Hayden Takes Back the Keys

Matt Reed did not surrender first quietly. Utah beat Cincinnati 49–25, Michigan beat Rutgers 28–21, and Northern Illinois lost 31–24 to UNLV. Kansas State lost to Colorado, but the three useful outcomes paid 33.8 game points. Utah climbed from No. 6 to No. 3, and Matt went 9–1 on the ballot. Only USC over Ohio State escaped him. It escaped everybody.

The 45.8-point week leaves Matt second, 0.271 PPG behind Hayden. Sarah is only 0.053 behind Matt after adding 34.6. Notre Dame beat Navy 35–13, New Mexico State lost 24–0 to Jacksonville State, and Tennessee and Houston rested. Notre Dame and Houston each gained one poll place; an 8–2 ballot completed the week. The race for second is now smaller than the gap that once required the microscope.

Spencer remains fourth after Boise State survived Texas State 46–45, TCU beat Kansas, and UTEP lost to Hayden's North Dakota State. Alabama rested and climbed one poll place. Seven picks made 41.1. Matt Dillon holds fifth with 44.4: Texas Tech and New Mexico won, Sam Houston lost, New Mexico entered the poll at No. 22, and seven picks extended his season Pick'em lead to 70.

Robbie had the second-biggest week in the league, and every point came from the roster. Memphis beat Army 49–22 for 12.7. Louisville beat Stanford 52–24 for 12.8. San Diego State beat Washington State 26–20 for 10.6. Boston College lost 47–2 to Duke for 14.5, the biggest drafted-team game return of the week and an emphatic Employee of the Weak performance.

That is 50.6 game points from four active slots. No Week 9 ballot was recorded, no poll adjustment arrived, and none was needed. Robbie remains fifteenth because the denominator also grew to thirty-four games, but his PPG rises from 6.240 to 6.994. Last week Memphis worked alone. This week the entire company showed up and Boston College stayed latest.

Bryson's roster supplied another clean Standard sweep. Texas beat Mississippi State 31–3, Ole Miss beat Auburn 45–15, and Liberty beat FIU 49–10. Those three wins paid 39.7, Texas climbed one poll place, and six picks produced 46.7 overall. Bryson moves from thirteenth to tenth. Ohio rested in the Toilet slot, which was the most useful thing it could do.

Jay climbed from tenth to eighth without a ballot. Georgia beat Florida, Washington beat Nebraska, North Texas beat FAU, and Georgia State lost to Coastal Carolina. All four slots paid 44.4 game points, Georgia climbed from No. 3 to No. 2, and 45.4 was enough to pass both Tom and Rob. Jay now leads Tom by 0.0047 PPG. The standings have brought the microscope back for a smaller office.

Aaron also gained two places, fourteenth to twelfth. Penn State beat Purdue, South Florida beat UAB, and Charlotte lost to Tulane for 34.1 game points. Hawai'i rested. Aaron submitted four of ten picks and went 3–1 on those four; the other six remain missing, not incorrect. The 37.1-point week puts him just 0.038 PPG ahead of Mo.

Rob fell three places, eighth to eleventh. Oregon won, but Army lost, Arizona lost and fell two poll places, and Colorado beat Kansas State in the Toilet slot. Six picks made only 14.8. Mo slipped two spots to thirteenth after Ohio State's nine-place poll fall; Stan slipped two to fourteenth despite getting matching 11.6 returns from Fresno State's win over his Oregon State. Hayden and Matt Reed swapped first and second. The rest of the top seven held their addresses.

Matt Reed finished 9–1, correctly picking the winner of every game except Ohio State–USC. Hayden, Sarah, and Mo went 8–2; Matt Dillon and Spencer went 7–3; Bryson, Mitch, Rob, Tom, and Tori went 6–4. Aaron's partial ballot went 3–1 with six missing selections. Jay, Stan, Robbie, and Rylan had no Week 9 picks recorded.

USC beat Ohio State 30–18, rewarding none of twelve submitted picks. It is the second consecutive unanimous ambush after South Carolina beat Tennessee last week. Georgia and Indiana rewarded all eleven ballots recorded for their games. BYU, Utah, and Memphis rewarded ten; Oregon nine; Iowa eight; Texas Tech seven; Fresno State four. One game fooled the entire room. The other nine allowed Matt to return a nearly clean answer sheet.

Matt Dillon still leads season Pick'em with 70 correct, two ahead of Mo at 68. Mitch has 64; Sarah, Rob, Tori, and Aaron have 63; Matt Reed has 62; Bryson 61; Hayden and Tom 58; Spencer 54; Stan 53; Jay 52. Robbie and Rylan remain at zero. Matt Reed won this week's ballot. Matt Dillon still owns the penthouse.

USC's win over Ohio State created the week's largest poll transfer. Rylan's USC went from unranked to No. 18, adding eight points. Mo's Ohio State fell from No. 2 to No. 11, removing nine. That is a seventeen-point swing between two owners from Sunday's poll, plus the game points Rylan collected Saturday. Twelve ballots backed Ohio State and received nothing. The scoreboard, standings, and poll all signed the same rebuttal.

Rylan also got 10.7 Toilet points from Arizona State's loss to BYU. Texas A&M and Rice rested, and no ballot was recorded. The 29.9-point week leaves him sixteenth but lifts his PPG from 4.706 to 5.327. Mo got 11.2 from Clemson and 12.4 from Arkansas's loss, then watched the Ohio State bill erase nine. His excellent 8–2 ballot kept the gain at 22.6, but eleventh became thirteenth.

Mitch received the other large deduction when SMU lost to Syracuse and fell out from No. 19, costing seven. Stanford's 28-point loss paid 12.8 and six picks helped, but LSU and Toledo rested; the week stopped at 11.8. Tom lost four poll points between Indiana's two-place fall and Oklahoma State's exit. New Mexico's poll entrance gave Matt Dillon four, Utah gave Matt Reed three, and Iowa gave Hayden five. Sunday's accounting office remains fully staffed.

Tori got wins from Miami and UNLV plus a useful Purdue loss for 32.4 game points. Virginia lost 51–7 to Wake Forest in the Standard slot, a 44-point margin worth zero. Miami remained No. 1, six picks made 38.4, and seventh place held. Sometimes the best team in the country and the worst-timed blowout can share one roster.

Stan owned both ends of Fresno State's 38–22 win over Oregon State. Fresno State paid 11.6 as a Standard; Oregon State paid 11.6 as a Toilet. James Madison lost to Troy and Louisiana rested. With no ballot recorded, the symmetric 23.2 became the entire week. It is hard to root both ways more efficiently.

Mitch holds sixth despite the SMU bill. Tom holds ninth after Indiana and Illinois won, Oklahoma State lost by two, the poll removed four, and a 6–4 ballot made 23.0. Rob stays above Aaron despite falling three places. Every owner moved forward in raw points this week. Week 8 handed out three negative totals; Week 9 at least returned the minus signs to storage.

Boston College takes Employee of the Weak with its 47–2 loss to Duke, paying Robbie 14.5. Mitch's Stanford followed at 12.8 from a 52–24 loss to Louisville. Sarah's New Mexico State, Spencer's UTEP, Mo's Arkansas, and Matt Dillon's Sam Houston each paid between 12.1 and 12.4. Stan's Oregon State paid 11.6, Hayden's UL Monroe and Tori's Purdue 11.4, Jay's Georgia State 11.1, and Matt Reed's Northern Illinois, Aaron's Charlotte, and Rylan's Arizona State 10.7.

Thirteen of the fifteen active Toilet teams lost. Only Rob's Colorado spoiled the department meeting by beating Kansas State; Bryson's Ohio rested. Last week six Toilet teams won and ignored their assignments. This week nearly everybody remembered the job description. The plumbing report has never been more crowded or more professionally disappointed.