ESPN Independents and Others Blog

Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson

There are a lot of good games this weekend, and every conference has a key matchup involving the top teams around the conference. I think the most intriguing will be the Sun Belt because four teams are undefeated and vying for conference supremacy. I don't think anyone thought two of them would be in this position to this point.

The Mountain West also has key matchups this week, including tonight's game between BYU and TCU, but don't sleep on the Utah-CSU game, that could get interesting.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the battle for Michigan braggin' rights between Western and Central Michigan.

Because there are so many top conference games, the picks were a lot tougher this week. Some were too close to call, others were pretty easy to spot the winner, all will be exciting games to watch this weekend.

WEEK 1: 14-2
WEEK 2: 14-4
WEEK 3: 10-8
WEEK 4: 8-4
WEEK 5: 4-8
WEEK 6: 9-3
WEEK 7: 7-4

Western Michigan 31, Central Michigan 30 (OT): If I could have made this game a tie, I would have. I went back and forth. I looked at common opponents, scores, everything and these teams are even. This will be a great game to watch and I'm a little disappointed I won't be there. Western Michigan is a much better team than it was a year ago and Central is still the class of the conference with back-to-back championships. I like Western's defense in this one.

Northern Illinois 28, Toledo 10: Toledo is coming off a huge win at Michigan and I think that's still going to be looming a bit when this game kicks off. While the Rockets are thinking about last week, Northern Illinois, which has been on a nice little run lately, will be focused on chasing down its MAC West opponents. Plus, the Huskies have starting quarterback Chandler Harnish back.

Tulsa 38, UTEP 21: If Tulsa wants to prove it's the best in Conference USA the path begins now. Currently UTEP is the closest thing the Golden Hurricane have as a challenger for the C-USA West title. The Miners have won three straight and are 3-0 in conference. But they haven't faced a team as explosive as Tulsa and I don't think their offense or defense can keep up.

Houston 45, SMU 24: Houston proved its staying power last week with its amazing second half, come-from-behind dominance of UAB. SMU showed last week that it's getting better, but the Mustangs commit too many turnovers and have too many mistakes to beat a good team.

Navy 24, Pittsburgh 18: It's not that I'm on the Navy bandwagon, though I think they're much improved from where they were at the beginning of the year, I just don't believe Pittsburgh is that good. Pitt might have some trouble with the running game that's No. 2 in the country, but it wouldn't hurt Navy to diversify its offense just a bit.

TCU 19, BYU 14: There was something TCU coach Gary Patterson said during the MWC teleconference that really solidified my decision here. He said that BYU quarterbacks have always been able to figure out his defense. I took that to mean that TCU was going to show something totally different this weekend. I could be wrong, but this is a team that's been waiting for this game since January and even has a tackle dummy with a BYU helmet. I think there are some surprises in store tonight.

Utah 28, Colorado State 14: I have Utah doubling up the Rams, but I think this game is going to be close throughout. Colorado State has been better over the past couple weeks, but it makes mistakes at key times in the game, which has led to some losses. Plus, there's been some quarterback controversy and CSU coach Steve Fairchild said he wouldn't hesitate to sit Billy Farris if he starts poorly. That's a lot of pressure going against the No. 14 team in the country.

Louisiana-Lafayette 31, Arkansas State 26: I'm excited to see the outcome of both of the big matchups in the Sun Belt this week, but this one might be the closer of the two. Both of these teams are evenly matched, but Arkansas State's rush defense is going to get a workout against the No. 1 rushing team in the country.

Troy 28, Florida International 17: Florida International's dramatic turnaround over the last few weeks has been inspiring, but I think that comes to an end against Troy. The one thing that might swing this game in FIU's favor is Troy's new starting quarterback. If he's not ready to roll, the whole team could suffer.

Boise State 42, Hawaii 17: Revenge is sweet on the blue field. It's unfortunate that Hawaii isn't the Hawaii from last year because that might have made this a good game. As it stands, unless Boise State commits five or six turnovers and misses a key field goal, the Broncos should stay perfect in league play setting up an interesting game with San Jose State next week.

San Jose State 32, New Mexico State 21: San Jose State is a team that has come out of nowhere and made some interesting waves in the WAC. I'm not anointing them a worthy adversary yet -- they have played the bottom of the league -- but the game against New Mexico State should tell us something about both teams. San Jose State has the No. 13 defense in the country, but it will be tested against a high-powered Aggie offense.