Posted on 09/06/2006 5:57:30 PM PDT by MikefromOhio
Week Two – College Football
Week One finally brought some much needed intensity to the summertime months for most of us. It was a relief for some (Ohio State, Notre Dame) and a crushing time for others (Colorado and Cal especially). Now that we’ve seen most every team in action, now we have something to go on other than perceptions when making picks.
As always, all rankings are from the ESPN.com Scoreboard page. I will also list any games of interest (FReepmail me if you want your team included and I will include them from here on out) and any other games listed in my Yahoo league.
GAME of the WEEK
Saturday, September 9th, 2006
(1) Ohio State at (2) Texas (-2.5)
Ohio State’s offense is fine. Their defense remains a question mark. Texas looked ok on offense and their defense is seemingly solid. Might we have another #1 after this week? Yes, probably. While there was quite a bit of holding in the Northern Illinois game, there was more of an issue of the Ohio State defenders getting off of blocks and making tackles. Now sure Garrett Wolfe would PROBABLY start on a team like Texas (he’s that good), NIU doesn’t have the offensive line that Texas does. Going into a hostile environment with a young and unproven defense isn’t quite as bit a hinderance as going in with a young and unproven offense, but Texas as a relatively experienced offense, just a redshirt freshman QB. Assuming he makes no mistakes, which is a hard thing to do in a game like this, Texas will win outright. Ohio State’s offense won’t make very many mistakes either, but their defense is the major question mark of this game.
Ohio State 25 – Texas 22
Thursday September 7th, 2006 (ESPN Thursday Night Game)
Oregon State at Boise State (-8)
This game should be a shootout. Neither team is especially known for defense. And we get to see that horrible blue turf they have in Boise very early this year.
Saturday September 9th 2006 (in ranking order)
(19) Penn State at (4) Notre Dame (-8)
The Prediction:
Penn State 21 – Notre Dame 17**** UPSET ALERT
(4) Auburn (-20) at Mississippi State
Auburn 38 – Miss St. 10
Eastern Washington at (6) West Virginia (NL)
WVU 56 – Eastern Washington 7
UCF at (7) Florida (-23)
Florida 40 – UCF 14
Arizona at (8) LSU (-16)
LSU 32 – Arizona 10
Troy at (9) Florida State (-30)
FSU 55 – Troy 3
Central Michigan at (10) Michigan (-28)
Michigan 35 – Central Michigan 14
Air Force at (11) Tennessee (-20)
Tennessee 43 – Air Force 7
(12) UGA (-3) at South Carolina
UGA 28 – South Carolina 10
(13) Louisville (-40.5) at Temple
Louisville 70 – Temple 3
(14) Iowa (-20) - Syracuse
Iowa 45 – Syracuse 17
Washington at (15) Oklahoma (-17)
Oklahoma 34 - Washington 14
(16) Virginia Tech (-12) at North Carolina
VT 32 – North Carolina 10
(18) Clemson (-2.5) at Boston college
Clemson 17 – BC 14
(20) Oregon (-11) at Fresno State
Oregon 34 – Fresno State 18
Nicholls St. at (21) Nebraska (-20.5)
Nebraska 45 – Nicholls State 0
Minnesota at (22) California (-8.5)
Minnesota 32 – Cal 28*****UPSET ALERT
UC Davis at (23) TCU (NL)
TCU 54 – UC Davis 10
(24) Texas Tech (-7) at UTEP
Texas Tech 59 – UTEP 16
Nevada at (25) Arizona St. (-14.5)
ASU 43 – Nevada 12
20-1 Straight UP
19-2 Against the Spread
Yeah it's possible.
Since Iowa was able to sneak by 'Cuse without Drew Tate, the Big Ten will remain strong enough of a conference with it's big 3 (OSU, Michigan, IOWA) that it will have a pretty good chance of landing 2 BCS teams....
Unless you are thinking Maryland or BC, FSU is going to win the ACC Atlantic Division........
I'm not far away from that :)
I wouldn't mind actually.
that loss to FSU finally got Cooper to decide on a QB going into the next year.
Had Joe Germaine run for just ONE first down in the Michigan State game in 1998, they would've smacked Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl that year.
One would hope. If you can't get your team up for a game against a powerhouse like Youngstown State then you need to hang it up.
And don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan and bigger admirer of JoePa and the Penn State program. And I think they have a great team this year. But I also think, unfortunately, that it's long past JoePa's bedtime and that the Nittany Lions need a new man at the helm or they will never again have the record that their talent deserves.
yeah...
he looked sick yesterday even before the game.
You and me both, I keep getting killed by the spread, I need to wait to the last second and copy MikefromOhio's picks to stay in this thing now, lol.
I predict ND moved to #2, and Texas drops to #5. I found a few other OSU fans in the heart of Houston last night but we kept it subdued. UT fans were busy blaming Mack Brown (his grace period is over already).
I agree. LSU is looking unbelievable so far. But their schedule is brutal. They play at Auburn, Tennessee, and Florida. As good as they've looked so far, I don't have much hope that they can survive that schedule.
ESPN rankings...
1. Ohio State (59) 2-0 1,571
2. USC (2) 1-0 1,471
3. Notre Dame (1) 2-0 1,391
4. Auburn (1) 2-0 1,369
5. West Virginia 2-0 1,293
6. Florida 2-0 1,177
7. LSU 2-0 1,159
8. Texas 1-1 1,107
9. Georgia 2-0 997
10. Florida State 2-0 977
I am really suprised that ND wasn't moved up to #2 but they will be soon. USC still has some of that media mojo left over from the last couple of years so must be holding off ND for now.
The SEC has 4 of the top 9 right now, with UT a surprising 17. The mostly play every other good team this year, so those games should be ones to watch. Hard to pick a favorite right now but I don't see any of them making it through unbeaten.
With WVU most likely going unbeaten that leaves the second spot to OSU, USC or ND.
I saw that!!
:)
I told you you were giving Mississippi State's offense too much credit.
well I figured they would be able to get something going with their 1st string against the Auburn waterboys, but apparently not....
Man that program just can't get jump started.
Nope.
There is absolutely no excuse for them to NOT be able to recruit at least a few playmakers...
You'd think their defense or special teams would at least give them an easy FG attempt.
You haven't done badly at all. In fact, I see that your predicted scores were kinda close across the slate.
yeah...
I'd just like to know what kind of sadistic bastard doing the scheduling in the SEC started a few teams out with 2 in-conference games to start the season....
yeah....
I can't explain the score thing...
I'm normally not very good at predicting scores....
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