No reviews this
season, but I will put my record by week and for the season at the top of my
previews. Last week was a mixed bag 92.3% (12/13) on winners, Arizona State
being my only loss, and 42.31% (5-7-1) against the spread. Let’s hope this week
is better correlated to the results on the field. Week two is an interesting cornucopia
of games and hidden gems.
Friday, September 11th, 2015
Utah State at #24 Utah,
8:00 pm ESPN2 (Utah -13.5)
Alright we start off
week two, at least in this preview, with a battle of the Beehive State. Utah
put a whooping on Michigan last week in what was a fairly predictable outcome,
but Utah showed a lot of people what they’re capable of. Utah State for their
part laid a huge egg in their game against Southern Utah, but are still an
instate rival and should not be trifled with. Utah is the superior team, and has the two best units on the
field, 31-13.
Saturday, September 12th, 2015
Bowling Green at
Maryland, 11:00 am BTN (Maryland -7.5)
Houston at
Louisville, 11:00 am ESPN3 (Louisville -12.5)
Appalachian State
at #12 Clemson, 11:30 am ESPN3 (Clemson -17)
Bowling Green
surprised a bunch of people when they came out firing against Tennessee, and
that offense is definitely for real. Maryland got off to a slot start against
Richmond but pulled away in the second half for a comfy win. I don’t think they
get that chance this week and think the Falcons
are a tough task, 38-35. Much like
BGSU-Maryland, you’re probably wondering why I put Houston-Louisville in my
preview? The answers easy. Louisville’s defense showed up big against Auburn,
and I want to see how they handle a Tom Herman led Cougars squad. Herman is at
least a year from being truly scary, but he knows how to run an offense and
should have his team prepared to put up a fight in Louisville. I think the Cardinals are for real, but Houston
and Herman make this interesting, 27-17.
Lastly, during the early slate is App State-Clemson. This isn’t a top ten team,
but Clemson lost Mike Williams to a neck injury, and App State is a serious Sun
Belt threat. If Appalachian State stays with Clemson it could be an early
indication they have surpassed Georgia Southern, if they end up like Southern
last week, well the Sun Belt race will be interesting again. I see something in
the middle, Clemson 38-13.
Hawaii at #1 Ohio
State, 2:30 pm BTN (Ohio Stat -40)
#11 Notre Dame at
Virginia, 2:30 pm ABC (Notre Dame -12)
#10 Georgia at
Vanderbilt, 2:30 pm CBS (Vanderbilt -20)
Middle Tennessee
at #2 Alabama, 3:00 pm SECN (Alabama -35)
The top two teams in the
country play this week, and so do Hawaii and Middle Tennessee. Ohio State 63-17, Alabama 49-10. Virginia will be our early barometer of
fringe top fifteen teams (Notre Dame/UCLA) early in the season. The obvious
difference here will be making sure to keep in mind that UCLA got Virginia at
home and Notre Dame has to go to Charlottesville. Notre Dame looks to have it
all working at the same time this season, but I want to see Zaire do it against
a defense that has shown a willingness to tackle from time to time. Notre Dame in a close one that
gets everyone overreacting, 31-28.
The Nick Chubb Show heads to Vanderbilt, where they lost to WKU. Fighting Chubbs 52-17. Not a
great afternoon slate, but touchdowns?!?!
Iowa at Iowa
State, 3:45 pm FOX (Don’t)
EL ASSICO!!!!!! Yeah
that’s it no prediction. (If you don’t get this. You should be listening to the
Shutdown Fullcast from the guys over at SBNation. @edsbs @celebrityhottub
@JasonKirkSBN)
#19 Oklahoma at
#23 Tennessee, 5:00 pm ESPN (Pick ‘em)
Western Michigan
at Georgia Southern, 5:00 pm ESPN3 (Western Michigan -4.5)
The early evening
games are a pair that have very different means to similar ends. As we move
through the season, we look to identify teams from large and small conferences
that are fun to watch, who will intrigue in bowl matchups, and will factor into
conference championship races. Both of these games help us narrow our purview
of the upcoming season. Oklahoma-Tennessee is the more normal type of those
games, two power five teams ranked in the top 25, pedigree programs, with
something to prove. This is what better scheduling looks like. That being said,
are either really in the top three of their conference, Tennessee is top two in
their division, but there might be three or four teams in the West better than
them. As for the Sooners, well they’ve dropped and are certainly third behind
TCU and Baylor, but have the talent to wreck some shit. I think Tennessee is a
year away from being a force on the big stage, and that defense from coming
together. Give me Boomer Sooner,
38-34. After than long-winded rant,
I’ll just say that WMU-Ga Southern is actually similar, in the fact that WMU is
probably a year away in the MAC like the Vols in the SEC. But this is a great
match-up of really good Group of Five teams. Georgia Southern needs to prove
that the WVU game was merely a talent gap mirage, and not a systematic problem.
While, WMU is looking to build off a strong but inconsistent battle with
Michigan State last week. I think Georgia
Southern rides the home crowd to a good result, but this may secretly
be the best game this weekend, 27-21.
Idaho at #8 USC,
7:00 pm Pac-12 (USC -43)
#7 Oregon at #5
Michigan State, 7:00 pm ABC (Michigan State -4)
#14 LSU at #25 Mississippi
State, 8:15 pm ESPN (LSU -4.5)
One to ignore, one to
check in on, and one to watch closely for fraudulent expectations. Let’s get
USC-Idaho out of the way. Idaho lost at home last week to Ohio convincingly
last week and yeah USC gonna roll. Roll Damn Trojans (pun originally not intended) as they pound the
Vandals 56-10. Now to the meat and
potatoes of the evening, Oregon-Michigan State and LSU-Miss State respectively.
We’ll start with the potatoes, because I don’t want to worry about the butter
making them too soggy dammit. The matchup of Tigers and Bulldogs intrigues me
for reason far outside of their ranks. Ranks, will be self-referential by games
end. Instead, I think this game will clear up, to some extent, the SEC West
race. Many see a first to worst season for the Bulldogs, and a loss to a still
in flux and on their first game LSU won’t do much to calm those fears. LSU
needs to figure out the QB situation, but the skill players are loaded with NFL
level talent. On defense LSU lost miracle worker John Chavis, and will rely on
a man who may be able to make chicken shit out of filet mignon. All these
answers and more on Saturday night, and subsequent Saturdays as we get more
data points to formulated complete scouting reports on teams. LSU, 15-13, LESSS!! Now for the
meat. Oregon-Michigan State isn’t the matchup it was last season where we knew
the winner was in really good shape to make the playoff, because these teams
are much more openly flawed coming into this match-up. Oregon showed little, if
any, slowdown to start the year with Vernon Adams, but the defense was putrid.
They allowed Eastern Washington to stay in the game and that’s going to need to
be a whole lot less sieve-y if Oregon is going to win the Pac-12 North again.
For the Spartans, the defense was solid against Western Michigan, but the
special teams got burned multiple times on coverage, and the offense never got
going against what’s a fine Broncos defense, but not great. We’ll see if it was
just first week jitters for two teams with a lot of recent success, but there
are issues that need to be fixed and fixed fast if playoff hopes are going to
stay alive in Eugene and East Lansing. Give me the movable object, in a nail
biter, Oregon 38-35.
#20 Boise State at
BYU, 9:15 pm ESPN2 (Boise State -3)
#13 UCLA at UNLV,
9:30 pm CBSSN (UCLA -29)
These are late night
games that just intrigue me because I don’t want to jump to conclusions about
the teams involved. Except UNLV. UCLA is going to run the fuck over UNLV, but I
want to see Josh Rosen do it again, and in a letdown spot after his first, exceptional,
collegiate performance. UCLA
rolls, 31-10. Boise State-BYU is an
underrated game, both for the intrigue and for the teams. BYU is replacing Taysum
Hill, after his broken foot against Nebraska, with Tanner Mangum who threw the
game winning Hail Mary against Nebraska. Mangum is a former Elite 11
quarterback, who has talent but a big hole to fill. Boise looked like they
should dominate Washington, but a young quarterback, and inconsistency lead to
a closer game than necessary. All I’m looking for against BYU is consistency
and a modicum of improvement to stay on, as Pat Forde calls it, #TheBus. Boise State, 27-20.
There we are get
ready for week 2, which I will miss most of, and enjoy the first full weekend
of football. Note: All lines updated as
of 8:00 of 9/9.
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