CFB Week 13: Saturday picks, The calm before the storm

Alabama leads a weak slate of games for the Top 25 teams this week that includes three FCS matchups will set up for a truly epic Week 14.

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With only three games this week between top 25 teams, and only one of them featuring a team from the top 10 (USC vs. UCLA), this week of college football is going to be a bit of a letdown compared to a few weeks ago.  Five SEC teams will be playing against FCS opponents – all of which should be over by half-time with the SEC teams ahead by 40 or more.  The major rivalry games like the Egg Bowl, Ohio State vs. Michigan, Notre Dame vs. USC, and of course the Iron Bowl won’t start for another week.

Nonetheless, there are still some major games to be played as teams make their final moves for conference titles or division clinching wins.  The games may not be as compelling, but they will prove no less important to making some truly exciting football down the road.

Here are the picks for Week 13 of College Football:

#23 Nebraska over #25 Minnesota – The Cornhuskers have not lost two straight in the longest time, and after the shellacking they took at the hands of Wisconsin – RB Melvin Gordon and his FBS record 408 rushing yards specifically – they’ll get their revenge against Minnesota.

#21 Oklahoma over Kansas – The Jayhawks may have come close to pulling a fast one over TCU last week, but they won’t be nearly as lucky on the road.  The Sooners will roll even if it takes them until the second half.

#11 Michigan State over Rutgers – The Spartans will not let any other Big Ten team escape their wrath after that loss to Ohio State.  Rutgers had a great moral victory over the Hoosiers last week, but the Spartans will stop the Scarlet Knights’ momentum flat.

#6 Ohio State over Indiana – The Buckeyes will continue to roll towards the Big Ten title game starting the Hoosiers, who have not won against a single Big Ten opponent this season.

#10 Georgia over Charleston Southern – The bad news is Todd Gurley is out for the season. The good news is they have a much easier schedule down the stretch than Missouri and could very well win out and be in the SEC title game.

#13 Arizona State over Washington State – There is no way the Sun Devils will let Washington State pull a fast one on them after losing their shot at the Pac-12 title in the loss to Oregon State last week.

#22 Clemson over Georgia State – This will basically amount to a tune-up game for the Tigers before they take on the South Carolina Gamecocks in their big rivalry game next week.

#3 Florida State over Boston College – Despite their early-season win over then-#9 USC, Boston College has fallen off the map.  And after weeks and weeks of nail-biters, this game shouldn’t be nearly as difficult for the Seminoles to get a win.

#16 Wisconsin over Iowa – RB Melvin Gordon continues to roll as he needs only 91 yards to become the fastest RB in history to rush over 2,000 yards.  After seeing what he did against Nebraska, does Iowa even stand a chance of stopping him?

#8 Mississippi (Ole Miss) over Arkansas – The Razorbacks got a moral victory by ending that 17-game SEC losing streak against the LSU Tigers.  But they aren’t about to go on a winning streak either.

#15 Arizona over #17 Utah – Don’t let their close ranking fool you, Arizona is a much better all-around team than Utah, and Arizona has a lot more to win in this game.

Notre Dame over #24 Louisville – Sooner or later the Fighting Irish will find a way to overcome their own turnovers and win an important game.  That will probably start this week.

#1 Alabama over Western Carolina – Games like this should be played either exclusively in the beginning of the season, or in some kind of College Football Preseason.

#2 Oregon over Colorado – Oregon is favored to win this game by 32.5 points. Considering that the Buffaloes have given up over 30 points in 9 of 10 games this year – and over 35 points against every single Pac-12 opponent this year, that might not be enough of a spread.

#14 Auburn over Samford – Yawn. Auburn should just play their backups exclusively in the second half and rest their players for the Iron Bowl on the road.

#20 Missouri over Tennessee – If Missouri wins out they are in the SEC championship game. There’s too much at stake for them to lose to the lowly Vols this week.

#4 Mississippi State over Vanderbilt – Hmm… an angry Mississippi State Bulldogs team that is undefeated at home against a Vanderbilt team that hasn’t beaten an SEC opponent all year?  Bulldogs.

#7 Baylor over Oklahoma State – Baylor needs to keep up the momentum with TCU on a bye week.  A win today and one next week could net them a higher ranking than TCU in the College Football Playoffs.

#19 USC over #9 UCLA – The Trojans have quietly sneaked themselves back into the top of the Pac-12 South race.  QB Cody Kessler has just as quietly set multiple records and might actually be a better pro prospect that the highly-touted Bruins QB Brett Hundley