College football season continues to be awesome. It seems like every week I sit down to write my picks (which also continue to be awesome) there are a handful of games that are can’t miss.

I don’t know if that’s because there’s an increasing number of good teams in college football, or if all the cupcakes teams were feasting on at the beginning of the season beefed up their records artificially. Either way, I like being excited on a Friday night for what I’m about to see the next day, and I’ve been like that for a few weeks now.

This week is no different, in fact, it’s about as big as any weekend of the season. And maybe that’s artificially inflated for myself living in Michigan and seeing about 50% of my Facebook “friends” switch their profile picture to something Michigan or Michigan State related. It’s half exciting and half terribly annoying (example: New friend request from John Doe. Hmm, John Doe doesn’t ring a bell, I wonder what he looks like. Oh, he looks just like Denard Robinson. Strange. Ignore. (Not true, I never ignore. My ego can use all the friends it can get, virtual or not.)).

Enough parentheses, let’s get to the games.

I went 4-1 again last week, because I can’t seem to nail down Michigan State, which, oddly enough, is the major university closest to me geographically.

No. 1 Alabama at No. 19 South Carolina, 3:30 p.m.: A lot is being made of the fact that Alabama’s next five opponents will be playing the Tide after a week off. The first of those opponents is South Carolina, which features a solid defense, a bruising true freshman running back and a not-so-consistent passing game. I like Stephen Garcia. I don’t know why, I just do. But there’s no way in Hell he can be the reason the Gamecocks beat Alabama, which is what needs to happen. You need to be able to throw the ball better than just OK to beat the Tide this year (as Arkansas nearly proved), and South Carolina doesn’t have that luxury. Marcus Lattimore is a stud, but he’s going to get a rude awakening this weekend. Pick: Alabama 24-17.

No. 17 Michigan State at No. 18 Michigan, 3:30 p.m.: I’m not sure Denard Robinson can be stopped for a full game. He’s going to get his at some point, he’s just way too explosive not to. But you can stop him once or twice a game, which, unfortunately for Michigan, could be enough to beat the Wolverines. Seriously, if your offense doesn’t beat itself, you could literally score every time it took the field. Michigan’s defense is somewhere between putrid and whatever is worse than putrid. UMass made the Wolverines look like a D-II team, which is bad, because UMass is a I-AA team (FCS, whatever). Today is the day Michigan finally truly pays for this. Pick: MSU 38-35.

No. 12 LSU at No. 14 Florida, 7:30 p.m.: First, watch this. Now, think to yourself, how could a team that does that (even though it survived) beat a team coached by Urban Meyer? Well, here’s how: When that Urban Meyer coached team can’t score points, and is coming off a physical beatdown by Alabama, it’s beatable by anyone, including a team coached by Les Miles that relies completely on its defense. Yes, I’m predicting Les Miles to be 6-0. Pick: LSU 14-10.

No. 23 Florida State at No. 13 Miami, 8 p.m.: Florida State looks awesome this year, against teams that are awful. Miami has the strange ability to look really good and really bad in a matter of minutes of the same game. I attribute this to quarterback Jacory Harris, who personifies that ability. If he’s 75% good Jacory tonight, Miami will win. Pick: Miami 24-20.

USC at No. 16 Stanford, 8 p.m.: The thought of USC getting pounded again is kind of exciting to me, I’m not going to lie. Although, instead of “What’s your deal,” I’d imagine Lane Kiffin might just shake Jim Harbaugh’s hand and say, “Well played.” Expect several fourth down tries in this one, as well as some two-point conversion attempts. Also, expect Andrew Luck to absolutely dominate USC’s horrific passing defense. Pick: Stanford 45-31.