Notre Dame BYE Week Part Deux: Staff Picks for College Football Week 8

It the second bye week for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and everyone is preparing for their government issued ass-time for Saturday. It’s a week of cheeseburgers, but it’s also a week to take a bit of a deep breath as we prepare for the wacky second half of college football.

So lets just get to the picks:

Pat Sullivan

Notre Dame Fighting Irish 1,000,000, BYE 0

Everything he’s been working toward this year culminates in this ultimate of wedding weekends. Pat Rick has been to 7 weddings, 4 bachelor parties, and rented way too many cars from the Enterprise across the street from his apartment -- he’s ready for Andy and Alison’s wedding this weekend in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, and is even more ready for the reception and for the post-reception Backer trip in full wedding garb that will inevitably follow. LET’S DO THIS.

Kansas Jayhawks 38, Texas Longhorns 36

OUR Kansas Jayhawks have seen the blueprint. The Longhorns lost a decent game to the Oklahoma Sooners last weekend, and considering OU and Kansas are roughly the same, skill-wise, it’s pretty likely that Les and his staff will flip the Sooners’ script into a foolproof strategy for handing Texas its third loss of the year, catapulting the Jayhawks back into the race for the College Football Playoff. ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS BAY-BEEEEEE.

Philip Gough

Holy Cross 27 Harvard 34

I hate Harvard, but they are always talented. Holy Cross is very close this year, and with a down Patriot League they have a real shot at the conference title and a coveted FCS playoff berth. I think this game is close, but Harvard has a bit too much skill across the board for the Crusaders to keep up. The offense is starting to click at the right time, and all the focus need to be on the Patriot League Games.

Bonus bye week upset pick (ATS):The Louisville Cardinals covers the spread against the Clemson Tigers. I think this game will actually be close at some point, though will eventually lead to a 2 score victory for the Tigers. How great would it be if this upset happens though? It would definitely bolster NDs strength of schedule. College football is crazy, so never say never.

Jude Seymour

Cincinnati Bearcats 41, Tulsa Golden Hurricanes 21

Notre Dame may have the week off, but Brian Kelly will undoubtedly be on a college football field Saturday. The University of Cincinnati is honoring their 2009 team -- which Kelly led to a 12-0 regular season record -- at the first timeout of the first quarter. If you are at Nippert Stadium Saturday and you boo Brian Kelly because he left your team for our team before the Sugar Bowl, you really, truly are an idiot. Anyway, the Bearcats are 17 point favorites against Tulsa (2-4) and I expect the march toward the Cotton Bowl continues for at least one more week.

Billy Gorman

Washington State Cougars 45, Colorado Buffaloes 31

The Cougars desperately need to right the ship after three straight losses, and a home game against the 3-3 Buffaloes may be just what they need to do that. It’s become a theme for Washington State this year, but I wouldn’t expect much defense to be played here. Wazzu gets back in the win column this weekend in a high scoring affair.

Bobby Norell

Indiana Hoosiers 37, Maryland Terrapins 24

Maryland got SMACKED last weekend against a Rondale Moore-less Purdue team. The Hoosiers on the other hand are coming off a thrashing of Rutger and held them to 1 (ONE!!!!) passing yard. Indiana is a different team with Michael Penix inserted behind center. He gives the threat of beating you with his arm and legs. I see him having a huge day against the Terps. I like the Hoosiers to go into College Park and win and cover the -6. A win Saturday will put Indiana at 5-2 with games against Nebraska, Northwestern and Purdue left. If the Hoosiers come away victorious on Saturday, #9WINDIANA will be one step closer to a reality.

Bonus Bye Week Pick: South Carolina Gamecocks 21, Florida Gators 17

The Gamecocks ride in on a high after shocking the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens last weekend. They’re going to stay on that high because they’re going to beat the Gators in Williams Brice Stadium on Saturday. Despite playing LSU close for a while last weekend, I haven’t been too impressed with Florida this season. South Carolina has some dudes on their d-line that can cause havoc. It won’t be pretty, but the Cocks will pick up their second top-10 victory in as many weeks.

Brad Wechter

Miami-Ohio Redhawks 21, Northern Illinois Huskies 20

Huskies are good boys and girls. Rest in piece to Diesel, who earned his statue. However, I think Miami will win a close one this weekend. I mean, it’s the mighty RedHawks we’re talking about here.

That’s intimidating.

Matt Greene

Central Michigan Chippewas 31, Bowling Green Falcons 28

Bowling Green just had a conference win when they were double digit underdogs. The Chips have been playing not great, but better than expected this season. BGSU will experience woke up-down theory here. The Chips and Falcons keep this one close, but Central prevails at the end of the day.

Mike Whitlow

Georgia 41, Kentucky 20

Although Lynn Bowden carried the Cats to a much-needed win against Arkansas, Kentucky gets a pissed-off Georgia team that lost to ... let’s check the notes here ... South Carolina? At home? Is that right? Apparently it is, which doesn’t mean good news for the Cats. Facing Georgia is tough enough with a big offensive line, one of the upcoming draft’s best prospects and a ferocious front seven, but a bunch of Dawgs with a point to prove after their title hopes were seemingly dashed last week? That’s not a good recipe for Kentucky to come out on top this weekend.

Lisa Kelly

Auburn Tigers 41, Arkansas Razorbacks 14

Auburn (5-1) visits Arkansas (2-4) in a SEC battle this week. Arkansas, who very recently started to improve, returns home and draws a nationally ranked team in Auburn. Auburn could, in my opinion, really be a team that after a bye last week teaches Arkansas that a loss to Florida will not define their season. Auburn is loaded with talent and has an excellent chance to score a double digit win over Arkansas.

With top ten aspirations, Auburn won’t let up as beating Arkansas is something that they know is a must if they are to remain in the national playoff picture. Look for quarterback Bo Nix to lead the Auburn offense to a sound beating of Arkansas.

Connor Leichtle

Iowa Hawkeyes 28, Purdue Boilermakers 10

Iowa gets its offense back on track slightly this week against an inferior Boilermakers team. Iowa’s defense continues to carry their end of the bargain this week. A loss here and Iowa can kiss away an chance of a Big Ten West title.

Lauren Dangel

Ohio State Buckeyes 52, Northwestern Wildcats 14

Ohio State picked up the banner in the opener against Florida Atlantic, and we can expect the Buckeyes to continue running with it as they take on Northwestern this weekend. The Wildcats’ defense gave Wisconsin a scare in their close loss to the Badgers. However, Northwestern currently stands last in the Big Ten for passing yards. Overall, the Buckeyes’ accuracy will earn them the win this weekend, but it won’t be any time to slack off.

Joe Londergan

Oregon State Beavers 17, California Golden Bears 35

OSU continue to have a lot of the same problems. Injuries. Special teams miscues. An outmatched line on both sides of the ball Cal, meanwhile, have been possibly the biggest pleasant surprise of the Pac-12 so far thanks in part to Beau Baldwin’s ingenuity.

Joshua Vowles

Eastern Michigan Eagles 27, Western Michigan Broncos 23

I gotta be honest y’all... EMU is on a bit of a losing streak. A good way to get over a bad streak is to get up for a rival. Somehow and someway, the Fighting Hurons get the job done on the gray turf inside Rynerson.

Penn State Nittany Lions 2, Michigan Wolverines 0

Best possible outcome. MICHIGAN SUCKS!