Monthly Archives: September 2008

This Weekend in College Football: Week 2

Well, last week I “predicted” (read: guessed) the outcome of 27 games, and I got 16 of them right. Of course, several of the incorrect guesses include Virginia Tech, Michigan, and Clemson, so yeah.

By the way, the answer to last week’s trivia question (“Which state is Jacksonville State located in?”) was “Alabama”. This week’s question is embedded in the summaries below, and feel free to leave your answer in the comments.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Ohio @ Ohio State (ESPN): I’m tired and I’ll keep this short. Ohio State rolls, in the manner of chariots of old. Or something.
  • Miami @ Michigan (ESPN2): I am reasonably confident that Michigan can handle the Miami that is in Ohio. Reasonably. Even if they got through 2 or 3 quarterbacks again.
  • Georgia Tech @ Boston College (Raycom/Gameplan): And here’s the first real test of Georgia Tech’s new offense. I have to admit I do not feel good about this. From what I saw and what I have read our offensive line is simply not doing the things they need to do get off the line, cut their assignment, and get to the second level. Another key will be discipline. Last week Tech had two chop blocks called against them, and while one of them was definitely iffy, this is a point of emphasis for the officials this year and something they need to be conscious of. Also, they have to contend with a defensive line that is on the same level as our own. On the flip side, BC has a good, experienced offensive line, and it will be interesting to see how they match up with our athletic defensive line. Both teams have weaknesses in the secondary, but both teams also don’t figure to pass the ball a lot.

12:30: Southern Mississippi @ Auburn (Raycom/Gameplan): USM has played SEC spoiler in the past, but probably not today.

3:00: Brigham Young @ Washington (FSN): There’s little indication that Washington has done anything to get better over the past year, and so I’m going to take the Stormin’ Mormons here.

3:30:

  • San Diego State @ Notre Dame (NBC): SDSU lost to Cal Poly last week. Notre Dame should be able to take care of business here.
  • Oregon State @ Pennsylvania State (ABC/ESPN2): Big inter-sectional matchup here. I really have no idea which way to here, unfortunately. Penn State, I guess.
  • Mississippi @ Wake Forest (ESPN2/Gameplan): After last week, Wake may well be the best team in the ACC. So they had better beat Ole Miss, just for the sake of the conference.
  • Cincinnati @ Oklahoma (Gameplan/ESPN2): I have a very hard time seeing anyone other than Oklahoma winning here.

4:30: West Virginia @ East Carolina (ESPN): ECU somehow got two home games in a row against BCS opponents. Good job on their part, but can they follow up on last week? I doubt lightning will strike twice. Speaking of striking twice, though, I’m going to cop out with another geographic trivia question this week. Where is East Carolina located? No cheating.

5:00: Texas A&M @ New Mexico (Versus): TAMU, all the way.

7:00:

  • Southern Florida @ Central Florida (ESPN2): USF has been the dominant partner in this relationship, the lesser of the two big Florida rivalries. USF is 3-0 and, winning last year by a score of 64 to 12. Will the suspiciously similar to late-90’s Georgia Tech-clad Knights charge on to revenge? Probably not.
  • Louisiana Tech @ Kansas (FSN): Taylor Bennett led the “lesser” WAC Bulldogs to a minor upset of of the “lesser” SEC Bulldogs last week. Kansas should be a little better than Mississippi State, though, and I once again I doubt lightning will strike twice.

8:00: Miami @ Florida (ESPN): This is arguably the biggest game of the day as these two rivals meet for the first time since the 2003 season, where the two schools actually met twice. My take on this is simple. No team has done less with more than Miami over the past 3 years. Supposed to walk all over the ACC and vie with FSU for conference championships, Miami has done neither. (Including, to my delight, 3 straight losses to Georgia Tech.) Miami decidedly beat Charleston Southern last week (in their new digs at Dolphin Stadium), but that tells us nothing. Meanwhile, Florida should be a pretty good team. The game may be interesting for a half to three quarters, but I expect the Tebow express to take over at some point and take care of business.

10:15: Texas @ Texas-El Paso (ESPN2): Last game of the day, well, last one worth mentioning anyway. As much as I’d love for UTEP to pull it off Texas should really take care of things.