Rex Nelson: Week 7 College Football Picks

 

Each week throughout football season Sporting Life Arkansas excerpts Rex Nelson’s Weekly Arkansas College Football Picks and links to Rex’s Southern Fried Blog for his full predictions. Rex makes his prediction for every NCAA Division I and Division II college football team in the state. Here are the week 7 college football picks. Enjoy.

Rex Nelson Archive PageAlabama is no doubt No. 1.

Right?

Admit it.

The outcome was never really in doubt last Saturday night at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

Nick Saban is now 10-0 as the Alabama head coach in games against Arkansas. The Tide has won 18 consecutive games, dating back to last year’s loss at home to Ole Miss early in the season.

Yes, Austin Allen passed for 400 yards (the most ever for a Razorback quarterback against an Alabama team), but it wasn’t enough to overcome the three interceptions by Minkah Fitzgerald and his 114 yards in return yardage. Five Razorback turnovers led to 28 Alabama points in the 49-30 loss.

Meanwhile, Alabama’s offensive and defensive lines dominated the line of scrimmage as the Tide outrushed the Hogs 264-73.

Alabama’s defense and special teams are (as Houston Nutt might have said) special. The Crimson Tide leads the country with nine non-offensive touchdowns. Alabama has scored non-offensive touchdowns in eight consecutive games.

Arkansas is going to have to get a lot better on both lines of scrimmage to make it three consecutive victories over Ole Miss.

We were 3-3 on the picks last week, making the season record 35-13.

Here are the picks for Week 7:

Ole Miss 39, Arkansas 37 — It’s safe to call Ole Miss the best 3-2 team in the country. The Rebels’ losses were by scores of 45-34 to Florida State in the opening game of the season and 48-43 to Alabama on Sept. 17. The Rebels were far more competitive against the Crimson Tide than the Hogs were. The Ole Miss wins have come by scores of 38-13 against Wofford, 45-14 against Georgia and 48-28 against Memphis. The game is in Fayetteville (yet again Arkansas has an evening slot on ESPN). Don’t be surprised if Arkansas wins. But, as noted, there’s going to have to be better blocking and better defensive line play for that to happen. One difference could be that Ole Miss has had two weeks to get ready for this game.

South Alabama 29, Arkansas State 25 — These two teams are difficult to figure out. South Alabama has the Sun Belt Conference’s two best nonconference victories — 21-20 over Mississippi State in Starkville to start the season and 42-24 against a San Diego State team that was ranked at the time. Yet the Jaguars are 0-2 in conference play with losses of 24-9 to Georgia Southern and 28-23 to Louisiana-Lafayette. The other game was a 41-40 nonconference victory over Nicholls State. Arkansas State started the year 0-4 with nonconference losses of 31-10 to Toledo, 51-14 to Auburn, 34-20 to Utah State and 28-23 to UCA. Then on Wednesday of last week, the Red Wolves scored in the final seconds to upset Georgia Southern, 27-26. Expect Saturday night’s game in Jonesboro to be close.

UCA 27, McNeese State 24 — The Bears travel Lake Charles, La., a place where it’s always tough for a visiting team to win. This doesn’t appear to be a vintage McNeese State squad, however. The Cowboys are 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the Southland Conference. The victories were by scores of 33-3 against Tarleton State, 42-35 against Incarnate Word and 38-13 against Nicholls State. The losses came by scores of 30-22 to Louisiana-Lafayette, 31-28 to Stephen F. Austin and 31-24 to Southeastern Louisiana. UCA, which is 4-1 overall and 3-0 in the Southland Conference, has had two weeks to prepare for the game. The lone loss was 35-29 to Samford back on Sept. 10. The wins have come by scores of 56-13 over Houston Baptist, 24-10 over Northwestern State of Louisiana, 28-23 over Arkansas State and 58-27 over Abilene Christian.

To see all of the week 7 college football picks, click here.

week 7 college football picks

The Ole Miss Rebel the Black Bear Landshark Colonels

 

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