clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

College Football Picks Week 7: Cancel Your Plans

It’s time for the contenders to step forward

By brianpellerin
/ new
NCAA Football: Tennessee at Louisiana State Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

To say I’m excited for this college football Saturday would be an understatement.

After a week and a half in hotels only showing BBC News and other assorted European programming, I will gladly take a weekend to park myself on the couch watching American football and this weekend looks like one that will absolutely deliver.

We have two top-10 matchups, three other top-20 matchups and another top-25 matchup. And even better yet, they’re spread out across all the time slots.

ISN’T. THAT. AWESOME.

My time away certainly didn’t help my selections as I continued to hover around .500 and had my first sub-.500 week as well. Maybe I’ll eventually be good at this.

For the last two weeks of comments, since my trip forced me to skip Week 5, we’ve got another repeat winner. In Week 5, medav delivered a second consecutive winning week with a 7-3 record. Week 6 brought us a first-time champion as NoleGrad07 stepped into the winner’s circle for the first time. Congrats and welcome to the hall of champions!

Comment Section Champions:

  • Week 0 — NoleOhana (8-3) yeah, we did 11 games that week
  • Week 1 — OhNoleHeDidnt (7-3)
  • Week 2 — Jason Kuruvilla, DenverNoleFan & mr_britt (8-2)
  • Week 3 — mr_britt & trojan24man (9-1)
  • Week 4 — medav (7-3)
  • Week 5 — medav (7-3)
  • Week 6 — NoleGrad07 (7-3)

Could you be the next Comment Section Champion? Leave your picks below.

If you’re new to the proceedings (which many of you probably are because I’ve only done this for one season), drop your picks in the comments with the spread provided. The following week, I’ll tally up the wins and losses, give a salute to whoever dominates the weekend and add you to our BRAND NEW BULLET LIST OF CHAMPIONS above. Remember, that I’m just a guy with a keyboard, not a gambling pro, so this isn’t advice. Just giving all of us a viewing guide and rooting interest as we watch the football season.

Reminder that I pull all the lines from Tallysight.com because they make it easier for me to track my picks.

We start this incredibly weekend with what is sure to be a disastrous Big Ten contest. Both these teams scream fraud, but one of them has to win, meaning one of them gets to be proven contender. I love the way we do measurements of who’s good in this sport. Penn State is considered legit because they handled Auburn a few weeks back, but we’ve learned that Auburn is a tire fire. Michigan is considered legit because they were good last season. They’ve played zero ranked teams and honestly zero teams anyone would consider a good team. So who’s legit? Probably neither one of them. All I know is there will be a lot of run plays, a lot of punts and it’ll be cold in Ann Arbor (probably the 50s but we’re going for classic Big Ten here.

Brian’s Pick: Penn State +7.5

What do we do here? Kansas who was riding high early in the season lost a close one in the final minutes last week against now Big 12 favorite TCU despite losing QB Jaydon Daniels early in the contest with a shoulder injury. Daniels is easily their best player and was playing like one of the better quarterbacks in the sport, but there are reports that his season is finished because of that injury... though KU’s coach and Jaydon himself have denied that. But it’s college football. We don’t have injury reports. So it’s anybody’s guess what’s going on there. I can tell you that Oklahoma hasn’t been it lately. They’ve gotten crushed by TCU and Texas the last few weeks. Can a banged up Kansas being the fix? Somehow, I’m not sold they will be.

Brian’s Pick: Kansas +8.5

The Big Ten West might be the worst division in college football this year (outside of the ACC Coastal), but somebody has to win it! Bret Bielema and his Illini seem to be the team closest to claiming that crown as they’ve been really impressive early this season especially on defense. The problem is the offense has left a lot to be desired (BIG TEN FOOTBALL!) On the side, PJ Fleck’s Gophers were humming until the loss to Purdue, but that was without star running back Mohamed Ibrahim. Everything flows through him for UM and he’s expected back this week. I don’t like laying the TD on the road against a ranked team, but I like the Gophers to win especially if Illinois’ QB is banged up.

Brian’s Pick: Minnesota -6.5

This is the game of the weekend as Knoxville will be hosting College Gameday. The Vols just throttled LSU a week ago in Baton Rouge and Alabama continued their rollercoaster season with a blowout win over Arkansas and a narrow victory over A&M. The biggest thing to watch in this one will be the health of reigning Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young. He’s got a shoulder injury that forced him out of the Arkansas game and all of the A&M game. Without him, Alabama will be in serious trouble. If he’s healthy, they’re again the best team in college football. We don’t have injury reports in college so we’ll do some guess work here. I expect Young to play. I expect him to be limited at least a little. I expect him to still make plays. But even fully healthy I think the Vols are good enough to win this game especially at home. Party on Rocky Top?

Brian’s Pick: Tennessee +7.5

It’s a potential Big 12 title game preview this week in Fort Worth as the Horned Frogs host the Pokes. Max Duggan and TCU have turned into an offensive juggernaut scoring at least 38 points in every game so far this season, but don’t sleep on Spencer Sanders and his Okie State offense as they’ve scored at least 34 in each contest. Oklahoma State has been one of the steadiest programs in college football for the past decade or so. TCU is emerging as a force once again. This feels like a game where the team who has the ball last wins. Unfortunately, I don’t have the crystal ball to tell me which team that will be so I’ll take the pints and hope for the best.

Brian’s Pick: Oklahoma State +3.5

Syracuse can’t keep getting away with this right? Like they haven’t been great, but they’re unbeaten in mid-October. You’ve got to be doing something right to reach this point. I just haven’t seen anything from them that makes me think they’re a legitimate contender in the ACC. Problem is I don’t think I trust NC State either. That offense is pretty ugly despite how good the defense is. So where do I go when I don’t trust either team? Logic like this: It’s October. Halloween is in October. Halloween is orange. Let’s get weird and follow that logic to the Orange.

Brian’s Pick: Syracuse -3.5

You know why this game is on the slate. I believe both of these teams to be bad, but they’re both 4-2. For FSU, it’s a great chance to see a team you’ve already beaten play a team you’ll face later this year. LSU seems incapable of getting out of its own way. They struggled mightily against Auburn (and should’ve lost) and weren’t competitive in the least against Tennessee last week. Meanwhile, Florida should’ve lost to USF a few weeks back and escaped with a win against Missouri as well. My brain says lay the points with the better QB at home, but I hate Florida.

Brian’s Pick: LSU +2.5

You can find my pick and the pick from the rest of our staff here.

Brian’s Pick: Clemson -3.5

I’ve apparently been sleeping on Mississippi State as they continue to cover massive spreads each week. I took their loss to LSU too seriously and buried them when it might’ve been the blip on the radar instead of the nail in the coffin. Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense is humming lately as they’ve blasted A&M and Arkansas the last two weeks. Unfortunately, I remain not sold on them being legitimately good. It’s a bounce back opportunity for UK following a letdown game loss to South Carolina a week ago.

Brian’s Pick: Kentucky +6.5

USC has been one of the best teams in football this season. Lincoln Riley has had this team clicking in his first year especially in the turnover department. His team is a whopping +14 in the turnover margin. Nobody else in the sport is really close to that number at all. Eventually that turnover luck should turn around, unless the luck is really just a well designed offense and a great QB-WR duo in Williams-Addison. Utah was a preseason darling, but their star has faded since they started playing games. USC is due to blow up eventually, but not this week.

Brian’s Pick: USC +3.5

Next Up In Florida State Football

Loading comments...