Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Pre Week 7 College Football Report

Lots of Top 25 match-ups this week and undefeated seasons are on the line. The Oklahoma-Texas game should be a doozy as should the Missouri-Oklahoma State game. Then there’s LSU vs. Florida in the Swamp. There’s also a lot of movement and disagreement at the bottom of the Top 25 list as teams struggle to stay in/enter the field.

(Poll numbers are those of the teams entering Week 7 after their wins/losses in Week 6. The pre-Week 6 rankings are after the team’s name. Rankings are from the AP Writers’ Poll/the Coaches Poll/CBSSports.com in that order. NR= Not Ranked)

1/1/1 Oklahoma (1/1/1) The Sooners are now 5-0 as they head into what may be their biggest challenge of the season—a High Noon showdown/shootout with undefeated #5 Texas. With the way these two can score at will, defense will be the deciding factor. It will be at OSU.

2/4/2 Alabama (2/4/2) The 6-0 Crimson Tide hosts Mississippi this weekend and should easily be 7-0 Saturday night.

3/2/3 Missouri (4/3/4) The 5-0 Tigers square off against the 5-0 #17 Oklahoma State Cowboys Saturday night. What the heck is in the water down in Big 12 Country? Five teams are 5-0 going into this weekend and averaging something in the neighborhood of 52-53 points per game on offense. Four of them play one another on Saturday so two will come away 5-1 and at least two will be 6-0 on Sunday morn.

4/3/4 LSU (3/2/3)The 4-0 Tigers travel to Florida in to face off against the #11 Gators in The Swamp.

5/5/5 Texas (5/5/5) The Longhorns take their 5-0 record to Oklahoma to face the 5-0 #1 Sooners.

6/6/6 Penn State (6/6/7) The 6-0 Nittany Lions travel to Wisconsin to take on a reeling Badger team that has lost its last two outings. Joe Pa should rack up another victory and could probably do it from State College, PA, let alone the press box.

7/7/9 Texas Tech (7/8/9) The 5-0 Red Raiders will host Nebraska on Saturday as they hope to keep pace with the winner of Oklahoma-Texas. The Raiders should be 6-0 come Sunday.

8/9/8 Southern California (9/9/10) USC (3-1) plays host to the Arizona State Sun Devils who should be no more trouble than a bunch of little imps.

9/8/7 Brigham Young (8/7/6) The BYU Cougars put their 5-0 record as they host New Mexico. Can you say 6-0?

10/10/11 Georgia (11/10T/13) The Bulldogs look to get back on track after a bye week following their upset loss to Alabama. They should be able to master the guest Tennessee Volunteers Saturday.

11/12/12 Florida (12/13/14) The Gators look to upset the #4 LSU Tigers in the Swamp on Saturday night.

12/11/10 Ohio State (14/12/11) Beanie Wells seemed healthy enough last Saturday against Wisconsin and that’s bad news to the Purdue Boilermakers who have to try and stop him this week when they visit Columbus. OSU should be 6-1 when it’s over.

13/14/14 Vanderbilt (19/19/23) The Commodores, 5-0, take it on the road to Mississippi State from which they should emerge 6-0.

14/13/13 Utah (15/15/16) The Utah Utes are 6-0 as they head to Wyoming. They should be 7-0 come Sunday.

15/16/16 Boise State (17/18/17) The Broncos take their 4-0 record down to Southern Miss Saturday and should fare well enough on that southern cooking to remain undefeated.

16/15/15 Kansas (16/16/15) The 4-1 Jayhawks host Colorado. KSU should improve to 5-1.

17/17/18 Oklahoma State (21/22/NR) The Cowboys are 5-0 but that and a buck-fifty will get you a cup of coffee in the Big 12. This week’s challenge will be #3 Missouri. GULP! Looks like the range will be fenced in by the Sooners. It’s tough to win them all.

18/18/17 Virginia Tech (20/24/19) The 5-1 Hokies are idle this week.

19/20/19 South Florida (10/10T/12) The 5-1 Bulls are idle this week.

20/23/20 Auburn (13/14/8) The Tigers are 4-2 after dropping a close one to Vanderbilt. The host a 2-3 Arkansas team this week that is on its heels. Look for Auburn to improve its record to 5-2.

21/21/23 Wake Forest (25/25/25) The fans of Wake Forest, it is hope Navy left a wakeup call in defeating the Demon Deacons 24-17 two weeks ago. This week the Deacons host the Clemson Tigers on Thursday night. Oh-oh, Thursday. Bad news playing a lesser opponent on Thursday night.

22/NR/21 North Carolina (NR/NR/NR) The Tar Heels knocked off undefeated UConn last week to improve to 4-1. This week they host an improving 4-1 Notre Dame. If they can shut down, or at least limit, ND’s running game they have a chance. To do so they need to control the trenches and if they do that, ND QB Clausen will see lots of powder blue in his backfield.

23/19/24 Michigan State (NR/NR/24) After a tough loss at California (38-31) in Week 1, the Spartans have won 5 in a row. They have a chance to make it 6 as they play at Northwestern this weekend but it might not be very easy. The Wildcats are 5-0. Look for MSU to skin the ‘Cats.

24/NR/22 Pittsburgh (NR/NR/NR) The Panthers were ranked #25 in the preseason polls but lost in the opening week to Bowling Green. They have since won 4 in a row including last Thursday’s upset in Tampa of South Florida. Pittsburgh is idle this week as they prepare for the rush attack of Navy.

25/NR/NR Ball State (NR/NR/NR) The Cardinals are 6-0 as they head to Western Kentucky to play the Hilltoppers Saturday night. They should be 7-0 come Sunday morning.

NR/22/25 Northwestern (NR/NR/NR) The Wildcats’ much improved defense is credited with their 5-0 start. This week they’ll take on #23 Michigan State at home. It could be question of who gets to score at all.

NR/24/NR Wisconsin (18/17/18) After starting 3-0, the Badgers lost to Michigan and Ohio State. This week they get to host a 6-0 Penn State team that just may make it to the National Championship game. Ta-ta Badgers.

NR/25/NR California (NR/NR/NR) The 4-1 Golden Bears are idle this week before heading to Arizona and the remainder of their PAC 10 season.

Gone from last week’s charts: Fresno State (22/21/22), Oregon (23/20/20), and Connecticut (24/23/21).

Just off the screen and waiting for a chance is 5-0 Tulsa. (But with a strength of schedule o5 104 out of 120…heh?)




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