College Football: Week 7 Polls and Schedule

We’re into Week 7 of the College Football Season and there’s been little change in the rankings which have expanded again this week as the BCS makes its appearance. The combination of strength of schedule computers and coaches’ poll goes into placement on the BCS scale so there may be quite a difference in that poll versus the others.

As for this week, the action starts Thursday night with #8 Louisville (5-0) facing their toughest test yet in the 4-and-1 Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The rest of the games will be played on Saturday and, while there should be no surprises for the top 5, #7 Georgia could be struggling. We’ve also got a couple of games between ranked teams that could produce some shakeup in next week’s rankings.

The numbers on the right are for the Associated Press, the Coaches’ Poll, the BCS standings and the CBSSports.com 126. NR means that the team was Not Ranked by that particular poll.

1/1/1/1 Alabama (5-0) The Crimson Tide are on the road to play the Kentucky Wildcats (1-4). There should be no doubt about this one. Roll Tide!

2/2/3/2 Oregon (5-0) The Ducks head north to play the # 16 Washington Huskies (4-1). While the Huskies are a good team, the Ducks are a great one. Ducks win in another high scoring one.

3/4/4/5 Clemson (5-0) The Tigers host the Boston College Eagles (3-2). Another predictable outcome. Boyd and company dominate.

4/3/6/4 Ohio State (6-0) The Buckeyes have the weekend off.

5/5/2/3 Stanford (5-0) The Cardinal play at the home of the Utah Utes (3-2). The Cardinal will do well on the road or not.

6/6/5/6 Florida State (5-0) The Seminoles have the weekend off.

7/7/7/7 Georgia (4-1) The Bulldogs will host the #25 Missouri Tigers (5-0). Georgia may not have their Grade A running game having suffered several injuries. This sets them up for an upset. The Tigers are the team to do it.

8/8/10/8 Louisville (5-0) The Cardinals host the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers (4-1) on Thursday night. I’m hoping that my Scarlet Knights can pull off an upset in this one, but my brain tells me that it will be the Cardinals who will be victorious.

9/9/12/12 Texas A&M (4-1) The Aggies play on the road against the Ole Miss Rebels (3-2). The Aggies win big.

10/11/9/11 LSU (5-1) The Tigers host the #17 Florida Gators (4-1). The Gators aren’t deep enough or good enough to beat the Tigers.

11/13/11/9 UCLA (4-0) The Bruins host the California Golden Bears (1-4). UCLA continues its winning ways.

12/10/8/10 Oklahoma (5-0) The Sooners will host the Texas Longhorns (3-2). The Red River Rivalry. Texas will start Colt McCoy but it doesn’t make a difference. The Sooners win a close one.

13/14/14/13 Miami (Fla.) (5-0) The Hurricanes will have the weekend off.

14/12/13/18 South Carolina (4-1) The Gamecocks play on the road against the Arkansas Razorbacks (3-3). South Carolina wins big.

15/15/15/14 Baylor (4-0) The Bears hit the road against the Kansas State Wildcats (2-3). The only question here is how many points the Bears put up this week. They’re averaging 70.5 points a game in their first four games. While it may be unrealistic to believe they will score more than 70 again this week, they will certainly score more than enough to win.

16/19/17/15 Washington (4-1) The Huskies host the #2 Oregon Ducks (5-0). Ducks over the Huskies.

17/17/19/19 Florida (4-1) The Gators play on the road against the #10 LSU Tigers (5-1). Tigers over the Gators.

18/16/16/16 Michigan (5-0) The Wolverines head to Penn State to play the Nittany Lions (3-2). Michigan remains unbeaten as PSU continues to pay for the sins of the past.

19/18/21/17 Northwestern (4-1) The Wildcats will be on the road to face the Wisconsin Badgers (3-2). Could be a close game as the Badgers always play tough at home. The Wildcats, however, will come out on top.

20/21/18/23 Texas Tech (5-0) The Red Raiders host the Iowa State Cyclones (1-3). The Red Raiders win big in this one.

21/22/23/21 Fresno State (5-0) The Bulldogs will have this weekend off.

22/20/24/24 Oklahoma State (4-1) The Cowboys have the weekend off.

23/23/22/25 Northern Illinois (5-0) The Huskies host the Akron Zips (1-5). The Huskies have a big day.

24/25/25/NR Virginia Tech (5-1) The Hokies host the Pitt Panthers (3-1). Should be a close game. This one is a toss-up and will turn on who makes the most mistakes.

25/NR/20/NR Missouri (5-0) The Tigers head east to play the #7 Georgia Bulldogs (4-1). The Bulldogs are hurting physically. They will also fall to the Tigers this week.

NR/24/NR/NR Nebraska (4-1) The Cornhuskers are on the road to play the Purdue Boilermakers (1-4). The Huskers will win a close game.

NR/NR/NR/20 Arizona State (3-2) The Sun Devils will host the Colorado Buffaloes (2-2). The Sun Devils win by double digits.

NR/NR/NR/22 Maryland (4-1) The Terrapins will host the Virginia Cavaliers (2-3). If the team that dominated West Virginia shows up and not the one that got shut out by Florida State, there should be no contest. Heck, no matter which team shows up the Terrapins win.