The month of October has been wonderful to college football fans. From Ole Miss’ upset of Alabama in Oxford to last week’s thriller in Tallahassee between Florida State Notre Dame, college football has been the gift that keeps on giving. For the final weekend in October all eyes will be on Death Valley in Baton Rouge as the Ole Miss heads to Tiger Stadium for a night game against LSU.
#3 Ole Miss vs. #24 LSU
This game features teams that have flipped flopped positions in the rankings from where we are used to seeing them. This isn’t the typical Ole Miss team we have grown to know and this certainly isn’t the LSU team that we’ve seen become a mainstay inside the Top 10 over the past decade. On one hand you have one of the biggest surprises in college football this year in Ole Miss who features arguably the best defense in all of the land, and on the other hand you have a very young, but also talented LSU team that has experienced some growing pains in 2014 with the infusion of talented underclassmen. With LSU’s struggles at the quarterback position and Ole Miss’ dominant performance on defense it would be easy to write off the Tigers in this matchup, but I’m not going to do that. Victories in Death Valley at night are rare and the Tigers seem to work some type of magic when playing at home. This is a perfect trap game for Ole Miss as they continue their quest for a perfect season and I think this game ends up being a close one.
Prediction: Ole Miss by single digits.
#19 Utah vs. #20 USC
This intriguing matchup features two very talented running backs in Buck Allen and Devontae Booker. The Utes come in off a double overtime victory over Oregon State in Corvallis and USC comes in fresh off of a blowout of Colorado. It will be interesting to see how Allen fares against Utah’s Top 20 rushing defense and to see if USC can take away Booker and and force Travis Wilson to air it out against a defense that leads the Pac-12 in interceptions. This is a game I can see going either way, but I am picking the Trojans to get the W on the road.
Prediction: USC by a TD
#14 Arizona State vs. Washington
Last week I predicted Washington to give Oregon more trouble than what they did and ended up looking a little foolish. I haven’t lost faith in the Huskies just yet, and I think they will keep this game against the Sun Devils a lot closer than there game against the Ducks. ASU comes off of a hard fought victory against Stanford, and they are likely to have starting quarterback Taylor Kelly back in the saddle when they take the field in Seattle. This isn’t the kind of game you want to be knocking off the rust in as the Washington defense is capable of giving ASU issues. Taking the Sun Devils in a close one, I think DJ Foster proves to be the difference.
Prediction: Arizona State by a TD
#22 West Virginia vs. Oklahoma State
West Virginia caught my eye early on in the year when they held their own against Alabama in Atlanta. After that they almost knocked off Oklahoma in Morganstown and they finally go over hump by taking down Baylor this past weekend. This team has placed themselves squarely in the thick of the Big 12 title race and they have a chance to take another step forward when they take on the Cowboys in Stillwater this weekend. Clint Trickett is a much improved play this year and he has one of the best wide receivers in the land in Kevin White on the receiving end of his passes. I think the Mountaineers continue their quest for the Big 12 title.
Prediction: West Virginia by 10