This Weekend in College Football: Week 2

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Cincinnati @ Michigan (ABC): It’s a pretty full slate of games for Week 2, so these noon-time games aren’t going to get a lot of love. Unless you’re a fan of one of these teams, I release you to do something else with these three and a half hours. Wolverines.
  • Louisville @ North Carolina (ESPN): Losing to Cal is, well, it’s not a good look Tar Heels. Louisville wound up handling Purdue, but it was a bit too close for comfort, but going with the Cardinals is still the pick.
  • Iowa @ Iowa State (ESPN2): It’s the best worst rivalry game, at least when the Apple Cup doesn’t hold that title. The way I’d describe this matchups is not much happens, but when something does happen, boy howdy. That said, Iowa looks like they’ve returned to form, but might still be worth watching just in case.
  • Northwestern @ Duke (ESPNU): Perhaps more interesting than one might expect, but at the end of the day it’s still Northwestern and Duke. Going with the Cats here.
  • Florida Atlantic @ Wisconsin (BTN): Still on here, for now. Apparently FAU plans on remaining in Wisconsin until it is safe to go home, but still: why play? Going with Wisky.
  • Buffalo @ Army (CBSS): Army had a pretty fantastic year last year, all told, and this would be a good first step toward following it up. Going with the cadets here.

12:30: Jacksonville State @ Georgia Tech (ACC/RSN): For nearly every season since 2007, I have been in Seattle for PAX. What this generally means is that I don’t really catch Week 1 of college football. I occasionally miss things, but at least my team, Georgia Tech, doesn’t usually play anyone. So naturally this year we play Tennessee on Monday night. Since the moment the game was announced, I’d been planning in my head how I would watch it. “Okay, the Omegathon finale is at 5:00 or 5:30, the game kicks at 5:00, so if I rush to bar immediately afterward…” What wound up happening was that one of my buddies from out here was in town, so we decamped for his aunt and uncle’s place across Lake Washington afterward for dinner. Dinner was delicious, but it didn’t take my mind off the game for long. Fortunately, they had recorded it, but I probably didn’t start watching it until at least 2.5 hours after it’d kicked off. With my phone in airplane mode since 5:00, though, I had no idea what had happened. Naturally, the recording cut off after we scored in the first overtime, so I asked my buddy for the result and got the bad news. I told him I didn’t want to see the last play and that when you miss two field goals and give up two fumbles it’s hard to win, even if you out gain the other team by like 300 yards.
Basically, I really hope the team hasn’t been thinking about this game all week long.

2:00: Texas State @ Colorado (Pac12): Colorado dispensed of a solid Colorado State team with ease, and they should do the same with Texas State.

3:30:

  • Pittsburgh @ Pennsylvania State (ABC): It’s good to see at least one rivalry game back in this post-realignment era, but nonetheless it’s hard to see this depleted Pitt offense winning in Happy Valley.
  • Texas Christian @ Arkansas (CBS): Speaking of old rivalries, it’s what seems like the annual Southwest Conference Rematch game. Take a second to tune in for the CBS theme music and the realization that it’ll be Brad Nessler instead of Uncle Vernce, and then switch back to Pitt-Penn State or Nebraska-Oregon, ’cause I like TCU here.
  • Fresno State @ Alabama (ESPN2): Fresno might be lucky to score.
  • Indiana @ Virginia (ESPNU): This is definitely a game that will take place and you can watch. Uh, Indiana?
  • Western Michigan @ Michigan State (BTN): Yeah, Michigan State looked competent against Bowl Green, but Western Michigan is a trendy pick due to hanging with a vastly more talented Southern Cal until the fourth quarter. In the interests of making this game interesting, I’ll say that it’ll hold over for a victory this week.
  • Tulane @ Navy (CBSS): Navy.

4:30: Nebraska @ Oregon (FOX): Is Oregon back? We’re about to find out… maybe. That’s just the way things work in Week 2, but seriously giving up 36 points to Arkansas State is not a good look. I’ll take the Ducks here.

5:00: Hawaii @ California-Los Angeles (Pac12): It would be hilarious if UCLA needed another epic comeback to beat Hawaii, but… yeah no.

7:00:

  • Auburn @ Clemson (ESPN): This game should be fun! However, I’m not sure I’m as high on Auburn as national opinion seems be? Like, I’m not entirely sure where this idea that they’re going to hang with the reigning national champions (at home!) comes from.
  • South Carolina @ Missouri (ESPN2): If South Carolina really does have kind of an offense now, then Mizzou is basically boned.

7:30:

  • Georgia @ Notre Dame (NBC): There’s just so many other options around this time, maybe you can just watch one of them? Seriously, I can’t endorse this game, which considering how much I hate Georgia should tell you something. Not as bad as UGA playing Alabama, though, so I guess I’ll go with the Domers.
  • Oklahoma @ Ohio State (ABC): This game is a coin flip for me, with the a slight edge going to the Buckeyes for playing at home. I think there’ll be enough talent on display here for this game to fun, though.
  • Mississippi State @ Louisiana Tech (CBSS): Probably Miss State? I dunno, the whole concept of this game is weird.

8:00:

  • Texas-San Antonio @ Baylor (FSN/RSN): Baylor surely can’t lose to what should be a vastly inferior team two weeks in a row, right? Right?
  • Western Kentucky @ Illinois (BTN): Western Kentucky has to be favored here, right? If they aren’t, then I’m favoring them.
  • Montana @ Washington (Pac12): I don’t normally list these games, but it’ll be on HD on my TV and there is an every-so-slight potential for wackiness here.

8:30: Stanford @ Southern California (FOX): As if there weren’t enough fun matchups in the four hours proceeding this, have fun with this early battle of Pac-12 favorites! The trendy pick is Stanford due to USC’s struggles with Western Michigan, but it’s not like Western Michigan suddenly got awful because their coach left and it was Week 1. I think the Trojans just have too much offensive talent for the Cardinal to cope.

10:00: Minnesota @ Oregon State (FS1): This game may be somewhat, er, offensively challenged. You have my permission to skip this one. Going with the Gophers.

10:15: Utah @ Brigham Young (ESPN2): It’s the Holy War all right, but it doesn’t look like BYU has any sort of offense this year, which may make this an easy one for Utah once they settle into the game a bit.

10:30:

  • Boise State @ Washington State (ESPN): Fun fact: Wazzou is closer to Boise than it is to Seattle, so these matchups are usually fun. And indeed, something does feel amiss in that the Cougars actually managed to beat their Week 1 FCS opponent this year, but it’s still tough to pick against them right now.
  • Houston @ Arizona (ESPNU): Houston is probably the better team here, seriously.

11:00: San Diego State @ Arizona State (Pac12): Arizona State made it way too close against New Mexico State last week, and the Aztecs are a better team than the Aggies. Going with SDSU here.