College football preview - week eleven

It's November, and while the air isn't crisp as it should be for key football clashes at this time of year, this is the best month for college football. Key matchups again dot the weekend lineup including Iowa at Ohio State, West Virginia at Cincinnati, Utah at TCU, Texas Tech at Oklahoma State and, over in Manhattan, Missouri at Kansas State.

Here's the rundown:

West Virginia at Cincinnati (tonight). Line: Cincy by 8.5. Tony Pike gets hurt and all his replacement, Zach Collaros, does for Cincinnati is throw for 480 yards last week. Cincy has no defense but it'll make no difference--Bearcats by 12 tonight.

Nebraska at Kansas. Line: Nebraska by 3.5. Prediction: Kansas by 3. It's hard to think that Kansas' sputtering offense will get well this week against NU's stout defense. But, it's also hard to think that Todd Reesing and company won't, at some point, showcase why so much was expected of KU's offense during the early part of the season. It's a broken record, but establishing the run for Kansas is critical--Ed Wariner must do a better job of getting Jake Sharp and/or Toben Opurum the carries needed to take pressure off Kansas' passing game.

Missouri at Kansas State. Line: MU by 1. Prediction: KSU by 3. The fluctuation this week in the line of this game indicates that no one knows what to make of this matchup. It's hard for me to predict against Kansas State at this point--last week's victory provides big-time confidence and momentum for the Wildcats...and they have the conference's Coach of the Year on the sideline.

Colorado at Iowa State. Line: ISU by 5.5. Prediction: ISU by 7. Iowa State has slid the past couple of weeks and Colorado is, well...unpredictable. So, go figure on this one. I'll go with home field advantage.

Texas A&M at Oklahoma. Line: OU by 20. Prediction: Oklahoma by 21.

Texas Tech at Oklahoma State. Line: OSU by 4. OSU has dominated this series in recent years. That's why I'll go with Tech, even though there is still uncertainty at the QB position. Red Raiders by 7.

Texas at Baylor. Line: UT by 23.5. Baylor fans like nothing better than beating Texas. It won't happen--Baylor's season zenith was last week's win against Missouri in Columbia. Texas will roll by 21, overwhelming Baylor QB Nick Florence with their tough, tough defense.

Utah at TCU. Line: TCU by 20. The ESPN College Gameday crew will be in Fort Worth for this game and the Horned Frogs will put on a show of their own. Prediction: TCU by 17.

Iowa at Ohio State: Line: Ohio State by 17. Boy, it didn't take long for Iowa's bubble to burst and the national media and gamblers to decide the Hawkeyes weren't the real deal. Northwestern ended Iowa's perfect season last week and QB Ricky Stanzi went down with an injury. In Happy Valley, the Buckeyes were convincingly beating Penn State, thus this week's out-of-whack betting line. I think this one will be much closer and that Iowa's D will give Terrelle Pryor problems. Prediction: OSU by 8.