College Game Day – Three picks.  With the second half of the college football season here there will be some elimination games going on.  Games that no one on the surface think will impact the rest of the season.  We did alright last week.  Getting two of the pics right.  Should have went with our first thought on the upset last week and went with South Carolina.  Of course hind sight is 20/20.  This makes us 3 – 3 for the season.  Not too bad over all then.  On the surface this seems like a slow week in College Football.  This is the week where things can start to shake it up a bit.

Impact Game

Michigan at Penn State

I am not really sure how much this game matters.  If Penn State wins and then makes it through the next few weeks there would be a match up of possible top five teams November 23rd when they go to Ohio State.  Last week was Penn States first real test against Iowa.  It was a close game.  A game that we picked wrong.  I guess Penn State showed us.  Michigan comes into this game as a top 20 team.  Pretty sure they are a top 20 teams on based on history.  This team has not looked great this year.  This was supposed to be the year for Michigan and Coach Jim Harbough.  It is not working out that way.  The Michigan offense has struggled.  They beat Iowa in an ugly game.  The only other big test they had was against Wisconsin.  Michigan lost 35 – 14.  The game was not that close.  It easily could have been 49 – 0.  The reason I think this is an impact game is that a no loss Penn State against Ohio State game is better for the Big Ten than a one loss Michigan against a no loss Ohio State game.  The only way this could change is if Michigan were to win convincingly in their next few games.  Chances of that happening?  ZERO.

I don’t think that this game is going to be a blow out.  It will be a relatively low scoring game.  The Michigan defense has been getting better over the last few weeks.  The Michigan Offense has not.   On the other side the Penn State offense has been putting up some pretty good numbers. That was until they had to play a decent Iowa defense.  Then things did not go as well.  This game will appear to be a defensive battle.  I think more likely it will be a battle in offensive futility.

Penn State 24 Michigan 17

Interesting Game

Temple at SMU

It has taken SMU thirty years to rebuild their program.  After getting the “Death Penalty” in the late 1980’s and returning to football in 1989 the team has struggled.  That is the point of the punishment but not sure the people that suffered were the correct people.  So now thirty years alter SMU is making some noise again.  This is a match up of the division leader in the AAC.  While this game does not  have any National Championship implications it does go a long way in deciding who is going to be one of the top teams in the Group of Five or what ever they are calling the conferences that have no chance to get into the playoff.  This should be a fun match up of two closely matched teams.  The Owls one loss was a confusing on to a Buffalo team that is not that good.  It was a let down game for Temple after they had what they thought was a huge win over Maryland the week before.  If these two teams played again pretty sure there would be a different result.  SMU has taken care of business in all of their games.  They had a close game against a ranked TCU team but was able to come away with the win.

Historically these two teams have put up some huge numbers against each other.  This year will be no different.  Pretty sure this is going to be a defense is optional type of game.  If the defense is able to hold the other team to a field goal that will be considered a good defensive series.  This game will come down to turnovers and mistakes.  Which ever team is able to avoid that will be the one that comes out on top.

SMU 45 Temple 38

Upset Game

Boise State at BYU

These two teams are headed in different directions.  BYU has not been the BYU of old  They have lost some close games and gotten blown out a few times this year.  Boise State could be on their way to having the best winning percentage in Division 1 football.  At this point they are just behind Michigan.  Both teams have some significant injuries this year.  Notably both teams quarterbacks will be out for this game.  This is the game that will decide BYU’s season.  It will also define the Boise State season.  With the down season that BYU is having it would be intresting if they could have two wins over top 25 opponents.  They beat USC in week three.   USC probably should not have been rated but they were so it still counts.  Boise needs to win this game to show that they are where they should be on merit.  I don’t see that happening.

BYU 31 Boise State 24