WEEK SEVEN - Locks

Syracuse (+23½) over West Virginia
Syracuse is bad, but West Virginia hasn’t shown the ability to beat anybody by more than three touchdowns this year. With Pat White suffering through nagging injuries, I don’t expect that pattern to change.

Utah (-23) over Wyoming
Utah is playing good football right now and Wyoming simply is not. The Cowboys aren’t even averaging double digits in points this season (by far the worst in the nation), so a shutout by the strong Utah defense is more than possible – it’s probable. Utah quarterback Brian Johnson can easily manufacture at least 30 against this group.

Colorado State (+15½) over TCU
This is the kind of game that seems to trip up TCU just about every year. The Horned Frogs are favored on the road against a team with a new coach that is improving every week. Not only do I think Colorado State covers this large spread, I think they have an excellent shot at winning outright.

Louisiana-Lafayette (-21) over North Texas High
If I actually put money on these bets, I would have gotten rich betting against North Texas High School this season. Louisiana-Lafayette has the nation’s top rushing offense and Tyrell Fenroy nearly topped the 300-yard mark a week ago against Louisiana-Monroe! Look for the Ragin’ Cajuns to to approach 500 yards rushing and completely control the clock in this game.

Tulsa (-25) over SMU
This seems to be the week where I capitalize on the big spreads. Tulsa is tops in the nation averaging 56.4 points per game. June Jones is struggling to get his passing attack going as the Mustangs sit on a 1-5 record averaging only 22 points per game. Tulsa wins big.

Other games I like, but don’t feel good enough about to give them “Lock” status:
Texas (+7) over Oklahoma
Illinois (-12½) over Minnesota
Arizona State (+28) over USC
Buffalo (-1) over Western Michigan
Miami (-16½) over Central Florida
Arizona (-6½) over Stanford
Iowa State (+4½) over Baylor
San Jose State (-14) over Utah State
Missouri (-14) over Oklahoma State
UTEP (-4) over Tulane

WEEK THREE - Recap

THE GOOD

*Drew Willy and the Buffalo Bulls knocked off Temple on a last second hail mary. After giving up a go ahead touch down with only 38 seconds left in the game, Willy calmly guided his team down the field and completed the 35-yard touchdown pass to Naaman Roosevelt on the last play of the game for the win.

*The Missouri offense looks unstoppable. If we had to hand out the Bo Jackson Award right now, my vote would be split between Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin. Daniel displayed his deadly accuracy and quick decision making yet again, posting ridiculous numbers (405 passing yards, 4 tds) in only two and a half quarters! Maclin's blazing speed was obviously too much for Nevada's defense as he racked up 172 receiving yards and scored on 3 of his 6 receptions. And if you think these are the only two weapons on the offense, you're wrong - three other receivers each grabbed 6 passes and went over 100 yards in the game. Wow.

*BYU and quarterback Max Hall burst UCLA's bubble. After a nice opening weekend win over nationally ranked Tennessee, Rick Neuheisel and Norm Chow were geniuses. Now UCLA is 1-1 after suffering the school's most lopsided defeat since, like, the '30s. Max Hall was phenomenal. He had a record breaking stat line by halftime (6 touchdown passes in the first half, 7 in the game) in leading BYU to a 59-0 rout.

*Penn State is looking more and more like your Big Ten champs every week. With Ohio State's struggles, the door is wide open for the Nittany Lions. Against a vastly inferior Syracuse team, they didn't disappoint. The starters barely got to play the whole first half in this blowout! The Darryl Clark to Jordan Norwood connection continues to impress, as does running back Evan Royster. Royster might be one of the best kept secrets in the nation right now - he's fantastic. On top of the offensive firepower, the defense only allowed 159 yards and 8 first downs.

*Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford is on a mission to make me look bad for ranking him as the fourth best QB in the Big XII. Bradford simply led the Oklahoma offense to an easy 55-14 victory over Washington in Seattle. The Sooners were never tested thanks to Bradford's efficiency - he threw 5 touchdown passes against only 3 incompletions.

THE BAD

*Cross country road trips were't kind to California and Oregon. Oregon overcame a slow start and 20-6 halftime deficit to beat Purdue in overtime, but Cal wasn't as lucky. Cal had to make the coast-to-coast trip to Maryland, where the game kicked off at noon - or 9 am Berkeley time. They were clearly asleep in the first half as Maryland coasted to an easy 21-6 halftime advantage. This is notable because Maryland was only averaging 14 points PER GAME and was coming off a loss to Middle Tennessee. Cal finally woke up in the fourth quarter and scored three touchdowns, but by then it was too late.

*Oregon could use a quarterback with a bionic knee. A year ago the Ducks season was ruined when they lost potential Heisman Trophy finalist Dennis Dixon late in the season to a knee injury. Backup Nate Costa was already out due to a knee injury so they had to go with Brady Leaf. This season, Costa was projected to be the starter, but he injured the same knee and will be out all year. Then yesterday, Justin Roper injured his knee in overtime and will be out at least two weeks. I'm not sure I would want to play quarterback for Oregon right about now.

*Syracuse. Coach Greg Robinson is obviously on his way out because this team looks completely inept on both sides of the ball. The offense has been awful for years now, but defense was supposed to be Robinson's specialty. Well, this defense is continually out of position and could barely qualify as a speed bump in yesterday's matchup with Penn State's high powered offense.

*Notre Dame and Michigan. Notre Dame won in a downpour, but it looked more like Michigan just gave them the game thanks to 6 turnovers. Rich Rodriguez's offense has a loooooong way to go, there's no question about that. The quarterback play is atrocious, and their best running back right now is Sam McGuffie, who looks like a guy that should be playing in the MAC - not the Big Ten. On the other side of the field, The Ostrich Jimmy Clausen proved yet again that he's the second coming of Ron Powlus with another outstanding stat line: 10-for-21 with 2 interceptions. Notre Dame will make a bowl game because of their lame schedule this year, but don't let that fool you.

*Is there a worse pair of offenses than those featured in the Auburn/Mississippi State game last night? The final score was 3-2. Granted, both defense are pretty good, but those two offenses are putrid. Mississippi State quarterback Wesley Carroll has lead-feet. Even if he had time in the pocket, he couldn't complete a pass beyond the line of scrimmage. I expect that kind of play from the Bulldogs, but shame on Auburn. New offensive coordinator Tony Franklin has that offense headed in the wrong direction. I don't know why they decided to abandon the strong running game they've had for so many years, but now their short yardage running game is embarassing. And the trade off is Chris Todd at quarterback? Ugh. On top of that, Auburn committed numerous holding penalties (one in the end zone that gave Mississippi State their only 2 points in the game) and had a ton of problems with hand-offs that led to two crucial turnovers in the fourth quarter. Auburn scored 3 points in this game, and I think it's an indication of things to come for that offense the rest of the year.

THE GAME OF THE WEEK

*No surprises here. USC dominated Ohio State from start to finish, which falls in line with Ohio State's recent woes in big games. The Buckeyes defense struggled mightily against the speedy Trojan offense, proving once again that they don't have the speed on that side of the ball to compete on a national stage. Joe McKnight ran circles around James Laurinaitis and company, and Mark Sanchez proved he's going to be a step up from John David Booty. I think both teams are right about where we expected them to be.

Big East - RB Rankings

1. LeSean McCoy, Pittsburgh
If you don't know who LeSean McCoy is yet, you will soon. The sophomore running back is one of the best in the land with an excellent combination of speed, agility, and vision. There isn't anything he can't do.

2. Noel Devine, West Virginia
Noel Devine grabbed all the headlines with his high school highlight reel, but he proved those were no flukes by providing highlight reel runs as a freshman at West Virginia last season. His rare speed and agility seems to be unmatched on the college level right now, and he'll be an upgrade over the departed Steve Slaton - who was possibly the most overrated college player of the last decade.

3. Donald Brown/Andre Dixon, UConn
These two split time and are both solid backs.

KEEP AN EYE ON
* Kordell Young/Mason Robinson, Rutgers - Just because Ray Rice is gone doesn't mean Rutgers isn't going to run the football any more. Both of these backs will have the opportunity to fill his shoes this season.
* Curtis Brinkley/Delone Carter, Syracuse - These two highly touted backs have missed most of their careers so far because of constant injuries. If one or both can stay healthy, they'll have the opportunity to save coach Greg Robinson's job by providing the offense with at least the threat of a weapon.