Week 7 Analysis

Well another 10-10 week for me with a grand total of 90-53. Vegas is looking further and further away. No wonder the bad record though, this season has been full of surprises. I wonder who will be Number One after the updated polls are released. I would suspect it will be Oregon although Boise State may slip in. The Duck are after all idle. The upset that Ohio State suffered to Wisconsin was something that I did not foresee. I knew that the Badgers were a pretty good ball club but they for the most part had their way with Pryor and co. I thought that the Buckeyes would come back in the second half and judging by third quarter action it appeared that they would do just that. Did not happen though. Wisconsin found their defense in the fourth and the game is recorded in the books as a win for the Badgers. For the second week in a row the top ranked team was knocked off. Interesting indeed. Wisconsin will now have to watch out for the syndrome that causes the winner in a big upset to stink up the place the next week. South Carolina did just that by letting the Wildcat of KY. come back on them in grand fashion. Spurrier must be livid. The Longhorns taking care of Nebraska was a pretty stunning upset. I certainly did not see that coming. The Big Twelve is not all that this year apparently. Still wonder if Nebraska will take the championship in their last year before bolting for the supposed greener pastures of the Big X. I really hope not. I wonder which other ranked teams will take it on the chin from an unranked opponent before it is all said and done. Oregon State is behind 21-7 as of this writing and SDSU has just now upended Air Force 27-25. The Falcons needed this game. Utah and TCU loom even larger on their schedule. It is likely that Brady Hoke will do some good things in San Diego before it is all said and done. Who else? Oh yes Nevada is in Hawaii tonight with the game just now under way. Wonder how that will pan out?We will see if OSU can come back in their contest with Washington. This has not been a good day for some ranked teams against their unranked counterparts to be sure.

In the Sun Belt it looks as if Troy has solidified their position as the team to beat. Louisiana turned in a commendable performance against the Trojans but fell short. WKU looked liked they would record their first Sun Belt win this year but they let ULM back in and the Hilltoppers again found themselves in the loser column. ASU came back on Indiana and fell just short in a wild fourth quarter. FIU handled North Texas with ease. I suppose that Coach Dodge should start shopping for some luggage.

It was a wild day in SEC play today. Auburn beat the Hogs in a game that was much closer than the score. Mallet fell out with an apparent concussion but his back up did a pretty good job. Neither team it seemed could play any defense. Auburn may not have what it takes to be the number one team in the land but they can not be counted out either. The Gamecocks lost to Ky. I bet Spurrier is hot about letting this one get away after knocking Bama off last week. It appears that the Crimson Tide will finish the Rebs off tonight as expected. Mississippi State beat the Gators. When did that last happen? Meyer's club is certainly in rebuild mold. Georgia may have finally gotten it together but I doubt it will save the HC's job. LSU had their troubles it seems against a IAA cross state rival and I am sure they will still be calling for Miles' head in Tiger land. His Tigers are still undefeated though. The SEC is an interesting and hard to predict conference. I don't believe there is any argument that top to bottom they are the best conference this year. The best team in the land may not be found here though.

The Big Twelve is also pretty hard to predict. They seem to be off this year and I am still not a believer in Oklahoma. We will see. Missouri seems to be playing some good ball albeit under the national radar a bit. Perhaps Pinkel likes it that way. Will KSU find themselves ranked soon? They might. They thrashed a pretty poor Jayhawk team last Thursday. Oklahoma State is still in the mix and Baylor is playing some darn good ball. The Huskers loss to the Longhorns is probably the big story in this conference this week. That was really not predicted by anyone I don't think. Oh, and TAMU is done. I think the Aggie faithful will again be crying for a coach to "take them to the next level." Good luck with all that.

West Virginia is probably the only serious team in the Big East. Syracuse had some pretensions coming in to today but their delusions were dashed by Pitt as expected. Nothing else is really worth mentioning at this point. Rutgers did just pull one out of the hat against West Point for those that are interested. Louisville and Cincy duked it out the other night in a game that matters very little except to players, coaches and relations. Cincinnati won that one if you are in the mood for trivia.

The Big news today comes out of the Big Ten. Ohio State went to Madison and lost. This was a very good game to watch. I am still not convinced that Ohio State is not the best in the land though. I would not be surprised in the least to find them playing for the "National Title." Michigan State kept pace by beating Illinois and Indiana had some trouble with a pesky Sun Belt squad. Iowa needed the win over Michigan and they got it today. Purdue took one over the Golden Gophers in the race to the bottom.

CMU looks like they may be out of the Mid Am race now. They were beaten by Miami of Ohio and that likely is the nail in the coffin as they say. The better teams in conference; Temple, Toledo, Northern Illinois and Ohio were all victors today. EMU recorded their first win of the season against Ball State and Western Michigan fell in out of conference play to Notre Dame.

The ACC is in disarray but the better teams seem to be winning for the most part. NC State was upset by ECU in OT. Clemson came out on top as did FSU and Miami. The Tarheels are quietly getting it back together and VA. Tech is back. The "cream" of this conference is still somewhat up in the air. There are some pretty good, but no great teams playing in the ACC this year.

The WAC is the WAC. Boise State rolled as predicted. Nevada is just underway against the Warriors and must guard against being yet another ranked team upended by an unranked opponent.They are down 14-0 in the first quarter. Fresno State is pounding NMSU as expected and Louisiana Tech pulled one out over the Vandals. Utah State was idle.

The Mountain West is shaping up. SDSU upset Air Force but it has been that kind of day for ranked teams. TCU and Utah had no problems as is to be expected. Nothing else is of much consequence.

The only game of consequence in the PAC 10 today is the Oregon State/Washington match up. It is now tied at 21. OSU has come back in the last few minutes it seems. USC rolled the Golden Bears and I am a bit surprised by that. The two standard bearers of the conference were idle this week. UCLA was idle also.

Conference USA is still a bit up in the air. The better teams in the East appear to be ECU and USF. USM still can not be counted out. The West is pretty much in disarray with Tulsa, SMU and perhaps UTEP in the mix. SMU lost to Navy today in non conference play and Tulsa handled the Green Wave of Tulane. UTEP was upset by UAB. Calloway's club has shown some flashes this year and they surprised Price and co. today. U of H appears out of it now as they were upset in the Bayou Bucket by Rice. Even with the Coogs third string QB starting, that should probably not have happened.

It has been an interesting and fun day in the world of college ball with some pretty major surprises. Hope you enjoyed the games as much as I did. I will have the predictions for week eight up as soon as I can.