Sully’s Six Pack of Winners in Week 5

Texas 3-0 @ Oklahoma State 2-1: Sully’s CFP simulator (Head to Head on the Site) predicts the following: Total Yards, passing yards, & rushing yards will be won by the Cowboys, while Turnovers, 3rd down conversions & red zone efficiency will be in the Longhorns favor. Sully’s CFP simulator predicts a 39-38.5 Okey State victory. As Lee Corso likes to say” not so fast my friend”, here is what Sully thinks! Okey State Stats are inflated by their 84-0 win vs Savannah State and their 64-24 drubbing of Louisiana Lafayette . When they had to play an AQ conference opponent, Arizona, on the road in Tucson, they got smacked, 59-38, gave up over 500 yards, and turned the ball over 4 times (same Arizona that got hammered by Oregon 49-0).  The Cowboys did gain over 600 yards in this game but were penalized 15 times for 167 yards. Keep in mind, for a lot of those yards, the Wildcat defense was playing the clock not the “Boys”. Meanwhile down on the ranch (the other ranch) the Horns are 3-0, including a, 66-31, whipping of the SEC’s Old Miss Rebels in Oxford. Texas is giving 2.5 Points! Sully says take Texas and give the Points!

Florida State 4-0 @ South Florida 2-2 : Sully’s CFP simulator clearly states that Florida State will dominate South Florida in all eight of the statistical categories it assesses (Total Yards, Passing Yards, Rushing Yards, Scoring, Third Down Conversions, Red Zone all scores, & Red Zone Touchdowns only) Sully agrees! South Florida opened the season with 2 wins, one over an FCS team, Chattanooga, from the SoCon (Southern Conference), 34-13 and beat a good Nevada team in Reno, 32-31. Then an AQ conference opponent, Rutgers, came to Tampa and beat the Bulls 23-13… Ok … Rutgers is good, they just beat Arkansas last week, in Fayetteville, 35-26! The Bulls then headed north, to Muncie, Indiana, to take on a MAC team, Ball State. USF gave up over 400 yards, lost the turnover battle 2-0, were penalized 11 times for112 yards, and lost the game, 31-27! While most of the Bulls are Florida youngsters and have played against many of the Seminoles in High School, they have seen nothing in their first four games that can, even remotely, simulate the speed they will be up against come Saturday night. Florida State lowest offensive scoring output this season is 49 points against a good Clemson defense… that is both quick and fast! FSU also put a 52 spot on Wake Forest (Wake did beat a good North Carolina team, 28-27) and while the offense was scoring 52, the Noles defense allowed the Demon Deacons 0 points! Florida State is a 16 point favorite.  Sully says take Florida State and give the points!

Clemson 3-1 @ Boston College 1-2 Clemson is heading north to Bean Town in a foul mood! Their 49-37 loss to Florida State has put them behind the eight ball in both divisional & conference play. Put simply, it is unlikely that FSU will lose a game in the ACC, although they do have to play NC State, Miami, & Va Tech all on the road. Ok… given the road opposition, a loss is clearly a possibility, but two.. C’mom! The Tigers know they have to win the rest of their ACC games and beat in-state rival, South Carolina to have a remote chance at a BCS Bowl berth. Their road trip back to prominence takes them to Boston first … I believe their defense will be mobile, agile, but mostly…. hostile in this game! Sully’s CFP Simulator says Clemson will outperform BC in seven of the 8 statistical categories assessed, only in passing yardage did the Eagles surpass the Tigers 279.5 to 249.5 yards. The Simulator did predict a final score 30.5 to 26 in favor of Clemson…  to which Sully Lee Corso’s that with, “not so fast my friend”! Clemson put 37 on a Seminole defense that had gavin up only 3 points in its first three games, beat perennial SEC power, Auburn, 26-19, in Atlanta and hammered Ball State, 52-27, the Cardinals (Ball State) have beaten Indiana, 41-39 and South Florida, 31-27 (2 AQ conference teams). Clemson is giving 10! Sully says give the 10 and take Clemson!

Marshall 2-2 @ Purdue 2-1 Purdue is, without question, the surprise team in the Big Ten this year (unless Minnesota wins at Iowa on Saturday and goes to 5-0…then clearly…. it’s the Gophers). The Boilermakers gave 4-0 Notre Dame their best game, a 20 to 17 nail-biter settled on a last second field goal by the Irish! Kawann Short is arguably be the best D tackle in the Big Ten and among the best in the country. The Purdue Defense is giving up only 14 points a game, while the offense is putting up 39.6 PPG! Marshall’s defense has surrender 171 points in four games or 42. 75 points per game. That said, the Thundering Herd’s offense has been effective, scoring 164 point in its first four games for an average of 41.0 points per game. Sully’s CFP Simulator chimes with the following data; Purdue wins 7 / 8 statistical categories and the game 41.5-27.5. Sully agrees…. the Boilers dominate this game , but Sully disagrees the the Simulators final score. This is the best defense that the Herd has faced which will equate to their lowest scoring output of the year. Purdue is giving 15 points. Sully says take Purdue and give the 15!

Ball State 3-1 @ Kent State 2-1: Ball state is off to a great start, with impressive wins over Big Ten (Indiana 41-39) and Big East (South Florida 31-27) AQ conference teams, as well as a league win over Eastern Michigan, 37-26! Their only loss is to ACC power Clemson, 52- 27. Kent State’s competition is a mere shadow of the teams that the Cardinals have taken on in the 2012 season. The Golden Flashes have beaten Towson 41-21, an FCS team from the CAA and won a conference game against Buffalo, 23-7. Their lone loss was at Kentucky, a 47-14 smack down! Sully’s CFP Simulator offered the following: Kent State prevails in 5 of the 8 categories and wins the game by a score of 31 to 29.5! Lee Corso that immediately!! Ball State’s level of competition and results suggest a much different outcome on the field. The Cardinals are giving 2.5! Sully says take Ball state and give the 2.5!

ULM 1-2 @ Tulane 0-3: ULM (Louisiana Monroe) has been one of the great stories in 2012. They put the college football world on its head by marching into Little Rock and beating Arkansas in OT, 34-31! They then went back for more SEC dynamite, taken on Auburn in Jordan-Hare Stadium, …. with the Tigers fully aware of what the Warhawks did the week before to the Razorbacks. It did not matter, ULM forced OT again, this time falling, 31-28, to  AU. ULM then hosted an undefeated Baylor and battled yet another AQ conference opponent to thefinal minutes of the game … a 47-42 loss! ULM led in this game in the 1st half, 21-7.  and held a 35-34  lead until the 7:10 mark 4th quarter.  Tulane has struggled to score this year, they are averaging 7.34 points per game … scoring a mere 22 points in three games!. That said, they have played against good competition (Rutgers 24-12, Tulsa 45-12, & Ole Miss 39-0). Sully CFP Simulator figures this way; The Warhawks stem the tide of The Green Wave in 7 of 8 statistical categories and win the game by a score 35.5 t0 21.5. Sully agrees! ULM is giving Tulane 20 points! Sully says take ULM and give the 20!