Wednesday, October 10, 2007

College Picks: Week 7

College football has been nothing if not exciting and interesting. The last two weeks have been good for more upsets than Pepto-Bismol can handle. The second half of the season looks to provide more of the same. The last two teams standing will be in New Orleans in January for the BCS National Championship Game.

The ranks of the unbeaten have been whittled down to 11. They are: Cincinnati, South Florida, Connecticut, Boston College, Ohio State, LSU, Kansas, Missouri, Cal, Arizona State, and Hawaii.

Last Week: 13-7
Overall: 80-40

Missouri at Oklahoma: The Tigers have moved up to #11 in the country and are favored to win the Big 12 North. Sooners are coming off of a win over hated archrival Texas. Bob Stoops has lost one conference home game in eight years as coach of OU. That won’t change. Pick: OU

Oklahoma State at Nebraska: Who can figure this out? OSU is good enough to beat Nebraska, but can they win on the road? Nebraska had a road game scheduled last week, but didn’t show up to play Missouri. Oops, I guess those were the Huskers that got their heads handed to them. All will be well in Huskerland for one week. Pick: Nebraska

Texas A&M at Texas Tech: First of four murderous road trips in the Big 12 for the Aggies. Ags were fortunate to escape with a home win last week over OSU. Ags have not had success in recent years in Lubbock. Tech should be able to win this game. Pick: Tech

Colorado at Kansas State: K-State needs this one desperately to stay in the race in the Big 12 North. CU finds themselves in first place in the North. The cannibalization of the Big 12 North begins here. They all start to eat each other up. Pick: K-State

Baylor at Kansas: The Guy Morriss death watch continues in Waco. Well, he’s not actually going to die, but he won’t be the Baylor coach after November. KU is flying high at 5-0. Jayhawks become bowl eligible this week. Pick: KU

Texas at Iowa State: Longhorns gave a valiant effort last week against OU, but came up short. They have now lost star WR Limas Sweed for the year. Things don’t look good for the Longhorns. However, they’re Texas. They should beat Iowa State. Pick: Texas

LSU at Kentucky: Tigers got a big, big comeback win over the mighty Gators last week. Kentucky fell flat on its face on the national stage, losing at South Carolina. Can the Cats bounce back? The way this college football season has been going, that’s a pretty good possibility. #1 goes down again. Pick: Kentucky

South Carolina at North Carolina: One of the crimes of South Carolina’s now long-ago departure from the ACC is that these two schools do not play every year. These two schools really should be in the same conference and should play regularly. It’s now a rivalry that rarely is. The Old Ball Coach takes his ‘Cocks to Chapel Hill, where Butch Davis is rebuilding the Tar Heels. This is a dangerous trap for USC of the East. But, the ‘Cocks have surprised us before. Pick: SC

Purdue at Michigan: After two years of not playing Ohio State and Michigan, the Boilermakers get them back-to-back this season. The Train Men make the trip to the Big House, where the Wolverines are still paying penance for the opening loss to Appalachian State. Meatchicken puts itself back on the map this week. Pick: Michigan

Georgia Tech at Miami: The Ramblin’ Wreck are the ultimate yo-yo team. Up and down. They now go down to Little Havana to take on the Canes, who saved face last week in a near-blowout loss to North Carolina. When in doubt, go with the home field. Pick: Miami

Boston College at Notre Dame: Who does the Pope root for? The only two Catholic schools in Division I-A meet in South Bend. Notre Dame got their first win of the season last week, despite 140 yards of offense against UCLA. Boston College is undefeated and ranked #4 in the nation. Notre Dame needs all the luck they can get. This game will be worthy of the green jerseys for the Fighting Leprechauns. Luck or no luck, BC is just plain better than Notre Dame. Pick: BC

Rice at Houston: The Bayou Bucket is on the line at Robertson Stadium. Rice absolutely stunk until last week, when they upset Southern Miss in Hattiesburg. The Coogs had a chance to pull out a comeback win at Alabama last week. Things should return to form this week. Pick: Houston

TCU at Stanford: The Frogs are reeling, having lost three games, and must now go out to Palo Alto to face Stanford. You remember Stanford. Last week, they were a 40 point underdog against USC, and pulled the biggest upset in the history of Las Vegas bookmakers. Stanford will not be able to avoid a letdown. The Frogs have struggled on offense this year. Which Stanford shows up? Pick: Trees

Connecticut at Virginia: The Huskies are 5-0, though their schedule has been suspect. Still, 5-0 is 5-0 at this stage of the season. They get their toughest test in a road trip to Virginia, who has a five-game winning streak of their own after losing their opener at Wyoming. Pick: Virginia

Louisville at Cincinnati: The Ville has collapsed. At the beginning of the season, they were thinking BCS. Now, they’re just thinking BS. This team has no defense, and must go up the river to face the undefeated Bearcats. Cincy took care of business in a surprising way last week, beating Rutgers on the road. This one looks too obvious. Pick: The ‘Nati

Auburn at Arkansas: Auburn has, in a short amount of time, turned their season around. Winning in the Swamp will do that for you. Now, they make a trip to the Pigsty to face the Razorbacks. All is not well in Hogland, as the natives are restless and ready to make a coaching change. The Hogs have a great RB in Darren McFadden, but that’s all they have. If War Eagle can win in Gainesville, they can win in Fayetteville. Pick: Auburn

Florida State at Wake Forest (Thursday): When these two teams last met, it was a shellacking in Tallahassee. Wake Forest delivered the pasting. FSU has found a quarterback in Xavier Lee. The Noles are slowly returning to relevance. Wake Forest is no pushover. Still, I like FSU to pull this one off on the road. Pick: Florida State

Indiana at Michigan State: Just when you thought Michigan State was going to be pretty good, they go and lose an overtime game at home to Northwestern. Indiana has won 5 games, and can become bowl eligible with a win. Indiana and bowl in the same sentence? It could happen. Not this week, though. Sparty bounces back. Pick: Michigan State

Oregon State at California: Cal has not been to the Rose Bowl since 1958. This year, they’re in line for something even bigger: the national championship game. This game is guaranteed to feature some ugly uniforms. The play on the field, however, won’t be as ugly as the clothes. Pick: Cal

Benedictine at Peru State: Peru is a state? Do they play Ecuador A&M or the University of Colombia? Actually, this Peru is a town in Nebraska with a college. Pick: Peru State

4 comments:

Zee said...

I forgot that they're playing Stanford ... I may pick the trees too, but wouldn't it be greatness if TCU beat the team that beat USC? :) And you picked against them so they have a good chance of winning - go Froggies!

Are you gonna pick against me again this week? We're looking for another win! Booyah!

John said...

It would be great if the Frogs beat the Trees. Right now, it'd be great if the Frogs beat anybody. Stanford was absolutely horrible until they sprung that upset last week.

In fantasy football, I pick the team Yahoo projects to win, unless my team or that of my wife is involved. The Yahoo projections aren't real reliable, but that's part of the fun of fantasy football.

Zee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Zee said...

I won't tell you how I pick in FF ... not nearly as scientific as you. ;)

I know Thursday night games are not well thought of in college football, but I like that it gives more football on more days. I'm more on board with it now. I love having football spead out instead of shoved into one day and not getting to see but a few games, if that and of teams that I'm tired of like MI and ND. And sadly, I'd rather watch some college football than the Stars killing whomever they were playing! Hurray for football!

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday!

Go Frogs, Rockets, and SunDevils!