College Pick’Em-Week 6-NCAA Football Picks for 10/6

Clemson Tigers Jaron Brown (18) and DeAndre Hopkins (6) host the Yellow Jackets this week in what is the most confident pick on my board. Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

Week 6 shapes up to be an absolute dream for college football fans. For people trying to predict what’s going to happen in College Pick’Em or any other kind of pick-the-winner format, it’s an absolute nightmare. There’s so many great games on the schedule that it’s hard to find any to be really confident with headed into a great Saturday of football.

The ten matchups in Pick’Em are all great matchups. There are four games featuring two teams within the top 25 including a pair of games with both teams in the top 10. Wich Conference play in full swing, there should be some games with plenty of big hits and late drama this weekend, so make your picks and sit back and enjoy.

I enjoyed last week as my picks went a perfect 10-0 (click here to check ’em out). It was obviously my best week of the year and the first time I can remember going straight greens down the board. The average entry was at a season-high 47 and there were two other people in our group (click here for invite) who also had the perfect entry. While “Josh Black M2” used his perfect week to launch up into the top 0.6 percent in the game and to the top of our 13-person group, I moved back into the top 20% of the game after a couple rough weeks.

Here’s my picks for week 6 with a quick analysis of what made me go that direction.

1 point-Penn State over Northwestern: With apologies to my Wildcat friends and readers, Northwestern isn’t going to stay undefeated. It would be their best start in 50 years, and asking them to go to Happy Valley and get a win is going to be tough. Beaver Stadium will be going insane for the Nittany Lions coming off their third win in a row last week when they trounced Illinois on the road 35-7. Bill O’Brien has his team playing well after an emotional opening loss to Ohio and a one-point loss to Virginia started the year off rough. Northwestern isn’t a bad football team, but they rely on their running game which I think will be shut down by a solid Penn State defense.

September 29, 2012; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs running back Todd Gurley (3) runs the ball in the second half against the Tennessee Volunteers at Sanford Stadium. The Bulldogs won 51-44. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE

2 points-Georgia over South Carolina: This is one of the toughest games to pick that I can remember in recent history. Georgia has looked more impressive in their 5-0 start than the Gamecocks have, but the game is in Colombia, SC, which evens things back out. I like the Georgia offense more than SC’s, but SCs defense is better than the Bulldogs. It all adds up to an extremely competitive game between two  similar programs. The winner gets a huge advantage in the SEC East and an iside track to the Championship game in Atlanta. I think Mark Richt’s team is playing better football now and have a little more balanced attack on offense, so I’ll go with Georgia on the road to get the win. More than anything though, I’m excited just to see these two great teams play it out on the field. It should be one of the best games of the season so don’t miss it.

3 points- Florida over LSU: LSU heads into the swamp to face the Gators in another matchup of undefeated SEC teams in the top ten. Both teams have been less than impressive at times so far this season. LSU struggled with Auburn and didn’t bury Towson last week while Florida has trailed in the second half against Bowling Green, Texas A&M and Tennessee before ultimately coming out on top of all those games.  Les Miles is 1-2 in the Swamp, but LSU didn’t look good last week getting outrushed by Towson and committing a handful of turnovers. I think asking a team coming off that much of a struggle to go into the Swamp and win is too much. Florida Head Coach Will Muschamp has his offensive and defensive lines playing extremely well which is the recipe for success in the SEC. I think the slight ‘dogs have it at home as the Gators chomp the Bayou Bengals. Whatever happens, this will be another great game to watch.

4 points-Texas over West Virginia: The picks don’t get easier as Geno Smith and the incredible Mountaineers offense head to Austin to take on Mack Brown and the Longhorns. The Big 12 just missed on it’s own all-top-10 game as Texas sits 11 while WVU has risen to 8. This will be a scoring-fest as Baylor showed how vulnerable the West Virginia defense can be last week scoring 63 and still losing to the Mountaineers who went for 70. I don’t think Geno Smith will be given the time to score that many points in Texas as the Longhors D will harass him and use their athleticism at CB to limit what he, Tavon Auston, and Stedman Bailey can do. The Texas offense features a bit more balance as the Longhorns rushing attack will most likely feature talented freshman Johnathan Gray in the absence of Malcolm Brown (ankle injury. QB David Ash led an impressive Texas drive late to win at Oklahoma State last week, and I think he’ll be able to get the job done at home in a high-scoring game that gives WVU it’s first Big 12 loss.

5 points-Oklahoma over Texas Tech: This one scares me. The Red Raiders knocked off the then-unbeaten Sooners in Norman last year and now Oklahoma has to travel to Lubbock and face the top-rated defense in the country. Oklahoma hasn’t won in their last three trips to Lubboch, but I can’t pick against Bob Stoops after a loss coming of an open week. Texas Tech plays five ranked opponents in a row as Oklahoma is followed by West Virginia, TCU, Kansas State, and Texas in a brutal part of the schedule. I like the Texas Tech team, but don’t think they’ll win Saturday.

6 points- Auburn over Arkansas: Auburn is the 7.5 point home favorite even at only 1-3 and they’ve struggled to score points, but Arkansas’s defense has been trashed by Texas A&M, Rutgers, Alabama, and even Jacksonville State allowing 40.6 points per game. The Arkansas offense hasn’t been pretty either as they come in having lost four in a row and in complete disarray. Auburn has their own issues to be sure, but they hung with LSU their last time out and will try and build on that be returning to the win column against the hapless Razorbacks.

7 points- Michigan over Purdue: Michigan will be seeking its first road win of the year as they head to West Lafayette to face the 3-1 Boilermakers. Denard Robinson is by far the biggest name in the game, but don’t sleep on Purdue’s offense which has put up 48 or more in all three of its wins. Purdue’s opponents though, have not been Michigan’s caliber. The two teams do have a common opponent with Purdue losing in South Bend to Notre Dame week 2 and Michigan following two weeks later and losing by the same margin. Michigan is a three point favorite on the road, and I think Brady Hoke’s defense will figure out how to slow Purdue down just enough to pull out the victory in another high-scoring, entertaining conference game on this loaded schedule.

September 29, 2012; East Lansing, MI, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Braxton Miller (5) attempts to throw ball during 1st quarter of a game against the Michigan State Spartans at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-US PRESSWIRE

8 points- Ohio State over Nebraska: Nebraska rallied late to esape a loss to Wisconsin last week in Lincoln but now they have to travel to Columbus to take on a Buckeye team coming off a big road win against Michigan State. OSU is undefeated as they host Nebraska who lost their only road game of the year to then #22 UCLA. I’ll go with Braxton Miller and Urban Meyer in this one and would have gladly put more points on them if it wasn’t for the absence of Jordan Hall, their usual lead back.

9 points- Stanford over Arizona: Arizona’s explosive offense would usually scare me from putting nine points up against them, but his loaded schedule makes Stanford one of the better picks on the board even after they lost Washington. Stanford’s defense has been good while their offense has struggled. A game at home against the Wildcats defense may be just what they need as Arizona comes in having dropped their last two games to Oregon and Oregon State. In another great game to watch, I’ll take the Cardinal at home in Stanford.

10 points- Clemson over Georgia Tech: Clemson can score points putting up 37 against the vaunted Florida State defense in their only loss and 45 last week against Boston College. Andre Ellington should be set up for a nice game against Georgia Tech who gave up 217 yards and five touchdowns to Benny Cunningham of Middle Tennessee last week. The Yellow Jackets have lost their last two games giving up 42 and 49 points to Miami and Middle Tennessee who’s offenses aren’t as high-powered as Cleson’s. On top of all that, the game is in Clemson so expect plenty of crazed orange-clad fans to pack Memorial Stadium to support Tajh Boyd and the Tigers as they look to move to 4-1.