Football expert Phil Steele is the owner and publisher of Phil Steele’s College Football Preview, regarded as the college football bible. Get in-depth coverage of college and pro football 24/7/365 at PhilSteele.com.
Oklahoma (-11) over IOWA STATE: Iowa State comes in happy off a homecoming win versus Baylor, while Oklahoma comes in off a highly publicized loss to Notre Dame. The competition, however, especially on the defensive side of the ball, couldn’t have been more different with Baylor having my No. 115 ranked defense and Notre Dame my No. 4.
That gives the Sooners great value, and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops is now a perfect 20-0 the week following a loss.
BOISE STATE (-14) over San Diego State: The Broncos have played my No. 79 schedule with their three non-conference foes all off bowl wins combining for 33 wins last year.
The Aztecs have my No. 110 schedule and their top three non-conference foes combined for 15 wins last season.
The NCAA shows San Diego State as the better offense (53rd vs. 77th) but mine has Boise State (68th vs. 70th), while on defense my rankings show a much larger discrepancy with Boise having the edge (24th vs. 76th). When you add in one of the strongest home field edges and with San Diego State making its first ever trip here, it looks like a blowout!
LAST WEEK (NCAA): 0-2
SEASON: 8-10