Bold predictions for college football Week 7: Texas rebounds, Georgia in trouble

Will Arch Manning lead Texas to a win against Oklahoma?

How do upsets affect the college football playoff race?

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It's hard to believe that after this weekend the college football season will be half over for most of the teams in the country. We're starting to see narratives form and the playoff picture take shape.

But that picture can get a complete different look after every Saturday. We saw that last week when Penn State was stunned by UCLA and Florida pulled off an upset of Texas. Week 7 allows numerous opportunities for surprises and unexpected outcomes with a schedule that includes a top-10 matchup in the Big Ten and a pair of ranked showdowns in the SEC. The challenge is trying to forecast when these results will happen.

That's why the USA TODAY Sports college football staff is here to provide some answers. Matt Hayes, Jordan Mendoza, Paul Myerberg, Erick Smith, Eddie Timanus and Blake Toppmeyer weigh in with their bold predictions for Week 7 of the college football season.

Penn State will reveal itself against Northwestern

We all need to prepare ourselves for the reality that Penn State might be this year's Florida State. If the Lions don't quickly dispatch a woeful Northwestern team, there are real problems ahead with a second half of the schedule where every game is losable. -- Matt Hayes

Arch Manning leads an iconic Texas win

Yes, Arch Manning hasn't been great this season, and it's not his fault such lofty expectations were set on him. Soon enough, he will figure it out and put up a signature performance. Why not do it against your rival? Oklahoma will be vulnerable, and the Texas quarterback proves he's the right guy for the job, leading the Longhorns to victory to hand Oklahoma its first loss of the season. -- Jordan Mendoza

Another upset for Florida with Texas A&M the victim

Florida notches a second ranked win in as many weeks by knocking off Texas A&M. The key will be protecting DJ Lagway, who was kept pretty clean in the upset of Texas and responded with his best game on the year. (The Gators weren’t able to do that against LSU, contributing to Lagway’s five-interception nightmare.) Another SEC win as an underdog would even UF’s record at 3-3 and raise the possibility that Billy Napier could save his job against all odds. -- Paul Myerberg

Indiana pushes Oregon to the brink

We've seen Oregon manhandle teams at home when it feels threaten. The threat is greater this week with Indiana coming to town. While the Hoosiers were dismissed as pretenders last year on their way to a loss to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff, this year's team is better suited to handle the challenge of winning on the road against elite competition. This won't be a blowout. This actually might be one of the games that has the biggest impact on the playoff come December because Indiana will push the Ducks to the final minutes. -- Erick Smith

Auburn puts Georgia on upset alert

When it comes to keeping its quarterback upright, no team in the Bowl Subdivision has done it worse than Auburn. The Tigers of the Plains have surrendered 21 sacks through their five games. Those numbers are somewhat skewed by the fact that nine of them came in one single outing against Oklahoma, but it’s still not hard to fathom why the offense is stuck in neutral – or sometimes in reverse.

But getting after the passer is not something Georgia does well, and the Bulldogs’ defense as a whole hasn’t resembled the kind of shutdown units we’re used to seeing in Kirby Smart’s program. The defensive side of the ball hasn’t been bad at Auburn, keeping the Tigers within a single score despite the offensive struggles. And oh yeah, this is an old rivalry that has plenty of juice regardless of records. This smells like an upset. -- Eddie Timanus

John Mateer plays, but Oklahoma falls to Texas

How's this for bold? John Mateer will play in the Red River Shootout, but Texas gets off the mat and prevails. In the aftermath, The Athletic will declare Arch Manning the greatest quarterback of all time, one week after positioning Manning as the first flop in college football history. Will Leitch will author The Athletic's essay, while watching a baseball game and wondering about this thing called college football. -- Blake Toppmeyer