This Weekend in College Football: Week 2

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• San Jose State @ Wisconsin (ESPN): San Jose State continues their fundraising tour, this time making an appearance in Madison, WI. Badgers win easily.
• Georgia @ South Carolina (ESPN2): As usual, the good doctor talked about this game much better than I possibly could. But for the heck of it, and the fact I didn't see either of these two teams play last week, I'll take South Carolina.
• Georgia Tech @ Kansas (FSN): Okay, you're a GT fan. You're psyched up about your team's first regular season game west of the Mississippi for the first time in awhile (since the 2003 BYU game, if I recall correctly). It's also Tech's first game against a current Big 12 school since playing Baylor in 1993. And then your opponent loses 6-3 in its first game to... North Dakota State. So now you doubts. Oh, sure, most outside observers think this is an easy win for you (the line seems to be 13.5 to 14 points at press time), but you're a fan. And not just a normal fan, but a Georgia Tech fan, who within your ability to recall have dropped plenty of games they were supposed to win. (Also, you're probably an engineer of some sort, which is a profession that doesn't generally lend itself to optimists.) For instance, losing to Virginia in Charlottesville every year from 1992 to 2007. Losing to Duke in 2003. Sure, the past two years it hasn't been as bad (the only truly terrible loss of the Paul Johnson era was probably the home game with UVA in 2008), but still, you just can't shake that feeling of dread when you play a supposedly overmatched opponent.
• Michigan State vs. Florida Atlanta (@Detroit, MI; ESPNU): Sparty rolls. Howard Schellenberger is unfazed.
• Hawaii @ Army (CBSCS): Tune into this game for some good, old fashioned cognitive dissonance theater. Army may not throw a pass, while Hawaii may not run 10 times. It should be fun and high scoring, provided Hawaii can't stop the option attack. Since that's the only part I'm not sure about, I'll take the figurative warriors over the guys who are more likely to be real ones.
• Illinois State @ Northwestern (BTN): NU.
• South Florida @ Florida (SEC/Gameplan): I have to say, as a fan of a school which is not a football powerhouse, it's funny watching fans of said schools fret over their supposed shortcomings. Florida rolls.
• Duke @ Wake Forest (ACC/Gameplan): It used to be pretty automatic that I would take Wake here, but the past couple of years have seen Wake trending down and Duke trending up, so at this point it's difficult to say which side as superior athletes, especially since Wake lost their 500th-year senior finally. (Seriously, it seemed like Riley Skinner was there forever.) Is this the year Duke's first win over the Demen Deacons since 1999? Sure, why not.

 3:30:

• Michigan @ Notre Dame (NBC): Honestly, I think Michigan can (and will) take this game. But as with the past few years, I think in the end it'll matter as much as it has the past few years - which is to say, it won't.
• Florida State @ Oklahoma (ABC/ESPN2): Okay, FSU played Samford last weekend so that doesn't really tell us much. But Oklahoma sure tried mighty hard to lose to Utah State, didn't they? Nonetheless, it's hard to pick against them in this situation, at home against the relatively green Seminoles.
• Iowa State @ Iowa (ESPN2/ABC): Last year, Iowa finally did what they were supposed to against the Cyclones, which negates my usual post about how surprisingly competitive this rivalry has been since 1998, during which time the Hawkeyes have gone 5-7. Thing is, now most people would just say that Iowa has gone 5-2 since 2003. I have a pretty good feeling they'll get to 6-2.
• University of Miami @ Ohio State (ESPN): it's a matchup of two schools that like to use the article "the" when referring to themselves. Oh, I guess it's also a rematch of some national title game? Well, if this were those Hurricanes, I would probably like them here, but Tressel seems to have taken the sweatervest reins off of Terrelle Pryor. It may be close, but I think OSU will win in the end.
• Colorado @ California (FSN): You know what's great about week 2? Despite the fact I missed most of week 1 I still didn't really miss anything because despite the fact these two teams are 1-0 I still have no idea what to make of them. Oh, right, CU is still coached by Dan Hawkins because they couldn't afford to fire him. Bears all the way then.
• Kent State @ Boston College (ESPNU): BC rolls.
• Georgia Southern @ Navy (CBCS): Aw, we miss you Jaybo Shaw! While this is one of the rare times you'll get to see the Paul Johnson offense play itself, Navy still has the edge here.

4:00: Brigham Young @ Air Force (Versus): I don't know why people complain about Versus being hard to find. It's right next to the ESPN channels, at least here. Geez. Anyway, I like BYU here.

7:00:

• Pennsylvania State @ Alabama (ESPN): As we slide on into primetime, we're first greeted with Penn State and Alabama, possibly the most anticipated OOC matchup of the season. That said, I'm not really sure how Penn State wins this game.
• Oregon @ Tennessee (ESPN2): Tennessee travels west once again. Too bad by the time I wrote this every conceivable joke about their hygiene has already been made, because otherwise Oregon should win easily.
• Wyoming @ Texas (FSN): Okay, I'm running out of time here. I'm just going to say I wish Wyoming could wear their brown home duds as Texas rolls.
• Louisiana State @ Vanderbilt (ESPNU): LSU.
• Louisiana-Monroe @ Arkansas (SEC/Gameplan): Ar-kansas.

7:30:

• North Carolina State @ Central Florida (CBSCS): Okay, NCSU should win this game, but you never know those guys.
• Southern Illinois @ Illinois (BTN): Illinois.
• Western Kentucky @ Kentucky (SEC/Gameplan): Kentucky.

9:00: Mississippi @ Tulane (ESPNC->ESPN2): Ole.... wait. Didn't they lose to Jacksonville State last weekend? Even Tulane managed to beat their DI-AA patsy last week. I mean, don't get me wrong, the Rebels should still win, but that certainly adds another dimension to this thing, doesn't it?

10:30:

• Stanford @ California-Los Angeles (ESPN): Am I seriously picking Stanford to beat UCLA? You betcha. This time last year that would've been unthinkable, but here we are.
• Virginia @ Southern California (FSN): Okay, USC will still win, but the way their defense played last weekend this could be a lot more interesting than many anticipated.
• Colorado State @ Nevada (ESPNU): Well, provided the ol' Nevada pistol is still humming a long, they should win rather comfortably, I would think.

All right, time to get some sleep before the 9am kickoff.