Football 2017: Week Seven

The second half of the season begins tomorrow with three games on TV that could be worth seeing.

• Auburn at LSU is the SEC showcase game at 2:30 on CBS. Auburn looks like a team that's having an excellent season, and LSU doesn't. Auburn is favored by 7, and College Football News predicts they'll win 26-17. UPDATE: The LSU season looks better after they beat Auburn 27-23 today.
• Oklahoma vs Texas at Dallas is also on at 2:30 (on ESPN). This is the only Big 12 game I'm willing to waste time watching. As much as I hate the sooners, I hate the goddamned longhorns even more, so I'll watch this to see if OU can stomp the shit out of Texas U. The line has the sooners as a touchdown favorite, but CFN believes the horns will pull off a 27-24 upset win. UPDATE: The only purpose Oklahoma serves in this world is to beat Texas in football games. If they can't do that, then Oklahoma serves no purpose whatsoever. At any rate, the sooners held on to beat the horns again, this time by 29-24.
• Texas A&M at Florida is the 6:00 game on ESPN-2, with the Gators favored by a field goal at home. Both teams have been up and down: The Aggies feel pretty good about losing to Alabama 27-19 last week, and Florida feels rotten about losing 17-16 to LSU. The CFN prediction is a 27-23 win for A&M, and that's possible if the Aggies play their best game of the season so far. UPDATE: The Aggies didn't play all that well, but they executed a long punt return and few good offensive plays late in the 4th quarter to set up a fairly easy FG, then got the ball back on an interception to seal a tough 19-17 win over the Gators. So you could probably say the offense, defense, and special teams all came through in the clutch.

The other SEC games, with the CFN score predictions:

• Brigham Young at Mississippi State. The Bulldogs, favored by 23, win 37-10. UPDATE: An easy 35-10 victory for MSU.
• South Carolina at Tennessee. The Vols are a narrow 2 1/2 point favorite, but the Gamecocks get the 26-17 upset. UPDATE: A good prediction, as the Gamecocks win 15-9.
• Arkansas at Alabama. Bama's the favorite (30.5), and should roll the hogs 44-13. UPDATE: No contest, just another 41-9 blowout win for Saban.
• Missouri at Georgia. The home team is another 30 1/2 point favorite, and the suffering continues for Mizzou in a 44-10 blowout loss. UPDATE: Georgia takes care of business, 53-28.
• Vanderbilt at Ole Miss. The Rebels are favored by a FG, but CFN expects Vandy to pull off a 27-23 upset. UPDATE: Sorry, Vandy. No upset here. Ole Miss wins a scoring contest 57-35.