This Weekend in College Football: Week 2

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Arkansas State @ Kansas State (FOX): Yeah, we’re really doing this I guess. I guess if nothing else this gives me a good excuse to take my new mechanical keyboard for a test drive. The main thing I’m noticing that’s interesting so far is that I don’t seem to know what to do with my right hand. My left is definitely properly positioned, whereas my right is mostly just hunting and pecking, albeit very quickly and efficiently. At any rate, 20 Memphis players tested positive for COVID after playing Arkansas State last week. The initial report was that the players got it after celebrating the victory on a party bus, but one of the players said they hadn’t done anything and that “they should go test Arkansas State” (paraphrased). So K-State will win, but at what cost?
  • Louisiana @ Iowa State (ESPN): I believe I noted this earlier, but this year I’m going to start referring to “Louisiana-Lafayette” as just “Louisiana”. It’s a big thing, as it makes both Louisiana-Monroe and LSU fans mad. That said, the rage against the Ragin’ Cajuns is interesting, but it won’t help them beat the Cyclones.
  • Charlotte @ Appalachian State (ESPN2): I’m assuming that Charlotte is still bad and that App State is still good.
  • Eastern Kentucky @ West Virginia (FS1)
  • Syracuse @ North Carolina (ACCN): I haven’t re-upped YouTube TV yet to get the ACC Network, so I won’t be able to see this. I haven’t gotten yet mostly because I’m not super crazy about the price increase from last year considering that I use it pretty much just for a single network. That said, that will last for about as long as Georgia Tech isn’t on the ACC Network, so we’ll see. In the meantime, I guess this is the year that Carolina’s Back!!, so I’ll go with them.

1:30: Louisiana-Monroe @ Army (CBSS): Well, Army has played a game, which means they should look better than their Naval counterparts did last week. I like them over ULM.

2:30: Duke @ Notre Dame (NBC): So technically Notre Dame has been a member of the ACC since 2013, but yes, this will be their first season playing an exclusively conference schedule in football. And they should be able to get it started with an easy victory over Duke.

3:30:

  • Georgia Tech @ Florida State (ABC): Well, here goes I suppose. Tech still has a blisteringly hard schedule this season, and while this isn’t the FSU of old (or even a few years ago, for that matter) this will still be a good yardstick to judge the growth of Tech in Year 2. There’s just gotta be some measurable progress that will tell us if the program is going in the right direction. We have the most returning experience in the country, and let’s hope that they’re talented enough to make that experience worth it.
  • Texas-San Antonio @ Texas State (ESPN2): I have no idea if either of these teams is good, or even decent. UTSA was really bad last year though (I think) so I’m going with Texas State.
  • Campbell @ Georgia Southern (ESPNU)

4:00: Austin Peay @ Pittsburgh (ACCN)

7:00: The Citadel @ South Florida (ESPN+)

7:30:

  • Clemson @ Wake Forest (ABC): Wake Forest may actually be Woke Forest now, but no amount of Wokeness is going to help them against Clemson.
  • Tulane @ South Alabama (ESPN2): I don’t know why, but I like Tulane, and this could well be far more engaging than the Clemson-Wake bloodbath on ABC.

8:00:

  • Western Kentucky @ Louisville (ACCN): I have this idea that WKU has been good recently, and Louisville has been really bad, but I don’t think it’s enough for me to put the Hilltoppers, uh, over the top.
  • Houston Baptist @ Texas Tech (ESPN+)

10:00: Coastal Carolina @ Kansas (FS1): Well, there’s no Pac-12 After Dark this season, so instead we get Kansas kicking off at 9PM Central time and plenty likely to lose to a team nicknamed the Chanticleers.