saturday night. 

But Ohio State’s run defense is awesome, Jesse! That’s true. The Buckeyes rank No. 11 nationally in yards per rush allowed (3.01), No. 12 in success rate and they’ve allowed just three rushing scores all season. They held Penn State to just 79 yards rushing last week. 

If Jim Knowles’ defense shows up focused and energized, Wisconsin won’t be able to do much of anything against JT Tuimoloau, Mike Hall and Jack Swayer. But if Ohio State’s defense forgets to bring their lunch-pails, the Badgers’ defense (a Top 25 scoring unit) is capable of frustrating an inconsistent Ohio State offense that’s struggled to score in the 20s versus units with a heartbeat. 

And then we’ve got a ball game and a potentially scary sleepwalking situation. 

Can Tennessee reverse its recent road woes?

Did you know that outside of a win at Vanderbilt to end the 2022 season Tennessee is 0-4 in its last four road games with all four losses coming by at least two touchdowns?

The Vols were ranked No. 1 when they went to Georgia last season and lost 27-13. Two weeks later, they got trucked by South Carolina 63-38 in Columbia. This fall, they’re 0-2 on the road, with a penalty-riddled 29-16 loss at Florida and last week’s 34-20 defeat at Alabama where they were shutout in the second half.

Now they head to Kroger Field to face a Kentucky team coming off a bye. On paper, Tennessee should roll past a ‘Cats team that’s lost two straight games, has regressed defensively and seemingly has little confidence in struggling quarterback Devin Leary. Kentucky also hasn’t beaten Florida and Tennessee in the same season since 1977. Yet the spread for Saturday night’s affair is just three-points because there’s some uncertainty which Tennessee team is going to show up. 

If the Vols’ front seven plays up to their ability (No. 2 in the SEC in sacks, tackles for loss, No. 1 in run defense), they should be able to bottle up Kentucky’s top playmaker Ray Davis and make the ‘Cats one-dimensional to throw to win. The bigger concern is actually Tennessee’s offense. 

Can the Vols avoid all the self-inflicted penalties that killed them against Florida? Will the receivers stop dropping balls? Can they convert critical 4th downs, where they’re just 1 of their last 10? Will Joe Milton remain involved in the QB-run game?

It’s a lot of unknowns, especially with Tennessee on the road, which is why this game is more of a toss-up than it should be.