Week 7 Preview

This season is going by way too fast! We are already into week 7. There were a couple of really interesting games last weekend. Tennessee’s magic seemed to wear out, but not before their comeback and making it to 2OT against A&M. Washington and Washington State demolished Oregon and Stanford respectively. LSU and Florida didn’t play and the SEC isn’t handling it very well, so hopefully Arkansas can beat both of them and ease everyone’s worries. Oh, and Florida State blocked a PAT at the end to beat Miami. Here’s to another exciting week.

Notable Games
1Alabama at 9Tennessee I had the chance to see Alabama play in person last week. And to be honest, I was less impressed with the Tide’s offense than I was very disappointed in Arkansas’s defense. The Bama run defense was pretty dang impressive though. They are also a very opportunistic defense. Tennessee almost pulled off another big comeback against Texas A&M, but it wasn’t meant to be. Josh Dobbs is going to need to throw the ball to beat Alabama, and I just don’t think he is going to be able to do that well enough to win. But who knows? Maybe there will be some more Volunteer magic. I am picking Alabama.

2Ohio State at 8Wisconsin I think that Ohio State just has too much offense for Wisconsin to overcome. That being said, I don’t think that the Buckeyes are going to put up 58 points. Wisconsin has a tough defense and I expect them to do a decent job against OSU. I’ve been very impressed with Ohio State this year and I’m still not sold on Wisconsin (which, I know isn’t fair, but if they beat Ohio State, I’ll be sold). I’m very interested to see how Wisconsin’s offense looks in this game. I am picking Ohio State.

North Carolina at 16Miami North Carolina looked bad last week in a very rainy game against Virginia Tech. UNC only managed 3 points and 131 yards of offense. Miami was just a blocked PAT away from going to OT with Florida State (I feel your pain, Miami). I think Miami will rebound in this game and get a good conference win over the Tar Heels. I also expect UNC to score more than a FG. I think North Carolina was still high from their big win over Florida State and have been knocked back into reality. It will be interesting to see which team wants to forget last week more. I am picking Miami.

Missouri at 18Florida I’m looking forward to this one. Not because I want to watch it, but because I want to see how these teams look. Missouri has found an offense and Drew Lock has thrown for the second most TDs (14) in the SEC (behind my Heisman frontrunner: Austin Allen-15). Luke Del Rio will be back with the Gators in this one. He was healthy enough to start last week had they played LSU. Florida’s defense will be the best that the Tigers have seen so far so I don’t think they will have the same offensive production. I kind of hope Missouri wins, but the rational part of me says that won’t happen. But, the rational side of me is not always right about football. I am picking Florida.

Kansas State at 19Oklahoma Kansas State put up 44 points against Texas Tech last weekend. Now, the Red Raider defense is next to nonexistent, but that’s still a lot of points. Oklahoma survived Texas’s comeback attempt to win the Red River Whatever-It’s-Called-Now. This game has the potential to be another Big 12 shootout we’ve all come to expect. If it comes down to that, I am going to take Oklahoma. It is hard to pick against Baker Mayfield even when he isn’t having the greatest season. Should be a good game. I am picking Oklahoma.

Stanford at Notre Dame At the beginning of this season this game was supposed to be one of the more important ones in the playoff picture. Now it isn’t. Notre Dame is totally out of the running and Stanford would need a few miracles. Christian McCaffrey might not play in this one after injuring his leg last week against Washington State. I don’t know how good Stanford will be without their biggest player (he has accounted for slightly more than 50% of Stanford’s yards from scrimmage). I hope he plays, and if he does, I expect Stanford to win. I am picking Stanford.

12Ole Miss at 22Arkansas Arkansas wasn’t able to pull off the upset of Alabama. Like I said, the team that won the turnover battle won the game. The Hogs turned the ball over 5 times and two of them were for scores. Bama turned it over 3 times. There were a couple bright spots: Austin threw for 400 yards and the Hogs scored 30 points. Once again, Austin Allen attempted to single-handedly win the game. It is so awesome to see how much he cares. I wish we could get a couple more guys to play that hard (I know he’s not the only one, but there aren’t enough). Ole Miss was off last week and Chad Kelly decided to pick a fight with some high schoolers: #SwagKelly. I won’t lie; I’m worried about this game. The Razorback defense was shredded last weekend. I don’t know if I can handle another game like last season, but if that’s what it takes, bring it on.

Top 25
NC State at 3Clemson
4Michigan BYE
5Washington BYE
6Texas A&M BYE
Duke at 7Louisville
10Nebraska at Indiana
Kansas at 11Baylor
Tulsa at 13Houston
Wake Forest at 14Florida State
Colorado State at 15Boise State
17Virginia Tech at Syracuse
20West Virginia at Texas Tech
21Utah at Oregon State
23Auburn BYE
24Western Michigan at Akron

Other Games
Mississippi State at BYU (Friday)
Vanderbilt at Georgia
USC at Arizona
Arizona State at Colorado
UCLA at Washington State