ESPN College Football

Well, I was feeling pretty good about myself after correctly picking West Virginia to beat Auburn last Thursday. Then Saturday came and ... well, let's not talk about Saturday. I did not predict that Rutgers and Connecticut, who played a Jurassic 12-10 game the week before, would combine for 94 points the following week. How'd that one get past me? Anyway, I soldier on for another week:

THURSDAY

South Florida 27, Cincinnati 24: Both teams need this win badly, and the Bearcats have beaten the Bulls the past two years. But even though South Florida has lost two of its past three, it has still played better than Cincinnati, which was awful at Connecticut and struggled past Rutgers and Akron. It's unclear whether Tony Pike or Chazz Anderson will start for the Bearcats, and the unsettled situation at quarterback leads me to lean toward Matt Grothe and the Bulls.

SATURDAY

West Virginia 28, Connecticut 20: The Huskies will come as close as they ever have to knocking off West Virginia but will fall just short in the end. The Mountaineers' offense is finally clicking, and Pat White has owned UConn throughout his career. The underrated West Virginia defense will do enough to slow Donald Brown and whomever Randy Edsall puts in at quarterback.

Notre Dame 27, Pittsburgh 24: Jimmy Clausen and Charlie Weis can't wait to get after that Pitt secondary after Rutgers burned it for six touchdowns. The Panthers won't be as bad this week because they won't have to respect the Irish's running game as much. But with Pat Bostick likely in at quarterback and a hastily revamped offensive line, Pittsburgh won't score enough to win in South Bend.

Louisville 23, Syracuse 10: The Orange have had two weeks to prepare and believe they can beat the Cardinals after doing it last year. Louisville took an emotional hit with the loss of Scott Long to a season-ending knee injury this week, so expect this one to stay close for awhile. The talent divide is too great, however, and Syracuse will pull its usual late-game fade.

Last week: 1-3

Season results: 30-17 (63.8 percent)