Week 6

The Professor is back! After two winning weeks, Week 5 was a step backwards. I went 2-3, with my picks of Ohio State and South Florida winning but my picks of Duke, Akron, and Arizona State losing. Every week cannot be a winning week; I just need more of those than losing weeks.

I am now 12-12-1. Not terrible, but not the record I had hoped for after five weeks. I am seeing just how unpredictable college football can be.

So, to get back on my winning ways, here are my Week 6 picks:

Once again, the lines come from the Westgate Las Vegas Casino: http://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/17711200/college-football-full-list-week-6-odds-westgate-las-vegas-superbook and all times are Eastern Time Zone.

Western Kentucky -3 at Louisiana Tech (Thursday at 8 P.M.)

This week's matchup of two non-Power 5 Conference teams features a Conference USA matchup between the Hilltoppers and Bulldogs, and it takes place on a Thursday night.

The Hilltoppers high-powered spread offense has put up big scores in their three wins, and, in their week two loss at Alabama, they put up over 200 passing yards. In their one point loss against Vanderbilt, they put up over 200 passing yards and over 200 passing yards.

In their loss to Texas Tech, another high-powered spread offense, in Week 3, the Bulldogs defense gave up 470 passing yards and 196 rushing yards. In their Week 4 loss to Middle Tennessee State, the Bulldog defense gave up 356 yards in the air and 197 yards on the ground.

Louisiana Tech's spread offense put up big yards and points in both of those games, but it wasn't enough to keep pace with their opponent's firepower.

This will be a high scoring game. Bet the over. Past history leads me to believe that Louisiana Tech will come up on the short end of that shootout. Go Tops!

Army +4 at Duke (Saturday at 3:30 P.M.)

For the third time in six weeks, I'm going with the men from West Point.

Behind an extremely talented offensive line, the triple option running game of Army has run all over every opponent they have played. Even in their overtime loss to Buffalo, this past week, they continued their trend of picking up at least 300 rushing yards per game every game, while going above 400 in half of their games.

The Black Knights have dominated possession and have no turnovers in three of their four games.

Duke is coming off of a bad loss against Virginia, in which they turned the ball over four times in the fourth quarter. In fact, they have struggled with turnovers all year, losing 17 turnovers in the first five games of this season, including five lost fumbles in Week 1 agains North Carolina Central.

The Blue Devil defense gave up over 200 yards rushing against Wake Forest and Notre Dame and over 100 against Northwestern. The Duke defense features two sophomores on the defensive line and a freshman and a sophomore at linebacker. The consistent pounding of the Army running game should wear down these defenders throughout the game.

Duke lost a big part of its game when redshirt senior quarterback Thomas Sirk tore his Achilles Tendon during offseason workouts. Redshirt freshman, Daniel Jones, who took Sirk's place, has struggled, throwing six touchdowns and eight interceptions so far.

So I'm putting on the knight's helmet once again this week!

Michigan -26.5 at Rutgers (Saturday at 7 P.M.)

Michigan definitively proved that they are a top team with their hard-fought victory over eighth-ranked Wisconsin this past weekend.

Rutgers performance this past weekend is a big reason why I am picking Michigan this week.  The Scarlet Knights showed that their hopelessness against top talent with a 58-0 loss to Ohio State. They put up only 116 yards of total offense while giving up 669 yards of total offense to Ohio State, and they were out-possessed by over 17 minutes

Fans of the two teams might not like to hear it, but I see a lot of similarities between Michigan and Ohio State this season. Both teams are among the best in the nation, both are led by an accurate and powerful quarterback, both teams have a bruising running back, and both teams have stifling defenses. Plus, Michigan's defense happens to have Jabril Peppers, one of the most physically talented players in the country and a definite game changer.

I don't see Rutgers faring any better this week than last week, so it's the Maize and Blue for me!

Washington -8 at Oregon (Saturday at 7:30 P.M.)

The Washington Huskies should be extremely confident after their 44-6 shellacking of my beloved Stanford Cardinal this past Friday. They proved they are for real, and Jake Browning cemented his position as an elite quarterback.

The Huskies are 5-0, and Browning has 17 touchdowns to two interceptions. Other than a seven point victory at Arizona, Washington has won their other four games by a margin of at least 30 points.

Oregon, on the other hand, has no momentum. The Ducks, who were ranked in the preseason poll, are on a three game losing streak.

Without their traditional high-flying passing attack, the Ducks have had to largely depend on several running backs, highlighted by the talented Royce Freeman. The Huskies showed their dominance against the running game, by shutting down Stanford's ground game, led by Heisman Trophy candidate (and acquaintance of mine) Christian McCaffrey. With a mediocre pass game and their running game stifled, I don't see how Oregon can beat a strong Wisconsin team.

The Huskies have so far shown that this is their year, while the Ducks have shown just the opposite. The Huskies are going Duck hunting down in Eugene!

Georgia -7.5 at South Carolina (Saturday at 7:30 P.M.)

Georgia cleared running back Nick Chubb to play in the game against South Carolina, and, with that information, Georgia becomes an attractive pick this weekend.

Whether you consider their last minute Hail Mary loss to Tennessee bad luck or poor defense, I am pretty sure the Bulldogs are angry, motivated, and hungry for a win.

I think Georgia one of the most talented teams in the SEC, even though their record might not show it. While I don't think Chubb is 100% healthy, he can still put up big numbers. His 22 rushing yards and two touchdowns against North Carolina showed what he is capable of doing. I also think their quarterback, Jacob Eason is extremely talented, even though he after five games, he has fewer than 1,000 passing yards, a 53.6 completion percentage, and 7 touchdowns to 4 interceptions; he just hasn't broken through yet.

Whatever the reason is, they have not performed to their potential so far this season, but I believe that a team with that much talent is bound to break out.

South Carolina, on the other hand has looked much worse in their three SEC losses this season (they did beat a weak Vanderbilt team in Week 1). In those three games, frankly, their only strong opponent was Texas A&M, and the Gamecocks looked anemic on offense, going 12/45 (26.7%) on third downs. Their quarterback has 567 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception through five games. He hasn't even taken all the snaps. It's quite hard to win a game with out at least a mediocre quarterback.

I see a sizable imbalance of talent between these two teams, and this imbalance is why I'm taking the Bulldogs of UGA! 

(Plus, how can you not go for somebody named Chubb, so much fun to say)

Game I would most like to see live: Florida State at Miami

Tennessee at Texas A&M and Alabama at Arkansas definitely should be incredible environments featuring arguably the top four teams in the SEC and fans who live and breathe college football, but I am not going to be carried away by SEC bias this weekend.

Miami is 4-0 and ranked tenth in the country. Hurricane fever has reached a fevered pitch far above the normal mania. Florida State is coming off a last second loss to North Carolina. They are looking to turn their season around, and they definitely have the talent to do so.

I have witnessed how much of a football town Miami is and how much Miamians love their Hurricanes. An Uber driver, who was a University of Miami alum, recently told me that he didn't care about any of the other games, all that mattered to him was beating Florida State. This rivalry is intense.

The newly renovated Hard Rock Stadium is an amazing place to watch a football game.

Here's the kicker: I will actually be at Hard Rock Stadium for the game on Saturday! In my last weekend of my internship at the Miami Herald, my editor, Jorge Rojas, is letting me help cover the game.

There you have it. Five road teams from five different conferences (technically four and one independent). Let the games begin!