Week 6 Predictions

What an exciting weekend of college football we have in store for week 6. The biggest match ups are in the SEC, but the Big 10 and Pac 10 both have their share of intrigue as well.

Here are my predictions for some of the biggest games during week 6 in College Football:



No. 17 Auburn (5-0) at Arkansas (2-2)

Auburn jumped into the AP poll at No. 17 following it's 26-22 win at Tennessee. The Tigers remain unbeaten at 5-0, and 2-0 in SEC play.

The Razorbacks are coming off a dominating 47-19 win over Texas A&M.

Arkansas is 2-2, but the two losses were a shootout to Georgia and a smackdown from Alabama.

The Razorbacks will provide a real test for a largely unproven Auburn team. What the Tigers have shown, however, is that their offensive struggles of a year ago are behind them.

Auburn ranks fifth in the nation in total offense, and eighth in scoring offense. Arkansas counters with its own potent offense led by quarterback Ryan Mallett, who has 11 touchdown passes to just two interceptions while leading the nation's sixth-best passing attack.

The emergence of true freshman Ronnie Wingo at tailback last week gives the Hogs a nice one-two combo with Wingo and Michael Smith.

The numbers for Ben Tate (540 rushing yards), Chris Todd (1,230 passing yards, 12 touchdowns, one interception), and Onterio McCalebb (416 rushing yards, 6.2-yard average) have been even more impressive for Auburn.

Expect a lot of points to be scored in this one, and it could come down to whomever has the ball last.

Pick: Auburn


Michigan (4-1) at No. 12 Iowa (5-0)

Michigan blew an opportunity last week against Michigan State to prove it was back among the elite in the Big Ten. This week, the 4-1 Wolverines travel to Iowa City for a night game against unbeaten Iowa.

The Hawkeyes, always tough at home, will be even more fired up under the lights. Iowa is on a roll, and its defense has been stellar, only allowing 67 points in five games.

Iowa's offense has been hit and miss.

Quarterback Ricky Stanzi must do a better job of protecting the ball. He's got eight touchdown passes, but also seven interceptions.

Giving extra possessions to an offensively talented team like Michigan could spell disaster.

If Michigan can force Stanzi into mistakes, and score early, it could take the frenzied crown inside Kinnick Stadium right out of the game.

Pick: Michigan

Wisconsin (5-0) at No. 9 Ohio State (4-1)

Wisconsin needs little motivation for this one.

Despite a 5-0 start, and winning their first two Big Ten contests, the Badgers are outside of the AP's top 25.

Wisconsin led most of the game last week against Minnesota in its first road game, but allowed too many big plays which kept the Gophers close.

Allowing big plays against Ohio State could be disastrous, with Terrelle Pryor behind center for the Buckeyes.

Pryor has struggled with his accuracy and some decision making, but he can create plays with his legs, and has a cannon for an arm.

The 6-6 sophomore quarterback leads the Buckeyes with 298 rushing yards. He's found the end zone three times on the ground, and another eight through the air.

His big-play target has been Dane Sanzenbacher, who has 14 receptions for 302 yards and four scores.

Wisconsin has the conference's leading rusher in John Clay.

Clay has 582 yards on 112 carries with seven touchdowns. He busted out for 184 and three scores against Minnesota.

If Wisconsin can establish Clay early, and give QB Scott Tolzien time to throw, the Badgers could be heading home at 6-0.

UPSET Pick: Wisconsin


No. 13 Oregon (4-1) at UCLA (3-1)

The Ducks haven't lost since their season-opening 19-8 loss to No. 6 Boise State.

Following a close home win over Purdue, the Ducks have been downright impressive.

They knocked off then No. 18 Utah, then destroyed then No. 6 California and Washington State.

Now they hit the road for the first time since the first week, and travel south to Los Angeles.

The Bruins were 3-0 and flying high until last week's road loss to suddenly resurgent Stanford. UCLA will look to bounce back in the Rose Bowl, but will need to get more productivity from a stagnant offense that ranks 106th in the country.

Oregon's offense is a middle-of-the-pack unit and will be facing a comparably average UCLA defense.

This won't be a pretty game, but it has huge Pac-10 implications.

A UCLA win puts it back in contention, while an Oregon victory puts the Ducks in the driver's seat for the conference crown.

Pick: Oregon


No. 3 Alabama (5-0) at No. 20 Ole Miss (3-1)

Before this season, this game was dubbed "The Game of The Year". Even after Ole Miss' loss to South Carolina, this game still has major SEC and national implications.

This game has double importance for the Rebels, who bounced back from their 16-10 loss at South Carolina to dispatch Vanderbilt last week.

Ole Miss can climb back into the SEC race with an upset here, but it needs to have quarterback Jevan Snead break out of his two-week funk.

With that being said:

Alabama’s offense is full of players they can plug in on offense to make plays, as we have already seen so far. The defense is playing lights-out as well.

Jevan Snead threw three interceptions against Vanderbilt last week, but the Rebels, who look like they are quite possibly the most overrated team in the nation, still pulled it out.

Bama QB Greg McElroy is ranked sixth in the nation in passing efficiency. On top of that Bama has one of the deepest RB core in the country. 

Back to McElroy: His numbers, (78 of 119 passes for a 65.5 completion percentage, 1086 passing yards, 9 TDs, and only 1 INT, and a 165.5 QB Rating) are among the best in the country.

Bama has scored over 34 points in every game this season.

Here’s a list of some of the teams that haven’t been able to do that: Florida, LSU, Boise State, Auburn, Texas Tech…

Wait there's more...

How about Houston, Cincinnati, USC, Ohio State, Michigan...

The Tide are very good this season. Look for them to roll over Ole Miss

Pick: Alabama


No. 1 Florida (4-0) at No. 4 LSU (5-0)

Will Tim Tebow play? That remains the question.

What is unquestioned is the magnitude of this game, not only in the SEC title race, but in the national championship picture.

Florida is the defending BCS champs, but is still waiting to see if its Heisman Trophy quarterback will be cleared to play following a concussion he suffered in a win over Kentucky two weeks ago.

The Gators haven't played since, and the time off has allowed teams doctors to evaluate Tebow's injury. He's still not practicing, but if he's in the game, it adds an extra dynamic to the Florida offense.

If he can't go, it will be up to John Brantley to deal with the raucous crowd inside LSU's Tiger Stadium, aka Death Valley.

Brantley has been very good in limited action this year, competing 23 of 30 passes for 232 yards and four scores without an interception.

The Tigers have been playing with a horseshoe all season, squeaking out last-minute wins over Washington, Mississippi State and Georgia. This week, LSU's 99th-ranked offense will be going up against a Florida defense that has given up just 29 points in four games.

Granted, those four games have been against an unimpressive schedule that includes FCS Charleston Southern, Troy, underachieving Tennessee and Kentucky.

Unless the Tigers can find some consistency in their offense, this could be a disappointing night for the home crowd.

But, if the LSU defense can give the offense short fields to work with, the Tigers just might have a chance. Might.

Pick: Florida

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New Poll For Week 6: Who Wins This Weekend's Showdown In Baton Rouge?

Don't forget to vote in this week's poll:


Who Wins This Weekend's Showdown In Baton Rouge?


Poll is located to the right of the screen and will close on Saturday October 10 at 12:01 am Read more!

Thursday Night Preview: (21) Nebraska at (24) Missouri

Tonight's battle between No. 24 Missouri and No. 21 Nebraska features no shortage of intrigue off the field. Nebraska is trying to seek its first win in Columbia since 2001. Last season, Nebraska was embarrassed 52-17 by the Tigers in Lincoln.

Will revenge will be a factor this time around?

Missouri is 4-0 against one of the softest schedules in the country. Look at the Tigers schedule so far:

Illinois, Bowling Green, Nevada and Furman.

Now the Tigers welcome a Nebraska team that lost by a point at No. 5 Virginia Tech, and has destroyed three Sun Belt teams in Florida Atlantic (49-3), Arkansas State (38-9), and Louisiana-Lafayette (55-0).

Nebraska leads the nation in scoring defense, but the Blackshirts will be tested against a Missouri offense that ranks 16th in the country.

The Missouri Tigers were expected to experience a huge dropoff after losing several players to the NFL last season.

Heisman finalist Chase Daniel led the offense for three years and broke every passing record in school history during his time there. When you lose a quarterback of his caliber, you are supposed to have a transition period until you find the next one.

Not this year for Missouri. In fact, many are saying that new quarterback Blaine Gabbert is even better than Daniel and he’s only a sophomore. So far all he’s done is throw for 1161 yards, 11 touchdowns, and no interceptions through four games.

Nebraska has a good quarterback already in place with Zac Lee. He's completing 65 percent of his passes with seven touchdowns.

Adding balance to the Huskers 19th-ranked offense is running back Roy Helu, who has 464 rushing yards with five scores and a 6.4 yards-per-carry average.Strength against strength is a theme to go with in this one, with Missouri's high-powered offense against Nebraska's shut-down defense.

But it could be Nebraska's own potent offense that is the difference in this one.

Interesting note: Blaine Gabbert was the number one pro-style quarterback coming out of high school and committed to Nebraska. Then at the last minute he changed his commitment to Missouri and never looked back. The Huskers might be a little bitter over the decision.

Prediction: Nebraska 24 Missouri 20
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UPDATE!!!!

Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been out of town the past 2 weekends and haven't had time to update. I will be updating this week, so no fears....


Hope you guys understand


Steven Read more!

AP Poll Week 4

Another crazy week of College Football. The top 3 (Florida, Texas, and Alabama) are the only pre-season Top 25 teams that are still undefeated. After that it's anybody's guess. Here are this weeks rankings:

Rank	Team	Record	Points	Previous
1.	Florida (55)	4-0	1490	1
2.	Texas (1)	4-0	1420	2
3.	Alabama (4)	4-0	1400	3
4.	LSU	4-0	1225	7
5.	Boise State	4-0	1203	8
6.	Virginia Tech	3-1	1190	11
7.	USC	3-1	998	12
8.	Oklahoma	2-1	979	10
9.	Ohio State	3-1	957	13
10.	Cincinnati	4-0	946	14
11.	TCU	3-0	896	15
12.	Houston	3-0	844	17
13.	Iowa	4-0	788	NR
14.	Oklahoma State	3-1	591	16
15.	Penn State	3-1	470	5
16.	Oregon	3-1	462	NR
17.	Miami (FL)	2-1	452	9
18.	Kansas	4-0	418	20
18.	Georgia	3-1	418	21
20.	Brigham Young	3-1	349	19
21.	Mississippi	2-1	340	4
22.	Michigan	4-0	271	23
23.	Nebraska	3-1	256	25
24.	California	3-1	206	6
25.	Georgia Tech	3-1	185	NR

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Thursday Night Preview: (4) Ole Miss at South Carolina

Stephen Garica and the Gamecocks are thinking upset

The nation's fourth-ranked team, the Ole Miss Rebels, are taking on the South Carolina Gamecocks in an SEC showdown tonight, with the kickoff scheduled for 7:30pm EST on ESPN. This looks to be a close game yet again, as last year the Gamecocks were able to knock off the Rebels 31-24 in Oxford. This year, South Carolina will play host, as the Rebels put their eight-game winning streak on the line.

Steve Spurrier has yet to reach the level of excellence he found in Florida, but South Carolina has been a sound football team under his direction. Their only loss this season came against Georgia. The Gamecocks' offense has been decent so far this season, putting up 27.3 points per game with just under 400 total yards per game.

Their leader is QB Stephen Garcia, who is averaging 228 yards per game in the air, with three touchdowns and two interceptions. His main target has been wide receiver Weslye Saunders, who has recorded 13 receptions for 153 yards. The passing game, which had 327 yards and 3 TDs last season again the Rebels, will be looking to build on their success from last year.

The Gamecocks defense has been very good this season in stopping the run, yielding only 87.3 yards per game. If they can continue with that trend, they can force the Rebels into passing more often.That would be a welcome treat to a defense that has already recorded 10 sacks in their first three games.

Ole Miss is returning a talented QB in Jevan Snead, who has led the Rebels to a 2-0 record against two inferior opponents in 2009. His top receivers are Dexter McCluster and Shay Hodge, who have 17 receptions and 249 yards between them. Against a defense geared for the run, Snead will need to complete more than the 56 percent of passes he’s achieved so far this season.

The Rebels averaged an impressive 7.9 yards per rush against SE Louisiana, a statistic that is likely to change in this week’s game against a much stronger defensive front.

The Mississippi defense has been superb through their two contests, allowing only 10 points per game and 293 total yards per game. They are led by Safety Johnny Brown, who has 20 tackles and an interception so far this season. They are also expecting star defensive end Greg Hardy to be at 100 percent this week and put some pressure on Garcia. On third down so far, the Rebels have held opponents to an impressive four conversions out of 30 attempts, but Ole Miss hasn’t been tested against the caliber of athletes that SC will put on the field.

The Rebels are boasting their highest ranking in almost 40 years and have an overall 8-6 record against the Gamecocks in the series history. An interesting note is that Ole Miss has not won an SEC opener in the last five years.

Both defenses are solid and it may come down to which team can make the bigger plays. South Carolina has a great chance to play spoiler to the Rebels at home.

Prediction: South Carolina 24 Ole Miss 21
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