It blows my mind that we are already staring into the eyes of week 7 in the 2012 college football season.
Last week there were 3 major upsets in the Top 10. LSU lost to the Gators at Florida. Georgia was blown out of the water at South Carolina. And, Florida St. was shocked by North Carolina St.
Week 7 has some pretty good Top 25 match-ups and it would not shock me to see another string of upsets.
It is also a big weekend for college football here in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex. I am of course talking about the Red River Rivalry. Please excuse me but, I will call it the Red River Shootout from now on. Sorry PC police but, taking that great name away from this game was a joke. Actually I am not sorry. The people who made this decision because they felt "Shootout" was too aggressive are jokes to their own being.
The Red River Shootout gives us another Top 15 match-up between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns. Oklahoma's only loss this year came against a superior Kansas St. team and the Longhorns dropped a heart breaker of a game by way of "shootout" last week to the high scoring NBA offense of West Virginia. I never felt Oklahoma was superior to Kansas St. when they were playing. I did however feel like the Longhorns were a better team than West Virginia and had they played later in the season I think the Horns would have stopped the WVU offense long enough to win the game. But, you have to play who is on your schedule when they are on your schedule and last week, West Virginia was a tad bit better when the final whistle was blown. In this year's edition of the Red River Shootout we will get a Longhorns team fresh off of a loss desperately not wanting to drop a 2nd game in a row. Meanwhile Oklahoma also cannot afford another loss or their preseason BCS title aspirations will be dust in the wind. As far as I can tell this year will not be a blowout win for Oklahoma. I do not see any blow out happening at all. I think this game stays very close until the final minutes. This sounds cliche but, whoever wins the turnover battle, wins the game. I like the Longhorns to do that this year.
The SEC East seems to be the strongest division in the conference this year. South Carolina and Florida might have just become the 2011 version of Alabama and LSU. Things get tricky from here on out for the East heavy weights.
LSU is a team that is not living up to its lofty preseason expectations. The Tigers looked pathetic on offense last week in the Swamp against a resurgent Gators team. The hype surrounding JC transfer Zach Mettenberger has so far turned out to be just that. Hype. I do not think the problems with the Tiger's offense can all be laid at Mettenberger's feet though. This LSU offense has been out of sorts pretty much all season long with the exception of the Washington game. LSU also has serious injury issues on the offensive line, and the Wide Receivers have a case of the drops, not to mention the whole offense having serious turnover issues. With South Carolina coming up the Tigers have to be very careful that a losing streak is not in their future. With South Carolina Texas A&M Alabama and Mississippi St. coming up on the schedule I think we can agree that the Tigers' hopeful return trip back to the BCS title game is in serious jeopardy.
Can anybody in the Pac-12 stop Oregon this year? I think the only team that can defeat them are the USC Trojans. But, even if USC defeats Oregon there is the chance they have to defeat Oregon twice with the second time being in the Pac-12 Championship game. Right now I like Oregon to win the Pac-12 and finish the regular season undefeated. They will more than likely match-up against the SEC Champion. But, imagine if you will the remote possibility of an Oregon and West Virginia BCS Title Game. There would be a record amount of total points scored in a way that would melt everybody's television sets at home.
Speaking of the BCS, Two years from now we will be talking about the 1st year of the 4 team play-off. For me that scenario cannot come soon enough. Imagine if it were in 2012. If the season ended today you would have Alabama playing West Virginia and South Carolina playing Oregon. (Coaches Poll)
At the halfway point of the season I still see Alabama as the team that wins it all over Oregon in the title game. I don't see South Carolina making it because I believe they will still lose 2 games this season. LSU has too inconsistent of an offense and that will not fly this season. Florida is a dark horse in the SEC but, I still like Bama. Oregon as I said is my pick for the Pac-12. In the Big 12 I can see either the winner of Texas/OU tomorrow, Kansas St. or West Virginia. My money would still be on K-State. After Florida State's loss I just do not trust the ACC to field a team in the BCS title game. Notre Dame could of course be a BCS buster if they go undefeated but, with trips to Oklahoma to play the Sooners and at USC I just don't see it. An undefeated Louisville would play the ACC Champ in the Orange Bowl but get no more consideration than a number 2 or 3 finish if they finish unbeaten due to them playing in the Big East. I am not forgetting the Big Ten but they are not in the conversation for BCS title talk.
PICKS:
Last Week I went 11-4 but I again hit on the Upset of the Week. (Iowa State over TCU...and I did pick it before TCU suspended their QB)
I am 60-14 on the year.
Alabama 38 Missouri 13
LSU 17 South Carolina 14 (I have no business picking this with any conviction except that Les Miles is 17-1 after a loss while at LSU. SC will be sky high after beating Georgia and LSU is being questioned every which way. Plus I feel good about it)
West Virginia 56 Texas Tech 48
USC 22 Washington 20
Texas 20 Oklahoma 17
Texas A&M 30 La. Tech 17
Ole Miss 24 Auburn 14 (Where oh where have you gone Auburn?)
Miami 27 North Carolina 23
Mississippi State 27 Tennessee 20
Michigan 24 Illinois 13
Florida 17 Vanderbilt 10 (Classic trap game after a big win)
Louisville 29 Pittsburgh 10
Florida State 38 Boston College 13
Baylor 31 TCU 17
UPSET OF THE WEEK:
Iowa State 21 Kansas State 17
Happy Week 7!!!
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