The College Five: Stanford, Clemson, Georgia and More

Honorable Mention - North Carolina vs. (12) Florida State October 1st

While FSU still feels like they are in recovery mode from the beating they took from Louisville, Dalvin Cook looked really good last week rushing for 267 yards and two touchdowns against South Florida. The Tar Heels have a solid defensive front and their quarterback, Mitch Trubisky, is coming off a career game which saw him throw for five touchdowns and 453 yards. This will be a shootout but FSU sticks with Cook and the running game to win.

Prediction: FSU wins 38-31

#5 - Oklahoma vs. (21) TCU October 1st

Kenny Hill has really found a groove in this TCU offense, throwing for 1,487 yards and has 12 total touchdowns. Quite the opposite can be said of the Sooners start to the season, as they suffered bad losses to Houston and Ohio State. This will be just the 10th time head coach Bob Stoops faces a ranked team as an unranked team in his time at Oklahoma. Now they are on the road against the Horned Frogs and their electric offense that ranks third in the country in total offense with 576 yards a game and 42.8 points a game. This is going to be a disappointing start to Big 12 play for the Sooners and their already abused defense.

Prediction: TCU wins 42-35

#4 - (11) Tennessee vs. (25) Georgia October 1st

The Bulldogs are coming off a bad loss to Ole’ Miss while the Vols are riding the high of finally beating Florida in a wild second half comeback. Both come in with some downsides, Nick Chubb has an ankle injury and will probably be out for Georgia. On the other side Tennessee spotted Florida a 21-3 lead which is nice when you comeback but does not always workout. That said, the way Joshua Dobbs played in the second half of the Florida game was how we have been waiting for him to play since the beginning of last season. He used his legs to extend plays for the passing attacking instead of taking off running. He shredded the very talented secondary of Florida for 319 passing yards and four touchdowns. He stays hot against the Bulldogs.

Prediction: Tennessee wins 31-24

#3 - (7) Stanford vs. (10) Washington September 30th

The weekend comes early as Friday holds one of the best match ups of the week. For both sides of this battle, it will probably be the game that determines who plays for the conference championship. There is a lot on the line for both sides and Washington has the leg up on the Cardinal, who are missing both Holder and Meeks in the secondary. This is poor timing as they face the talented Huskies quarterback, Jake Browning, who has thrown for 904 yards and 14 touchdowns. With all of that stacked against the Cardinal, they still come out with the victory. This is the game that Ryan Burns, Michael Rector and Christian McCaffrey have a big collective night when their defense needs them most.

Prediction: Stanford wins 28-20

#2 - (8) Wisconsin vs. (4) Michigan October 1st

I called the upset against Michigan State and I am doubling down on Wisconsin again. They have a great front seven and maybe the best secondary in college. The running game has been getting better every week and it looks like they may have found their quarterback in Alex Hornibrook. Michigan is a very good team but if the Badgers are confident enough to play straight man to man on the outside and load the box, they have a shot.

Prediction: Wisconsin wins 28-27

#1 - (3) Louisville vs. (5) Clemson October 1st

This has game of the year potential as Lamar Jackson comes into Deshaun Watson’s house to potentially knock the Tigers out of a spot in the college playoff race. Jackson has been on fire for four weeks and has amassed 25 total touchdowns. But after a great performance by Clemson in their route of Georgia Tech, Watson and the defense look back on track. This will be a tight one but the older quarterback pulls out a win.

Prediction: Clemson wins 45-41

Bonus prediction: Deshaun Watson passes for more yards and more passing touchdowns then Lamar Jackson.