Rex Nelson: Arkansas College Football Picks Week 10

Featured, Football | October 30, 2013 by Rex Nelson | 0 Comments

Each week throughout football season Sporting Life Arkansas excerpts Rex Nelson’s Weekly Arkansas College Football Picks and link to Rex’s Southern Fried Blog for his full predictions. Rex makes his prediction for every four-year college football team in the state. Enjoy.

Could it possibly be Week 10 already?

Yes, we’re approaching the first weekend in November.

Remember what Frank Broyles used to say: “They always remember what you do in November.”

Granted, there’s not much to look forward to if the Razorbacks are the only college football team you follow, but five of the six NCAA Division II teams in the state go into November with winning records.

Back on Oct. 19, it was upset Saturday in the Southeastern Conference.

Last Saturday was more like blowout Saturday in the SEC. At least Arkansas wasn’t playing and getting blown out.

We went 6-0 on the picks last week, making the record 13-0 during the past two weeks.

Though we had picked Louisiana-Lafayette to win, it still was disappointing to watch Arkansas State play so poorly at home in a nationally televised game last Tuesday night. The Red Wolves have a chance to turn things around on Saturday night in Mobile against a relatively new South Alabama program.

UCA rewarded us with a victory in Conway against Stephen F. Austin. It was sad to see quarterback Wynrick Smothers’ senior season end early due to an injury, but the Bears are now 2-0 under the leadership of quarterback Ryan Howard. He has been impressive.

We picked UAPB to beat Mississippi Valley State by a score of 21-18, and the Golden Lions rewarded our pick with a 38-18 victory. So we got half the score right. It was nice to see Monte Coleman’s team pick up its first W in what had been a miserable season to that point.

We picked Henderson to beat Harding by a score of 39-30 and again got half of it right. The undefeated Reddies, now ranked No. 4 nationally in NCAA Division II, won by a score of 45-30.

We almost nailed the Ouachita-Arkansas Tech game in Russellville. We called it 35-25 in favor of Ouachita. The final score was 34-24 as the Tigers went to 6-1, ensuring the school’s sixth consecutive winning season. Ouachita is the only college program in the state — at any level — with six consecutive winning seasons. Congratulations to head coach Todd Knight and his staff. Ouachita has a smaller enrollment and a smaller athletic budget than any of its opponents and yet has won twice as many games as it has lost (38-19) since the start of the 2008 season.

The margin was much closer than we had expected, but UAM still managed to win its homecoming game with a 22-19 decision over winless Southern Nazarene. The Weevils are 5-3, a vast improvement over last year’s 1-10 record.

We’re now 57-10 for the season.

On to the picks for Week 10:

Auburn 40, Arkansas 30 — It’s the return of Gus Malzahn to northwest Arkansas. Auburn, with its 7-1 record, has been the most improved team in the SEC this fall. In last week’s 45-10 nonconference victory over Florida Atlantic, the Tigers had 628 yards of offense, with 440 of that coming in the first half. For those who think of a Malzahn offense as a passing offense, consider the fact that Auburn leads the SEC in rushing. The Tigers had 422 yards on the ground last Saturday. Malzahn is smart enough to adjust to the talent that’s on hand. He showed us that last year at Arkansas State. Something tells us that Arkansas hangs around for at least three quarters of this home game. No 52-0 blowouts this time.