Pretty \u201cmeh\u201d performance delivered in this space last week. Fair number of \u201cmeh\u201d games will be played around the country in the CFB weekend to come. Not all of them, though; some games will be tough, hard-fought, important to conference title races barnburners.<\/p>\n
DK\u2019s 2016 Week 7 CFB Game Picks<\/strong><\/p>\n All game times in Eastern Daylight Time.<\/p>\n Last Week: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a05-5 \u00a0 (.500)<\/p>\n 2016 Season: 38-22 (.633)<\/p>\n Kansas State @ Oklahoma (Saturday, October 15<\/strong>th<\/sup><\/strong>, 12:00 p.m., ESPN)<\/strong><\/p>\n Oklahoma finds itself in a fascinating situation. The Sooners<\/strong> have challenged themselves early, losing the two toughest out of conference games played by the Big XII. Do not be surprised, however, if Bob Stoops\u2019<\/strong> squad wins out and takes the conference title outright. KState<\/strong> brings the nation\u2019s 116th<\/sup>-ranked passing offense to Norman<\/strong>, which will not be enough to get it done on the road. Boomer Sooner<\/strong> will roll late.<\/p>\n Pick: Oklahoma 44, Kansas State 30<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cUpset\u201d Special of the Week<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n West Virginia @ Texas Tech (Saturday, October 15t<\/sup><\/strong>h<\/sup><\/strong>, 12:00 p.m., FS1)<\/strong><\/p>\n The Red Raiders<\/strong> almost knocked off Kansas State last week, and they get the \u2018Eers<\/strong> at home. Additionally, Texas Tech can score like few teams in the nation. The fewest points that they have scored in a game is 38, from the aforementioned loss to the legendary Bill Snyder<\/strong> and KState last week. West Virginia<\/strong> brings a decent defense to Lubbock, but its offense won\u2019t be able to keep pace with the home team\u2019s. Klingsbury\u2019s<\/strong> team will get the win.<\/p>\n Pick: Texas Tech 49, West Virginia 41<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Tennessee @ Alabama (Saturday, October 15th<\/sup>, 3:30 p.m., CBS)<\/strong><\/p>\n Tennessee fell just short in its upset bid last week in College Station<\/strong>, and this week\u2019s SEC<\/strong> game of the week offers Butch Jones<\/strong> a chance to earn his biggest win as the head man on Rocky Top<\/strong>. Expect the Volunteers<\/strong> to move the ball and score on the Crimson Tide<\/strong>, but expect them not to do quite enough of either to win. Bama<\/strong> will remain undefeated.<\/p>\n Pick: Alabama 38, Tennessee 31<\/p>\n <\/p>\n M*A*S*H Unit Game of the Week<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n USC @ Arizona (Saturday, October 15th<\/sup>, 3:30 p.m., FOX)<\/strong><\/p>\n Young Sam Darnold<\/strong> has turned around Southern California\u2019s<\/strong> season in a remarkable manner since becoming the starter three weeks ago. Arizona listed QB Brandon Dawkins<\/strong> as questionable and QB Anu Solomon<\/strong> as doubtful for this game. So, who will play QB for the Wildcats<\/strong>? It probably won\u2019t matter much anyway. The Trojans<\/strong> will get the win in the desert.<\/p>\n Pick:\u00a0USC 42, Arizona 20<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Northwestern @ Michigan State (Saturday, October 15th<\/sup>, 3:30 p.m., BTN)<\/strong><\/p>\n Sparty<\/strong> has lost three games in a row this season. Their offense is ranked 82nd<\/sup> in the nation, and Mark Dantonio\u2019s<\/strong> usually-stout defense is ranked 81st<\/sup>. That\u2019s not good, if you\u2019re keeping track at home. Northwestern<\/strong> is a legitimate threat to pull off the road upset, but will come up just short. Michigan State will win at home.<\/p>\n Pick: Michigan State 28, Northwestern 26<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Be Careful Here Game of the Week<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Utah @ Oregon State (Saturday, October 15<\/strong>th<\/sup><\/strong>, 4:00 p.m., P12N)<\/strong><\/p>\n Utah travels to Corvallis feeling good about itself, deservedly. The 5-1 Utes are well-positioned in the Pac-12 South race, and face a \u201cdown\u201d Oregon State squad. Coach Corso might just say \u201cNot so fast!\u201d, though. The Beavers knocked off California for their first conference win last week, and those same Golden Bears beat Utah earlier this season. Utah brings too much defensive firepower to let this one slip away. They\u2019ll get a tougher-than-anticipate road win.<\/p>\n Pick: Utah 28, Oregon State 24<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Ohio State @ Wisconsin (Saturday, October 15<\/strong>th<\/sup><\/strong>, 8:00 p.m., ABC)<\/strong><\/p>\n Heisman candidate J.T. Barrett and the Buckeyes have yet to be tested this season, but must travel to fellow Top-10 team Wisconsin for a huge Week 7 night game. Wisconsin is one of the pleasant surprises in all of CFB in 2016, but will run out of answers this week. The Buckeyes will get the win.<\/p>\n Pick: Ohio State 40, Wisconsin 28<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Programs That Fell Off The National Stage Game of the Week<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Stanford @ Notre Dame (Saturday, October 15th<\/sup>, 7:30 p.m., NBC)<\/strong><\/p>\n Stanford comes to South Bend<\/strong> with these teams facing each other as unranked foes for the first time in nearly a decade. Stanford\u2019s season started well, but the past two games have been disastrous. Equally worrisome is the fact that all-world RB Christian McCaffrey<\/strong> is a game-time decision for this contest. Stanford\u2019s biggest strength is that only the Fighting Irish<\/strong> have struggled more mightily amongst pre-season Top 10 teams than they have. This game will be ugly, with both offenses sputtering early and often. Stanford will do just enough to win on the road, and throw another log on the fire beneath Brian Kelly\u2019s<\/strong> seat.<\/p>\n Pick: Stanford 21, Notre Dame 17<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Arizona State @ Colorado (Saturday, October 15th<\/sup>, 8:00 p.m.)<\/strong><\/p>\n Colorado <\/strong>hosts its most significant home game in years Saturday night at Folsom Field<\/strong>. The Buffaloes<\/strong> are finally relevant again, and face a \u201chow did that happen?\u201d Arizona State team that shares its lead in the Pac-12 South. The Sun Devils<\/strong> have played with incredible inconsistency, and Mike MacIntyre\u2019s<\/strong> team is at home. Colorado will get the win.<\/p>\n Pick: Colorado 35, Arizona State 24<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Iowa State @ Texas (Saturday, October 15th<\/sup>, 7:00 p.m., LHN)<\/strong><\/p>\n What does Charlie Strong <\/strong>need to do to get Texas back on track after a promising 2-0 start in 2016? Hosting 1-5 Iowa State is not a terrible way to go. Shane Buechele<\/strong> has cooled down since his hot start this season, but the Longhorns\u2019 run game has remained surprisingly solid, despite the three consecutive losses. This is bad news for the Cyclones<\/strong>, whose rush defense is tied for 23rd<\/sup> worst<\/span> 97th<\/sup> in the nation. Texas will roll.<\/p>\n Pick: Texas 52, Iowa State 21<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pretty \u201cmeh\u201d performance delivered in this space last week. Fair number of \u201cmeh\u201d games will be played around the country in the CFB weekend to come. Not all of them, though; some games will be tough, hard-fought, important to conference title races barnburners. DK\u2019s 2016 Week 7 CFB Game Picks All game times in Eastern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,2],"tags":[35,729,643,604,73,59,85],"class_list":["post-2379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fbs","category-featured","tag-alabama-crimson-tide","tag-brian-kelly","tag-charlie-strong","tag-j-t-barrett","tag-ohio-state-buckeyes","tag-tennessee-volunteers","tag-wisconsin-badgers"],"modified_by":"Don King","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}