Another exciting week of college football is here. Hard to believe we are already into Week 7 and in the thick of conference play. There are tons of games to watch this weekend, some of which I am not writing about but you should also check out (USC vs Notre Dame, UCLA vs Oregon State to name a few). That being said, here are my Games to Watch: Week 7.

8 Oregon at #7 Washington

3:30PM Kickoff on ABC (10/14)
Current Records:
Oregon: 5-0 (2-0 Pac-12)
Washington: 5-0 (2-0 Pac-12)

This is my game of the week. A battle between the Pac-12’s best teams, who also happen to have two of the best offenses in the country, led by Heisman hopefuls at the Quarterback position. The Pac-12 is without a doubt the best conference in college football this year, it is just a shame it’s it last season and that the PAc-12 has the history of completely cannibalizing itself taking away any teams hope of making the college football playoff. I think that streak of knocking itself out of the conversation ends this season, Oregon or Washington are too good to be left out with one loss plus the Pac-12 title. Both teams are coming off their bye weeks, Oregon last played Stanford (winning 42-7), while Washington survived a scare against Arizona (winning 31-24). Like I said, both teams have incredible offenses: both teams have scored at least 30 points in every game this season so far (Oregon put 81 up on Portland State, Washington put 59 up on Cal). Oregon’s offense through the first five games has put up 557.8 total Yds a game (330.6 passing | 227.2 rushing) while Washington averages 569.4 total Yds a game (446.4 passing | 123 rushing). Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. is second in the nation for total passing Yds with 1,999 Yds (16 Tds | 2 INTS), Oregon’s Bo Nix also has an outstanding 1,459 Yes (15 Tds | 1 INT). Both teams love to pass the ball as the stats show, but Oregon has the more balanced offense, with two very solid running backs, Bucky Iring and Jordan James, both of which have 300+ Yds Rushing (James is at 297 Yds but he has 7 Tds). The biggest question mark for both teams is do we really know how good there are? The strength of schedule for both teams has been meh so far, Oregon played at the time a Top 20 Colorado and mopped the floor with them (Colorado is probably a 7-5 team) but they also had their hands full with Texas Tech in week 2. While Oregon in the last game had their hands full with Arizona (Arizona took USC to Triple OT). I expect this game to be very high scoring and not a lot of defense, think LA Rams vs Kansas City Chiefs a few years ago or Texas Tech vs Oklahoma (Baker vs Mahomes). I like Oregon to win close, but really close, like by 2 points. This game could go wither way, make sure you watch this!

Wyoming at Air Force
7:00PM Kickoff on CBSSN (10/14)

Current Records:

Wyoming: 5-1 (2-0 MW)

Air Force: 5-0 (2-0 MW)

Last week I wrote about Wyoming having a chance to take it to Fresno State and make their case for the Group of 5 spot in the New Years Six, I thought Fresno State was going to win though. Boy I was wrong, Wyoming won 24-19 against the Bulldogs ending the second longest winning streak in the nation. They did it behind the arm of QB Andrew Peasley who threw 3 TDs in the first half. The downside to win I feel was the fact the Cowboys did not score at all the second half, and the defense gave up two field goals and a TD (Fresno State went for 2 Pt but it failed). Air Force is 5-0, one of the few handful of teams left (maybe after this weekend I’ll rank the best undefeated teams), and they have been dominated in pretty much all their games (won 13-3 against a new prompted Sam Houston State in Week 2). Like all service academies Air Force loves to run the ball, they love to run it so much they average 329.8 rushing Yds a game, who needs the forward pass?? Even when they do pass QB Zac Larrier has been smart and effective, going 14-19 for 410 Yds and 3 TDs (no INTS). Air Force has 4 players who have over 200 rushing Yds on the season (one of which is Larrier with 362 Yds). Air Force will grind out the clock and exhaust defenses. Not only does the winner of the game take control over the Mountain West Conference and looking good for that Fiesta Bowl spot, but the winner will almost certainly be ranked in the next AP Top 25 Poll, Wyoming is technically #27 while Air Force is #28, someone will be ranked this week due to some ranked teams losing this weekend (see my next game). This game will be awesome, its just a shame its on CBSSN. I like Air Force to win, the triple option is very rare now and for an offense that is based around running if a team is excellent at running it its hard a for a defense to stop. Give me Air Force by at least a touchdown.

25 Miami at #12 UNC

7:30PM Kickoff on ABC (10/14)
Current Records:
Miami: 4-1 (0-1 ACC)
UNC: 5-0 (2-0 ACC)

I’m going to start with North Carolina on this one because there is a lot of positives for the Tarheels. UNC is 5-0, with the one scare to App State in week 2, their offense is humming behind Heisman hopefully Drake Maye, averaging 500 total Yds a game (325.8 passing | 174.2 rushing). Maye himself is playing a lot better recently, cutting down the turnovers. Last week in their win of Syracuse Maye went, 33-47 for 442 Yds and 3 TDs along with 1 rushing TD. Defensively the TarHeels are allowing 335.2 total Yes (216 passing | 118 rushing), though last week they held Syracuse to just 221 total Yds of offense and just allowed 1 touchdown all game. Miami’s offense is solid and should look to exploit the UNC defense, but they aren’t they same teams that had some problems with South Carolina and Appalachian Sate in weeks 1 and 2. Come on Miami, you could have kneed the ball and won the game, zero excuses to try and run the ball, thankfully Head Coach Mario Cristobal has acknowledged this, but fumbling the ball on what could have been the game sealing play to only lose is a big old yikes. Losing to a Georgia Tech teams who lost to a terrible Bowling Green team a few weeks ago too no less! That being said Miami has been solid on offense, scoring at least 35 points in their first 4 games (scored 20 against Georgia Tech). The biggest concern with Miami is will they be focused on this game at all or will they still be thinking about last weeks loss. Hopefully they are thinking about this weekend because they have a chance to upset UNC and still be in the drivers seat to make a statement in the ACC. UNC is only a 3.5 Point favorite over the Hurricanes, I think that is just right, I do like UNC to win though by around that margin. Don’t count Miami out though, they will come prepared and make it a great ball game against the Tarheels.

-Wil Weddington (@Wil_Weddington)