College Football Week 7: Give Penn State a break (or at least a bye)

This week's top games, featuring the SportsJournalists.com poll, Sportsbook.ag's early lines and p.m. Eastern times:

Thursday, Oct. 11

Arizona State (-22½) at Colorado, 9, ESPN
Todd Graham's done such a good job he may not have to wait until the season's over to take his next job.

Friday, Oct. 12

Navy at Central Michigan (-2½), 8, ESPN2
Support our troops.

Saturday, Oct. 13

No. 19 Louisville (-3½) at Pittsburgh, 11, ESPNU
The Panthers are unbeaten at home against FBS teams.

No. 15 Texas vs. No. 13 Oklahoma (-3), in Dallas, ABC
From this valley, they say you are throwing
We will miss your slow arm and weak heaves
For they say you are soon to be benched now
That Blake Bell could pass better on his knees

No. 6 Kansas State (-6½) at Iowa State, 12, FX
Sorry, Cyclones. You already have your one stupid, inexplicable win against a ranked team this season.

Syracuse at No. 20 Rutgers (-7), 12
All of the New York metro area will ... be bitching about the Yankees getting eliminated.

Iowa at Michigan State (-10), 12, ESPN
Mongo's come to mutilate the new Mark Dantonio.

Auburn at Mississippi (-4½), 12:20
Included for the line.

No. 1 Alabama (-21½) at Missouri, 3:30, CBS
This is the type of game that could drive a Gary Pinkel to drink ... and drive.

No. 17 Stanford at No. 7 Notre Dame (-9), 3:30, NBC
Everett Golson prefers the Manu Ginobili role. Stanford plans to continue flopping.

No. 5 West Virginia (-4½) at Texas Tech, 3:30, ABC/ESPN
There Will Be Touchdowns.

No. 11 Oregon State at BYU, 3:30, ABC
There May Not Be Touchdowns.

Fresno State at No. 23 Boise State (-7), 3:30, NBC Sports Network
David Carr's little brother is a lot like you might think David Carr's little brother would be.

Illinois at Michigan (-23), 3:30, ABC/ESPN
"Shoelace" needs to tighten his spirals.

Boston College at No. 12 Florida State (-28), 5:30, ESPN2
EJ Manuel is an optimist. By knocking his team out of BCS title game contention, he's helped his chances of not being destroyed in his final college game.

No. 4 Florida (-8) at Vanderbilt, 6, ESPNU
In the shadow of a game no one gave a shit about, Pinkel and Commodores athletics director David Williams traded James Franklins. Now we get to see how a 21-year-old bad quarterback handles running a team.

No. 10 Southern California (-12½) at Washington, 7, Fox
Lane Kiffin had two extra days to pretend like he knows how to game-plan for this one.

Fordham at No. 21 Cincinnati, 7
Might as well be a Big East game.

Kentucky at Arkansas (-17½), 7
Watching John L. Smith coach is like watching umpire crews apply the infield-fly rule.

No. 3 South Carolina at No. 9 LSU (-3), 8, ESPN
Ol' Ball Coach don't get why them boys down in Weezyanna can't speak the Anglish.

No. 8 Ohio State (-17) at Indiana, 8, Big Ten Network
Urban Meyer has always preferred chaos. And winning football games. This season, those work hand-in-hand.

Tennessee at No. 18 Mississippi State (-3), 9, ESPN2
Dan Mullen spent enough time at Florida that he can't comprehend losing to the Volunteers.

No. 22 Texas A&M (-8) at No. 24 Louisiana Tech, 9, ESPNU
Who wants to be the one to tell Kevin Sumlin this doesn't count as an SEC game?

 

I'm too lazy for clipping paths.

 

This week's schedule makes me glad baseball is on. Stanford at ND, Oregon State at BYU and SoCar v. LSU and that's about it.

 

The Red River Rivalry could be fun. In fact, this week kind of answers the issue that someone brought up last week about all the good games being on at once. They're staggered Saturday.

 

I figure they're playing for the Cotton Bowl and little else. The loser gets a free "FireCoachX" website launched in their honor.

 

I figure LSU takes it on the chin this week as game two of what I think will be a five game losing streak.

What was it, the SEC Cone of Domination?

I could, of course, be really wrong about LSU but what I've seen is an offense that has trouble scoring points.

SEC, SEC!

 

I hope Missouri beats Alabama this weekend.

I can't fucking believe I typed that.

 

Let's not hold our collective breaths waiting for that to happen...

 

If Penn State wins seven or eight games this season does O'Brien merit Coach of the Year consideration?

 

Given the circumstances, yeah, probably. Heck, they might wind up being one of the 3-4 best teams in the Big 10.

 

I told someone before the season that I thought they'd win 4 or 5 and was told they'd be lucky to win 2-3. I'm stunned they're 4-2.

 

My prediction was 5-7 because the schedule was manageable. Aside from Ohio State and maybe Michigan, there's not a game on there where you'd say "Gosh, they have no chance in that one."