Nine weeks of the college football season (including Week 0) are in the books, and there have been plenty of games and data to sift through when it comes to making our Week 9 player prop bets and picks.
One way to encapsulate the craziness of this college football season thus far is to note that there have been four different AP No. 1 teams, and that Vanderbilt, Army, and Navy are all ranked in the AP poll for the first time since 1958.
What will the college football rankings look like after this week, and which players will have the biggest impact?
Read on for our top Week 9 player prop bets and picks.
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Saturday's Best College Football Player Prop Bets & Picks
Let’s dive into our top college football Week 9 player prop bet picks on Saturday’s slate of games.
(College football player prop bet odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook unless otherwise noted)
Jackson Arnold (Oklahoma) longest pass completion Under 34.5 yards (-115)
Oklahoma has made a lot of wholesale changes to its offense this week. The Sooners are going back to Jackson Arnold as its starting quarterback after not being happy with the results Michael Hawkins Jr. produced, and they named Joe Jon Finley offensive coordinator.
Oklahoma ranks 111th in Total QBR, as Arnold has a 35.7 Total QBR while Hawkins' stands at 45.6. And conference play has been the Sooners' undoing, averaging an SEC-low 13.5 points in league play, down from a 33.7 scoring average in non-conference games.
The biggest reason for loving this play is that the Sooners' leaky offensive line does not allow enough protection for big plays to happen.
Their offensive line has allowed 29 sacks, tied for the-fifth most through seven games by an SEC team over the last 30 seasons. And Oklahoma's 16 plays of 20-plus yards are the second-fewest among all FBS teams.
As of this writing, this wager is only found at bet365, but be sure to cross-reference against other sportsbooks as new props may become available closer to kickoff.
Tawee Walker (Wisconsin) Under 75.5 rushing yards vs. Penn State (-114)
Wisconsin would love to run the ball plenty as long as it stays close against Penn State. The problem is that the Nittany Lions' defensive line is the best that the Badgers have seen this season, and their running game struggled mightily against the other top defense they faced.
Walker has taken over the featured back role, as his 104 carries trump Chez Mellusi's 56 carries this season. Walker has averaged 139.3 yards on the ground over the last three weeks, but prior to that had faced two ranked teams (USC and Alabama), and was held to 81 combined yards on 23 carries.
Penn State's defense allows just 3.2 yards per carry and ranks in the top three nationally in Defensive Line Yards and Stuff Rate. And since the Badgers lost starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke for the season, backup Braedyn Locke has not done much with his arm (65.3 PFF passing grade) to make opposing defenses respect Wisconsin's passing attack.
FanDuel only gives Walker a 50/50 chance to run for 80 or more yards based on its +100 odds on his alternate rushing total, which gives me more confidence that a stout Nittany Lions defensive front can hold him to 75 or fewer yards on the ground.
Garrett Nussmeier (LSU) Under 0.5 Interceptions vs. Texas A&M (+120)
Texas A&M's defense has intercepted eight passes this season, which ranks 26th nationally. But I am taking a shot at these generous plus-money odds for Nussmeier to play interception-free football considering the elite pass protection he has received.
LSU's offensive line has allowed just two sacks this season, fewest in the SEC. That helped the Tigers to be extremely efficient offensively in last week's road game, as they scored on all seven possessions and punted just once.
Nussmeier leads the SEC and ranks seventh nationally with 18 passing touchdowns. He has also thrown for over 300 yards five times this season and six times in eight career starts.
Because of his success, there will likely be plenty of passing volume for Nussmeier. But he has gone without an interception in two of three games when he had 37 or fewer pass attempts.
Perhaps Brian Kelly will choose to lean more on an improved running game in this hostile environment, which will help keep Nussmeier out of harm’s way from a turnover standpoint. Either way, it is worth the +120 payout through bet365 to find out.
Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.