Post by Walter on Sept 6, 2017 16:41:19 GMT -5
WEEK 2
“Don’t you find it a little bit of a coincidence that the body fell perfectly within the chalk outline on the floor?”
“I think they drew the chalk line later.”
“AH!”
1. NEBRASKA +14 at OREGON
Huskers come off a game they actually had to work at to win, a 43-36 victory over Arky St., a game where they gave up 415 yards passing. Meanwhile, Oregon was playing the cheerleaders late in a 77-21 romp against Southern Utah. Husker coach Riley knows Oregon football, but is the lethal Oregon offense back, (I mean, 700+ yards of TO has to count for something!). or was that just another doormat game? Bottom line: not enough Husker D.
Oregon
2. NORTHWESTERN -3.5 at DUKE
Northwestern beat a team thought to be a middle of the pack MW team in Nevada by only 11 at home. Duke was at home beating up on a nobody, winning 60-7 against NCar Central. Northwestern has aspirations of competing in the BGWest. Duke is a basketball school that might reach .500 and a bowl.
Northwestern
3. LOUISVILLE -10 at NORTH CAROLINA
Louisville had some trouble with Purdue, but not so much because of Purdue as much as just sloppiness. L.Jackson had a night that should have meant the Louisville cruised, but mistakes and penalties cost them. North Carolina lost, (surprised the heck outta me) to Cal at home, a team picked to finish last in the Pac12, a team with a new coach and a QB who had never thrown a collegiate pass.
Louisville
4. IOWA -2.5 at IOWA ST.
First of the mini-rivalry games of the week. Iowa beat Wyoming to start the year, while ISU was beating Northern Iowa. What does that mean to us? Beats me. Wyoming thinks it can win the MW division, so there’s that. This is always a tough pick, but even at ISU, I think the Cyclones need more points to get me to pick them.
Iowa
5. PITT +21 AT PENN ST.
Round two of mini-rivalry week…sort of. This one is actually sort of a stinker, but it renews the series that has been dormant for 16 years, so perhaps Pitt can show us something. Unfortunately, they struggled with Youngstown State, so I’m thinking not.
Penn St.
6. AUBURN +5.5 at CLEMSON
Auburn beat up on Georgia Southern while Clemson did the same against Kent State. Key for Clemson is their QB development, so the scrimmage against wildly overmatched KSt was probably a good thing. Auburn is also breaking in a new QB, so this should be an interesting matchup. Both Ds smothered the opposition, so I’m expecting a low scoring game. I’ll take the points.
Auburn
7. GEORGIA +4 at NOTRE DAME
An SEC team travels north to play football? Say WHAT? Yep! Georgia plays at ND for the first meeting between the two teams in more than 30 years. They come off a 31-10 win over AppySt. while the Irish were beating Temple 49-16. While both teams are looking to be players in high places, curiously, the 24th ranked Irish are laying 4 to the #15 team, so what to do?
Take the Irish
8. OKLAHOMA +7.5 at OHIO STATE
Here we go. #5 vs #2. Centerpiece of the weekend. Oklahoma was untested at UTEP last week, winning 56-3, while OSU struggled for a half and then outscored Indiana 38-7 in the second half. The Buckeyes ended with nearly 600 yards of TO, but the Buckeye secondary also gave up 400+ in the air and 3 TDS to Indiana. Meanwhile, OU QBs just went 32-36 for over 500 yards against overmatched UTEP. The wise guys give a tantalizing extra half point….Hmmm…..
Oklahoma
9. STANFORD +6.5 at USC
Stanford comes off a virtual bye week to play the Trojans at the Coliseum, having beaten up Rice 62-7 on 8/26. USC came out rusty against WMU but took control of the game late…too late, as far as I was concerned. Issues here are a WMU team that was better than advertised, but still, they ran for 263 yards against a young, and I think a bit undersized Trojan front 7. That won’t do against Stanford, a team that likes to run plays with 14 tackles on the LOS, daring you to stop them from running the ball. Sam Darnold did not play a great game, but hopefully that first game rust has been shined off the machine.
Trojans….because I have to.
10 UTAH -1 at BYU
Another mini-rivalry game. BYU was smothered on offense by LSU last week. Utah dominated NorthDakotaSt statistically, but NDSt was only down 11 points near the end of the 3rd Q. BYU is still rebuilding but may get to a bowl, while UTAH expects to make it to a bowl. Such is the state of both programs.
Utah
11. WESTERN MICH +7 at MICHIGAN ST.
WMU game USC a ride last week, showing that even though they lost a lot of players from last year their program seems to be stable and deeper than most thought, and perhaps a double digit win season is possible. MichiganSt comes off a miserable season last year and looked to improve, but return only 4 on both O and D. Nevertheless, they beat Bowling Green handily, if not dominatingly, 35-10. Give me 7 to pick WMU do you?
Western Michigan
12. TCU -3 at ARKANSAS
TCU beatup Jackson St 63-0 last week, while Arkansas was doing the same to Florida A&M. TCU returns nearly its entire offense from last season, while Arkansas breaks in a new receiving corp. The game is at Arkansas, which should help the R-backs. Still, TCU offense is potent. Too potent.
TCU
13. INDIANA -3 at VIRGINIA
This is one of those games that shouldn’t be on the list, but is an interesting matchup in a sparse week of two very average teams. Virginia beat Wm&Mary 28-10, which to me, isn’t very impressive. Indiana just played a NC contender but couldn’t hang. Virginia has had 8 losing seasons in the last 9, and Wm&M averaged better than 4 ypc last week. Ouch.
Indiana
14. SOUTH CAROLINA +2.5 at MISSOURI
South Carolina beat NC St. 35-28 last week, while Mizzou beat up on MizzouSt 72-43. Carolina was a dog last week and won the game outright, and have earned some cred in doing so. But Mizzou returns a very potent offense from last season virtually intact.
Mizzou
15. BOISE ST. +10.5 at WASHINGTON ST.
Last of the games and last of the mini-rivalries. This game is for regional bragging rights. Wazzu seems to have fully embraced the Mike Leech offense and is poised to make some noise in the Pac12. They return an experienced team and beat MontanaSt 31-zip last week. Boise is a younger team, but took care of business against a game TroySt last week. The 10.5 is tempting, but I think the Wazzu offense is potent enough to cover.
Washington St.
“Don’t you find it a little bit of a coincidence that the body fell perfectly within the chalk outline on the floor?”
“I think they drew the chalk line later.”
“AH!”
1. NEBRASKA +14 at OREGON
Huskers come off a game they actually had to work at to win, a 43-36 victory over Arky St., a game where they gave up 415 yards passing. Meanwhile, Oregon was playing the cheerleaders late in a 77-21 romp against Southern Utah. Husker coach Riley knows Oregon football, but is the lethal Oregon offense back, (I mean, 700+ yards of TO has to count for something!). or was that just another doormat game? Bottom line: not enough Husker D.
Oregon
2. NORTHWESTERN -3.5 at DUKE
Northwestern beat a team thought to be a middle of the pack MW team in Nevada by only 11 at home. Duke was at home beating up on a nobody, winning 60-7 against NCar Central. Northwestern has aspirations of competing in the BGWest. Duke is a basketball school that might reach .500 and a bowl.
Northwestern
3. LOUISVILLE -10 at NORTH CAROLINA
Louisville had some trouble with Purdue, but not so much because of Purdue as much as just sloppiness. L.Jackson had a night that should have meant the Louisville cruised, but mistakes and penalties cost them. North Carolina lost, (surprised the heck outta me) to Cal at home, a team picked to finish last in the Pac12, a team with a new coach and a QB who had never thrown a collegiate pass.
Louisville
4. IOWA -2.5 at IOWA ST.
First of the mini-rivalry games of the week. Iowa beat Wyoming to start the year, while ISU was beating Northern Iowa. What does that mean to us? Beats me. Wyoming thinks it can win the MW division, so there’s that. This is always a tough pick, but even at ISU, I think the Cyclones need more points to get me to pick them.
Iowa
5. PITT +21 AT PENN ST.
Round two of mini-rivalry week…sort of. This one is actually sort of a stinker, but it renews the series that has been dormant for 16 years, so perhaps Pitt can show us something. Unfortunately, they struggled with Youngstown State, so I’m thinking not.
Penn St.
6. AUBURN +5.5 at CLEMSON
Auburn beat up on Georgia Southern while Clemson did the same against Kent State. Key for Clemson is their QB development, so the scrimmage against wildly overmatched KSt was probably a good thing. Auburn is also breaking in a new QB, so this should be an interesting matchup. Both Ds smothered the opposition, so I’m expecting a low scoring game. I’ll take the points.
Auburn
7. GEORGIA +4 at NOTRE DAME
An SEC team travels north to play football? Say WHAT? Yep! Georgia plays at ND for the first meeting between the two teams in more than 30 years. They come off a 31-10 win over AppySt. while the Irish were beating Temple 49-16. While both teams are looking to be players in high places, curiously, the 24th ranked Irish are laying 4 to the #15 team, so what to do?
Take the Irish
8. OKLAHOMA +7.5 at OHIO STATE
Here we go. #5 vs #2. Centerpiece of the weekend. Oklahoma was untested at UTEP last week, winning 56-3, while OSU struggled for a half and then outscored Indiana 38-7 in the second half. The Buckeyes ended with nearly 600 yards of TO, but the Buckeye secondary also gave up 400+ in the air and 3 TDS to Indiana. Meanwhile, OU QBs just went 32-36 for over 500 yards against overmatched UTEP. The wise guys give a tantalizing extra half point….Hmmm…..
Oklahoma
9. STANFORD +6.5 at USC
Stanford comes off a virtual bye week to play the Trojans at the Coliseum, having beaten up Rice 62-7 on 8/26. USC came out rusty against WMU but took control of the game late…too late, as far as I was concerned. Issues here are a WMU team that was better than advertised, but still, they ran for 263 yards against a young, and I think a bit undersized Trojan front 7. That won’t do against Stanford, a team that likes to run plays with 14 tackles on the LOS, daring you to stop them from running the ball. Sam Darnold did not play a great game, but hopefully that first game rust has been shined off the machine.
Trojans….because I have to.
10 UTAH -1 at BYU
Another mini-rivalry game. BYU was smothered on offense by LSU last week. Utah dominated NorthDakotaSt statistically, but NDSt was only down 11 points near the end of the 3rd Q. BYU is still rebuilding but may get to a bowl, while UTAH expects to make it to a bowl. Such is the state of both programs.
Utah
11. WESTERN MICH +7 at MICHIGAN ST.
WMU game USC a ride last week, showing that even though they lost a lot of players from last year their program seems to be stable and deeper than most thought, and perhaps a double digit win season is possible. MichiganSt comes off a miserable season last year and looked to improve, but return only 4 on both O and D. Nevertheless, they beat Bowling Green handily, if not dominatingly, 35-10. Give me 7 to pick WMU do you?
Western Michigan
12. TCU -3 at ARKANSAS
TCU beatup Jackson St 63-0 last week, while Arkansas was doing the same to Florida A&M. TCU returns nearly its entire offense from last season, while Arkansas breaks in a new receiving corp. The game is at Arkansas, which should help the R-backs. Still, TCU offense is potent. Too potent.
TCU
13. INDIANA -3 at VIRGINIA
This is one of those games that shouldn’t be on the list, but is an interesting matchup in a sparse week of two very average teams. Virginia beat Wm&Mary 28-10, which to me, isn’t very impressive. Indiana just played a NC contender but couldn’t hang. Virginia has had 8 losing seasons in the last 9, and Wm&M averaged better than 4 ypc last week. Ouch.
Indiana
14. SOUTH CAROLINA +2.5 at MISSOURI
South Carolina beat NC St. 35-28 last week, while Mizzou beat up on MizzouSt 72-43. Carolina was a dog last week and won the game outright, and have earned some cred in doing so. But Mizzou returns a very potent offense from last season virtually intact.
Mizzou
15. BOISE ST. +10.5 at WASHINGTON ST.
Last of the games and last of the mini-rivalries. This game is for regional bragging rights. Wazzu seems to have fully embraced the Mike Leech offense and is poised to make some noise in the Pac12. They return an experienced team and beat MontanaSt 31-zip last week. Boise is a younger team, but took care of business against a game TroySt last week. The 10.5 is tempting, but I think the Wazzu offense is potent enough to cover.
Washington St.
