College Football Predictions Week Seven: Who's On Upset Alert?

Bye Weeks: No. 10 LSU and No. 13 Oregon

No. 1 Florida hosts Arkansas. Arkansas has made a ton of statements since losing to Georgia in a shootout and suffering a blow against Alabama.

The Razorbacks blew out Texas A&M and put an end to Auburn’s perfect record. But it won’t be enough to knock off Florida.

Florida prevails, 45-27.

No. 2 Alabama hosts No. 22 South Carolina. South Carolina’s close wins over N.C. State and Mississippi appear to be meaningless.
SCU also lost in a shootout to Georgia and barely survived Kentucky.

Alabama has a terrific defense, and even though South Carolina's defense has played well this season, they won't be able to stay with the No. 2 Tide.

What looked like a ‘trap game’ earlier in the week is starting to look like a landslide. Alabama wins, 37-17.

No. 4 Virginia Tech heads to No. 19 Georgia Tech. This should be a good one. Virginia Tech has looked very impressive, with wins over Miami (FL) and Nebraska.

Georgia Tech just keeps winning, but it’s never an easy victory. Shootout wins over Clemson, Mississippi State, and Florida State have kept the Yellow Jackets on their toes.

The Hokies prevail, 30-19.

No. 5 Boise State heads to Tulsa. Tulsa has some impressive wins this season, but they were all against cupcake opponents.

Boise State is 5-0 and its most impressive win was against Oregon.

As I’ve said before, both teams are top-notch, and the reason that Boise State won is because of the home-field advantage. Both teams are phenomenal, especially at home.

Boise State looks to take the Golden Hurricanes of Tulsa out for a spin. Boise State prevails, 56-27.

No. 6 USC heads to No. 25 Notre Dame to take on the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame has been on the edge of their seats in every game this season.
You may be able to justify that Notre Dame is slightly better than USC, since Washington beat USC, and Notre Dame beat Washington (in overtime).

But that is not the case. USC shows Notre Dame the door, in a 31-14 victory.

No. 7 Ohio State heads to Purdue. Ohio State has been very explosive since giving up 27 points to Navy and losing to USC the following week.

The Buckeyes then erupted, shutting out Toledo and Illinois and beat up on Indiana and Wisconsin.

Purdue has been consistent, but consistency is not good when you’re losing. Purdue lost at Oregon, N. Illinois, Notre Dame, and Northwestern—all within 10 points. Purdue gives Ohio State a little trouble, but comes up short—31-20.

No. 8 Cincinnati heads to No. 21 South Florida. This game will decide the remainder of the season for both teams. UPSET ALERT: Cincinnati.

South Florida has yet to play a worthy contender of a top 25 spot, but this week they go out and show they can compete. Cincinnati avoids the upset, 36-28.

No. 9 Miami (FL) heads to Central Florida. The Hurricanes won’t have too much trouble with this one.

Miami (FL) prevails, 41-20.

No. 11 Iowa heads to Wisconsin. Iowa has had a lot of trouble with cupcake opponents, but they show up in the big games when it matters.

Last week, I predicted a two-point win for Michigan. Apparently, the Hawkeyes were aware of this, because they beat Michigan 30-28.

The Hawkeyes look unstoppable, but somewhere along the line, Iowa will be nudged out of a victory. The Hawkeyes prevail, 34-20.

No. 12 TCU hasn’t proven anything yet, besides winning over cupcake opponents. This week, they host Colorado State. Texas Christian will have little trouble pulling out the win.

Horned Frogs prevail, 31-13.

No. 14 Penn State hosts Minnesota. It’s inevitable—Penn State is the third-best team in the Big Ten. They lost to Iowa, but they’ve handled every other team with ease, and got their first official blowout of the season last week.

The Golden Gophers see a dead end sign ahead, as the Nittany Lions take care of business, 38-23.

No. 15 Nebraska hosts Texas Tech. Nebraska is a very underrated team. Give them credit.
Their PF-PA (Points Forced versus Points Allowed) is 184-40 (against UF Atlantic, Arkansas State, UL Lafayette, Missouri, and Virginia Tech).

Texas Tech is a two-loss team that lost to Texas and Houston on the road. Both games came down the wire.
This game promises to be a good one. Nebraska prevails, 38-29.

No. 16 Oklahoma State hosts Missouri.

Missouri has tons of potential and they're about to have it unveiled. They had Nebraska beat until the fourth quarter, when the Cornhuskers came to life with 27 unanswered points.

UPSET ALERT: Oklahoma State.

Missouri comes out angry and filled with passion, knocking off Oklahoma State, 37-34.

No. 17 Kansas heads to Colorado. Maybe Kansas isn’t as bad off as we thought? Their dominate win over UTEP was no cupcake game, since UTEP beat Houston.

And Kansas ripped apart Duke. Duke is not just the typical cupcake opponent—they gave Virginia Tech havoc. The Jayhawks get by with ease, 34-17.

No. 18 Brigham Young heads to San Diego State. We finally know about BYU and what they’re capable of. They’re a pretty good team. Their win over Oklahoma is not as impressive as it was in Week 1, but they’ve played stellar so far this season.

Their loss to Florida State was more than just a slip-up and it was inevitably a fluke. BYU prevails comfortably, 48-28.

No. 23 Houston heads to Tulane. Houston is better than they’re given credit for and they don’t deserve to have everything wiped off the page, because of a loss to UTEP. Houston knocked off Oklahoma State (in their prime), Texas Tech in a shootout, and beat out Mississippi State—for a reason.

Don’t count this team out of being a BCS Buster because of a disappointing loss. Count them out because of a weak schedule. Houston wins, 43-10.

No. 24 Utah heads to UNLV. I don’t necessarily agree with the decision—including Utah as a Top 25 team. Their only non-cupcake matchup (prior to mid-November) is against Oregon, and they lost in a shootout.

I can understand if they entered in by default (enough teams losing the previous week and someone had to move up). Utah still has a lot to prove.

Utah prevails, 38-17.

No. 3 Texas meets No. 20 Oklahoma in a neutral location (Dallas). Oklahoma is the hardest team to figure out this season. At 3-2, they have explosive victories over Baylor, Idaho State, and Tulsa. They also have two losses to Brigham Young and Miami (FL), both by a point.

Texas could be viewed as a very dominate team, but we’re still unsure of what they can do.

UPSET ALERT: Texas.

Texas will have a sloppy start, but they’ll overcome the upset. Texas wins a good one, 35-29.

There were only two teams in the Top 25 with a bye this week. Since Oregon was already included (in a photo), why leave out LSU? So here are some honorable mentions.

Last Week’s Great Picks

Brandon Buell picked South Carolina to edge out Kentucky, Oklahoma State to top Texas A&M, TCU to escape Air Force, and Kansas to avoid the upset against Iowa State.

‘Last Week’s Great Picks’ is an addition I do every week, mentioning great picks from other writers that either predicted a big upset, or picked the score almost identical to the actual score of the game. Send me a link of your predictions, or post them on my article—I always appreciate a second opinion.

Those are my predictions and analysis for “College Football Week Seven: Who’s On Upset Alert?” I hope you’ve enjoyed it! Feel free to comment, give your predictions, or anything else. Feedback is always appreciated!