Thursday, September 10, 2009

This Weekend in College Football: Week 2

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Thursday
7:30: Clemson @ Georgia Tech (ESPN): Whooo boy. Big one for Tech here, and frankly I'm not a fan of conference games in September. Just too early - something that didn't help in the past. Nonetheless, these games are always fun - Clemson is Tech's biggest in-conference rival, and it's more of a friendly rivalry. Also, these games tend to generally be really close. Despite the fact Tech has won 4 of the last five, the scores break like this: 28-24, 10-9, 7-31 (ugh), 13-3, 21-17. Last week, both teams had their with patsies, though worryingly we fumbled 5 times.

Friday
9:00: Colorado @ Toledo (ESPN): While nothing is guaranteed for Colorado these days, Toledo lost big last week to a very depleted Purdue squad. I think CU can pull this out.

Saturday
Noon:
  • Fresno State @ Wisconsin (ESPN): While we all would love to see FSU knock off one of the big boys, I just don't see it happening in Madison.
  • Central Michigan @ Michigan State (ESPN2): MSU pads the win column with an easy win over one of the directional Michigans, though this is probably the best of the three.
  • Iowa @ Iowa State (FSN): This seems like an easy Iowa win, right? Well, to their credit, at least Iowa State was able to easily beat their DI-AA and not have to block two straight field goals to pull out the last second win. And it's not like these superior Iowa teams have been taking care of Iowa State the past few years, anyway - the series is at 2-2 over the past four meetings. I'll take the Cyclones.
  • North Carolina @ Connecticut (ESPNU): Continuing the "I'd Rather Watch This as a Basketball Game" series, UNC won 38-12 last year in Chapel Hill. I'd expect a similar result here.
  • Duke @ Army (CBSCS): Duke: 0-1 against DI-AA opponents. Army: 1-0 against DI-A opponents. If Army is going to get back to the 6-win promised land, they'll need to beat teams like Duke, and based on last week's, er, "performance" I think they can.
  • Syracuse @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): Penn State should take this one pretty easily.
  • Troy @ Florida (SEC/Gameplan): Sorry, Rob, but Florida by a few touchdowns.
  • Stanford @ Wake Forest (Raycom/Gameplan): I know Baylor has a good QB and all, but Wake should've still beat them. Which makes me worried about Wake's ability to beat Stanford. I mean, I'm still picking Wake, but I have my doubts.
3:30:
  • Notre Dame @ Michigan (ABC): I just don't, you know, care about this game. I think Michigan should win and all, but this will be either be an exciting, high-scoring contest or super boring, I think.
  • Brigham Young @ Tulane (ESPN2): BYU got a huge win last week in Dallas, Bradford or no. Now they have to keep it up through lulls in the schedule like this, against a Tulane squad that got pounded last week by Tulsa. In other words, this is a bit of a trap game for BYU with FSU coming up next weekend.
  • Houston @ Oklahoma State (FSN): I'm glad as anyone else Oklahoma State beat UGA last weekend, now they face a reasonable challenge in high-flying Houston. OSU should still win, but I bet this will be good to watch.
  • Texas @ Wyoming (Versus): [Checks to see if Wyoming still has those brown home jerseys.] [Yup.] This is the "1" end of a 2-for-1 between these schools. I highly suspect Texas expects, and will get, 3 wins out of it.
  • Texas Christian @ Virginia (ESPNU): TCU is pretty decent. Virginia, uh, isn't. I'll take the frogs.
  • Louisiana Tech @ Navy (CBSCS): Navy's got to pick themselves up after being a two-point conversion away from Ohio State last weekend. They can definitely do that against LaTech.
4:00: California-Los Angeles @ Tennessee (ESPN): Both of these teams took care of their requisite patsies last weekend, so it's hard for me to get a read here. I may change this later, but right now I just like Tennessee and I'm not really sure why.

7:00:
  • South Carolina @ Georgia (ESPN2): I hope you don't like offense! Well, if you're watching this, anyway. I'd just go get dinner or something and get ready for USC-Ohio State. I'll take UGA here, unfortunately.
  • Vanderbilt @ Louisiana State (ESPNU): Alas, poor Vandy. Good luck against LSU, you'll need it.
  • Air Force @ Minnesota (BTN): Air Force is generally pretty pesky, but do they have a chance against UMN? Eh, probably not.
  • Mississippi State @ Auburn (SEC/Gameplan): I wonder how much people made last year on this game taking the under? Nonetheless, I can say with a fair degree of confidence there will be more than five points scored in this game, and that Auburn should probably win.
7:30: Kansas @ Texas-El Paso (CBSCS): It's Kansas! It's UTEP! It's, uh... hrm. I got nothin', except for Kansas.

8:00: Southern California @ Ohio State (ESPN): Ahhh, it's the Trobuckalypse! Both these teams are pretty vulnerable, though that term is purely relative compared to the rest of college football. For a difference on perspective, consider the hoopla around USC starting a freshman QB and realize that he would start for probably 90% of the schools in the country. Also consider Pryor is experienced in relative terms as well, being a sophomore and beginning his first year as a starter. This all also makes it extremely difficult to pick a side here, especially with the game in The Shoe. The advantages that USC had over OSU last year are no longer present as long as Pryor is competent, so I'll take the Buckeyes.

10:15: Purdue @ Oregon (FSN): This post will not mention anyone by the name of "Blount" or anything about the practice of sucker punching anyone. Nope. But don't be surprised if Purdue perhaps feels like they just did get sucker punched, though.

10:30: Utah @ San Jose State (ESPNU): I should trek down to San Jose and see this on in person! Yeah! Er, maybe not. Utah should win easily.

11:00: Oregon State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (CBSCS): Oregon State will at least win on the field this weekend, though I can't say the same about their odds on the slots.

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