NCAA College Football 2007 Week 7 Picks early games

NCAA College Football 2007 Week 7 Picks

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Fearless Rick's College Football Week 7 Picks - Early Games

Rick Gagliano | October 9

All times Eastern - Click here for late games.

Thursday, October 11

7:30 pm Florida State (-6, 43 1/2) at Wake Forest - Both of these schools started the season badly but have since recovered and are legitimate threats in the wide-open ACC. The Demon Deacons opened with a 38-28 loss at Boston College and a narrow 3-point loss at home to Nebraska. Since then, they have reeled off 3 straight wins over Army, Maryland and Duke. Florida State lost at home to Clemson to start off their season on the wrong foot but have reeled off 4 straight wins - over UAB, Colorado, Alabama and NC State - and possess one of the better defensive units in the country.

Before getting carried away with the Seminole defense and the addition of QB Xavier Lee, consider that Wake is the reigning conference champion and their players are maturing quickly. The offense has begun to click under QB Riley Skinner and if he keeps the errant throws down, the Deacons can win this home contest.

Prediction: Demon Deacons 23 Seminoles 20

Saturday, October 13

12:00 pm UCF at South Florida (-11 1/2, 47 1/2) - While the South Florida Bulls are currently the class of the Big East, they should beware the Golden Knights from the University of Central Florida. South Florida won last season at UCF, 24-17, and this is a budding rivalry. UCF took Texas to the limit earlier this season, dropping a 35-32 decision and last week took their second loss at East Carolina. The Knights haven't scored less than 25 points in any of their five games this season. The Bulls survived a scare at Florida Atlantic last week, winning 35-23 and will be the hunted this week. UCF gets up for every game and while the Bulls may win, it won't be a walk in the park.

Prediction: Bulls 35 Golden Knights 31

12:00 pm Illinois (-3 1/2, 44) at Iowa - The Illini must guard against a letdown after their big win over Wisconsin last week. Good thing they're heading to Iowa, because the Hawkeyes are in the midst of a 4-game losing streak. They're 0-3 in the Big 10 and are only scoring at a 17.3 ppg clip. Illinois, averaging 30.2 ppg is geared for a run at the Rose Bowl, so coach Ron Zook should have them well-prepared for this and win going away.

Prediction: Fighting Illini 34 Hawkeyes 13

3:30 pm Wisconsin at Penn State (-6 1/2, 44) - This should be an interesting game as the Badgers have an edge on offense, while the Nittany Lions excel on defense. Wisconsin is coming off a loss at Illinois, but they kept matters close there, while Penn State was hammering Iowa, 27-7 and they get to stay home. The Badgers are going to pose more problems for the Penn St. D than any other team they've played thus far and QB Anthony Morelli will have a hard time putting together good games back-to-back. Wisconsin will rebound for a nifty road win.

Prediction: Badgers 24 Nittany Lions 17

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3:30 South Carolina (-6 1/2, 47 1/2) at North Carolina - Don't let North Carolina's 2-4 record fool you. Those losses were to some pretty good football teams - East Carolina, South Florida, West Virginia and Virginia Tech - and all but the Virginia game (a 22-20 loss) were on the road. Last week the Tar Heels upended Miami, 33-27.

Trouble for the Tar Heels comes in the form of Steve Spurrier's tough-minded bunch, who has beaten some pretty good teams, including Georgia and Kentucky. Their only loss was on the road at LSU, 28-16. In this border war, the Gamecocks should prove too much to handle.

Prediction: Gamecocks 30 Tar Heels 12

3:30 LSU (-9 1/2, 54 1/2) at Kentucky - Florida managed to find some holes in the Tiger defense last week, but LSU put the claws out in the second half and rallied past the Gators, 28-24. The Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season to South Carolina last Thursday night by a 38-23 score, in a game which QB Andre Woodson would probably like to forget. His two fumbles both resulted in defensive scores and he was picked off once by the cagey Gamecock defense. LSU brings just as much heat and will pressure Woodson into similar mistakes. The big disparity is on defense, where the Tigers are allowing less than 200 yards per game and Kentucky gives up 377. Despite being on the road, the Tigers aren't going to give up their #1 ranking easily and should quiet the Wildcats.

Prediction: Tigers 38 Wildcats 16

3:30 pm Boston College (-13 1/2, N/A) at Notre Dame - Well, the Fighting Irish finally got a win, and after topping UCLA, 20-6, they are 1-5. Boston College is 6-0, and winning by an average margin of 17.3 points per game. Sure, this is a pretty big Catholic school rivalry, but the Eagles won't pass up the opportunity to snooker the Irish big time. This could get ugly, really, really ugly.

Prediction: Eagles 45 Irish 20

All times Eastern - Click here for late games

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