College football: Week 13 predictions

Prediction time for college football’s Week 13:

Iowa State at Oklahoma: Sooners 49-21. The Cyclones have beaten OU once in the last 50 years. Of course, Baylor had beaten OU zero times in the last 500 years.

Houston at Tulsa: Cougars 41-31. TU has transformed itself into a tough-defense, ground-oriented team. But can that slow the Case Keenum Show? The Bedlam loser needs a Tulsa victory.

Texas at Texas A&M: Aggies 24-3. Maybe when DeLoss Dodds is gone, the Longhorns will agree to play the Aggies. Until then, the last football memory of this ancient rivalry could be Texas trying to win with Case McCoy.

Louisville at South Florida: Bulls 20-19.Louisville is fighting for the Big East championship. If the Cardinals make it, they would trump UConn 2010 as the worst BCS qualifier ever.

Iowa at Nebraska: Cornhuskers 37-14. Seems like it ought to be a natural rivalry — and it once was. Nebraska-Iowa has been played 41 times, but just six times since 1946.

Pittsburgh at West Virginia: Mountaineers 33-21. Man, I wish the Big 12 would have been proactive and gotten Pitt along with West Virginia. Oh, well. That’s like wishing your 6-foot-6 center was taller.

Arkansas at LSU: Tigers 29-24. I have no idea why I’m picking it this close, other than the Hogs always make it thrilling against LSU. Arkansas has not proven itself on the road. This is just the Hogs’ fourth road game. In the first three, they were blown out at Alabama 38-14 and nipped Ole Miss 29-24 and Vanderbilt 31-28.

California at Arizona State: Sun Devils 30-20.I don’t like either team. Arizona State can reach the Pac-12 title game with a victory, a USC victory over UCLA and a Utah win over Colorado. Not that anyone cares about the Pac-12 title game.

Ohio State at Michigan: Wolverines 26-7. Michigan can make a great case for a BCS berth. The Bedlam loser could use an Ohio State win, but good luck with that.

Missouri vs. Kansas at Kansas City, Mo.: Tigers 34-14. Conference spatting means this rivalry that dates to the Civil War is ending. Kansas needs Missouri to make Jayhawk football relevant. But Mizzou needs KU to make Missouri basketball relevant.