Sometimes LWN amazes himself. While I went above .500 this week, by putting up a 4-3 mark on the board, my true genius was exposed as I called the EXACT score in the Florida - LSU game. As I said, “The game is at night, at LSU. The Gators have no shot winning when the final gun sounds.” Well, even though Superman wears Tim Tebow pajamas to bed, and can allegedly bench press 400 pounds, his one mistake (the late game INT) helped get the fan base going. Even though LSU is a third tier academic institution, it has the number 1 football team in the country.

More picks, including the Love of the Week, after the jump.

The Gamecocks somehow won the game on defense with two defensive scores and a host of mistakes by the Kentucky offense. Wisconsin fell all the way to underdog status, then lost, Wake Forest sucks, Notre Dame won a game, IU covered the spread, and UB is atop the MAC East peering down like a sexy gargoyle at their inferior opponents. What is going on in college football? Please note I am aware that Buffalo’s seat on top with be short lived, but you never know in the MAC.

A quick shout out is in order for Stanford rookie coach James Harbaugh who was seemingly normal when quarterbacking the Colts. Since then he has become a maniac somewhere in between Darren Daulton and Timothy Leary. He makes odd comments to the media, rips his Alma mater, says USC is the best team ever, tells his team they have no chance of winning, and then…..

Wisconsin @ Penn State -6

In this week’s games we travel to Big Ten country, because there are very few marquee matchups. The Big Ten has had an up and down year, no one is that impressive, and thanks to the Big Ten Network I have to go out in public on Saturdays to watch the games. With gut-check Saturday in the books, lets go to no-intriguing match-up Saturday.

We will start in my favorite college town in America, State College, PA. Penn State is hosting the formerly #5 Badgers in what amounts to a “must win” for each squad. Penn State is behind the eight ball with two conference loses, and Wisconsin cannot afford their second. Wisconsin has played just well enough to win so far this year, and it caught up with them in the cow pastures of Champaign-Urbana last week. Penn State took care of business against Iowa, but who hasn’t? What I have noticed this year from both squads is you anticipate the big play on offense, or the big play on defense and it never comes.

The good news for the Lions is that Wisconsin may still be a touch behind in the receiving corp and PSU has a slightly better than average to good defense. My belief is that in front of 107,000 charged up fans the Lions will be able to lay the six points and come out on top.

A look at the stats

Wisconsin O Vs. Penn State D

Tyler Donovan is averaging 238 yards per game passing , 1.83 TDs per game, and has a 60.2% completion rate

PJ Hill is averaging 125 yards rushing per game

Travis Beckum has 80 yards receiving per game

Penn State is giving up 80 yards on the ground per game, 172 through the air, and are only allowing opponents to convert 3rd downs 27% of the time. I see this being a physical game, so I think the 3rd down stat will be telling.

Penn State gets it done on the strength of the defense, but the key will be covering Travis Beckum, the TE with WR skills. If Anthony Scirroto, Justin King and company can limit his production, then Dan Connor will take care of stuffing the run.

Penn State 24, Wisconsin 17

Staying in the Big Ten, lets go to the home of Domino’s corporate headquarters- Ann Arbor, Michigan. Purdue comes in looking to prove that they are not the frauds they showed themselves to be last week against Ohio State. All the stars were aligned for Purdue Pete and company, unfortunately for them they could get the job done against an Ohio State team that I cannot figure out.

I like Michigan in this game because they have taken care of whatever bug was in their system earlier in the season. That infection was probably arrogance. LWN hates arrogance in football teams. The good news is that whatever was still in their system after they Appalachian State, it was obliterated by Oregon.

Michigan will win this game because the offense has begun clicking. Mike (I didn’t want to go to Syracuse) Hart is on track, Henne is relatively healthy, and the defense is making some plays. It also helps that Michigan got a terrible Notre Dame team, Northwestern, an overrated Penn State team, and Eastern Michigan (who cannot hang with the UB Bulls). Purdue went cupcake, cupcake, cupcake, conference cupcake, Notre Dame cupcake, then got outplayed by the “number 4″ team in the land.

Purdue does not have enough moxie to hang with Michigan. The Wolverines have seen Joe Tiller’s newfangled offense before, and will be able to shut it down. This one will be closer than expected because Lloyd Carr will get too conservative, but a late Curis Painter pick 6 will seal it for the Wolverines.

Michigan 24, Purdue 17

OTHER PICKS

Indiana +6 @ Michigan State

The kool-aid has been served and LWN is drinking it. In what will no doubt be a huge, demoralizing mistake for me, I can’t get off this one. Michigan State and IU both can’t tackle, but IU’s defense doesn’t make as many boneheaded plays as Michigan State. If Northwestern can shred Sparty, Kellen Lewis should do the same.

IU 35, Michigan State 28

Missouri +10 @ Oklahoma

All I can say is Mizzou has an offense and a defense that doesn’t make mistakes. This is going to be an amazing measuring stick. **Side note, if you wait until Friday, I am sure the line will shift more toward Mizzou as the gaming public will lay doubloons on the Sooners. Mizzou will get the ball in the red zone a number of times and be forced to kick field goals, which will cause them the game in the end.

Oklahoma 35, Missouri 26

AND NOW FOR THE

Georgia -6.5 @ Vanderbilt

Georgia, coming off a loss gets healthy against Los Commodores. I am 2-0 this year taking anyone playing at Vandy. They simply do not have the athletes to compete with an angry UGA team.

Georgia 38, Vandy 14

Lastly, my Alma mater looks for their first two game winning streak since 2000.

Toledo +3 @ Buffalo

The MAC is, well the MAC. Unpredictable, confusing, head scratching. Toledo does a nice job of mixing the pass with a powerful running game against opponents. The injury bug has bitten the Rockets, and they travel to an upbeat Western New York campus on Saturday. They may be without their starting and backup QBs this week.

The Toledo match-up seems to favor UB, who for whatever reason can bang with physical teams, but become unravelled like John Daly after a night of sobriety when they tangle with finesse teams. Toledo doesn’t use the spread all that much, so I think UB can hang. Sadly for the Bulls this game will be entertaining, but I am not BULL-ieving this week. Prove me wrong Bulls, prove me wrong.

Toledo 32, Buffalo 28