Week seven is an interesting one with several shake-ups between conferences. While Friday night will still see two big SEC rivalry meets as No. 2 Florida travels to No. 19 Missouri and No. 6 LSU hosts No. 8 Auburn, several SEC teams are taking on outsiders over the weekend as they continue their prep for postseason.

On Friday, The Gators should have an easy time at Missouri, but while LSU and Auburn look close on paper, LSU at home is a different animal than Auburn on the road, so I’d say even with a few line-up changes – including losing Lexie Priessman’s bars due to a recent injury – they should still have a solid win. The other SEC team competing on Friday is No. 11 Arkansas, traveling to No. 39 Maryland, which should be a breeze compared to their super difficult schedule thus far in 2016.

No. 3 Michigan is also out of their jurisdiction, traveling to No. 23 Southern Utah for a triangular that will also feature No. 44 UC Davis. The Wolverines are on a roll and shouldn’t have a problem here, so it’ll be another good road experience meet for them after spending a lot of time at home so far this season. We’ll also see No. 9 Boise State take on No. 26 Ohio State at home, which could be a close meet if both teams are on their game, though I’d give this one over to the Broncos’ superb consistency.

Also meeting on Friday will be No. 17 George Washington, hosting a quad that will feature EAGL rivals No. 29 New Hampshire and No. 53 North Carolina along with No. 65 William & Mary of the ECAC. No. 18 Minnesota competes at No. 33 Iowa State alongside No. 66 Air Force, and No. 21 Eastern Michigan hosts in-state MAC rival No. 36 Western Michigan, and No. 25 Illinois will face Big Ten rival No. 37 Michigan State in East Lansing.

No. 1 Oklahoma will head down to the SEC on Saturday to face No. 10 Georgia. The Gym Dogs are on a roll right now, taking down two top-six teams in the past two weeks, and while I’m not sure they can overpower the Sooners, if they keep up the consistency, they could at least come out of it with another huge score.

Another big mixed conference meet will see No. 4 Alabama at No. 28 Penn State in a quad meet that will also include No. 13 Denver and No. 54 Cornell. Later in the day, No. 5 Utah will travel to PAC 12 rival No. 12 Stanford, which could be a nail-biter though I think the Utes still have the edge. The other PAC 12 meet of the night will see the super hot No. 15 Cal at No. 16 Oregon State. The Golden Bears have been unstoppable at home and on the road over the past few weeks, breaking records left and right, so it would be great to see them continue their domination yet again. Also on Saturday, No. 24 Iowa will host No. 48 Towson.

Sunday’s biggest meet will see No. 7 UCLA up against No. 30 Washington. The Bruins started out strong this season but keep facing dramatic little setbacks. They lost a couple years ago to Washington on the road, so if they don’t hit, they might have a problem once again.

No. 22 Kentucky keeps getting better each week, and when we last saw them, they upset Missouri. Like Arkansas, they’ve had a super tough schedule so far this season, so some time out of the SEC at No. 27 West Virginia could be exactly what they need to keep on rising. Also competing is No. 14 Nebraska at No. 33 Iowa State alongside No. 38 NC State and No. 71 La Crosse.

Finally, Monday night will end the week with an in-state PAC 12 battle between No. 20 Arizona and No. 49 Arizona State at ASU. It hasn’t been a great season at all for ASU, but Arizona is looking good under the direction of Tabitha Yim and should earn another win this time around.

Article by Lauren Hopkins
Photo thanks to BYU Gymnastics