This Weekend in College Football: Week 7

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • West Virginia @ Baylor (FOX): There’s a lot of action in every timeslot today, and this is merely the start. I expect some early fireworks but eventually for Baylor to prevail.
  • Mississippi @ Memphis (ABC/ESPN2): This is almost certainly the biggest regular season game hosted at the Liberty Bowl in a long time. That said, if this game had happened in early September instead of mid-October, Memphis would probably not be undefeated right now. If they somehow do pull off the upset, the Tigers will become the favorites for that Group of Five bid.
  • Iowa @ Northwestern (ABC/ESPN2): This looks all the world like it’s going to be a classic Big Ten defensive slugfest, which means the final score will probably wind up being like 52-48. Given that, I favor the Wildcats.
  • Louisville @ Florida State (ESPN): I was one of many who figured Louisville would be important players in the ACC this year, but, well, that’s the ACC for you.
  • Texas Tech @ Kansas (FS1): Kansas has failed to prevent any of their opponent except for Rutgers from scoring more than 30 points. Texas Tech has not scored less than 30 points this season. Yeah.
  • South Florida @ Connecticut (ESPNU): I cannot conceive of any reason to watch this game. I guess USF will win?
  • Tulane @ East Carolina (ESPNEWS): ECU is the better team here, but it’s hard to tell at this point. It should become more clear as they get into their AAC schedule.
  • Louisiana Tech @ Mississippi State (SEC): I’m pretty sure Miss State is going to win, but nonetheless, the Bulldogs from the Bayou can score some points. Could be closer than it appears.
  • Purdue @ Wisconsin (BTN): Wisconsin.

12:30: Pittsburgh @ Georgia Tech (ACC): While no football team is truly perfect, the list of things Tech is doing badly vastly outstrips the things they are doing well at this point. While losing to Clemson was the expected outcome, that was bad. I think I summed it up best last weekend after the game. (Last weekend was horrible for me sports-wise.) From last year, we retained none of our starting skill position players other than our (excellent) quarterback. Then all their replacements got hurt. Yeah. The reality of not being of college football’s elites is that your two-deep is not full of guys who would “start anywhere else”.

3:30:

  • Oklahoma @ Kansas State (ABC): If nothing else, this post will move the post down on the front page of this site that predicted Oklahoma would beat Texas, though I did at least allow for “wacky shenanigans”. At any rate, despite starting their 12th-string quarterback or some such, K-State only lost by a touchdown to TCU last weekend. Can Bill Synder’s wizardy beat the Sooners? Sure, why not?
  • Alabama @ Texas A&M (CBS): Stickin’ with the Tide, here.
  • Michigan State @ Michigan (ESPN): I think we all figured it would happen, but it just didn’t figure out happen so quickly. What’s it, you ask? The rejuvenation of Michigan, of course. That said, the shutout streak is impressive, but Sparty has the most competent offense the Wolverines have seen since Week 1 against Utah. (Pretty safe to say that was a good loss, at this point.) It all just seems too big, too fast, though. I’m going with Michigan State.
  • Nebraska @ Minnesota (ESPN2): Nebraska just looks hapless right now. Going with the Gophers to retain the first college football trophy created by the Internet.
  • Virginia Tech @ Miami (ESPNU): While both these teams are struggling on offense, Miami is struggling less.
  • Air Force @ Colorado State (CBSS): Air Force has more wins, but neither of these teams looks especially good to me. I guess I’ll go with the Falcons.
  • Rutgers @ Indiana (BTN): The Hoosiers followed up their almost-upset of Ohio State with a 29-7 thud against Penn State. Rutgers is a pretty good way to get back on track, though.
  • Syracuse @ Virginia (ACC/RSN): Maybe if we all stop making jokes about Mike London’s job status UVA will actually finally get rid of him? That or losing big to Syracuse, probably.

4:00:

  • Vanderbilt @ South Carolina (SEC): … I may have to add more Spurrier quotes to the bottom of the page. Gamecocks should roll.
  • Oregon State @ Washington State (Pac12): Sound the alert, we’re in a reality where frickin’ Washington State is now beating Oregon. I’m pretty sure that actually means Oregon State will win, but I can’t bring myself to actually pick them.

7:00

  • Florida @ Louisiana State (ESPN): Hey Gators, welcome back to relevance! In return, here’s your weird, meaningless, cross-division “rivalry” game. This will be, by far, the stiffest test for either of these teams so far this season. Florida looks like the better team to me, but their starting quarterback is suspended, and LSU does have the best running back in college football. And hey, it’s at night:
    Miles on the 6 p.m. kickoff with the #Gators: “It’ll be dusk. The opportunity for night to arrive.” #LSU

    — Ross Dellenger (@DellengerAdv) October 12, 2015

    Yes, yes it is Les. And given these facts, I’m going with LSU.

  • Texas Christian @ Iowa State (ESPN2): Oof. Iowa State isn’t awful this year, but… yeah.
  • Boston College @ Clemson (ESPNU): I fully expect Clemson to follow up last week’s complete domination of us with a flop against BC. They’ll still win, though.
  • Wake Forest @ North Carolina (ACC/RSN): Wake Forest beat Boston College 3-0 last week. Enough said.

7:30

  • Southern California @ Notre Dame (NBC): The circumstances for the Trojans look pretty bad right, and I’m not sure there’s a happy ending in sight right now.
  • Missouri @ Georgia (SEC): While Georgia losing to Tennessee was about the best thing that happened last weekend, they figure to get back on track against an awful Mizzou squad.
  • Central Florida @ Temple (CBSS):UCF may well be historically awful. We could be watching something special here.

8:00: Pennsylvania State @ Ohio State (ABC): Don’t look, but after losing to Temple the Nittany Lions have gone 5-0! Of course, either Temple or Indiana is the best team they’ve played this year, but still. Ohio State got some of their mojo back against Maryland last weekend; that trend figures to continue.

9:00: Arizona @ Colorado (FS1): Arizona isn’t good, but Colorado is worse.

10:00: Arizona State @ Utah (ESPN): I think the Utes are legit, but we’re about to find out just how legitimate they are.

10:30:

  • Oregon @ Washington (ESPN2): That’s it, I’m picking against Oregon. I can’t even remember the last time that happened, but current circumstances leave me with no choice.
  • San Diego State @ San Jose State (ESPNU): Two 3-3 Mountain West division rivals…. hrm. San Jose State looks a tad better, so let’s just go with that and get some sleep.