This Weekend in College Football: Week 2

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Central Florida @ Michigan (ABC): This weekend has one of the worst schedules I think we've ever had in all the years we've been doing this, so don't be surprised if some of these picks are a bit rapid fire. In addition, I'm going to be at a wedding most of the day and I basically didn't see anything that happened last week, so... yeah. Let's start here: Michigan.
• Pennsylvania State @ Pittsburgh (ESPN): On the one hand, this is one of the better games this weekend. It's the resumption of a series where the two teams have met 96 times in the past yet haven't played each other since 2000. Yet my fear is that the score will similar now to what it was then: 12-0, Pitt.
• Wyoming @ Nebraska (ESPN2): Might be worth checking in on just to see what Wyoming's wearing. Only so much you can do with white, brown, and yellow, y'all, and most of it isn't good.
• Central Michigan @ Oklahoma State (FS1): Cowboys.
• North Carolina State @ East Carolina (ESPNU): This... could be close? I don't think is expecting the Wolfpack to be world-beaters or anything this season, but ECU is always one of those teams that can be pesky on occasion. Both demolished some patsies last week, so, uh, going with the default here.
• Rice @ Army (CBSS): The last time Army won two games in a row was 2010, when they beat North Texas and Duke on consecutive weeks. And hey, Temple was definitely the hearder of these two, so sure, why not.
• Cincinnati @ Purdue (BTN): Cincy.

12:30: Troy @ Clemson (ACC): Clemson.

2:00: Utah State @ Southern California (Pac12): I never really though USC would beat Alabama, but I thought that they had, you know, the talent to at least make a game of it. Whoops. At any rate, that talent should serve them much better against these Aggies.

2:30: Ohio @ Kansas (FSN): Kansas beat Rhode Island 55-6 last week, which makes me wonder if they'll be as awful as everyone's expecting. Ohio is a step up, but Kansas has a pretty good shot of winning back-to-back games for the first time since 2011.

3:00: Mercer @ Georgia Tech (espn3.com): Being at PAX, I definitely was not even remotely able to see this game, which kicked at 4:30 AM local time here on the West Coast. This one is much more palatable! I can read articles and statistics, though, so this week I'm looking for better blocking on the line and by the backs.

3:30:

• Tulsa @ Ohio State (ABC): Buckeyes.
• Nevada @ Notre Dame (NBC): Irish.
• Kentucky @ Florida (CBS): Sure, Florida wasn't great last week, but... Kentucky lost to Southern Mississippi last weekend. Whoops! I suspect I'll get to have a longer writeup about how Kentucky hasn't won this game since 1986 again next year.
• Western Kentucky @ Alabama (ESPN2): Considering all the SEC upsets last weekend, the "THEY SUPPOSED TO BE SEC" meme got unearthed again last weekend, and the school that provided us that wonderful .gif was... Western Kentucky! However much I think these Hilltoppers are game, though, boy howdy 'Bama sure did take Southern Cal to the woodshed last week, so I don't think there exists a limb long enough for me to go out there to pick WKU.
• Southern Methodist @ Baylor (FS1): Baylor.
• Wake Forest @ Duke (ESPNU): Duke.
• Connecticut @ Navy (CBSS): Navy.
• Akron @ Wisconsin (BTN): Wisconsin.

4:00: Ball State @ Indiana (ESPNEWS): Indiana.

5:00: Idaho @ Washington (Pac12): UDub.

7:00:

• Arkansas @ Texas Christian (ESPN): If this were November, I'd probably say Arkansas. But, well, with the style of play they have, it really takes a lot of effort to get that mass rolling and it's just too early in the season at this point.
• South Carolina @ Mississippi State (ESPN2): Oooof. So... this is a game featuring a team coached by Will Muschamp that needed to get kind of lucky to beat Vanderbilt and a team that lost to South Alabama. Well, one of them still has Dak Prescott, though... I'll hold my nose and take Miss State.
• Northern Illinois @ South Florida (CBSS): USF.

7:30:

• Brigham Young @ Utah (FOX): The Holy War is back, and boy howdy, it's the best game on this slate by a long-shot. The Utes took a relatively gentle approach to their Week 1 opponent and won 24-0 against a FCS team. Meanwhile, BYU kind of quietly beat Arizona 18-16, at least as quietly as you can beat anyone on a last second field goal. And so, this looks to be a fun matchup and I have no idea which way it's going to go. The Utes are on a 5 game winning streak in this series, which is perhaps indicative of the increase in quality they've had since joining the Pac-12. On the flip side, like I said earlier, BYU just beat a Pac-12 team, and one that wasn't expected to be terrible or anything. So, why, not, let's go with the Stormin' Mormons here.
• Arkansas State @ Auburn (SECN): I don't think that Auburn is in any danger to falling to this Arkansas State team, which is only slightly more removed from their Guz Malzahn glory days than Auburn is. Seriously, I can't help but read this article about Chip Kelly and wonder if the same applies to Malzahn.
• North Carolina @ Illinois (BTN): Carolina.
• Iowa State @ Iowa (BTN): This won't even be on TV here, but I feel compelled to talk about it anyway. For starters, for as utterly awful as the Cyclones have been basically... forever, this game has been relatively close over the past 10 plus years, give or take a few. Now factor in Kirk Ferentz's utterly insane contract extension, and yeah, at a minimum, I don't think Iowa's covering that 15 points.

8:00:

• Virginia Tech vs. Tennessee (@Bristol, TN; ABC): It's in the middle of a racetrack, so I guess there's some novelty there. Otherwise, meh. Vols.
• Nevada-Las Vegas @ California-Los Angeles (Pac12): UCLA.

10:15: Washington State @ Boise State (ESPN2): Wazzou losing to a FCS team from the Pacific Northwest is becoming something of a tradition, but I think they'll be in an 0-2 hole after a visit to the blue turf.

10:30:

• Virginia @ Oregon (ESPN): Oregon's not what they used to be, but did you know Virginia lost to Richmond last weekend? That's not a good look, as the kids say.
• California @ San Diego State (CBSS): Cal's defense is beyond awful, but is it awful enough to prop up the Aztecs' moribund offense? We're about to find out! I'm going to be lame and take Cal, though.