Last week: 9-1 Season: 90-38
I had a great week picking games, only missing Michigan State-Ohio State when I went for the upset. The slate isn't too scintillating this week. The best game is Notre Dame-Syracuse at historic Yankee Stadium, but "College GameDay" is in Orlando for Cincinnati-UCF. In the only ACC game I didn't list, North Carolina will try to get its second win facing FCS foe Western Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Pittsburgh (6-4) at Wake Forest (5-5), Noon NBC Sports Washington
The Panthers crushed Virginia Tech last week, meaning they only need to beat the Demon Deacons or Miami next week to win the Coastal division and get a chance to knock off Clemson in the ACC title game. Wake needs to win at least one more game to get bowl eligible. The Deacons finish at Duke next week.
Pittsburgh 35, Wake Forest 28
N.C. State (6-3) at Louisville (2-8), 12:20 p.m. The CW
Bobby Petrino was fired as the Cardinals' coach this week. It's been a disastrous year for the program, which has struggled mightily on defense and now offense, too, with Lamar Jackson in the NFL.
N.C. State 42, Louisville 17
Game of the week
No. 12 Syracuse (8-2) vs. No. 3 Notre Dame (10-0) at Yankee Stadium, 2:30 p.m. NBC
Out of nowhere, the Orange has won eight games and is only a handful of plays away from being undefeated. Coach Dino Babers' bunch is a eyeing a New Year's Day bowl game. The Fighting Irish need to be careful here. Syracuse is legitimate this season. But Ian Book is back at quarterback after missing last week's win against Florida State, so I like Notre Dame.
Notre Dame 34, Syracuse 30
No. 20 Boston College (7-3) at Florida State (4-6), 3:30 p.m. ESPN2
Boston College defeated Florida State, 35-3, last season. The Eagles are better this year, and the Seminoles are worse. In Tallahassee, BC is only a 1.5-point favorite. Pick BC to cover.
Boston College 38, Florida State 24
Miami (5-5) at Virginia Tech (4-5), 3:30 p.m. ESPN
The teams picked to finish 1-2 in the Coastal are instead battling for bowl eligibility as the season nears its conclusion. Miami finishes with Pittsburgh, so this is the easier game to win for a sixth victory. The Hokies either need to beat Miami and Virginia next week to get to 6-5, or win at least one, and then hope the reported 12th game against Marshall on Dec. 1 comes through. The Hokies' officially only have 11 games scheduled right now because their September matchup with East Carolina was canceled due to Hurricane Florence. ECU has already scheduled a Dec. 1 game with N.C. State, so Tech needed to look elsewhere. The Hokies have been to 25 straight bowl games, the longest NCAA-recognized streak in the country, and want to keep that going. Miami running back Travis Homer will probably be an issue for the Hokies' defense, though, which gave up 465 rushing yards to Georgia Tech, 219 to BC, and then 492 to Pittsburgh the past three weeks. Homer is eighth in the ACC with 732 rushing yards and averages 5.5 yards per carry. But something tells me Tech has too much pride to lay down. The Hokies talk about the bowl streak and the UVa streak all the time. Winning out means keeping both alive. Miami has lost four in a row and barely edged FSU, 28-27, before that. The Hurricanes are struggling mightly as well. Give me Tech in the mild upset.
Virginia Tech 31, Miami 30
Duke (7-3) at No. 2 Clemson (10-0), 7 p.m. ESPN
Clemson 42, Duke 10
No. 24 Cincinnati (9-1) at No. 11 UCF (9-0), 8 p.m. ABC
UCF has the nation's longest winning streak at 22 games and must keep it going to keep alive any outside shot it has at crashing the College Football Playoff. Cincinnati is sneaky good and has been almost as dominant as the Knights, but the Bearcats' schedule has not been as strong. Their one loss is to Temple, 24-17, which UCF beat, 52-40.
UCF 38, Cincinnati 34
No. 16 Iowa State (6-3) at No. 15 Texas (7-3), 8 p.m. Longhorn Network
The Cyclones are on fire after a 1-3 start, having won five straight games, including a 16-point win over West Virginia. The Longhorns have struggled a bit since their big victory over Oklahoma, losing two of four since. All four games have been close, though, with wins over Baylor aand Texas Tech and losses to Oklahoma State and WVU.
Iowa State 31, Texas 27
Virginia (7-3) at Georgia Tech (6-4), 3:30 p.m. NBC Sports Washington
The big game for Virginia is next week. Georgia Tech is hot, having won five of six, scoring at least 27 points in each of its past three games with an average of 38. The Wahoos should be putting all their focus, privately of course -- publicly, it is always "one game at a time; go 1-0 this week" -- on the Virginia Tech game with the Hokies looking especially vulnerable. Yes, UVa has an outside shot
to win the Coastal, but must rely on Pitt to slip up, which I view as unlikely. Plus, Liberty had a lot of success running the ball last week in Charlottesville, so the Yellow Jackets' attack is probably going to perform even better than that. Georgia Tech's defense has struggled at times this season, and I think UVa will put up some points as Bryce Perkins continues to dazzle on a few plays, but Virginia's beat-up defense won't be able to do enough to slow the triple option and snag the road victory.
Georgia Tech 34, Virginia 28
I had a great week picking games, only missing Michigan State-Ohio State when I went for the upset. The slate isn't too scintillating this week. The best game is Notre Dame-Syracuse at historic Yankee Stadium, but "College GameDay" is in Orlando for Cincinnati-UCF. In the only ACC game I didn't list, North Carolina will try to get its second win facing FCS foe Western Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Pittsburgh (6-4) at Wake Forest (5-5), Noon NBC Sports Washington
The Panthers crushed Virginia Tech last week, meaning they only need to beat the Demon Deacons or Miami next week to win the Coastal division and get a chance to knock off Clemson in the ACC title game. Wake needs to win at least one more game to get bowl eligible. The Deacons finish at Duke next week.
Pittsburgh 35, Wake Forest 28
N.C. State (6-3) at Louisville (2-8), 12:20 p.m. The CW
Bobby Petrino was fired as the Cardinals' coach this week. It's been a disastrous year for the program, which has struggled mightily on defense and now offense, too, with Lamar Jackson in the NFL.
N.C. State 42, Louisville 17
Game of the week
No. 12 Syracuse (8-2) vs. No. 3 Notre Dame (10-0) at Yankee Stadium, 2:30 p.m. NBC
Out of nowhere, the Orange has won eight games and is only a handful of plays away from being undefeated. Coach Dino Babers' bunch is a eyeing a New Year's Day bowl game. The Fighting Irish need to be careful here. Syracuse is legitimate this season. But Ian Book is back at quarterback after missing last week's win against Florida State, so I like Notre Dame.
Notre Dame 34, Syracuse 30
No. 20 Boston College (7-3) at Florida State (4-6), 3:30 p.m. ESPN2
Boston College defeated Florida State, 35-3, last season. The Eagles are better this year, and the Seminoles are worse. In Tallahassee, BC is only a 1.5-point favorite. Pick BC to cover.
Boston College 38, Florida State 24
Miami (5-5) at Virginia Tech (4-5), 3:30 p.m. ESPN
The teams picked to finish 1-2 in the Coastal are instead battling for bowl eligibility as the season nears its conclusion. Miami finishes with Pittsburgh, so this is the easier game to win for a sixth victory. The Hokies either need to beat Miami and Virginia next week to get to 6-5, or win at least one, and then hope the reported 12th game against Marshall on Dec. 1 comes through. The Hokies' officially only have 11 games scheduled right now because their September matchup with East Carolina was canceled due to Hurricane Florence. ECU has already scheduled a Dec. 1 game with N.C. State, so Tech needed to look elsewhere. The Hokies have been to 25 straight bowl games, the longest NCAA-recognized streak in the country, and want to keep that going. Miami running back Travis Homer will probably be an issue for the Hokies' defense, though, which gave up 465 rushing yards to Georgia Tech, 219 to BC, and then 492 to Pittsburgh the past three weeks. Homer is eighth in the ACC with 732 rushing yards and averages 5.5 yards per carry. But something tells me Tech has too much pride to lay down. The Hokies talk about the bowl streak and the UVa streak all the time. Winning out means keeping both alive. Miami has lost four in a row and barely edged FSU, 28-27, before that. The Hurricanes are struggling mightly as well. Give me Tech in the mild upset.
Virginia Tech 31, Miami 30
Duke (7-3) at No. 2 Clemson (10-0), 7 p.m. ESPN
Clemson 42, Duke 10
No. 24 Cincinnati (9-1) at No. 11 UCF (9-0), 8 p.m. ABC
UCF has the nation's longest winning streak at 22 games and must keep it going to keep alive any outside shot it has at crashing the College Football Playoff. Cincinnati is sneaky good and has been almost as dominant as the Knights, but the Bearcats' schedule has not been as strong. Their one loss is to Temple, 24-17, which UCF beat, 52-40.
UCF 38, Cincinnati 34
No. 16 Iowa State (6-3) at No. 15 Texas (7-3), 8 p.m. Longhorn Network
The Cyclones are on fire after a 1-3 start, having won five straight games, including a 16-point win over West Virginia. The Longhorns have struggled a bit since their big victory over Oklahoma, losing two of four since. All four games have been close, though, with wins over Baylor aand Texas Tech and losses to Oklahoma State and WVU.
Iowa State 31, Texas 27
Virginia (7-3) at Georgia Tech (6-4), 3:30 p.m. NBC Sports Washington
The big game for Virginia is next week. Georgia Tech is hot, having won five of six, scoring at least 27 points in each of its past three games with an average of 38. The Wahoos should be putting all their focus, privately of course -- publicly, it is always "one game at a time; go 1-0 this week" -- on the Virginia Tech game with the Hokies looking especially vulnerable. Yes, UVa has an outside shot
Georgia Tech 34, Virginia 28
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