Sep 14, 2013; Columbia, SC, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks quarterback Connor Shaw (14) celebrates a touchdown by a teammate against the Vanderbilt Commodores in the first quarter at Williams-Brice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports
It’s another busy Saturday of College Football action with some great games on the schedule including a top ten matchup from the SEC and three other games with a pair of top-25 teams facing off. The #1 ranked Crimson Tide are in one of those games as they host #21 Ole Miss tonight. Several other top teams face road tests, so there should be plenty of drama as usual making picking the winners tricky.
Last week, my top four picks all came through but I missed on a couple of upset picks and finished with a total of 43 points in ESPN’s College Pick’em. In our FantasyCPR group, pitpenguins66 had another great week putting up 51 and moving into the top 0.1% on the season which is pretty impressive.
Here are my picks for today’s games in this fifth week of NCAA Football:
Sep 21, 2013; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Aaron Murray (11) passes against the North Texas Mean Green during the second half at Sanford Stadium. Georgia defeated North Texas 45-21. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
1 point- Georgia Bulldogs over LSU Tigers: The Bulldogs are 3 1/2 point favorites at home as they host the Tigers in probably the biggest matchup of the day. Georgia has played a brutal schedule and gets this game at home, so I think they’ll beat the Tigers who will be playing their first true road game.
2 points- Northern Illinois Huskies over Purdue Boilermakers: The Huskies will be looking to move to 4-0 as they try to knock off their second Big Ten opponent of the season. NIU are 3.5 point favorites and have just too much offense for the Boilermakers who lost last week 41-10 to Wisconsin.
3 points- Minnesota Golden Gophers over Iowa Hawkeyes: Minnesota come into this Big Ten clash as two-point home underdogs. The Hawkeyes only loss was to Northern Illinois in the opener, but since then they’ve rolled over Missouri State, Iowa State, and Western Michigan. Minnesota’s start has been even better as they’ve ridden a potent rushing attack to a 4-0 start as they host Iowa. I think Jerry Kill’s squad avenges their loss last season and gets the minor upset over Iowa.
4 points-Oklahoma Sooners over Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Historically, Notre Dame owns Oklahoma, but OU come into South Bend as 3.5 point favorites this week. ND has struggled to run the ball which could be a problem against the explosive Oklahoma offense that went off for 51 with Blake Bell under center two weeks ago in their last game.
5 points-Ohio State Buckeyes over Wisconsin Badgers: This Primetime, Big Ten, top-25 matchup will be a big test for the Buckeyes as they try and beat the Badgers for the third year in a row. They come in as 6.5 point favorites, but OSU has played an easy schedule, so it’s hard to be too confident in Urban Meyer’s team. I do think they’ll win because they are at home, but I wouldn’t put it any higher than 5 points.
Sep 14, 2013; Tempe, AZ, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils running back Marion Grice (1) and quarterback Taylor Kelly (10) celebrate a one yard touchdown during the first half against the Wisconsin Badgers at Sun Devil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
6 points-Arizona State Sun Devils over USC Trojans: The Trojans held on last week to beat Utah State but will face a tougher test as they head to the desert to face the 3.5-favored Sun Devils. ASU lost their Pac-12 opener last week in Stanford, but at Sun Devil Stadium they beat Wisconsin in their last home game. I’ll take the home team in what should be a shootout and a fun nightcap tonight.
7 points-Stanford Cardinal over Washington State Cougars: Stanford faces a road test as they take on the Cougars who already got one upset when they beat then-#25 USC. Since that game, the Cougars have crushed Southern Utah and Idaho, but Stanford looked like a legit top-5 team last week and should be able to go get the win on the road this week. Next week, the Cardinal face the Washington Huskies so they need to avoid a trap game here coming in as 9.5 point favorites.
8 points- Alabama Crimson Tide over Ole Miss Rebels: Ole Miss is ranked and undefeated, but Alabama is still favored by 14 at home. The Crimson Tide have been so dominant despite an offense that has struggled at times. Ole Miss could shock the world this week, but they would need to play an incredible game to pull it of in Tuscaloosa. I wouldn’t give that many points, but since this is straight-up picks I’ll go with ‘Bama.
9 points- South Carolina Gamecocks over UCF Knights: The Gamecocks are -6.5 on the road as they travel to undefeated Central Florida. SC slipped towards the end of their win over Vandy, but I’m pretty confident their defense will be able to contain the Golden Knights while the Gamecocks offense will be too much for UCF to handle. SC has won 17 straight non-conference games.
Sep 21, 2013; College Station, TX, USA; Texas A
10 points- Texas A&M Aggies over Arkansas Razorbacks: Johnny Manziel and the Aggies shrugged off their loss to Alabama with a big win last week and now head to Fayetteville to take on the Hogs. They come in as two-touchdown favorites against Arkansas who blew a game last week when they fell apart at Rutgers. The Aggies offense has been impressive scoring 42 points or more in their first four games and I don’t think Arkansas can keep up.