Zultan's Week 7 College Football Fearless Forecast

Zultan was so close to perfection this past weekend, but LSU failed to hold off the Florida Gators, going down 14-6.

That was the Fearless Seer's only miscue this past Saturday—ending 9-1 in Week 6. Only one of you out-guessed Zultan—Chris Humphreys, who runs the the Sports Chump Blog (sportschump.net). Still, he had to score a perfect 10-0 to do so. I wonder what brand of crystal ball he uses. Zultan will investigate.

For the rest of you, perhaps Week 7 will be better. It looks like a promising week for major upsets.

Back home, the brief respite for the Hawkeyes is over—not much good happened during Iowa's bye week. It seems that a few players partied themselves into a tight spot. Consequently, I had to convince Mom that “The Register” went out of business and that "no news is good news" as far as the Hawkeyes were concerned. 

This week the Hawks travel to East Lansing to face Michigan State; I will be slipping tranquilizers into Mom’s Bosco.

In the Big Ten, only Ohio State (No. 8) and Michigan (No. 25) are ranked. The Big Ten continues to sink in all football categories except making money—which is a favorable spot if you cannot excel on the gridiron.

The question now is: Can you outguess the Fearless One? Are you willing to take a chance and live life on the edge like Zultan? Be forewarned: Week 7 is going to be rough. There are no easy contests this week.

If you want a piece of the action just make your picks and we will see who is better at predicting the future on Saturday.  

First of all, the Spartans (4-2) are favored in this week’s game.

Michigan State held off Indiana last weekend 31-27, winning the game in the fourth quarter after showcasing a less-than-sterling outing against the Hoosiers. 

Iowa, won their Big Ten opener over the Minnesota Gophers, but had some bye-week issues that cloud the crystal ball’s forecasting ability. What remains crystal clear is the image of Mark Weisman rushing for 177 yards, 155 of which came in the first half as Iowa shot out to a 24-0 lead. 

Unfortunately, the Michigan State defense is considerably better than Minnesota’s. Plus, the game is in hostile territory for the Hawks. Sorry Mom!

Pick: Michigan State

Northwestern (5-1) lost their first game of the season against Penn State (4-2) last weekend—mainly because of a superior defensive effort in the second half by the Lions. 

The Penn State offense also won the final fifteen minutes of the game hands down, scoring 22 unanswered points.  That was enough to pull Northwestern off their undefeated perch as the Wildcats suffered their first defeat 39-28.

Minnesota (4-1) also has only one loss on the season—to the Iowa Hawkeyes in Week 5. In that game, the Gophers were without the talented Marqueis Gray sitting in the pocket, leading the Gopher offense.

Whether Gray returns or not, offense will not be the issue for the Gophers. 

The main problem for the Gophers will be on defense and trying to stop the potent Wildcat offense. 

Pick: Northwestern

What has happened to Wisconsin? The Badgers (4-2) certainly have not performed as we expected at the start of the season. Of course, this is a down year for the Big Ten all around.  

Last week, it took the Badgers three quarters to work up enough speed and willpower to overcome the fighting Illini, scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter to win the game at home in Camp Randall Stadium. 

Purdue (3-2), on the other hand, could not stop the running attack of Wolverine Denard Robinson.

The Wolverine quarterback rushed for 235 yards on the day, scored one touchdown on the ground as well as one through the air to Devin Gardner. 

Purdue managed 13 points on the day but the Boilers were ultimately crushed by the Wolverines 44-13.  

Saturday’s game will be played at West Lafayette and is a toss-up. It is a tough, tough pick but, ultimately, the Badgers have more talent and at this point in the season, they will step it up in order to have a chance to end the season with decent numbers giving them a shot at a major bowl.

Pick: Wisconsin

Last weekend, Purdue had no answers when it came to stopping Denard Robinson and the potent offense of the Michigan Wolverines.

It stands to reason that the Fighting Illini will also be unable to stop the Wolverine—especially playing at home in front of Ann Arbor kinfolk. 

The Illinois squad seems lost this season. They have had some good moments but not enough consistency on either side of the ball to win in the Big Ten—at least so far.

Their defense is once again severely lacking.

You cannot win if you cannot stop the other team from scoring at will.

Pick: Michigan

Indiana (2-3) played one heck of a game against the Michigan State Spartans (4-2) in Week 6.

The Hoosiers kept pace step-for-step until the fourth quarter when the Spartans stepped down hard on the accelerator to shoot past Indiana in the fourth quarter. 

Cameron Coffman threw for 282 yards, including three touchdowns and no interceptions against a very good Spartan defense. The Hoosiers, however, gained only 35 rushing yards on the day which eventually led to Michigan State shutting them down in the fourth quarter. 

Indiana, however, possesses a lot of untapped potential which seems to emerge week by week.

Ohio State (6-0), however, remains the one bright spot in the Big Ten. Last week, the Buckeyes crushed the Nebraska Cornhuskers, making their biggest statement so far.  

The scope of the loss knocked Nebraska out of the Top 25 in both polls, leaving a huge hole in the Legends Division or perhaps paving the way for Michigan to seize control. 

Ohio State is, of course, ineligible for postseason play yet continue to lead the conference in every conceivable manner—both good and bad.  

Pick: Ohio State

This is a big game in both the SEC and in the Top 25. South Carolina (6-0) travels to Baton Rouge to do battle with LSU (5-1) on Saturday.

Last weekend, LSU lost their first game of the season to Florida (5-0) in Gainesville. Perhaps the loss will serve as a wake-up call to the Tigers who may be resting on their laurels and the previous season’s success.

This week, LSU welcomes a team that dominated then No. 5-ranked Georgia last weekend in an unexpectedly lopsided game.

The Gamecocks rolled out 392 yards of offense against the Bulldogs who seemed flat and out of sync on the afternoon. South Carolina’s defense did its job convincingly.  

This week, the Gamecocks no doubt will find a newly inspired LSU team waiting.

Pick: LSU

Stanford (4-1) travels to South Bend to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-0) in Week 7. Both teams are ranked in the Top 25 and have much yet to prove concerning their lofty college football rankings. 

To date, Notre Dame remains undefeated while Stanford has suffered one loss on the season at the hands of the Washington Huskies.

Last week, the Cardinal had to scramble to outmaneuver Arizona in overtime to secure the win.  

Stanford so far has not fared well on the road. In fact, this will be only their second road test of the season.

They lost to Washington on the road and they will lose again to Notre Dame on the road.

Pick: Notre Dame

Note: If the game were at Stanford, then Zultan would pick the Cardinal to win.

It is time for the annual Red River Rivalry game between Texas (4-1) and Oklahoma (3-1) for bragging rights in the Big 12.

The Sooners have already suffered one loss this season to Kansas State and can afford no more losses if they wish to play in a BCS Bowl in January.  

Texas lost last weekend at home to the West Virginia transplants who proved to have too much offense for the Longhorns to handle. 

Last second heroics sealed the game for the Mountaineers as they fell on an onside kick booted by Texas after a late fourth quarter score. 

Oklahoma has an experienced leader in quarterback Landry Jones who is bolstered by his backfield. This extra ingredient will be enough to turn the tide.

Pick: Oklahoma

USC (4-1) had to scramble to win against Utah in Week 6. The Utes shot out to a 14-0 early lead over the Trojans. That was before Matt Barkley and Co. turned the game around—coming back to win on the road 38-28.

Earlier in the season, USC was upset at Stanford; this after being the preseason No. 1-ranked team in college football.

The Trojans are now slowly turning their season around and will no doubt finish strong.

The Washington Huskies (3-2), however, defeated Stanford the week after the Cardinal upended USC in a big upset of their own.

So far Washington has lost twice: to No. 2 Oregon and to a then No. 3-ranked LSU.  

Playing in Seattle can be tricky. The Huskies like to play at home where the fans are very supportive.

Still, you have to favor the Trojans in this one.

Pick: USC

Louisiana Tech has defeated Houston, Rice, Illinois, Virginia and UNLV so far this season to remain undefeated. The game on Saturday is a makeup game that was postponed from August 30 when their game with Texas A&M (4-1) was interrupted by a hurricane.

Since then, the Bulldogs have been waging a storm of their own, leading the WAC even though they have not played a WAC opponent yet this season.

Texas A&M lost their opener against then No. 24-ranked Florida, 20-17. The Aggies have remained undefeated since against SMU, South Carolina State, Arkansas and Ole Miss.  

These are a couple of high-scoring teams and this one promises to offer plenty of action and plenty of touchdowns. 

You have to pick a ranked SEC team over a ranked WAC team.  That is my opinion anyway.

Pick: Texas A&M