College Football - Week 8

In the national scope of college football, week 8 might be the biggest weekend yet of 2010. You've got #14 Nebraska at undefeated #17 Oklahoma State, #10 Wisconsin at #13 Iowa, undefeated #3 Oklahoma at undefeated #18 Missouri, and the biggest game of all undefeated #6 LSU at undefeated #5 Auburn. It should be a great weekend of games.

Ole Miss at Arkansas should be a good game. Ryan Mallett's status is uncertain but after watching Tyler Wilson play I'm not sure it matters that much. After throwing for 300+ yards and four touchdowns he did throw a couple picks to seal the game for Auburn, but if he does have to start I think the Hogs will have enough to beat Ole Miss. Fayetteville is a tough place to play, and I think everyone is downgrading Arkansas' stock a little too much. They are still a good team and they win by 10 points. In the only nonconference SEC game of the week Mississippi State is hosting UAB as 20 point favorites. I like State to take care of business, 35-14. Florida is off this week.

Alabama at Tennessee has diminished into just another game on the schedule. Although last year's matchup was a really great game and if Cody wouldn't have blocked either one of those two field goals Alabama probably doesn't win the national championship. Nevertheless, I expect more of the same from Tennessee as we have seen so far this year. They are coming off a bye so they should have rebounded from the Georgia debacle, but the Tide have too much talent. I wouldn't be surprised if Tennessee jumped out to an early lead because they will be so pumped up, but in the end they don't have enough depth to complete for 4 quarters.

If South Carolina doesn't bounce back at Vanderbilt I don't know what to say about that program. It would be funny to see Vandy win and be in first place in the East but in all seriousness South Carolina needs to win this game to get some momentum back. Amazingly, the Cocks could lose this game and most likely control their own destiny (assuming Vanderbilt doesn't go on a tear to end the season). They have yet to win on the road this year and this is the perfect opportunity to. After getting thrashed 43-0 I'm not sure the Commodores are holding onto much confidence right now...27-13 Gamecocks.

I think the Georgia at Kentucky game is very interesting. You've got Georgia, who is coming off two impressive wins at home and Kentucky who just got Joker Philips his first big win vs. South Carolina. Both team's bowl status is up in the air, and this game could propel this to reaching that goal and in Kentucky's case set them into a position for a middle-tier bowl. Kentucky has played great at home this year also taking Auburn to the brink. I'm not sure if Derrick Locke will be back for this game or not, but they will probably need him because Georgia's defense is starting to come together. I'm about to jump on bandwagon with Georgia, they have the potential to really turn this season around, I think it continues this week...they win a close one in Lexington.

The biggest game of all is LSU at Auburn. I am excited to watch this one for sure. My initial reaction is to pick Auburn hands down, but there could be a few things Patrick Peterson and Drake Nevis have to say about that. This will be the toughest defense Cam Newton has faced since the Mississippi State game...a game where Auburn's vaunted offense was held to only 17 points. LSU offense is improving, and I definitely think they need to stick with Jerrett Lee at quarterback. Terrance Toliver is a great WR and I think he will come up big in this game just as many other wideouts have against the Auburn secondary this year. Still, I think Auburn has just enough defense and several good wide receivers which will allow them to throw away from Peterson effectively. I have a feeling Fairley will be in the backfield all game long and I look for Auburn to take the home field advantage to a victory, 24-16.

Elsewhere across the country there are actually some interesting games as I mentioned before. I like Northwestern to upset Michigan State in Chicago. I picked Iowa to end up at #4 in the country, I still think they are capable of that so I am sticking with them this week to hold off Wisconsin at home. That is enough about the Big Ten...the Big 12 also has some big games. I honestly know nothing about Missouri or Oklahoma State but they are both undefeated. I'm not really sure Nebraska is as good as I thought, even with Taylor Martinez who I didn't know about in the preseason...but I think they can bounce back from the loss last week and get a much needed win on the road in Stillwater. As far as Missouri goes, I am going to pick them to upset Oklahoma at home...Gary Pinkal has something going up there and I don't think Oklahoma is really an elite team. In what is always a good game to watch, I like Clemson over Georgia Tech. I've already picked two upsets but my biggest upset special of the week is Air Force over TCU. TCU does have a stout defense but let's face it, they have been playing absolute patsies. The only two times this year they have played good offenses they have given up 21 points to Oregon State and 24 points to SMU. Air Force has been lighting the scoreboard up, and I think last week's loss at San Diego State was due more to TCU coming up this week than anything. I think this is TCU's only loss of the season...at home they lose to Air Force, 24-21.

JB