College Games

(13) Auburn Tigers at (19) Vanderbilt Commodores
Both of these teams are members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and nationally ranked.  What is Vanderbilt doing ranked #19 in the country and being undefeated at 4-0?  Doesn’t Vanderbilt know that if you are considered an academic school you are not supposed to be good at sports?  The Commodores are aiming for their first 5-0 start since 1943.  Vanderbilt’s Coach Bobby Johnson has done a great job of building this football program and will face a worthy opponent in Auburn this week.  Auburn has won 13 straight games against Vanderbilt and is 4-1 this season with the one loss coming from LSU.  Behind the strong defense of Auburn, expect the Tigers to shut down the run game of the Commodores.

(14) Ohio State Buckeyes at (18) Wisconsin Badgers
These teams are both members of the Big Ten Conference.  Ohio State dropped big in the national rankings three weeks ago when they were stomped by the Trojans of USC.  The Buckeyes are anxious to prove that they can compete against a nationally ranked team, since they have not yet this season.  With RB Chris Wels back from a toe injury and Terrelle Pryor taking over at QB, Ohio State should start producing some big yards on offense.  Wisconsin imploded against Michigan last week.  After leading 19-0 at half-time, the Badgers lost the game 27-25.  Don’t expect anything but the same from Wisconsin this week as I fully expect the Buckeyes to overpower the Badgers.

(23) Oregon Ducks at (9) University of Southern California (USC) Trojans
The Pac-10 Conference is the home of these two teams.  Both teams have each suffered a loss; Oregon is currently 4-1 and USC is 2-1.  Losing at the hands of Oregon State last week, the Trojans dropped from #1 in the nation to #9.  No one expected this as most national analysts were already crowing USC this year’s national champion.  Oregon’s lone loss came from Boise State after their starting quarterback went down.  But they have plugged in another QB and are scoring an average of 47 points per game.  Don’t expect the Ducks to roll over for the Trojans.  This should be a hard-fought game with the Trojans emerging victorious.

NFL Games

Tennessee Titans at Baltimore Ravens
This will be a battle of couple of the stingiest defense in the NFL.  Thanks to the aggressive defensive play of the Titans, they are undefeated at 4-0.  Tennessee’s backup QB Kerry Collins has managed the team well since replacing QB Vince Young who appears to have some motivational and possibly psychological problems.  Coach Jeff Fisher appears to be happy with Collins and will rely on his defense to hopefully carry the Titans to the playoffs.  Baltimore came close to starting the season 3-0, but loss on Monday night in overtime to the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Raven’s rookie QB Joe Flacco has handled the pressure well so far this season and has a very strong arm.  If Flacco continues to produce and the defense stays healthy, this team could be a playoff contender.  Expect the Tennessee defense to give the Ravens’ rookie QB some trouble this week with Tennessee squeaking

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Denver Broncos
Both of these teams have suffered one loss this season.  Denver fell to Kansas City last week when the offense could not overcome an ugly defensive effort.  The Broncos’ defense has not looked good this season and will be challenged by the strong running of the Buccaneers.  Denver QB Jay Cutler has racked up 1,275 passing yards already this season and is basically carrying this Denver team.  Tampa Bay will try to rely on its defense to stop Denver’s passing attack after coming off its strongest defensive performance of the season against Green Bay last week.  Expect defense to prevail here as Tampa Bay should be able to stuff the Denver offense.