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#1 Ohio State AT # 2 Texas It’s hard to beat a match up featuring the top 2 teams in the country. Texas stole a win in Columbus last year, and the Buckeyes hope to return the favor. The key to this game will be defense. Both teams have high powered offenses, so it comes down to which D will be better prepared. Jim Tressel will have this defense ready to play. If the Buckeyes can put a halt to the Longhorn rushing game, they can force Texas to go one-dimensional. Texas freshman quarterback Colt McCoy won’t have the poise to have a mistake free outing in a game of this magnitude. OSU 24 TEXAS 17 #4 Auburn VS Mississippi State Auburns defense will just dominate the Bulldogs offense this week. MSU couldn’t score against the Gamecocks last week, so there isn’t much hope for them to move the ball much against the best defense in the country. The Auburn running game, will keep the Bulldogs D on the field, wearing them down. The second half will get ugly and the points will pour in AUBURN 33 MISSISSIPPI STATE 10 (Tied #5) Notre Dame AT #19 Penn State With neither team playing as they were expected last week it’s hard to gauge where they stand this weekend. Notre Dame's defense played a strong second half against GT that got them back in the game. That defense is why I expect the Irish to win here. But of the offense struggles again, expect Penn State to take advantage of it. This is Brady Quinn’s time to show why he is on the Heisman watch list. NOTRE DAME 23 PENN STATE 9 (Tied #5) West Virginia VS Eastern Washington. At least 3 1-A schools lost to 1-AA opponents last week, 2 of those being BCS schools. Several others took it down to the wire. This begs the question, isn’t the risk outweighing the reward in games like this? I’m not saying West Virginia will lose, but I’m sure Colorado, Duke, and New Mexico all thought the same thing too. WEST VIRGINIA 42 EASTERN WASHINGTON 6 #7 Florida VS Central Florida Now that Florida is in its grove I don’t see any way for UCF to pull an upset in this game. Chris Leak will throw to Baker all day, and Urban Meyer... Please give Percy Harvin more touches. He averaged 14.5 yards a carry! Give this man the rock! If Florida shows they can effectively run the game, it will do wonders for next week’s game against Tennessee. FLORIDA 31 CENTRAL FLORIDA 10 #8 LSU VS Arizona With the defense that LSU has, Arizona will have a hard time getting their offense started. The Wildcats offense was shut down by a BYU defense that is known for its perennial bad defenses. I can only imagine what Sophomore QB Tuitama must be having nightmares about this week. Arizona doesn’t have the ability to run the ball, and while the defense is good, LSU is will wear them down after three quarters. LSU 28 ARIZONA 3 #9 Florida State VS Troy Now that the Seminoles have their nightmare of a game completed against Miami, the offense might actually do something. Don’t expect Troy to hold FSU to below 200 yards of total offense. FSU will establish a running game, to prevent them from being seen as one-dimensional. Troy showed they can destroy 1-AA teams last week, I doubt they get 429 yards offensively this week. FLORIDA STATE 35 TROY 17 #10 Oklahoma VS Washington Now that OU has a win under them, maybe they can pull together something special for the season. QB Paul Thompson needs to play better, and if OU uses Adrian Peterson to his potential, they can still prove to be a formidable offense. It’s a good thing Washington won last week, because they won’t have many more this season. OKLAHOMA 20 WASHINGTON 6 #11 Georgia AT South Carolina I expected more from Georgia last week. Yes they won the game, yes it wasn’t a blow out, but the team just didn’t look right. Tereshinski couldn’t complete a pass if his life depended on it. Luckily they play a team that doesn’t like to run the ball, so Georgia should shut down SC’s passing attack. Blake Mitchell didn’t look to hot himself throwing against MSU last week. It only gets tougher with Georgia’s defense, the only strength on the Bulldogs team. GEORGIA 14 SOUTH CAROLINA 10 #12 Louisville AT Temple The Cardinals lost star RB Michael Bush for the season last week. But George Stripling showed he can move the chains with his 9 touches for 90 yards. Expect Louisville to get Stripling the ball, and get him comfortable with being the lead back. This is a great time for the Cardinals to tune-up before Miami next week. LOUISVILLE 49 TEMPLE 10 #13 Michigan VS Central Michigan This Henne’s chance to get his act together. If he has another sub-par week, I guarantee he will come under fire in Ann Arbor. On the other hand the Chippewas played a great game against Boston College last week, and Dan LeFevour had an outstanding game, losing because of bad coaching. If the defense can hold together, look for the upset in this one. The Wolverines may get caught looking ahead to next weeks match up with Notre Dame. CENTRAL MICHIGAN 23 MICHIGAN 13 #14 Virginia Tech AT North Carolina You can’t lose to Rutgers in week one, then bounce back to play a reenergized Virginia Tech team. That’s exactly what UNC will be trying to this week. The Tar Heel defense just doesn’t match up very well against the Hokies, who’s QB, Sean Glennon was deadly accurate. Look for Virginia Tech to run the ball more against UNC, and get out of Chapel Hill with a victory. VIRGINIA TECH 30 NORTH CAROLINA 7 #15 Iowa AT Syracuse It will be interesting to see how well Iowa keeps moving, now that they aren’t playing division 1-AA competition. Drew Tate is the real deal at QB, and the defense is solid. Syracuse looked at an all time low, losing to Wake Forrest last week, only 91 rushing yards and 45 passing yards. Syracuse may not win a game all season. IOWA 52 SYRACUSE 14 #16 Miami VS Florida A&M The Hurricanes need this game. Miami will attempt to get the train-wreck of an offense back to what they hope is its true form. With Louisville coming up next week, Miami better learn how to play football, or they will start their season 1-2. MIAMI 38 FLORIDA A&M 0 #17 Tennessee VS Air Force The Vols arguably played the best game last week. They will keep things going against an offense that won’t move the ball much against them. Tennessee has a huge speed advantage in this game, so I look for Robert Meachem to have another 100+ yard receiving game TENNESSEE 42 AIR FORCE 14 #18 Clemson AT Boston College The only thing the Eagles have going for them in this one, is that it’s a home game. Clemson’s offense looked too powerful to stop, and the defense was tenacious. This is the first time Clemson has played at BC in 23 years, and I suspect they will put on a show. Eagles QB Matt Ryan is the only weapon on offense, making this team pretty easy to figure out. CLEMSON 25 BOSTON COLLEGE 24 # 20 Oregon AT Fresno State Oregon has the best offense in the country, and their defense is no push over either. I don’t see Fresno State as having the weapons to challenge Oregon for more than a half. But this might be the most exciting shoot-out of the week. OREGON 30 FRESNO STATE 27 #21 Nebraska VS Nichols State Let’s see, a team that had almost 600 yards of total offense, taking on a 1-AA team? We might have over 1000 yards of offense before the final whistle blows on this one. NEBRASKA 63 NICHOLS STATE 17 #22 TCU VS UC Davis These 1-A VS 1-AA match ups are getting tiresome. They are fun for the fans; they can be that exciting for the players…it’s so aggravating to see so many top caliber teams giving themselves these easy wins. It ruins the game. Okay I'm off my soap box. TCU will crush UC Davis. TCU 41 UC DAVUS 0 #23 California VS Minnesota With the poor tackling exhibited by Cal last week, Minnesota is licking their chops. The Golden Gophers have a pair of running backs that combined for over 260 rushing yards. Who knew that Cal would go 0-2 to start the season? MINNESOTA 23 CAL 10 #24 Texas Tech AT UTEP UTEP doesn’t have the ability to stay in a shoot out with Tech, which is what happens to anyone who has to play them. The Red Raiders will start the season 2-0 and set their sights on a showdown with TCU next weekend. At least THAT game will be fun to watch. TEXAS TECH 33 UTEP 6 #25 Alabama AT Vanderbilt Alabama didn’t look that sharp last week, but with a game under their belt and a weeks worth of practice, we should expect to see more of a polished look from the Crimson Tide. Vanderbilt hung in against Michigan for the first half, and then mysteriously disappeared in the second. Tough to say which Vandy team shows up. Either way though, Alabama wins. ALABAMA 17 VANDERBILT 7 ----- |
 
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