College football predictions: Week 10

November, my favorite month, has arrived. I like November for the weather and Thanksgiving and the tipoff of the NBA and for the football. November football is fantastic. College football’s 10th week includes three of the top four teams in America against other ranked teams. Only Notre Dame gets a relative bye, and the Irish deserve one, after coming to Norman last Saturday and beating the Sooners.

Let the predictions proceed:

Oklahoma State at Kansas State: Wildcats 52-35. Sorry, I’m not buying on the Cowboy defense. OSU’s defense got better as soon as it started playing the Big 12′s weakest offenses. Which does not include describe K-State. The Cowboys thrive off turnovers, and Collin Klein doesn’t make mistakes.

Oklahoma at Iowa State: Sooners 31-15. The Cyclones are back to Steele Jantz at quarterback, which will help if Jantz doesn’t throw the ball to the Sooners and will hurt if he does. Bet on it hurting.

Texas at Texas Tech: Longhorns 26-24. UT is a funny team. Plays awful when you think it will play well. Plays well when you think it will play awful. But give Mack Brown credit. He wins close games. Keep it close, and the ‘Horns will prevail.

Kansas at Baylor: Bears 38-20. I don’t understand all the talk about KU perhaps springing an upset. Kansas at home can be competitive. Kansas on the road is a guarantee squash. KU has been to Northern Illinois (lost), Kansas State (lost by 40) and OU (lost by 45).

TCU at West Virginia: Mountaineers 31-21. If it seems like forever since West Virginia won, it has been. Oct. 6 at Texas. But the Frogs miss Casey Paschall.

Alabama at LSU: Crimson Tide 14-3. First one to score a touchdown wins.

Tulsa at Arkansas: Razorbacks 30-20. Don’t look now, but Tulsa could be headed for a glorious year. Win in the Ozarks, and TU could be 12-1 going into the Liberty Bowl. Heck, it’s not crazy for TU to be making some noise in the BCS rankings.

Texas A&M at Mississippi State: Bulldogs 28-27. The Jackie Sherrill Bowl. Or the Emory Bellard Bowl. Both coached at both schools. Actually, Mississippi State has all kinds of big names on its all-time head coach roster. Wade Walker, Murray Warmath (national title at Minnesota), Bernie Bierman (Bud Wilkinson’s Minnesota coach) and Darrell Royal. 

Ole Miss at Georgia: Bulldogs 30-20. Beat Mississippi and Auburn, and Georgia is in the SEC title game.

Missouri at Florida: Gators 23-14. Mizzou is going to have to win at Florida, at Tennessee or at Texas A&M to make a bowl.

Vanderbilt at Kentucky: Commodores 34-17. Vandy is 4-4 but has a chance at a nice finish. After this, the Commodores go to Ole Miss, host Tennessee and go to Wake Forest.

Troy at Tennessee: Volunteers 47-20. Tennessee has lost 12 of its last 13 SEC games, so the Vols are happy to step outside conference.

New Mexico State at Auburn: Tigers 38-6. Surely Gene Chizik can’t lose this, can he?

Oregon at Southern Cal: Trojans 33-31. Upset special. The Trojans are inconsistent, but they’re at times explosive. They won in Eugene last year.

Arizona at UCLA: Bruins 42-37. Do you realize that by Sunday morning, every team in the Pac-12 South could have three conference losses? 

Arizona State at Oregon State: Beavers 28-17. Oregon State is playing for a Rose Bowl bid. Even if the Beavers lose to Oregon, they could make the Rose Bowl at 10-2, if Oregon gets in the Big Bowl.

Washington at California: Huskies 26-23. A promising UW season has gone south. Of course, Cal’s season never was promising.

Stanford at Colorado: Cardinal 41-16. Is anybody still going to the games in Boulder?

Washington State at Utah: Utes 39-24. Mike Leach’s first season has been rough, but I’d be optimistic, WSU fans.

Virginia Tech at Miami: Hokies 34-30. Virginia Tech is 4-4 overall, 2-3 in the ACC — and only a half game out of the Coastal Division lead. Win this game, and V-Tech almost surely will be tied for the lead. The ACC Coastal is way worse than the Pac-12 South.

Boston College at Wake Forest: Deacons 24-17. Coaching mismatch. Jim Grobe vs. Frank Spaziani.

Georgia Tech at Maryland: Yellowjackets 27-14. The Terrapins have lost four quarterbacks to season-ending injuries, so Maryland will go with Shawn Petty, a true freshman linebacker who has been playing scout-team defense. And you think you’ve got troubles.