Week 2 has some games that I'm interested to see, but no really huge games this week. There's the historic Notre Dame/Michigan game, and the inaugural Pac-12 game between Utah and USC, along with a couple other conference openers that will likely be important at the end of the season.
There will probably be some fireworks on display Thursday night when Arizona plays at #9 Oklahoma State. Against Northern Arizona, Arizona QB Nick Foles was 34/42 for 412 yards, 5 touchdowns, and no picks in a 41-10 win (it was only 14-10 at halftime). Against Louisiana, Oklahoma State QB Brandon Weeden was 24/39 for 388 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions in a 61-34 win. The completely rebuilt offensive line of Arizona did okay, averaging 3.8 yards per carry and only allowing one sack. One thing is certain, there will be a lot of passing tomorrow night. We'll probably see over 80 passes on the night and over 800 yards passing between the two teams combined. OSU WR Justin Blackmon is going to have a big night (100+ yards receiving) and score at least one touchdown.
Friday has another key Pac-12 non-conference game, #21 Missouri at Arizona State. ASU won a warmup game against UC Davis 48-14, which Missouri struggled with a tough Miami (OH) team in a 17-6 win. It's hard to know what to take from those games, but I do think that Miami (OH) will be tough and play in the MAC championship this year. The key will be whether or not Missouri can get the offense going early, particularly the passing game, which really struggled against Miami. We could see an upset here, especially if ASU LB Vontaze Burfict has 3 sacks like he did against UC Davis.
#16 Mississippi State plays at Auburn Saturday afternoon. Auburn leads the series 56-25-3, and has won 9 out of the last 10. Last week, Mississippi State excelled on the road against a terrible Memphis team while Auburn needed a miracle at home to beat improving Utah State. Auburn should have been able to push around Utah State, but they only rushed for 78 yards on 30 carries (2.6 YPC). Compare that to Mississippi State RB Vick Ballard, who carried the ball 10 times for 166 yards (16.6 YPC) and 3 touchdowns. He also rushed for 968 yards last year. The key is going to be whether or not Auburn's defense line can get a push to slow down Ballard and put pressure on MSU QB Chris Relf.
#13 Oregon just looked bad last week, turning the ball over 4 times against LSU. This week they'll return home and play against Nevada, who had a first week bye. Nevada lost their two best players from last year's WAC co-championship team, QB Colin Kaepernick and RB Vai Taua. Oregon is going to be playing hungry, trying to get their first win of the season and put the bad loss behind them. It will be interesting to see how Nevada responds at Autzen Stadium.
#25 TCU fell at Baylor last week, but that wasn't the big surprise. The biggest surprise was that Baylor scored 50 points on TCU, the most that TCU has allowed since a 51-50 win over BYU in 2005. This week they travel to Air Force, and I could see a win by AFA here. They were leading South Dakota 37-7 after three quarters (they're not known to score a ton of points), and they rushed for 391 yards. Seniors QB Tim Jefferson and RB Asher Clark combined for 166 yards on 28 carries. TCU will have trouble stopping the Air Force option attack, and their defense will probably get pushed around again, but Jefferson will have success throwing a few passes.
Georgia's biggest chance to be relevant in the SEC East will be this weekend when they host #12 South Carolina. Georgia struggled on third down (2/13) against #4 Boise State last week, and that won't work against South Carolina. Against East Carolina, RB Marcus Lattimore had 23 carries for 112 yards and 3 touchdowns. Georgia's best chance for a win here is if they can corral Lattimore enough and make South Carolina beat them through the ball with QBs Stephen Garcie and Connor Shaw, which could be tough with the inconsistency there.
The first true night game at Michigan Stadium will be this weekend as they host Notre Dame. Michigan pulled away in the third quarter before the game was called due to lightning, while Notre Dame's comeback against South Florida failed. Both teams are coming off somewhat disappointing performances, but they will both need big games from their QBs, Notre Dame's Tommy Rees and Michigan's Denard Robinson. If either QB can have a big game and get a little help from the defense, that team will have a good chance of winning this historical rivalry.
Utah visits The Colliseum for the first Pac-12 game in history when they square off against USC. This is another pair of teams that had disappointing performances in the first week. Utah jumped out to an early 24-0 lead against Montana State, then didn't do much on offense the rest of the way. USC led Minnesota 19-3 at halftime, but needed a late interception to hold on for a 19-17 win. Utah's offense only ran 12 different plays all game, so it seems that they are trying to keep the new playbook somewhat hidden from USC. Utah will need to completely open up the playbook this week and get a big game from QB Jordan Wynn to have a chance to win this game. Utah RB John White was solid against Montana State (150 yards, 1 touchdowns), and he seems to be a good, reliable back to lead Utah's rushing attack.
The game of the week is #3 Alabama at #23 Penn State. It's too early in the season to really focus an entire post on one game, so I'll just use a paragraph here. Last year in Tuscaloosa, Alabama won this matchup 24-3. It will be tough in Beaver Stadium this year, but Alabama's defense will be the story here. They held Kent State to 90 yards, and Kent State only scored a touchdown because they started a drive at the Alabama 3 after an interception. It's hard to believe that Alabama had 5 turnovers and only allowed one score. Meanwhile, Penn State outgained Indiana State 359-170 and won 41-7 with ISU turning the ball over 3 times. While it's hard to put too much stock into these opening week games, it's not hard to see how much more dominant Alabama was, especially when you take the turnovers into consideration. Alabama is my pick for the national championship this year, and Penn State isn't even a pick for the division winner. If this was at Alabama, I think it would be a blowout. But with this game being at Penn State, I can see Alabama stumbling a bit in the first half. If this was at night, Penn State might even have a chance for an upset here.
Here are the main games I would like to watch some or all of this week:
Thursday 6:00 – Arizona at #9 Oklahoma State (ESPN, ESPN3)
Friday 8:30 – #21 Missouri at Arizona State (ESPN, ESPN3)
10:00 – Toledo at #15 Ohio State (BTN)
10:21 – #16 Mississippi State at Auburn (SEC, ESPN3)
1:30 – #3 Alabama at #23 Penn State (ABC)
1:30 – Nevada at #13 Oregon (FX)
1:30 – #25 TCU at Air Force (Versus)
1:30 – Hawaii at Washington (ROOT)
2:30 – #12 South Carolina at Georgia (ESPN, ESPN3)
5:30 – Utah at USC (Versus)
6:00 – Notre Dame at Michigan (ESPN, ESPN3)
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