NCAA College Football 2007 Week 5 Picks early games

NCAA College Football 2007 Week 5 Picks

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Fearless Rick's College Football Week 5 Picks - Early Games

Rick Gagliano | September 26

All times Eastern - Click here for late games.

Friday, September 28

8:00 pm West Virginia (-7, N/A) at South Florida - There's plenty of history between these two squads, notably, last years 24-19 upset by the Bulls which kept West Virginia out of a BCS bowl last season. This may be the last time South Florida sees the backfield duo of Steve Slaton and Patrick White, as Slaton almost assuredly will jump to the NFL after this season.

Knowing that, the Mountaineers are poised for a big win here. Though only 2-4 recently ATS against South Florida, they may have their best team yet and have surely figured out the Bulls' defense. 3-0 South Florida may be ranked and highly-touted after upsetting Auburn, but they are still home underdogs to the Mountaineers, and that says a lot.

Prediction: Mountaineers 38 Bulls 24

Saturday, September 29

12:00 pm Penn State (-3, 43 1/2) at Illinois - One would think the Nittany Lions would get a pass after last week's uninspired play in their loss at Michigan, but they're only 3-point favorites heading into Champagne. Illinois has one of the better rushing attacks in the country, and even though Penn St. is expert at stopping the ground game, they didn't fare so well against Michigan, allowing Mike Hart to ramble for 153 yards. This week, they face maybe an even better runner, Rashard Mendenhall, who blew out 214 yards against Indiana last week.

The other part of the equation is Penn State's on-and-off offense, which failed to fire against the Wolverines. Add to that 18 returning starters for the Illini and you have what's commonly referred to as a minor upset. It really shouldn't be. Illinois has a good enough team, with enough senior leadership, to contend for the Big Ten title. They'll take a big step in that direction on Saturday.

Prediction: Fighting Illini 27 Nittany Lions 20

12:00 pm Notre Dame at Purdue (-21 1/2, 53 1/2) - OK, Notre Dame flat out stinks and Purdue is undefeated at 4-0. Am I going to pick against the trend and say that the Irish may actually win this game? NO WAY! The Boilermaker offense is averaging 48.5 points per game and the Irish haven't had a solid defense since... um, well, it's been a while. A complete romp and a measure of revenge for Purdue here.

Prediction: Boilermakers 48 Fighting Irish 10

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1:30 pm Oklahoma (-22, 55 1/2) at Colorado - Can Colorado stay in this game or slow down the high-powered Sooners? Nope. The Buffs are a mere 2-2, with losses at Arizona State and at home to Florida State. They did blow out Miami (OH), 42-0 last week, but the Sooners were spanking Tulsa, 62-21. The Sooners have rolled up 246 points in their 4 games, allowing opponents only 47. That's an average margin of victory of almost 50 points. Maybe they should give Colorado 35 here. It still wouldn't be enough.

Prediction: Sooners 55 Buffaloes 17

2:05 pm Iowa State at Nebraska (-21, 57 1/2) - The way Nebraska has been playing defense (which essentially has been to watch opponents run and throw down the field against them), Iowa State offensive players must be gearing up for a field day. Trouble is, the Cyclones aren't that talented offensively, but the Cornhuskers will make them look better. Where Iowa State excels - mind you, they're 1-3, with their only win coming against Iowa - is on defense. They have yet to be blown out, and this is their first conference game, so throw out the poor record. They will come to play and stun the overrated Cornhuskers.

Prediction: Cyclones 35 Cornhuskers 34

All times Eastern - Click here for late games

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