This week we’ve got a lot of games that are mostly interesting only for their impact inside of their respective conferences. The top teams aren’t likely to lose, although you can never be too sure.
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Somehow, the Michigan State/Nebraska game was originally left out of this post. It’s back now. Hooray internet!
As a bonus this week, I’m giving you an actual score prediction from the system I’ve been experimenting with the past few weeks. For whatever reason, it does a terrible job with mid-week MACtion, but has been pretty decent with the bigger games.
Note that these predictions are largely dependent on gambling numbers, so close scores can be affected by significant movement in those numbers. I’ve used the most up-to-date numbers at the time of this post and will try to update them as the games get closer if at all possible.
Thursday
7:30pm
Georgia Tech at Clemson. This should be an interesting match-up. Both teams have pretty good offenses and pretty good defenses. Clemson’s only impressive win was the season-opener against Georgia (which looks much worse now), but that’s one more than Georgia Tech, who has lost to every decent team they’ve played. (ESPN)
Most Likely Outcome: Clemson 24, Georgia Tech 21
Saturday
Noon
Ohio State at Illinois. Well, you’re already going to watch, so we might as well talk about it. We’re going to win. Any questions? (ESPN)
Most Likely Outcome: Ohio State 51, Illinois 7
3:30pm
Michigan State at Nebraska. The last thing both of these teams did was hold Michigan to negative rushing yards. See how that never stops being funny?
Most Likely Outcome: Michigan State 20, Nebraska 10
Georgia at Auburn. Most people feel like Auburn has the best chance to knock Alabama out of the national title race. Let’s hope they’re not thinking about that just yet. (CBS)
Most Likely Outcome: Auburn 30, Georgia 24
Miami (FL) at Duke. With no Duke Johnson, Miami was absolutely demolished by a fairly mediocre Virginia Tech team last week. Duke isn’t any worse than the Hokies, and Johnson isn’t any less injured. (ESPNU)
Most Likely Outcome: Duke 45, Miami 10
Michigan at Northwestern. These two teams have been skidding ever since hitting conference play. The Wildcats are lost cause, but a Wolverine win could help salvage what’s left of this season. (BTN)
Most Likely Outcome: Michigan 24, Northwestern 17
Oklahoma State at Texas. Both of these teams have yet to play Baylor, so this might be a good time to figure out which one is most worth cheering for. (Fox)
Most Likely Outcome: Texas 31, Oklahoma State 17
8:00pm
Stanford at USC. Cheering for the Trojans may not be the easiest thing for Buckeye fans to do, but a win here will relieve your irrational fear of the Cardinal jumping us in the BCS. (ABC)
Most Likely Outcome: USC 24, Stanford 13
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