Photo: USA Today Sports
Any Big Games?
No. 17 Michigan (1-0) vs. No. 14 Notre Dame (1-0) (More)
The battle of historic college football titans will once again be played under the lights and despite the fact these teams will play again in 2014, this is being billed as the end of an era. Last week Michigan looked good on both sides of the football with a full team effort to put away Central Michigan. The Wolverines look to be in much better shape that the Irish, who took advantage of long plays to get by Temple last week in South Bend. Michigan's defense may not give up those big plays, which could spell danger for the Irish.
Other Ranked Teams in Action
No. 7 Texas A&M (1-0) vs. Sam Houston State (1-0)
No. 9 LSU (1-0) vs. UAB (0-1)
No. 15 Texas (1-0) @ BYU (0-1) (More)
No. 16 Oklahoma (1-0) vs. West Virginia (1-0) (More)
No. 19 Northwestern (1-0) vs. Syracuse (0-1)
No. 22 Nebraska (1-0) vs. Southern Miss (0-1)
What's the over-under in the Texas A&M-Sam Houston State game? The Aggies will have a full four quarters from Johnny Manziel to work with and Sam Houston State posted 74 points last week. With Texas A&M's defense showing holes last week, the Bearkats could put some points on the board again this week, but A&M should prevail without much of a problem. LSU opens their home schedule after putting away TCU last week and the Tigers should roll again this week. Texas hits the road for one of the more attractive games even though BYU lost last week at Virginia. Oklahoma opens Big 12 play against the Mountaineers and should get by, while Northwestern should also improve to 2-0 against Syracuse. Kain Colter should be good to go for the Wildcats in that one. Nebraska can extend Southern Mississippi's losing streak to 14 games with a win. The Huskers escaped an upset bid by Wyoming last week and should come back much stronger this weekend.
The Late Night Games
No. 5 Stanford (0-0) vs. San Jose State (1-0)
No. 25 USC (1-0) vs. Washington State (0-1)
The Pac 12 will see two of their top teams play late night games for us on the east coast to fall asleep to, but each could be pretty interesting. First we have USC hosting Washington State, with Mike Leach continuing to try and build an identity with his newest program. Will USC have Silas Redd back on the field? What happens with the quarterback situation this week? A little later we have defending Pac 12 champion Stanford playing their season opener against San Jose State. Look for the Cardinal to play a physical style and slow down the heavy passing attack from David Fales and the Spartans.
How does Oregon State bounce back?
Oregon State has offense, but the defense let them down last week in a loss to FCS Eastern Washington. Hawaii comes to town this weekend after putting up an early fight against USC last week before the Trojans pulled away. Look for the Beavers to put together a better showing on defense this time.
FCS upset in Akron?
If there is one game that looks most likely to have an FCS team beat an FBS team this weekend, it will be the match-up between Akron and James Madison. The Dukes are ranked 20th in the FCS entering the week and could still be overmatched in this one, but Akron is a complete tire fire of a program right now and were obliterated by Central Florida in week one.
FCS upset in Boulder?
Colorado has fallen victim to an FCS opponent before, and this week could have another lined up. FCS No. 6 Central Arkansas plays at Colorado this weekend and could be worthy of an upset bid against the Buffs. Colorado won last week against in-state rival Colorado State so it will all e about building off that performance and not taking the Bears for granted.
