Week 7 National Preview- Who Falls Next?

Last weekend we saw Alabama fall from their #1 perch after being upset by South Carolina. This weekend new #1 Ohio State travels to #16 Wisconsin, unranked Texas visits #4 Nebraska and #13 Arkansas visits #7 Auburn. So who falls next?

Below are the games that I am most interested in this week. Now that we are in the second half I have added overall record and coaches poll rankings as applicable. If you want the full TV Schedule for the week it is available here.

*All times listed are EST.

Wednesday 13 October

UCF (3-2) at Marshall (1-4) 8:00 ESPN2

UCF put a beat down on UAB last Wednesday night and reappears in the same time slot this week to take on Doc Holliday and Marshall. I’ll ride the O’Leary hot streak.

Thursday 14 October

USF (3-2) at #25 West Virginia (4-1) 7:30 ESPN

Is there any chance that Skip Holtz can knock this vaunted Big East power from their #24 ranking? Hell yeah there is. The Bulls are a 13.5 point dog in this one but the Big East is just awful. No telling how this game shakes out.

Kansas State (4-1) at Kansas (2-3) 7:30 FOX

Fox is airing the latest iteration of the Sunflower Showdown head to head against the standard Thursday Night ESPN broadcast. I wonder if anyone outside of the Midwest will notice? Turner Gill has had a rough go thus far but will look to get back on track by handing K State their second consecutive Thursday night defeat. Turner specializes in winning a game or two that he shouldn’t. Could this be one of them? The fine gents over at Oread Boom Kings think so.

Friday 15 October

Cincinnati (2-3) at Louisville (3-2) 7:30 ESPN

Check it out, another Friday Night Big East thriller! I couldn’t bring myself to watch last week’s version and that lack of interest will likely reappear again this week.

Saturday 16 October

Boston College (2-3) at #17 Florida State (5-1) 12:00 ESPN

Awesome, ESPN is finally showing a good game in the early slot! Just kidding…. Seriously is it that hard? The lack of decent 12:00 games followed by the cluster at 3:30 is apparently a season long plan. Perfect.

#19 Missouri (5-0) at Texas A&M (3-2) 12:00 FOX

Mizzu is 5-0 against 3 patsies, Illinois and Colorado. TAMU just dropped consecutive close ones to Okie Light and Arkansas. I’m all over the Ags in a defenseless shootout at Kyle Field.

Western Michigan (2-3) at Notre Dame (3-3) 2:30 NBC

Western Michigan has a decent passing offense and otherwise appears to be terrible in just about every conceivable way. They have compiled a 2-3 record thus far with the only game of note being a 38-14 loss to Michigan State on opening weekend. This game will give the Notre Dame offense a chance to work out some kinks against inferior competition and hopefully get some reps for the rest of the depth chart. This one needs to be in the bag by halftime.

Stand by for the end of the home sellout streak unless something very creative happens in the next few days.

#13 Arkansas (4-1) at #7 Auburn (6-0) 3:30 CBS

Now this is interesting. I made the bold prediction before the season started that Auburn would win the SEC West. That is well within reach but War Eagle has to win this game to stay in the driver’s seat. I’ll take Cam Newton over Mallett in a barn burner.

#14 Iowa (4-1) at #24 Michigan (5-1) 3:30 ABC/ESPN (Regional)

Iowa has a little bit of defense. Michigan has little to no defense and their pass defense is particularly suspect. The Wolverines do have Denard Robinson though and I’m still not convinced that Ricky Stanzi is all that good. If Stanzi shows up Iowa wins this one comfortably. If he throws a couple of picks Robinson and the Wolverines might make a game out of it.

Texas (3-2) at #4 Nebraska (5-0) 3:30 ABC/ESPN (Regional)

Before the season started this was one of the games that I was most looking forward to. That was before the emergence of Nebraska QB Taylor Martinez and the Longhorns looking considerably less formidable than I expected them to. At this point in the season Nebraska looks like the best team in the Big 12. Their offense is significantly better with Martinez under center and they are the only team in the league with a great defense. Barring a rash of Husker mistakes and some help from the zebras I don’t see how Texas can win this game but I will tune in regardless.

Cal (3-2) at USC (4-2) 3:30 FOX (Regional)

Can the Trojans make it 3 losses in a row? I like the odds that they do. I will flip over on one of the secondary TV’s from time to time just to see how this one is progressing. If Kiffin goes down for the 3^rd consecutive time I will tune in just to watch him as time expires.

#18 Oklahoma State (5-0) at Texas Tech (3-2) 3:30 FOX (Regional)

This is a potentially entertaining game that is going to fall victim to too much competition in the same time slot. Oh well. Look for 100 pts and 1,000 yards of offense in Lubbock.

#1 Ohio State (6-0) at #16 Wisconsin (5-1) 7:00 ESPN

Will the #1 team in the nation go down for the second consecutive week? I sure as hell hope so. Since the Bucks don’t play Michigan State the only real competition they have left after this one is Iowa. I suppose Dick Rod and Denard are a wildcard to be a fly in the soup but without a defense that will be a long shot. Wait where was I? Oh yeah, Terrelle Pryor has to go into Camp Randall and steal one in front of 80,000 hostile and drunken cheese heads. Come on Wiscy, live up to the preseason hype for once and make this happen!

Ole Miss (3-2) at #8 Alabama (5-1) 9:15 ESPN2

For some reason I find it amusing that Houston Nutt will be the recipient of the Little Nicky bounce back/ revenge beating. Heh, heh, heh…..

Oregon State (3-2) at Washington (2-3) 10:15 ESPN

This could be a remotely entertaining game to keep an eye on while I start cranking out my weekly wrap up post. The Beavers are coming off of a big win and are down one Rogers brother. U Dub and Locker are looking to get back to .500. Interesting. I’ll take the Dawgs in an upset at home.

What do you think?