Week Seven TV Guide
Just some unsolicited advice for the Oklahoma secondary: Cover this guy!Boise's Wednesday game matters, so we get an early start to week 7.
Wed 5.00 ESPN Boise St. v Tulsa (+9.5) - Well here it is, Boise's last "test" if you can even call it that of the season. Boise not only has to be perfect this season, but they can't struggle against any of their opponents or they will get jumped by the one loss bigger name teams just behind them. Tulsa has been putting up the points each week behind the running and passing of QB G.J. Kinne. They won't be able to stop the Bronco offense and that will be their undoing, but I'll be looking to see how Boise State's defense fares againt Tulsa's high powered attack. Boise shut down Oregon who have looked great since, and Oklahoma's D shutout Tulsa in their meeting. Outside of the final score, that's how I'll be judging Boise against the rest of the nation's elite teams.
Thu 4.30 ESPN Cincinnati v S. Florida (+3) - A possible Big East title decider. When Matt Groethe went down, we all wrote off South Florida's chances but here they are with freshman QB B.J. Daniels who has done the job. Senior Cincy QB Tony Pike has gaudy numbers and a win on ESPN here, would validate his team's top 10 ranking and make him a serious outside contender for the Heisman. The Bearcats have gone to Rutgers and Oregon St. and won, so I'm not worried about the fact that they are on the road here.
Fri 5.00 ESPN Pittsburgh v Rutgers (+3) - Rutgers were demolished in their opener at now top 10 Cincinnati and have been able to rack up a few consecutive wins against poor teams. Now they get a 5-1 Pittsburgh team who believe they have a legit shot at a Big East title. I don't think Pittsburgh will challenge Cincinnati, but they can assure themselves a top four finish in conference and a bowl bid with a win here.
9.00 ESPN Iowa v Wisconsin (+1.5) - If Iowa can get through this and at East Lansing next week, then it should be smooth sailing undefeated into the Horseshoe in November. Once again Iowa scraped by last week behind the mostly consistent play of Ricky Stanzi and thanks to Michigan's five turnovers. I think they need to get some more out of Adam Robinson on the ground in order to balance out this offense. The relevant question: Is sneaking out wins each week beneficial? Does it instill some kind of magic knowing how to win/never say die attitude in a team or is it actually more conducive to slipping up on the road against teams like the Badgers?
9.00 ESPN2 Northwestern v Michigan St. (-12.5) - More Big 10 bowl positioning. I'm actually surprised at the line here, but Northwestern did lose to Syracuse.
9.00 ABC Oklahoma v Texas (-3) - One of the more intriguing versions of the Red River Rivalry in recent memory. Two-loss Oklahoma gets Bradford back and Texas faces their first challenge. When you look at the final scores, Texas has been getting the job done, but for those watching the games they have struggled more than they should have against Wyoming, Texas Tech and Colorado. We all know Oklahoma's story and they haven't lost three games in the regular season since 2005 (usually that third loss is in a bowl game). When you add up all of the above facts, Oklahoma will probably be the sexy pick of the week. I'm sticking with Texas to get the job done, because that's what Texas does. Jordan Shipley will be wide open in the endzone late or some shit.
12.30 ABC California v UCLA (+3.5) - Cal tries to get their season back on track against a UCLA team whose defense has been letting them down in recent weeks. The QB situation is also uncertain. Prince returned, but struggled and Brehaut looked strong in his limited playing time. The only thing we can take out of that is that Kevin Craft's UCLA career is likely over. UCLA had a tough time containing Toby Gerhart and LaMichael James so why wouldn't Jahvid Best get back to his 100+ yard ways? I like Cal at only -3.5
12.30 NBC USC v Notre Dame (+10.5) - Few are expecting this to be much of a game, but even a close loss for Notre Dame here would do wonders for their reputation and Jimmy Clausen's Heisman campaign. It's sad that turning in a valiant effort against USC at home is progress for the Irish, but that's what it's come to.
12.30 ABC Texas Tech v Nebraska (-6.5) - I'm trying to get the Ndamukong Suh for Heisman train going. Nebraska's D is getting a lot of props for their effort at Mizzou. Say what you want about Tech but they are still putting up crazy numbers on offense. Even against Texas, Potts threw for 420 yards (albeit on 62 passing attempts). But 4-2 Tech's two losses have come on the road, so I look for that streak to continue in Lincoln. Interestingly, the Red Raiders' only remaining road game all season after this one is at Stillwater.
12.30 ABC Minnesota v Penn St. (-16) - Minnesota has to be happy with their 4-2 start. Losses to Cal and Wisconsin aren't bad, but now they face Penn St. and Ohio St. back-to-back on the road which should bring their record back to 4-4. They finish the season at Iowa City, so barring a stellar road upset of a top 15 team, they will need to be perfect against Michigan St and Illinois.
3.00 ESPN2 Virginia Tech v Georgia Tech (+3) - Virginia Tech got all their work done early on and this is their last test of the year with a win all but locking up their spot in the ACC championship game against an incredibly weak team to come out of the Atlantic division. However, they go on the road for only the second time this year, where they struggled at Duke, and Lou Holtz uttered the immortal line "It's always tough to play at Wallace Wade Stadium." Georgia Tech has serious weakness in their kickoff coverage giving their opponents great field position and putting the pressure on their mediocre defense. Giving up 31 points to Mississippi State is more than enough evidence of this. Tyrod Taylor should manage against this defense and Virginia Tech's special teams and defense may contribute a touchdown or two.
4.45 ESPN South Carolina v Alabama (-17) - Alabama played as dominating a game in Oxford as they could have and they have only a home game with LSU standing between them and the SEC championship game. I still think Ole Miss is a top 25 team so I wasn't surprised to see Alabama jump Texas this week. However, 17 points is a lot. Anytime you can get a decent enough SEC team as a 17 point dog you have to take it.
6.15 ESPN2 Missouri v Oklahoma St. (-7) - It only took one quarter to undo all of Mizzou's good work against Nebraska. Now they head to Stillwater. As for the Cowboys, the Georgia win isn't looking so hot anymore and they struggled at College Station. The outcome of this game hinges on how young Mizzou QB Blaine Gabbert responds to adversity. He had his first poor college game last week and I expect him to come back strong against an Oklahoma St. defense that has (aside from Grambling St.) only turned in one decent performance all year, a 10 point effort to open the season against Georgia and our favorite whipping boy Joe Cox.
Thu 4.30 ESPN Cincinnati v S. Florida (+3) - A possible Big East title decider. When Matt Groethe went down, we all wrote off South Florida's chances but here they are with freshman QB B.J. Daniels who has done the job. Senior Cincy QB Tony Pike has gaudy numbers and a win on ESPN here, would validate his team's top 10 ranking and make him a serious outside contender for the Heisman. The Bearcats have gone to Rutgers and Oregon St. and won, so I'm not worried about the fact that they are on the road here.
Fri 5.00 ESPN Pittsburgh v Rutgers (+3) - Rutgers were demolished in their opener at now top 10 Cincinnati and have been able to rack up a few consecutive wins against poor teams. Now they get a 5-1 Pittsburgh team who believe they have a legit shot at a Big East title. I don't think Pittsburgh will challenge Cincinnati, but they can assure themselves a top four finish in conference and a bowl bid with a win here.
9.00 ESPN Iowa v Wisconsin (+1.5) - If Iowa can get through this and at East Lansing next week, then it should be smooth sailing undefeated into the Horseshoe in November. Once again Iowa scraped by last week behind the mostly consistent play of Ricky Stanzi and thanks to Michigan's five turnovers. I think they need to get some more out of Adam Robinson on the ground in order to balance out this offense. The relevant question: Is sneaking out wins each week beneficial? Does it instill some kind of magic knowing how to win/never say die attitude in a team or is it actually more conducive to slipping up on the road against teams like the Badgers?
9.00 ESPN2 Northwestern v Michigan St. (-12.5) - More Big 10 bowl positioning. I'm actually surprised at the line here, but Northwestern did lose to Syracuse.
9.00 ABC Oklahoma v Texas (-3) - One of the more intriguing versions of the Red River Rivalry in recent memory. Two-loss Oklahoma gets Bradford back and Texas faces their first challenge. When you look at the final scores, Texas has been getting the job done, but for those watching the games they have struggled more than they should have against Wyoming, Texas Tech and Colorado. We all know Oklahoma's story and they haven't lost three games in the regular season since 2005 (usually that third loss is in a bowl game). When you add up all of the above facts, Oklahoma will probably be the sexy pick of the week. I'm sticking with Texas to get the job done, because that's what Texas does. Jordan Shipley will be wide open in the endzone late or some shit.
12.30 ABC California v UCLA (+3.5) - Cal tries to get their season back on track against a UCLA team whose defense has been letting them down in recent weeks. The QB situation is also uncertain. Prince returned, but struggled and Brehaut looked strong in his limited playing time. The only thing we can take out of that is that Kevin Craft's UCLA career is likely over. UCLA had a tough time containing Toby Gerhart and LaMichael James so why wouldn't Jahvid Best get back to his 100+ yard ways? I like Cal at only -3.5
12.30 NBC USC v Notre Dame (+10.5) - Few are expecting this to be much of a game, but even a close loss for Notre Dame here would do wonders for their reputation and Jimmy Clausen's Heisman campaign. It's sad that turning in a valiant effort against USC at home is progress for the Irish, but that's what it's come to.
12.30 ABC Texas Tech v Nebraska (-6.5) - I'm trying to get the Ndamukong Suh for Heisman train going. Nebraska's D is getting a lot of props for their effort at Mizzou. Say what you want about Tech but they are still putting up crazy numbers on offense. Even against Texas, Potts threw for 420 yards (albeit on 62 passing attempts). But 4-2 Tech's two losses have come on the road, so I look for that streak to continue in Lincoln. Interestingly, the Red Raiders' only remaining road game all season after this one is at Stillwater.
12.30 ABC Minnesota v Penn St. (-16) - Minnesota has to be happy with their 4-2 start. Losses to Cal and Wisconsin aren't bad, but now they face Penn St. and Ohio St. back-to-back on the road which should bring their record back to 4-4. They finish the season at Iowa City, so barring a stellar road upset of a top 15 team, they will need to be perfect against Michigan St and Illinois.
3.00 ESPN2 Virginia Tech v Georgia Tech (+3) - Virginia Tech got all their work done early on and this is their last test of the year with a win all but locking up their spot in the ACC championship game against an incredibly weak team to come out of the Atlantic division. However, they go on the road for only the second time this year, where they struggled at Duke, and Lou Holtz uttered the immortal line "It's always tough to play at Wallace Wade Stadium." Georgia Tech has serious weakness in their kickoff coverage giving their opponents great field position and putting the pressure on their mediocre defense. Giving up 31 points to Mississippi State is more than enough evidence of this. Tyrod Taylor should manage against this defense and Virginia Tech's special teams and defense may contribute a touchdown or two.
4.45 ESPN South Carolina v Alabama (-17) - Alabama played as dominating a game in Oxford as they could have and they have only a home game with LSU standing between them and the SEC championship game. I still think Ole Miss is a top 25 team so I wasn't surprised to see Alabama jump Texas this week. However, 17 points is a lot. Anytime you can get a decent enough SEC team as a 17 point dog you have to take it.
6.15 ESPN2 Missouri v Oklahoma St. (-7) - It only took one quarter to undo all of Mizzou's good work against Nebraska. Now they head to Stillwater. As for the Cowboys, the Georgia win isn't looking so hot anymore and they struggled at College Station. The outcome of this game hinges on how young Mizzou QB Blaine Gabbert responds to adversity. He had his first poor college game last week and I expect him to come back strong against an Oklahoma St. defense that has (aside from Grambling St.) only turned in one decent performance all year, a 10 point effort to open the season against Georgia and our favorite whipping boy Joe Cox.
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What a week this should be! And it starts off right away with Boise! And then Cincy! Two teams looking for national respect. I gotta think both roll and make life hard on teams. I am excited for the red river game. There are just to many good games and I think you are right that 17 points is a lot to give South Carolina.
There are conference race implications all over the place. Good week!