College football - Week One

ESPN.com Scoreboard ^ | For the week of August 28th to September 4th

[MikefromOhio]

It's finally here!!! College football at it's best!!

The scheduled games (and my picks) are below:

Week One – College Football

Yes the season is finally here. It’s about freakin time too. Anyway, I am in several pick’em type leagues and here is how I am going to be filling my card out. Debate, criticize or whatever, but let’s remember that it’s just a game ok?

All rankings are from the ESPN.com Scoreboard page. I will also list any games of interest and any other games listed in my Public Yahoo league.

GAME(s) of the WEEK

Saturday, September 2nd, 2006

(9) California at (23) Tennessee (-1.5)

Cal faces a pretty stiff challenge going into Knoxville against a Tennessee team that everyone is expecting to rebound after a sub-par year. This is going to be a hard game to win right out of the chute and I don’t think they can do it.

Tennessee 24 – Cal 17

Monday, September 4th, 2006

(11) Florida State at (12) Miami (-3)

Now there normally won’t be two games that qualify as games of the week, but seeing that the preseason rankings aren’t exactly accurate by any stretch, I’ll go with two here. First off, last year’s defensive struggle won’t be repeated this year. FSU and Miami both lost key players on the defensive side of the ball. FSU lost more and they have more question marks on offense. Look for Miami to win a close and relatively offensive game.

Miami 32 – Florida State 28

Thursday, August 31st, 2006 – 10:00 PM ET

Northern Arizona at (24) Arizona State (NL)

ASU has an offense to hang with the big boys, but can they develop a defense? Certainly their offense will click against Northern Arizona, but how will their defense look? This game might even be close for a half or so.

The Prediction:

ASU 47 – Northern Arizona – 17

Saturday September 2nd 2006 (in ranking order)

Northern Illinois at (1) Ohio State (-18.5)

Northern Illinois isn’t a pushover by any stretch of the imagination. Although they aren’t on the caliber of Texas or Notre Dame, they can go into Columbus and sneak away with the win IF Ohio State is looking ahead. On paper this game doesn’t look like much of a contest.

The Prediction:

Ohio State 45 – Northern Illinois 10

(2) Notre Dame (-7.5) at Georgia Tech

Can Notre Dame find a defense to go along with the great offense? Calvin Johnson and GT will be a great first test. This game will go closer than many think.

ND 28 – GT 24

North Texas at (3) Texas (-41)

This game is all about getting experience for Colt McCoy. Texas will blow North Texas off of the field.

Texas 60 – North Texas 0

Washington State at (4) Auburn (-14.5)

Some people say Auburn is for real. Others don’t seem to pay much attention to them. Auburn thrives off of that type of non-hype, or at least they have in the past. This year they aren’t starting out of the top 10, they start at #4. Wazzu is improving, but they aren’t quite there yet.

Auburn 45 – Wazzu 13

Marshall at (5) West Virginia (-22)

All West Virginia has to do is win ONE game (at Louisville) and they are in the BCS title game. Marshall is a shadow of it’s former self and this is going to be another long year for the Thundering Herd.

WVU 42 – Marshall 14

(6) USC (-8) at Arkansas

USC 52 – Arkansas 20

Southern Miss at (7) Florida (-20)

Florida 44 – Southern Miss 13

Louisiana – Lafayette at (8) LSU (-30.5)

LSU 45 – LALA 7

UAB at (10) Oklahoma (-21.5)

Oklahoma 33 – UAB 13

Kentucky at (13) Louisville (-22.5)

L-ville 45 – Kentucky 10

Vandy at (14) Michigan (-26)

Michigan 33 – Vandy 9

Western Kentucky at (15) Georgia (NL)

UGA 35 – WKU 14

Montana – (16) Iowa (NL)

Iowa 52 – Montana 10

Northeastern at (17) Virginia Tech (NL)

VT 32 – Northeastern 0

Florida Atlantic – (18) Clemson (NL)

Clemson 38 – FAU 7

Akron – (19) Penn State (-16.5)

Penn State 24 – Akron 0

La Tech at (20) Nebraska (-20.5)

Nebraska 37 – La Tech 3

Stanford at (21) Oregon (-11)

Oregon 34 – Stanford 12

(22) TCU (-7.5) at Baylor

TCU 35 – Baylor 10

SMU at (25) Texas Tech (-26)

Texas Tech 59 – SMU 13

0-0 Straight UP 0-0 Against the Spread

[RockyTop4GOP]

Go Vols! It seems like we're back!! This is what a football team should look like.

[scott says]

Its a blow out-
Luckily we got a bunch of games starting in the next hour or sooner--

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/scoreboard

[commish]

Good to see the Vols looking sharp, will make my dawgs beating them in a few weeks all the sweeter. LOL.

Seriously, next week in Columbia should be interesting -- actually THE WHOLE WEEK in Athens should be interesting. Joe T III was more than UNDERWHELMING today (7-17 against W. kentucky .. PUHLEESE). Cox had a TD but also forced a bad INT. Was shocked to see Richt put Stafford in and throw away the redshirt -- combine that with Stafford looking awesome on all his plays, and one has to wonder if Richt may actually be toying with throwing the kid to the woves and letting this year be an On The Job Training session.

[Dog Gone]

Look, maybe I'm wrong. When the Texas/OSU deal was announced, OSU wasn't a top contender. I'm not sure of the timing and I don't really care. If it's that important to you, look it up and tell me.

[Perdogg]

I made a bet with a guy at work who went to Rutgers, what a way to start off the season (Rutgers 21 UNC 16).

[RockyTop4GOP]

Riigght. The only advantage the Dawgs have is that the game is in Athens.

The SEC is strong this year. Sadly, the conference will be so bloody, that I doubt anyone will have a chance at a national championship. That'll probably go to some other pansy division.

Nothing beats good, old-fashioned defensive SEC football game on a Saturday evening during the fall.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Texas Tech 35, SMU 3

[Lunatic Fringe]

Hey, we scored a TOUCHDOWN against Texas! WooHoo! And it wasn't a fluke, either.. it was an 80-yard 9 play drive.

[mainepatsfan]

Interesting day to say the least.

I picked the Vols but I never thought they'd put a beating on Cal like they did.

What's more surprising...Notre Dame winning at GA Tech despite only scoring 14 points OR Montana St. walking out of Boulder with a win?

[MikefromOhio]

Montana State without a doubt.

I think we all kinda knew that ND was going to have some issues at Georgia Tech.

[MikefromOhio]

I was close with my score pick on that one too :)

[MikefromOhio]

Prediction:
Ohio State 45 (-18.5) – Northern Illinois 10
OSU 35 – NIU 12
-
Notre Dame (-6.5) 28 – Georgia Tech 24
ND 14 – GT 10

Texas 60 (-41) – North Texas 0
Texas 56 – North Texas 7

Auburn (-14.5) 45 – Wash. St.13
Auburn 40 – WAZZU 14

WVU (-22) 42 – Marshall 14
WVU 42 – Marshall 10

USC (-8) 52 – Arkansas 20
USC 50 – Arkansas 14

Florida (-20) 44 – USM 13
Florida 34 – USM 7

LSU (-30.5) 45 – La Lafayette 7
LSU 45 – LA-Lafayette 3

Cal 17 – Tennessee 24(-1.5)***
Tennessee 35 – Cal 18

Oklahoma (-21.5) 33 – UAB 13**
Oklahoma 24 – UAB 17

Michigan (-26) 33 – Vandy 9
Michigan 27 – Vandy 7

Georgia (NL) 35 – WKU 14
UGA 48 – WKU 12

Iowa (NL) 52 – Montana 10
Iowa 41 – Montana 7

Va Tech (NL) 32 – Northeastern 0
VT 38 – Northeastern 0

Clemson (NL) 38 – FAU 7
Clemson 54 – FAU 6

Penn State (-16.5) 24 – Akron 0
Penn State 34 – Akron 16

Nebraska (-20.5) 37 – La Tech 3
Nebraska 49 – La Tech 10

Oregon (-11) 34 – Stanford 12
Oregon 48 – Stanford 10

Texas Tech (-26) 59 – SMU 13
Texas Tech 35 – SMU 3

I didn’t do too badly.

I only missed one by the spread (Oklahoma), and I’m perfect straight up on my picks. We are still waiting on 2 more games for this week, Miami - Florida State and Louisville - Kentucky.

ATS: 18-1 (For the year 19-1)
Straight up: 19-0 (For the year 20-0)

[scott says]

Pretty good work there...you should get a tv commercial thing going.
"Mikes Picks- sign up for only 19.95 a month..."

[Dog Gone]

Take me to Las Vegas with you!

[Michael.SF.]

Good job, Mike. You called the Cal-Tenn. game almost spot on. I always find it humorous, here in the bay area, how they tout Cal's greatness potential. It always seems to be a bit more then normal home team favoritism and extends into a denial of their vulnerability.

I knew they were overated, but I really did not think that they would be embarrassed as they were.

I also think that ND should drop a peg or three (they probably won't)after they just got past GT.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Montana State's win is huge for their program, and an embarrassment to Big 12 football.

[aft_lizard]

My picks were busted on a couple by the spread, I really bought into the California hype and a few Big Ten games beat the spread that I didnt, I may be last this first go round.

[aft_lizard]

I know, I held my head in shame, but it couldnt have happened to a nicer program than sCUm. The Big 12 North may be the worst division in all of Div 1A this year, save for Nebraska, it will suck. I just hope and pray that Nebraska beats USC in 2 weeks to restore pride for the North.

[scott says]

I forgot that we were using the point spread on the pick em game.
I got 3 wrong because of it- Michigan,Oklahoma and ND.
I picked Cal and that was just wrong!
TN looks much improved.

[JeffAtlanta]

Go Vols! It seems like we're back!! This is what a football team should look like.

Disclaimer: Alabama fan here.

I had strong feelings that UT would whip up on Cal. Cal is usually overrated and UT just has too much talent from years of cleaning up in recruiting.

Last year was just an aberration, but Fulmer does need to get a firmer grasp on his program and maybe avoid some of the more troubled recruits.

I think the program hit a hump last year where the players were getting too big for the program and not really part of the school anymore. That is not a knock against UT - it can happen at any bigtime school that has an amazing run of success like UT has had over the last 10 years.