The Big 10 has dominated this series as of late winning three in a row and this year should be no different. It's supposed to be a banner year for the Big 10, leading some to speculate as many as 8 teams could be NCAA Tournament bound. The ACC has a few good teams but overall not very impressive. This will get interesting when Syracuse and Pittsburgh become ACC members and Maryland moves over to the Big 10. Here are my predicted winners for each game.

Purdue has finally fired head football coach Danny Hope. Cue the celebration in West Lafayette. In his four seasons leading the Boilermaker program, Hope had a disappointing record of 22-27. He never won more than 7 games in a season. Murphy's Law was in full effect during Hope's tenure. Literally everything that could go wrong did go wrong the past four years. There were numerous crushing injuries at key positions, major discipline issues on and off the field, and horrible game management by the entire coaching staff. Purdue wasn't competing with the upper echelon teams in the conference and never would have under Hope. This firing is a year late in my opinion (I wrote multiple times he should be fired last year), but I understood why he was brought back. Now everyone knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Hope was not the right guy for the job and Purdue can move forward with no regrets, you know, other than hiring him in the first place.

I went 2-2 last week bringing my season total to 28-23, while Chris tallied a 1-3 mark (25-26 on the year). What we learned: UCLA is taking over the Los Angeles football scene, I may have jinxed USC by hoping nobody of importance gets injured, I will always hate Oregon and Kansas State for losing, and as Chris says: the Purdocalypse is upon us. What we didn't learn because we already knew it: Lane Kiffin isn't an elite coach. We're getting down to the last few weeks of picks, but more importantly this is Danny Hope's last regular season game as the Purdue head coach!

Chris and I both went 2-3 on the week bringing our totals to 26-21 and 24-23 respectively. What we learned: Johnny Football is a badass, Alabama is not as invincible as I thought, Iowa is trending down but they are stuck with Kirk Ferentz for the foreseeable future, just read this article about his ridiculous contract. What we didn't learn because we already knew it: Danny Hope just knows how to be mediocre.

Chris and I both went 3-2 on the week bringing our totals to 24-18 and 22-20 respectively. What we learned: LSU has the best homefield advantage in the country but Alabama is resilient, Notre Dame has gotten every break to go their way, Mississippi State is a fraud, and Kansas State is in trouble if Collin Klein's mysterious injury keeps him out of this weekend's game against TCU. What we didn't learn because we already knew it: Danny Hope needs to find a good realtor. Kind of a weak slate of games so I chose a lot of Big Ten games to pick because they are important in the conference divisional races.

The Big Ten should be the best conference in college basketball this season. There are four Final Four-caliber teams, and potentially eight NCAA Tournament teams. This is a result of the great recruiting classes that have been put together over the years by almost every school. But the conference needs to make noise once they get in the Big Dance because it has a reputation for early flameouts. Ohio State made the Final Four last year and I'm confident at least one Big Ten team will make it to New Orleans in April.

The 2012-2013 college basketball season starts a new era for Purdue as every member of the famed "Baby Boilers" team is gone. With a top 20, four-member recruiting class, and only one senior, this is a season that will definitely have some ups-and-downs. If you're a Purdue fan expecting this team to compete for a Big Ten title then you're going to be disappointed because I guarantee you they won't. But the realistic expectations should be to just make the NCAA Tournament. That will define whether or not Purdue had a successful season.

The makeup of this team is unlike any of the Purdue teams that head coach Matt Painter has ever had. In the past, the Boilermakers have been mainly made up of three-guard -- sometimes even four-guard -- lineups and sacrificed rebounding and interior defense by having a plethora of 3-point shooters. This year Purdue is the complete opposite. There is a stable full of big men and only one consistent 3-point shooter on the entire roster. For Purdue to win, they will have to grind games out and rebound at a Michigan State-type level.

Starting to see a little separation from yours truly after a 3-2 week (21-16 on the year). Chris went 2-3 (19-18). I keep picking mostly favorites, which is lame, but it's working. What we learned: Purdue will not be making a bowl game this season, Notre Dame is legitimately in the national title hunt and Florida is not. What we didn't learn because we already knew it: Alabama owns everyone.