AH week 7 picks; an upset in the house
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The 4-2 Iowa football team enters the second half of the regular season still in contention for everything but a spot in the four-team college playoff.
The Hawkeyes have a chance to win a second consecutive Big Ten West Division title, but that chance would suffer a critical blow should Iowa lose to Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.
Iowa has won eight consecutive road games, while Purdue is finally showing a pulse under fourth-year head coach Darrell Hazell, who many believe is coaching for his job this season.
Our guest picker is my brother in law Tom Kozlik, who lives in Cascade, Mich., with his wife/my sister. Tom has
no connection to the University of Iowa besides my family and he shows that with his pick for the Iowa game.
Tom does have a connection to the Big Ten, though. His son played hockey at Penn State, while his youngest of two daughters played soccer at Michigan.
Tyler Devine picked all five of his games correctly last week and is now back in a tie for first place with your’s truly. The guest picker has some work to do.
Pat Harty
Iowa 31, Purdue 20: Kirk Ferentz decides to play Desmond King on offense, but surprises everybody by using him on the offensive line and as the long field goal kicker.
Ohio State 28, Wisconsin 17: Barry Alvarez informs Paul Chryst after the loss that he will now also start running his personal life.
Michigan State 23, Northwestern 21: Mark Dantonio tells his players to hustle and to be fundamentally sound, not just to help break the losing streak, but also because some of them might be working for the Northwestern players after college.
Nebraska 33, Indiana 28: A survey of Nebraska fans shows that 98 percent of them believe that Alabama is fortunate to not be in the same conference as the Cornhuskers now that they are the dominant force in college football again.
Texas 41, Iowa State 37: Texas fans storm the field to celebrate victory and holding an opponent to fewer than 40 points.
Last week: 4-1
Overall: 19-11
Tyler Devine
Iowa 34, Purdue 10: Iowa’s "natural rival" doesn’t look so natural on its home turf as the Hawkeyes steamroll the Boilermakers.
Ohio State 21, Wisconsin 17: Ohio State gets caught looking a month ahead to Michigan and still comes out on top.
Northwestern 24, Michigan State 20: Northwestern is still feeling the momentum from a victory over Pat Fitzgerald’s rival Iowa and beats Michigan State in an overtime nail-biter.
Nebraska 31, Indiana 20: Indiana fans make a feeble attempt to confuse the Cornhuskers by wearing foam ears of foam on their heads. It doesn’t help much as Indiana has to score 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to make it respectable.
Texas 34, Iowa State 10: When asked about the win during his post-game press conference, Texas head coach Charlie Strong says "It was a good win but doesn’t matter, I’m still going to be fired anyway."
Last week: 5-0
Overall: 19-11
Guest (Tom Kozlik)
Purdue 21, Iowa 20: The last three games for the Hawkeyes have been way too close. Not sure Iowa has recovered from losing to FCS power North Dakota State. The Boilermakers win a close game by one at home. Then coach packs his bags for recruiting trip in North and South Dakota.
Ohio State 30, Wisconsin 13: J.T. Barrett makes a Heisman statement by leading the Buckeyes to a convincing win in Madison.
Northwestern 21, Michigan State 20: This is battle between the Big 10’s brains vs brawn…brains win by one as some of the Michigan State players will miss the team bus and not show up.
Indiana 24, Nebraska 24: Indiana nearly defeated Ohio State last year and already put Michigan State in it place this year, so they are looking to make a statement versus No. 10 Nebraska. Watch out Cornhuskers as Lee Corso puts on the Hoosiers hat and they win by one.
Texas 43, Iowa State 17: If the Hawkeyes can put up 42 on the Cyclones, with Charlie Strong needing a big day to keep his job, it will be a stampeed in Austin.
Last week: 3-2
Overall: 13-17