College Football: Week 6 Preview

Thursday, 8PM: #21 Nebraska at #24 Missouri
The only thing I’ve seen of either of these teams is a few minutes of the Missouri/Illinois matchup earlier this season. Missouri, and especially the hilariously-named QB Blaine Gabbert, looked great, but it has since been revealed that Illinois has fallen to new depths of terrible-ness. Still, Gabbert appears to be Chase Daniel 2.0 (i.e. taller) and is putting up some incredible numbers. Might be a lot for the Huskers to handle, since their schedule to date is three cream puff victories and a close loss to a Virginia Tech team with a fairly mediocre offense.
Prediction: (all based on hearsay) – Nebraska is back in the mix, but probably isn’t *enough* back in the mix to keep up with Mizzou in the scoring department.

Saturday, 11AM: #17 Auburn at Arkansas
Another chance to check out two SEC teams I don’t know too much about. Gotta see if all the Auburn and especially QB Chris Todd hype is justified. I remember watching him play last year and thinking he was absolutely terrible, but he’s reportedly a whole new man with a whole new arm. Speaking of arms, I’ll enjoy the look at former Michigan man Ryan Mallett and his bazooka arm. Arkansas hasn’t been too good this year, but they’ve always got speed to burn and should be enjoyable to watch.
Prediction: Despite all the controversy surrounding his hiring last spring, Gene Chizik has the Tigers on a tear. They have quality wins over Mississippi State, West Viriginia, and Tennessee and I think they’ll keep the train rolling here.

Saturday, 2:30PM Wisconsin at #9 Ohio State
Should be a pretty decent one. Wisconsin needs it, both for pride as the only unranked and undefeated team, and because Bret Bielema sorely needs a signature win. Wisconsin QB (and Fremd product!) Scott Tolzien looked great in the snippets I saw of games against Michigan State and Minnesota and appears to be the real deal, something the Badgers have sorely missed in the last few seasons. We'll see just how good he is on Saturday - the Buckeyes can be counted on to bring the run defense. Ohio State’s still the better team (despite having a pass-sad quarterback), but this is a bit of a trap game for them.
Prediction: If you can't keep Pryor in the pocket, you can't stop the Buckeyes. I'll be rooting pretty hard for the upset, but you have to like a much faster Ohio State team in this game.
*Might also take a look at Alabama/Mississippi to see if Jevan Snead looks any better (than awful).

Saturday, 7PM: Channel Flip: #1 Florida at #4 LSU / Michigan at #12 Iowa
SEC: Let’s just say I’d be extremely surprised if Tebow does not play in this game. Though Brantley is good enough to get the ball to the Gators speedsters, the game plan looks pretty different without Tebow (and you can bet that's why it's a big secret). Florida is obviously the consensus #1, but they don't yet have a quality win, their best opponents being Tennessee and Kentucky. You can't be totally certain that they're not the new Ole Miss. Meanwhile, LSU beat a decent Washington team and pulled out consecutive thrillers against BCS buster Mississippi State and then Joe Cox and Georgia. Does Florida know how to handle a close game, particularly without its unquestioned leader (or at least without him at 100%)?
Prediction: It's hard without a handle on the Tebow situation, but you can't ever count a Les Miles team out. It's fight night at Tiger Stadium and I gotta take LSU here.
Big Ten: Call it the big conference matchup that got a little less marquee when Michigan lost to its in-state rival last weekend. Iowa's defense and run game are probably best in the conference, but if you think about it, the Hawkeyes have been a bit inconsistent. They had that scare against Northern Iowa, handily beat a terrible Arizona team, played a fantastic second half against Penn State, and then let Arkansas State crawl back into a game they were winning easily. So which Iowa team is going to show up? Meanwhile, I'll be interested to see how a very young Michigan team (and especially their very young, icewater in his veins quarterback) bounces back from a loss.
Prediction: Tate Forcier gives Michigan a chance if they can keep it close near the end of the game, but Michigan's poor tackling + Iowa's run blocking + the speed of Iowa linebacker Pat Angerer (best LB name since Michael Stonebreaker) causing problems for a scrambling Forcier = too much Hawkeyes for the Wolverines to handle.