2010 NCAA Football Week 8

Not a great week for predictions, but a great week for Texas football. I think I learned enough from the weekend to do a much better job this week.

A&M is dead. They quit on their coach and their fans at Kyle Field in the beatdown against Mizzou.
OSU won't go quietly this year and their offense is good enough to win most games.

Big XII Games (50-11):
Texas over Iowa State
Tech over Colorado in Boulder as Dan Hawkins puts the final nail in his own coffin
Oklahoma State hands Nebraska their second consecutive loss in Stillwater
A&M over Kansas in the Big 12 Pillow Fight of the Week

I'm not sure what to make of the K-State/Baylor battle for bowl eligibility. Baylor has a great offense and RG3 will give the Wildcat defense fits, just as T-Magic did. However, Baylor's defense isn't even close to matching Nebraska's D-unit. A quick check of the losses and wins by both teams reveals that when Baylor rushes for less than 100 yards it lost and when K-State lost it gave up lots of yards on the ground. Baylor has more pressure on it because of its remaining schedule (K-State has games against Colorado and UNT left). I think Baylor runs enough against K-State to get to 6-2 and earn bowl eligibility for the first time in forever.

The Game of the Week: BCS #1 Oklahoma versus BCS #11 Missouri. A quick analysis of OU's close wins shows it has a hard time against the passing game. The same shows that Mizzou struggled against teams that can move the ball on the ground, giving up over 200 yards rushing in their two closest wins. Missouri is for real, but I think OU is for realer. The line of OU by 3 seems about right. But I wouldn't be shocked if Mizzou pulls out the win at home to run the streak of #1 teams losing to 3. Mizzou's D hasn't faced anything like the OU offense, and their offense hasn't faced anything like OU's defense. My guess is OU 34, Mizzou 24.


On to the National Games (36-13):
Oregon over UCLA
TCU by 21 over Air Force as voters get to compare TCU to OU
Michigan State over the nerds from Northwestern
Alabama over a reeling Tennessee squad
Utah moves to 7-0 over CSU
Ohio State rebounds versus Purdue
Stanford by 31 over Wazzu
Washington loses to Arizona on the road as Jake Locker has a little less Hyde than Jekyll
West Virginia over a plucky Syracuse team
Vandy bows out of the SEC East race with a home loss to South Carolina
Arkansas over Ole Miss
Miss State over UAB to move to 6-2
Va Tech pours it on against the Not-so-Fighting David Cutcliffes

Auburn over LSU. LSU's offense won't be able to keep up with Auburn's offense as the clock strikes 12 against The Hat and Auburn wins the Battle of SEC Tigers.

I'm not sure who to pick in the Iowa - Wisconsin game. But I'll go with Iowa since they're the home team. That seems to be a big deal in the Big Ten.