Hlastradamus gives scarlet nyet to Scarlet Knights, and there’s so much more

Hlastradamus kept it nice and simple for everyone last week. Three picks, three winners.

England’s Charles may tell you it’s good to be king. It’s better to be a futurologist.

The old horizon-scanner has more savvy selections for you this week. Such as:

Iowa -7.5 vs. Rutgers

It will be a Scarlet Out at Rutgers’ stadium, which sounds like a nasty rash but actually is like Iowa’s Gold Out last week, only with ... scarlet?

Hlastradamus has never seen a color scheme win a football game, and he’s been around the New Jersey Turnpike a time or two.

Don’t think Iowa’s 27-0 win over Nevada last week was the escape from the offensive quagmire it may have appeared. In between the Hawkeyes’ 27 points and 337 yards, Nevada surrendered 55 and 616 to Incarnate Word, and 48 and 541 to Air Force last night.

Rutgers has a dreary offense, Iowa has a fearsome defense, and that’s the name of that tune. So the prophet says go ahead and give the points, because he’s pandering here. He says this one will be as ugly as advertised, but that Iowa gets a late score to win by 10.

Iowa State -2.5 vs. Baylor

The Cyclones have to win this game. They absolutely, positively must.

Not because it’s a national-championship elimination contest, because it technically isn’t. Not because it’s a Big 12-championship elimination contest, because it technically isn’t.

No, Iowa State needs this to set up a battle of 4-0 teams next week when it plays at Kansas.

ESPN’s College GameDay passed on Lawrence and 3-0 Duke against 3-0 Kansas this Saturday in favor of (yawn) Florida-Tennessee, and people ripped the SEC’s favorite network. Hlastradamus says that’s because the network is saving Lawrence for next week’s potential showstopper.

That means the Clones have to win. Oh, and Kansas has to beat Duke.

Kansas -7.5 vs. Duke

Kansas has scored 56, 55 and 48 points in its three games. It had 57 at Texas late last season.

In between, the Jayhawks men’s basketball team won the NCAA championship game against North Carolina, the team that beat Duke in the semifinals.

You’re out of your league, Dookies.

Ohio State -18.5 vs. Wisconsin

It’s the Big Ten West preseason-favorite Badgers against the Big Ten East preseason-favorite Buckeyes.

Entering this week’s games, the seven East teams had a combined record of 20-1. The seven West teams had a combined record of 12-10.

The 18.5 is a lot of points. Wisconsin is never an underdog by this much. But this is The Ohio State University. This is national-title timbre.

The seer says Wisconsin, meanwhile, looks like ReliaQuest Bowl material. Which may be the ceiling for the entire West division.