2017 College Football Week 2 Preview – “Another One”
First off, hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Welcome back! By now, most of America’s work week is half over. This means that we’re that much closer to another exciting weekend of College Football. By now, hopefully you’ve shaken off those Labor Day hangovers. Same goes for those questionable first halves we saw last weekend. For most of the FBS, week two means scheduling some lesser opponents. (No offense to the smaller schools who get paid to show up. We see you Howard and Liberty.) And while this is most definitely the case for some across college football this week, there are a handful of quality games on the horizon. And lucky for you, I’m here to tell you which nine games you should be tuning into this weekend. Here’s our College Football Week 2 Preview.
-Shawn
All games on Saturday, unless otherwise noted
Friday September 8th – Memphis at UCF (6:30pm ET, ESPNU)
(There’s a team that looks like they won 61-17 a week ago. Photo Courtesy of Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports)
Remember last week when I told you to watch that Thursday night game last week. Well if you tuned in, you watched one helluva showing by the Knights. McKenzie Milton threw for 360 yards and four touchdowns as he led the Knights to a 61-17 victory. Along with Milton’s strong performance, four different UCF running backs scored touchdowns. Memphis had just as good of a showing against Louisiana Monroe on the back of Darrell Henderson’s 169 yards rushing and two LONG touchdown runs (55 and 63 yards). Henderson was joined by Patrick Taylor Jr who had a 66 yard touchdown run of his own. History says the Knights should have this one in hand as they hold a 9-game winning streak over the Tigers. Expect a much closer game than UCF played a week ago.
Prediction: UCF wins 45-35
Louisiana Monroe at (10) Florida State (Noon ET, ACC Network)
(Plenty of chopping will be happening as the Seminoles return to Doak Campbell)
Oh how a weekend can change everything. Heading into a week one match up with Alabama, Florida State had it’s sights on another ACC Championship season and a potential trip to the College Football Playoff come season’s end. And then Deandre Francois didn’t get up. In a time where sports is going to take a backseat to safety for supporters of both schools, this game will provide Seminole Nation it’s first look at freshman James Blackman. Thankfully, the Noles defense looked good when they weren’t dealing with a field shorter than 30 yards. Expect Florida State to hopefully get the ship heading into the right direction as they head into ACC Conference play next week.
Prediction: (10) Florida State wins 38-3
Writers Note: The above games were rescheduled from their original kickoffs with the impending landfall of Hurricane Irma. To all of my friend and family in the path of this potentially devastating storm, stay dry but most importantly stay safe. Love you all!
Florida Atlantic at (9) Wisconsin (Noon ET, Big Ten Network)
(Bucky had to be exhausted in the 59-10 victory a week ago. Expect Buckingham to be equally as exhausted this Saturday. Photo Courtesy of M.P. King — Wisconsin State Journal)
Let’s face facts. The Badgers looked questionable last Friday under the lights against a very game first half Utah State team. The Badgers trailed by 10 with 3:47 left in the first half. Trailed. Utah State. By ten. That is not a typo. Thankfully, Bradrick Shaw’s touchdown with 1:12 left, followed by a Raphael Gaglianone field goal brought the Badgers even with the Aggies. This is all we will talk about regarding the first half of that game. At halftime, I can only assume Paul Chryst played every inspirational sports related YouTube clip he and his coaching staff could come across. The Badgers went on to score 49 more points in a second half that may as well been a different team. The Badgers will hopefully carry that second half momentum into this Saturday as Lane Kiffin brings his Florida Atlantic Owls into Camp Randall. The Owls are coming off a less than impressive week where they allowed 416 yards rushing in a game that lasted roughly six hours due to weather. Expect the incredibly deep Badgers rushing attack of Shaw, Jonathan Taylor (Thomas), and Chris James to expose a porous Owls rushing defense.
Prediction: (9) Wisconsin wins 49-14
Pittsburgh at (4) Penn State (3:30pm ET, ABC)
(These two are really good at football. They’re also really good at annoying me. Photo Courtesy of Casey Kreider, Staff Photographer, Lancaster Online)
Penn State looked reeeeaaaaaaalllly good last week winning 52-0 over Akron. Now yes, it was Akron. They’re literally made of Rubber But Saquon Barkley will probably be putting up performances like that all season. Barkley had 226 total yards and two touchdowns. Barkley wasn’t the only one shining. Trace McSorley threw for 280 yards and two touchdowns, and also ran for another. This Nittany Lions team, who notoriously would start out slow last season, seems to have found a new pregame ritual this year as they scored on 5 of 7 of their first half possessions. Pitt is coming off a 28-21 overtime victory over Youngstown State, a game in which they allowed 14 points in the fourth quarter. The Panthers struggled against the pass, primarily against the tight ends and running backs of the Penguins. Those struggles will not translate well into a rivalry game with the Nittany Lions passing attack. The Panthers did win last year in a squeaker. That probably won’t be the case this year.
Prediction: (4) Penn State wins 48-10
(13) Auburn at (3) Clemson (7pm ET, ESPN)
(Gus Malzahn. Sweater Vest. Boom! That is all.)
With DeAndre Francois’ injury against Alabama last week, the ACC has become the Tigers to win. You have to assume Dabo Swinney will have his Tigers focused on their end goal come January. But before Clemson begins their ACC schedule, they must first face-off against Gus Malzahn and the thirteenth ranked Auburn Tigers. These two played a thriller to kickoff each of their seasons a year ago. And if history is any indication, expect nothing different Saturday night. The games these two have played over the last decade have been decided by a margin that is thinner than two ply toilet paper. In fact, two of those games went into overtime. Both are coming off incredibly productive opening weeks. Auburn won 41-7 over Georgia Southern, Clemson won 56-3 over Kent State. Auburn had 351 yards rushing, Clemson had 353. This one has all the potential to be another classic in this rivalry.
Prediction: (13) Auburn wins 17-14
Game of the Week – (5) Oklahoma at (2) Ohio State (7:30 ET, ABC)
(No “Sad” Pizza for Urban this week)
I love college football schedule makers. We get back to back weeks with a top 5 match-up. And boy is this one going to be good. Oklahoma is coming of a 56-7 shellacking of UTEP in which Baker Mayfield went 19-20 for 329 yards and three touchdowns. 33 year old Lincoln Riley looked like he belongs on a Sooner sideline, the former OC led his team to 676 yards. On the other side of the field, Ohio State struggled out of the gate in Bloomington last week. The Buckeyes trailed Indiana at the half, then went on to outscore the Hoosiers 36-7 in the second half. Freshman J.K. Dobbins was explosive in his first game, rushing for 181 yards while J.T. Barrett stayed true to form by throwing for 304 yards and three touchdowns. Expect fireworks in this one as Boomer Sooner looks to enact revenge on the Buckeyes, who beat Oklahoma 45-24 in Norman a season ago.
Prediction: (2) Ohio State wins 41-38
(15) Georgia at (24) Notre Dame (7:30 ET, NBC)
(Fact: Brian Kelly screaming is good for college football.)
Hey Joe! Did you know Notre Dame beat Temple last week? (Guys, ask Joe how he feels about Temple losing to Notre Dame.) Notre Dame looked like a completely different team than then one that went4-8 last year. And honestly when Notre Dame is good, it’s good for College Football. The defense looked solid, they had three guys over 100 yards rushing, Quarterback Brandon Wimbush looked really good. This week however will be the first true test as Nick Chubb leads his 15th ranked Georgia Bulldogs into their first meeting with Fighting Irish since the 1981 Sugar Bowl, a game in which the Bulldogs won to win a National Title. (I feel like Nick Chubb was on that 1980 team, since he’s seemingly been around forever). Speaking of Chubb, he ran for two touchdowns last week against Appalachian State. This should be a good one as both teams are trying to establish themselves on the National Stage.
Prediction: (24) Notre Dame wins 31-21
(14) Stanford at (6) USC (8:30 ET, FOX)
(That’s it. I’m pregnant. #DarnoldSmolderFTW Photo Courtesy of Meg Haywood-Sullivan for B/R Mag)
This one should be real good! Stanford went off for 62 against Rice in a game that was played in Sydney, Australia two weeks ago. Bryce Love left the Cardinal faithful wondering who that Christian McCaffery guy even was, as he finished with 180 yards rushing. Keller Chryst looked good after tearing his ACL in the Sun Bowl back in December. USC is coming of game in which they needed to score 28 in the final quarter to secure a victory. Sam Darnold didn’t look like the Heisman hopeful he was supposed to be, although he is still GORGEOUS! But the team was able to find some semblance of success with a rushing attack led by Ronald Jones II’s three touchdowns, followed closely by Stephen Carr’s two touchdowns. USC will need to have a solid showing in this one if they hope to have any chance at making a run at a Pac-12 title.
Prediction: (6) USC wins 38-27
Holy shit that was exhausting. I’m definitely going to need a nap before Saturday. As you can see, there’s an incredible amount of great games for the second week of the season. And only two of those games are conference game. We’re not even to full on conference play yet. This Saturday is going to be GREAT! My betting account is ready. Time to hit some overs. Oh and there will be a constant reminder that Taylor Swift is back. (You thought I wasn’t going to mention her this week?!? Get real!)
#HitTheOver
#TeamNobody