The State of Mississippi is the best in college football?  Really?

#NCAA

Last Week:  12-5

Overall: 12-5

So Mississippi and Mississippi State are both ranked in the top 4 right now?  Raise your hand if you saw that coming this year.  Raise your hand if you think it will stay that way after this weekend.  Yup, just as a thought, silence and hands down for both.  Last week was impressive and it was nice to see a changing of the guard in the SEC, even if just for one week.  I am a skeptic though on both of these teams.  Were those wins season defining wins that can elevate one or both of those programs to the Final 4 or were they just an example of one and done.  There could be a huge big win hangover going on in the state of Mississippi this past week.  Monday could see the partying continue or the state come back to reality, I would lean towards the latter.  The SEC is up in the air, the PAC-12 is all over the place, the Big 10 is trying to become relevant again and, oh yeah, the number one team in the country is still not being considered the number one team in the country.  Gotta love college football season!

Not a bad opening week for my public predictions.  I would say going 12-5 is very respectable given the upsets that occurred last week.  This week I am going to go all out though and pick every game played on Friday and Saturday.  Not sure I should expect the same strong winning percentage but I’m going to stick my neck out there and see what happens...this may only be a one week deal here kids.   

Here is how I see Week 7 unfolding:

(25) Stanford over Washington St. - #1 passing offense vs #1 defense on points allowed, someting has to give.  I go with the Tree D in this one.

San Diego State over New Mexico – UNM has not won a home game yet this season yet has 2 wins on the road. I’d almost be tempted to pick them to win this game if they were the visiting team.

Fresno State over UNLV

(12) Oregon over (18) UCLA – de facto championship elimination game already in the season, I just cannot go against my Ducks.  Call it a total homer pick if you want, I will still go with my Ducks.

Penn State over Michigan – Michigan is a mess.  PSU knows they can go bowling this year and should be ready to regroup after that horrible loss vs Northwestern.

Wisconsin over Illinois – Will the run Badgers show up or will the Badgers just run away and take another loss?  At home vs the Illini, its run Badger time!

(11) Oklahoma over Texas – Sooners trying to stay in the championship hunt, at home they won’t let this one slip away.

Miami (Fl) over Cincinnati

West Virginia over Texas Tech

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      (1)  Florida State over Syracuse – FSU will lose a game this year, but not in the Carrier Dome.

(23) Missouri over (13) Georgia – Even without the recent suspension to star running back Todd Gurley, I still was leaning towards Mizzou at home in this game.  The SEC is an interesting one this year with both Mississippi schools in the Top 5 right now.  Why not have the Tigers also be a surprise contender?

Temple over Tulsa

Iowa over Indiana – Could there be a less-talked about 5-1 team than Iowa?  After this weekend’s win, nope people still will not be talking about them.  Beat someone of quality, then maybe we will consider talking about you Hawkeyes.

Kentucky over UL Monroe – Yes another 4-1 surprise SEC team trying to go to 5-1.  Why not?

Minnesota over Northwestern – Ok here is a 4-1 team trying to go 5-1 at home after a HUGE win over Michigan.  Notice something here Iowa?  People are actually talking about the Gophers.  But then again, the Gophers are actually a good team.  The Wildcats could give them some trouble though.  Is this a trap game where the Gophers suffer a post-Michigan win hangover?  Could be...

Marshall over Middle Tennessee – I want to see Marshall run the table just to see what happens with them.  If they beat a good 4-2 Raiders team this weekend, can we at least give them a Top 25 ranking?

Army over Rice – Only because Army is at home

(22) Georgia Tech over Duke – I think I have picked against the Yellow Jackets in almost every game they have played.  I’ll reverse that trend this weekend, cave and say they are better than I thought they were and then watch them lose to Duke to prove me wrong yet again.

Buffalo over Eastern Michigan

Arkansas State over Georgia State

Bowling Green over Ohio

UMASS over Kent State – As ESPN Bottom 10 would note, this is the pillow fight of the week.  Two winless teams from the MAC battling it out.  I actually like UMass.  They have had some interesting games this year and really could be 2-4.  I think they deserve a lucky break and this is probably their only chance at a win this year, just too bad it is on the road.

Akron over Miami (OH)

New Mexico State over Troy – Stay winless Troy

Ball State over Western Michigan

Boston College over NC State – I am hoping the Eagles team that beat USC shows up for this game.  I am hoping the Wolfpack team who gave FSU a fight doesn’t, again.

Liberty over Appalachian State – Don’t worry if you didn’t know these two school existed, let alone play football at this level.  Most people don’t.  The days of Appalachian State beating Michigan are a far distant memory now.

UAB over North Texas

Clemson over Louiville

      

      (2)  Auburn over (3) Mississippi State – Nice win last week Bulldogs, I’ll give that to you.  Heck I even picked you to win that game.  But this Auburn team looks way too dominate right now.  Close game, not so sure about that even?

(8) Michigan State over Purdue – Will the Spartans lose another game this year?  Heck, will they even play in a close game again?  My guess is no.  At least with them continuing to win, helps make my Ducks look better.

(5) Baylor over (9) TCU – Not sold on TCU, not sold on Baylor.  Both fun to watch though.  Bears at home!

Navy over VMI

Iowa State over Toledo – I know a 1-4 team over a 4-2 team sounds crazy but this Cyclones team I think is better than their record shows.  They will be playing at home and you just think they are due for a home win finally.  Toledo is good and my head says take the Rockets.  My heart wins out here though...

(6) Notre Dame over North Carolina – Irish at home, Tar heels not a good team...won’t be watching this one.

Tennessee over Chattanooga – Battle of the Volunteer State.  Of course go with the team who has the state nickname as their school name.

(16) Oklahoma State over Kansas

Northern Illinois over Central Michigan

Washington over California – Cal is a huge surprise at 4-1.  UW still rolling along at 4-1 as well.  Huskies are the better team though and should win this on the road.  This would make next weekend’s battle at Autzen between UO and UW even better...a game that I will be attending J

(7) Alabama over Arkansas – Tide are right for the picking, kind of hoping the Hogs knock them off and hand them a second loss.

Ga Southern over Idaho – Stay winless Vandals...but I still have a hat I wear from when I visited your campus.

(19) East Carolina over South Florida

Memphis over Houston – The Tigers could end up taking the American conference. 

FIU over UTSA

Charl Southern over Vanderbilt – An SEC team is bound to lose to a non-SEC team again this season and why not pick against the Commodores, even at home, against a 5-0 team?

LSU over Florida – This used to be a huge matchup, now does anyone even care?

UConn over Tulane

Old Dominion over UTEP

(14) Texas A&M over (3) Ole Miss – Let’s just throw the SEC into more chaos and have both Mississippi schools lose this week after pulling the double W last week.  The Aggies at home will want revenge after last week.

Utah State over Air Force

Colorado State over Nevada

(10) Arizona over USC – Tough to win in the desert.  Just ask us Ducks fans.

Wyoming over Hawaii – I always have a hard time betting against Hawaii at home but this Wyoming team is actually a good team.  Look at the two losses the Cowboys have this year, Oregon and Michigan State.  You almost want to see them win out the season to see if they can get some rankings love.

#CIS

Last Week: 10-2

Overall: 10-2

Well I would say that was a successful opening pick week for me.  Interesting on the two losses though.  I actually thought McMaster was a stronger team but went with Western at home.  The Alberta win over Manitoba was a complete shock and just puts the Canada West into more chaos as the season draws to a close.  Canada West has this weekend off due to the Thanksgiving holiday.  Two games were played yesterday with Bishops beating McGill and Western beating Laurier.  I can say I would have picked both of those correctly but since I missed doing this before the games were played, no credit is given.  Here are my thoughts on this week:

Ottawa over Windsor – 4-2 Ottawa vs 4-1 Windsor.  Tough match to call, should be the best game played this weekend.  Ottawa needs this win to bring Windsor back into the bunch and help their playoff push.  Going with the Gee Gee’s.

Guelph over Carleton

St. FX over Acadia

Mount Allison over St. Mary’s – The Mounties are dominating the Atlantic this year, giving up only 48 points in 5 games.  They should roll to a W against the winless Huskies.

Queen’s over Toronto – Here is the CIS pillowfight of the week, 0-6 Queen’s vs. 1-5 Toronto.  Toronto, I always expect them to lose every week.  I can barely remember a season since I have started following CIS sports where they were actually competitive.  Queen’s on the other hand usually is a good team, I just cannot see them going winless all season.

Montreal over Concordia – Battle of 4-1 teams fighting for second behind Laval.

There you have it, my college football picks from both sides of the border.  Enjoy the gridiron action!