Happy Monday once again everyone! A new week is upon us, which means it’s time to quickly look back at the big events from the weekend. Football dominated the spotlight the first post-World Series weekend, as you could probably imagine. We’ve got a little bit of college ball to get to, plus some of my thoughts from the NFL. I’ll wrap things up with a preview of Bills-Seahawks on Monday Night Football.

The SEC grabbed most of the headlines in college football on Saturday with two major upsets and another installment in the Alabama-LSU rivalry. First let’s get to the upsets, Florida lost big on the road at Arkansas 31-10. The loss doesn’t hurt the Gators, who still hold a one game lead over Kentucky in the SEC East, bid to make the SEC title game, although it is costly to their national title chances. Florida is still the favorite in the East division but this second loss effectively means the Gators would have to win the SEC Championship to make the College Football Playoff.

Texas A&M’s loss to Mississippi State on Saturday definitely trumps the Florida loss in terms of importance. The SEC West was already going to be decided by the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn, but A&M is no longer in the mix to sneak into the SEC title game or the College Football Playoff as of now.

I was one of the many people out there that thought Texas A&M had no business being ranked ahead of undefeated Washington by the playoff committee last week. This loss by the Aggies should return reason and order to those rankings. The Aggies had the strength of schedule in their favor in the eyes of the committee with just one loss to Alabama, but this upset is severely damaging. Considering the Big 12 champion will likely be on the outside looking in come playoff time (Baylor is no longer undefeated after losing to TCU) , and Washington being the only playoff relevant team in the Pac 12 as long as they stay undefeated, these one-loss teams have to be on their A-game every week.

I’ve been saying for a few weeks now that this could be the first year that a conference gets two teams into the playoff. If I had to guess right now, I would say that shockingly the ACC, not the Big 10 or SEC, has the best chance of doing so. Clemson remains undefeated, and one-loss Louisville continues to play well with Heisman frontrunner Lamar Jackson lighting up opposing defenses. As we enter the final stretch of the regular season, the “next best” teams jockeying for position for the #4 seed in the playoff will be a compelling storyline to watch.

Now let’s move onto the NFL and the interesting day that we witnessed yesterday. Green Bay was upset at home by Indianapolis, Baltimore shut down Pittsburgh, and Detroit shocked Minnesota. That isn’t the headline of Week 9 though thanks to Oakland defeating the defending Super Bowl champs in dominant fashion.

The biggest question going into the week was whether or not Oakland, at 6-2, was a legitimate contender in the AFC. Well folks, we certainly have our answer. This high-flying offense took a much more ground and pound approach against Denver. The Raiders frequently brought in an extra lineman to counter the tough Broncos front-seven and found considerable success. Oakland forced ran the ball at will last night and played efficiently in the passing game.

I thought that the Raiders offense would be okay against a banged up Denver defense, but I was truly surprised by the Oakland defense. They played a great game led by All-Pro linebacker Khalil Mack, who reminded us all once again why he made the first and second team All-Pro lists last season at two different positions. Oakland’s defense will struggle at times, but if Mack continues to play this way he will mitigate some of those issues on the back end.

All season I’ve been all over the potential of this Oakland team, and thought that a hot start could get them into the playoffs for the first time since 2003. Clearly this isn’t just a hot start that we are witnessing in Oakland. These Raiders are for real, and will have a large role to play in the ever-evolving playoff picture.

Okay, let’s quickly get into tonight’s game in Seattle between the Bills and Seahawks. Right off the bat, I’m struggling to see how this game is anything but a defensive battle. Buffalo is banged up on offense, and Seattle’s issues on offense are well documented.

I think these defenses will have the upper hand in this matchup tonight. Tonight’s game could come down to which defense blinks first. Lesean McCoy will be back in the lineup for Buffalo and could have some opportunities to gash Seattle without Michael Bennett anchoring the defensive line. Keep an eye on McCoy’s health throughout this matchup though as his hamstring injury was aggravated the last time that he played.

Personally, I’m interested to see which defense show up for Buffalo. Last week they were thoroughly dominated by Tom Brady and the Patriots en route to a 41-point performance. Buffalo had been playing solid defense prior to that game, so you would think that they would come ready to put the Pats game behind them.

The x-factor here is the game being in Seattle. In the Pete Carroll era, Seattle has been one of the NFL’s toughest places to win. For me I think that makes all of the difference in this game. I’ll take Seattle (-6) tonight, but I’m not in love this pick. I think the Seattle defense can keep Buffalo in check, and maybe even get a defensive touchdown. The Legion of Boom in Seattle is enough for me to pick the Seahawks to end the week on a winning note.

That’s it for me today, enjoy the game tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow with “No Huddle” to go through all of Week 9 and update the power rankings. Make sure to go out and vote tomorrow! Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.