Week 7 Smack Down

How many upsets can college football produce in two weeks? A lot. When is a bye week a good week? This week. Is Boise State poised to get more first place votes than Oregon or TCU? We shall see. This week showed off some parody in college football which to me is a good thing and this year’s spots in the National Championship game are still up for grabs. I think Oregon has the best chance but also has a tough schedule coming up and could be the next number one team to get knocked off. The SEC west is about to get crazy as 2 undefeated teams (AUB and LSU) and once beaten Alabama are about to go round robin. But we’ll get to that later.

GAME OF THE WEEK:
#7 Auburn over #12 Arkansas 65-43
I can’t remember the last time a score shocked me as much as this one. I thought Auburn had a chance to win especially playing at home, I knew both offenses were much improved and I knew this was going to be a good game, but I didn’t expect both defenses to part like the Red Sea. Wow. 1,036 total yards in the game! Auburn ran for 330yds and Arkansas threw for 428. Really this came down to Arkansas’ 3 turnovers 2 of which were INTs and Ryan Mallet isn’t looking like the Heisman candidate that he was earlier in the year. Auburn is now sitting at 7-0 on the year and could be poised to make a play for the SEC West crown.
There were a few others of note, but this week, like last week, is about the upsets.

UPSETS OF THE WEEK:
Unranked Texas stings #5 Nebraska 20-13
Nebraska had so much to play for in this game. Ranked #5, leaving the Big-12 after this year, revenge for last year’s Big-12 Championship Game loss… the list goes on. Statistically this game was close but Texas just jumped out to a first half 17-3 lead and just managed to hang on in the second half thanks to a lethargic Nebraska offense. This win probably won’t salvage Texas’ season, but it must feel good to stick it to Nebraska one more time.

#18 Wisconsin over #1 Ohio State 31-18
The Big-10 is now Wisconsin’s to lose or Michigan State’s to win right? This marks the second straight week that the number one team in the land has fallen. Oregon the new number one by default? I think so. Ohio State looked way overrated in this game even if Wisconsin is one of the toughest places to play in the Big-10, they should have put up a better performance than this one. Again, this game was fairly statistically even, but The Badgers just scored early and then again late in the game when OSU probably thought that they would just cruise to a victory. It’s hard to call this one an upset and I really think Wisconsin can now make a play for the Rose Bowl depending on Michigan State’s next few weeks.

Unranked Kentucky defends their house and takes out #10 South Carolina 31-28
This had trap game written all over it. USC took out #1 Bama a week ago and then had to go on the road to play a tough Kentucky team. UK is better than their record indicates and now the SEC East is just one big mess. Kentucky owned the second half of this game after trailing 28-10 at the break. Kentucky QB Mike Hartline threw 3 of his 4 TDs in the second half the last one coming with just 1:15 left to go.

Honorable Mention to: Unranked Mississippi State taking out #22 Florida 10-7 in The Swamp! Where are you Tim Tebow? Oh that’s right; in Denver. Florida is looking rough right now and has fallen to 4-3 on the year with all 3 losses coming in SEC play. Also thank you to unranked Hawaii for knocking off #19 Nevada and getting rid of a pesky fly in the BCS ointment.

BEAT DOWN OF THE WEEK:
#3 Boise State over San Jose State 48-0
Blah Blah Blah. Please somebody schedule these guys so they’ll have to play a real opponent. I give them credit for playing VT and Oregon State this year, but they need to get out of the WAC.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
I’m giving this to Auburn’s Cameron Newton. The QB is 6’6” and 250lbs. and can run. Saturday he threw for 140yds going 10 for 14 with a TD. Not a big deal. But he ran for 3 TDs and 188yds on 25 attempts. This guy is huge and can move. Expect more from him in the coming weeks and if he keeps playing like this he could take Auburn a long way.

PILLOW FIGHT OF THE WEEK:
Florida International over North Texas was my pick for this week and once again I was MONEY! Fla. Int. 34 N. Texas 10. I’m going to test the power of my picks and this blog this week and go to a MAC matchup. W. Michigan (2-4, 1-1) at Akron (0-7, 0-3). I’m picking Akron! Go Zips!