Game Predictions 10/17

USC at Notre Dame
In the upset of the day, I'm picking the Irish to play out of their minds and save Charlie Weis' job for now at least. Jimmy Clausen is clearly the best QB in this game(though Matt Barkley will be great but not for this game) and has some great weapons to get the ball to. Irish TE Kyle Rudolph, a Dallas Clark clone, is going to have a HUGE game and will be a household name following Saturday. I expect Notre Dame to get ahead early and force the Trojans to get out of their game plan and pass the ball to play catch up. Pete Carroll's squad will put up points, but Notre Dame will put up more. The Fighting Irish win 31-25.

Oklahoma vs Texas(at Cotton Bowl in Dallas)
This won't be the offensive explosion that we saw last year despite the fact that both Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy are back. Oklahoma's defense has been nasty, allowing just a hair more than 8 per game. The Longhorns defense ranks 4th in the nation led by DE/LB Sergio Kindle. This game will be low scoring entering the final quarter where I expect both offenses to find a rythm behind the top two Heisman vote getters last year. Colt McCoy and the 'Horns will score to win with less than a minute left and Texas wins the Red River Rivalry's last game at the Cotton Bowl 27-24.