Sunday, September 28, 2014

Week 6 2014 College Football Forecast and Predictions

There were a number of good games yesterday with a minor upset in the SEC and another near upset. Florida State was, for a good while, in jeopardy of losing their number one ranking when they called on a pesky (and better than most expected) Wolfpack squad. There were not really a lot of stellar match ups (as far as media hype goes), but there was some good football played regardless. Last week the Bartendercabbie System was 6-4 for a total thus far of 39-11. There are a number of top notch match ups on tap upcoming so on to the predictions for week 6.


1. Arizona vs Oregon: This Thursday night match up should show the Ducks come out on the long end of the stick. It could be a blow out. Go with Oregon.

2. San Diego State vs Fresno State: I have not watched either of these teams this season but they appear pretty evenly matched just going by records. If the Walrus was still in charge up Fresno way I might go with them. He is not. I will blindly pick the Aztecs. I'm sure Fresno State is missing Pat Hill and his mustache right about now and I am also thinking the Aztecs are missing Hoke. I bet Hoke is missing his days in San Diego too. Just a guess mind. 

3. Ohio State vs Maryland: The "experts" have said that Maryland would not be able to compete in the Big Ten. I call bullshit on that. The Big Ten has some pretty good teams but maybe not one that will finish in the Top 10. The Turtles may not (or may) have quite what it takes to upend Ohio State at this point but it could be very close. Go with the Buckeyes.

4. Stanford vs Notre Dame: This one is always interesting and this year the Irish may (or may not) be for real. They certainly appear to be. Stanford might be just a tad off from their recent past but they do have talent and should be up for the game. Go with the team from California in an upset of sorts.

5. Oklahoma vs TCU: The Frogs have been flying under the radar thus far and haven't really played a challenging team. The Sooners may well compete for top spot in the land and certainly are the favorite in the Big Twelve with only Baylor looking like a major challenge. Go with the team from Oklahoma.

6. USM vs MTSU: Southern Mississippi used to be a team that anyone should fear. What happened? MTSU is a pretty good CUSA football team and should win here although it could be close.

7. Bama vs Ole Miss: The Rebs had a heck of a time with Memphis and only pulled away in the fourth. Their offense could not get going with the swarming Tiger defense dogging them every step. The Tide have had a really easy time thus far, playing a fairly typical SEC non conference schedule along with a down Florida, (although WVU did give them some problems for quite a while), and have to talent to wear down Ole Miss. Go with Alabama.

8. Navy vs Air Force: Have the Midshipmen finally fallen from the best (by far) of the service academies to now second best? Appears so thus far this season. The Falcons looked like a rather competent team yesterday with their handling of a fairly decent Boise State squad. These games can be hard to predict but I will go with the team with the better record. Take Air Force for the win.

9. TAMU vs Mississippi State: A toss up here and no mistake. The Aggies had really more than they could handle when they met the Hogs on "neutral" ground in Arlington. The Razorbacks beat themselves more than the Aggies beat them. (Let me be clear here. Despite the loss, the Razorbacks are marginally the better team). The Texas team certainly had trouble with the punishing running game that Arkansas brought to the table. The Hogs have brought some old school, pound the ground football to the table in the SEC certain. That being said, Mississippi State had a signature win two weeks back over the Louisiana Tigers and will be up for this one. This could go either way and I will flip that coin and go with the team from Mississippi.

10. Georgia State vs Louisiana: There does not appear to be a Sun Belt team this season that could come close to breaking into the Top 25. Arkansas State and the Cajuns have knocked on that door quite a bit the last few seasons. Quite a number of  SBC schools have moved onto CUSA and the Sun Belt has taken in some teams moving up from the IAA err FCS ranks and brought back Idaho (that stalwart of southern football). In other words it is almost a complete rebuild of the conference. The old guard remains intact in Troy, ULM, ASU, and Louisiana (Lafayette) however. This game has one of the newcomers calling on the old guard. Both come in with a 1-3 record but the Cajuns have played a pretty tough non conference schedule (Boise State and Ole Miss). Their blow out loss to Louisiana Tech is somewhat of a mystery but.....it is doubtful that GSU has what it takes to win here. I expect the Cajuns to again be a force in Sun Belt action as Arkansas State does not appear to be what they have been recently, ULM lost one of the best recent college QBs you never heard of to graduation, and Troy has been a downright bad team for two or three seasons, and none of the newcomers looks like they will step right up (with the possible exception of Georgia Southern). All that being said, pick the team from Louisiana in this one over the Georgia boys. 

Have a good week and enjoy the games.

4 comments:

Jayhawk said...

The Aztecs are not even remotely missing Brady Hoke. That is not to say that we wish him ill. He said when he took the job that Michigan was his dream job and that he would leave in a heartbeat if he got an offer. We were sorry to see him go, but Rocky Long has endeared himself to us and is doing a fine job.

Bartender Cabbie said...

Long seems to be a good coach. If SDSU fans aren't missing Hoke I still bet Brady is missing his time in San Diego. He has to be miserable in Michigan. He won't have to endure it much longer though most likely.

Jayhawk said...

Especially after leaving the quarterback in the game with a concussion.

Bartender Cabbie said...

yes. that was a dumb move on his part. Selfish and irresponsible