College football Week 9 preview: Most puzzling teams in the nation

Florida State, Michigan, Oklahoma and USC were all ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 college football rankings, with both the Seminoles and Wolverines listed in the top 10. Fast-forward 10 weeks, and not only are all four programs currently ranked outside the top 25, but all four have at least three losses just eight weeks into the season.

Michigan, the defending national champions, along with Oklahoma, both sit at 4-3 heading into Week 9. USC, playing in its first season in the Big Ten, is 3-4 with three straight conference losses, essentially ending its conference title and College Football Playoff hopes at the midway point of the season. And while those three schools have struggled mightily to meet expectations, no one has it as bad as Florida State, as the Seminoles sit at 1-6, with the team's lone win coming against a 3-4 Cal team back in Week 4 of the season.

So, the question is: which of these four traditional powerhouse programs has been the most puzzling through the first eight weeks of the season?

FOX Sports college football writers Michael Cohen and RJ Young are here to answer that question, as well as preview a pair of big-time matchups, including this weekend's "Big Noon Kickoff" game on FOX between Nebraska and No. 4 Ohio State (Noon ET on FOX and the FOX Sports App).

Nebraska travels to Columbus to take on No. 4 Ohio State Saturday on FOX. What do you expect to see from Ryan Day's team coming off a bye following the Buckeyes' loss to Oregon ?

Michael Cohen: After losing to Oregon in the manner that Ohio State did two weeks ago — with its ballyhooed defense shredded for big gain after big gain by the Ducks — there's little question that defensive coordinator Jim Knowles needs to make changes if the