The NCAA season is now moving into its second half and things are starting to hot up. Last week Washington quietly crept into the top 25, however they will be hard pushed to stay their as they have a difficult trip to Stanford this weekend. This game will answer a lot of questions as although Stanford at 6-0 have not done anything wrong, they have not faced the best of opposition and it will be interesting to see how they cope with the confident Huskies. Our view is that they will win, however should they lose we would expect to see them tumble down the rankings and certainly out of the top 10.
West Virginia @ Syracuse
Current No 15 West Virginia will be looking to cement a Bowl place tonight when they take on Syracuse who surprisingly beat them last season. Although the Orange are having an OK season in 2011 it is hard to see how they can make it two in a row against a WVU side who have the look of a top 10 team and who’s only defeat has been against BSC Championship contender LSU, and here they racked up 500+yards of offense.
We expect a two TD+ win for West Virginia and with it the probability of a Bowl appearance latter this year.
No major surprises in NCAA Football week 7
The top ranked teams had a good week 7 with the top 5 ranked teams LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma, Wisconsin & Boisie racking up 259 points between them, admittedly not against the strongest of opposition.
The games of the day for the neutral anyway were No. 8 ranked Clemson’s 56 - 45 win over Maryland, Kansas State’s big 41- 34 win over Texas Tech. Clemson were given a bit of a fright by the Terrapins, who let with just over 7 minutes left, however 2 lTDs secured the Tigers win and their top 10 spot – at least for another week. Texas Tech lost their second conference game in a row to slump to 4-2 despite leading at the half. Kansa Stade are now 6-0 joint leaders of the big 12 with Oklahoma & Oklahoma State. Kansas State are strating to get noticed with yet another slightly surprising win. They are not racking up the stats but they are now set for a showdown with Oklahoma in two weeks which will tell us if they are for real.
SMU had a nice win over UCF which has sent them to 6-0 and they are knocking on the top 25s door now while Ohio State got back on track with a win over Illinois. The Buckeyes who are 4-3 are a much better team than their stats show and they won this one despite only having 17 yards passing! It snot too late for them to rally and figure in one of the better Bowls we think.
Wake Forests recent good run came to a shuddering halt against and despite racing into a 10- first quarter lead the game was practically over by the half as the Hokies rallied.
NCAA Football Week 7 Interesting Games
With the top 10 ranked teams looking to have winnable games this week most of the interest as far as the neutral is concerned will include teams who are either on the up, or are possibly in a false position.
One game which stands out for us is Ohio State at Illinois which is a far more interesting game than the win loss would have you believe. The Buckeyes are languishing at 3-3 in the Big Ten Leaders and while Illinois are currently leading the division at 6-0. So this looks like an easy win for the Fighting Illini. However in our opinion anyway the Buckeyes are the best 3-3 team we have seen in a while, and if they could stop self destructing they could be a top 20 team at least (they are currently a lowly 66 in the CBS Rankings). Last week they were 27-6 up on a good Nebraska side in the Third, before their defense capitulated giving up 4 unanswered TD’s. The week before they also threw the game away giving up 3 turnovers and 82 yards of penalties as they lost 10-7 against Michigan State. With a bit more composure these could have been wins and they could be 5-1. Illinois are a good side but they are not convincing and they have been pushed hard in 3 of their wins. We think the Buckeyes might just pull off a shock here.
Southern Methodist have recovered well from their opening day mauling by Texas A&M and we were hugely impressed by the Mustangs OT win over TCU. A win over current C-USA leaders UCF will have SMU knocking on the door of a top 25 ranking.
Michigan at Michigan State sees the Wolverines put their 100% record on the line against their local rivals and taking the form line through Notre Dame we expect to see Michigan move to 7-0 and with a couple of easier games to follow the Wolverines should be 9-0 which they might well need given their tough finish.
Oregon v Arizona State a Chance for both to Prove A Point
At the start of the season Oregon were one of the teams strongly fancied to be competing in the BSC games while Arizona State were somewhat off the radar. Now after six games both teams will want to prove their point. In Oregon’s case they will feel aggrieved that they have been dumped town to 9th in the rankings for losing their opening game against LSU – hardly a disgrace, and they have done everything right since. For Arizona State, who themselves have only lost once, and that narrowly against the 6-0 and increasingly impressive Illinois Fighting Illini, they will want to show that they deserve their ranking and hopefully improve on it. So given both teams have plenty to play for this looks like being the game of the weekend.
Oregon rely heavily on their power rushing game and since their opening loss to LSU they have no put a foot wrong (pardon the Pun) with LaMichael James already having put in 852 yards. However he is doubtful for the game and it will be interesting to see if the inexperienced De’Anthony Thomas is ready to step up in what will be a pressure game. If James plays and is fit then we would have no hesitation in predicting a Ducks win, however without him we have a question mark against them.
The Sun Devils will come out throwing and with Brock Osweiler looking good you cant blame them. They are currently 24th in passing yards and they have in Cameron Marshall a reliable RB who can help eek out those 3rd & short conversions.
Overall despite theirinjury worries we think that Oregon at home should be just about good enough to take this one however we dont expect a blow out and it could be by less that 7 points.
