The Doc Saturday crew peruses the weekly lines and pulls out a few shockers.

Matt Hinton: Northwestern (+13.5) over Michigan State.
With MSU back at .500 after two straight conference wins, it's only appropriate that Wildcat quarterback Mike Kafka comes into East Lansing wielding the existential dagger that will puncture the Spartans' bourgeois optimism. Although Michigan State hasn't emphasized its usual themes of alienation and persecution as consistently under Mark Dantonio as it did under the anarchic regime of John L. "Slappy" Smith, it still can't defend the pass: Dan LeFevour, Jimmy Clausen and Scott Tolzien all had banner days (nine touchdown passes to two interceptions between them) against the Spartan secondary during the three-game September losing streak against Central Michigan, Notre Dame and Wisconsin, and the secondary's late collapse nearly cost MSU a season-saving win against Michigan.

This has been a wild, high-scoring series this decade -- the winner has scored at least 37 points each of the last four years -- a perfect venue for Kafka to move the Wildcats to 5-2 with another dark yet surprisingly playful satirization of the Big Ten hierarchy.

Doug Gillett: Arkansas (+24.5) over Florida.
The Gators always seem to gack one up to an SEC West team they really shouldn't be losing to, and since they don't have perennial stumbling block Auburn on the schedule this year, all signs point to the Hogs: UF is facing a prime hangover opportunity following the big win at LSU; Tim Tebow still may be shaking off some post-concussion rust; Ryan Mallett is poised to give the Gator secondary the first real challenge it's faced all season. But Arkansas's ace in the hole might be its defense, which has gone from one of the nation's worst to crushing the prolific offenses of Texas A&M and Auburn in back-to-back weeks (Auburn managed only three first-half points in Fayetteville and, outside of a brief surge late in the third quarter, never really threatened a comeback). If a light really has gone on over the heads of the Razorback defense, Saturday afternoon in the Swamp all of a sudden becomes very interesting.

Holly Anderson: Washington (+6.5) over Arizona State.
The Huskies' losses (to LSU, Notre Dame and Stanford) are all to quality teams; they've already knocked off USC and taken both the Tigers and Irish to the wire, so unless we're all still insisting on undervaluing Arizona, I'm not sure why their crazy win over the Wildcats last week isn't counting for more in the eyes of the oddsmakers. On the other hand, the Sun Devils haven't beaten anyone of consequence and couldn't hold off Joe Cox or Sean Canfield in their losses to Georgia and Oregon State. I like Jake Locker to give ASU fits despite his accuracy issues, even if the Devils' second-ranked run defense is able to shut down Chris Polk.

Chris Brown: South Florida (+3) over Cincinnati.
Okay, okay: I like Cincinnati, Brian Kelly has done a hell of a job there, and Tony Pike and Mardy Gilyard are an excellent pass-catch combo. But UC hasn't really played anyone en route to 5-0, and certainly hasn't faced a defense as athletic as South Florida's. And what happened the last time Tony Pike and Co. played a truly talented defense in the Sunshine State? The Bearcats managed a meager seven points while Pike threw four disastrous interceptions in January's Orange Bowl loss to Virginia Tech.

On the Bulls' side, B.J. Daniels has done a fine job filling in for the injured Matt Grothe at quarterback, with two touchdowns and at least 200 yards passing in each of his first two startst. On top of that, Cincy is on the road, and, well, it's the Big East, ground zero for Thursday night upsets over the last three years -- it's time for something crazy to happen, which means that the conference leader is bound to stumble on national television. It's just how things go.