College Football: Week 7 Recap and Top 5 Games Pick Results

We now have a new No. 1 ranked team in the country, and highly ranked teams continued to beat up on each other in Week 7 of the 2014 college football season. 

The state of Mississippi had another impressive week, with both schools knocking off ranked opponents and staying undefeated. 

Dak Prescott and No. 3 Mississippi State jumped out early on then-No. 2 Auburn 21-0 in the first quarter, after the Tigers turned the ball over on the first play of their first two possessions. The Bulldogs never looked back in a convincing 38-23 win, where Prescott threw for 246 yards, rushed for 121 yards and scored three total touchdowns. With their second win over Auburn in three years, the Bulldogs jumped Florida State to overtake the No. 1 spot in the AP poll for the first time in school history. 

No. 3 Ole Miss picked up where it had left off just a week before, with a dominating performance in front of an SEC-record crowd of 110,633 at Texas A&M. The Rebels, like their in-state rival Mississippi State, quickly jumped on the Aggies with a 21-0 lead heading into halftime. Quarterback Bo Wallace had another solid effort Saturday night with 178 passing yards, three total touchdowns and no interceptions. 

With the Ole Miss defense holding the Aggies to just 54 rushing yards and intercepting two Kenny Hill passes, the Rebels won 35-20 and are currently 6-0 for the first time since 1962. 

While there was success for the Magnolia State on Saturday, the SEC had two more unexpected outcomes.

After Alabama suffered a heartbreaking loss at Ole Miss just a week prior, it almost happened again. If not for an Arkansas fumble that went through the end zone for a touchback early in the first quarter, along with a blocked extra point by the Crimson Tide late in the second quarter, Alabama wouldn’t have survived its 14-13 victory.

In Columbia, Missouri, a Georgia squad, which was was without running back Todd Gurley, proved itself with an impressive 34-0 shutout win over Missouri. 

The wildest game of the day, which turned into an expected shootout, was between highly ranked Big 12 foes TCU and Baylor. The No. 9 Horned Frogs built a 58-37 lead early in the fourth quarter on a Marcus Mallet 49-yard interception touchdown return, but the No. 5 Bears battled back. Twenty-one unanswered points with the help from quarterback Bryce Petty, who finished with a career-high 510 passing yards and six touchdowns, knotted things up at 58. 

With TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin unable to complete a pass on 4th-and-3 on Baylor’s 45-yard line with 1:11 remaining in regulation, the Bears took advantage of good field position, and Chris Callahan kicked a game-winning 28-yard field goal as time expired to earn a 61-58 victory. 

In the wild, wild West of the Pac-12, No. 12 Oregon bounced back at No. 18 UCLA with a 42-30 win, despite being outgained on offense 553-468. Quarterback Marcus Mariota received more protection with the return of left tackle Jake Fisher and had a stellar performance with 210 passing yards and four total touchdowns. 

No. 10 Arizona and then-unranked USC battled until the very end in Tucson late Saturday night. The Wildcats clawed their way back into the game with a late fourth-quarter touchdown but failed on a two-point conversion, leaving the Trojans with a two-point lead with 1:07 remaining.

Arizona went on to recover an onside kick, though, giving it a chance to pull off the improbable win with a game-winning field goal. Unfortunately, placekicker Casey Skowron wasn’t able to convert on a 36-yard field goal. It was his third missed field goal of the game and helped give the Trojans a much-needed 26-24 road win. 

Pick Results

Overall Record: 22-13

Week 7 Record: 2-3

Note: Team in bold indicates author’s pick

Prediction: Missouri 35, Georgia 30

Result: Georgia 34, Missouri 0

Prediction: Auburn 42, Mississippi State 31

Result: Mississippi State 38, Auburn 23

Prediction: Oregon 38, UCLA 33

Result: Oregon 42, UCLA 30

Prediction: Baylor 45, TCU 38

Result: Baylor 61, TCU 58

Prediction: Texas A&M 34, Ole Miss 28

Result: Ole Miss 35, Texas A&M 20