Week 2 Preview

Thursday Night: Auburn at Mississippi State, ESPN, 7:30 p.m.
Auburn travels to Mississippi State for a mostly offensive game which should be highly entertaining to the casual fan, but absolutely horrible for me. Apparently, MSU fans are upset because Auburn 'stole' Cam Newton; which isn't quite logical since their only connection to him is when he played for their coach at Florida. But SEC fans are rarely logical.

Auburn fans were highly upset with their defense's performance (I actually read and heard this atrocity: 'The Roof, The Roof, The Roof Should be Fired'), and you could feel their concern over MSU's destruction of Memphis. While comparing a Sun Belt team to a C-USA team may appear trivial, it'll make me feel better going into this game to say that Memphis is much worse than Arkansas State. Whew. Much better.

Auburn comes in as a two-point favorite, which I won't touch for fear of affecting the outcome, but the over-under is set at 55. While these two teams did combine for just 5 points in Starkville two seasons ago, I think it more likely that both teams score 50 than the combined score total less than 55.

Saturday Games:
The first few weeks of the season are typically pretty boring, either due to cupcake match-ups or from the resulting poor play. But last weekend turned out to be entertaining and this weekend looks to be outstanding, at least on paper. Three non-conference games represent past National Championship Game rematches.

Miami at Ohio State, ESPN, 3:40 p.m.
Miami looks to avenge an eight-year-old loss when Ohio State stole the 2002 national championship. I was pulling against the Canes that evening due to their dominance; its amazing how much the two have switched places since then. But I don't see the Buckeyes falling in Columbus. I did take Miami and the points, though.

No truth to the rumor that Tressell invited Maurice Clarett to give the pre-game pep talk.

Florida State at Oklahoma, ABC/ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.
Oklahoma effectively ended the FSU dynasty in the 2000 Orange Bowl. The Sooners took down Chris Weinke and the defending national champions 13-2, and while Florida State has had some success, they haven't reached the same heights since. Two weeks ago, everyone expected a Sooner-blowout. Then OU struggles with Utah State and FSU knocks out Samford, and people begin to believe in the Seminoles in Norman. While I hope my fantasy QB Christian Ponder performs (I'm still debating he and my fantasy QB-backup Jacory Harris), the Sooners are going to snap back and take down Jimbo's Noles.


Penn State at Alabama, ESPN, 7 p.m.
While the Nittany Lions won the last game against Bama, they lost their biggest match-up against the Tide. In 1979, Alabama made one of the most famous goal-line stands ever to preserve a 14-7 lead and win the 1978 national title. Joe Paterno returns to Bryant-Denny Stadium with the most career wins for a coach, which was once held by Alabama's Bear Bryant. While JoePa is just a few wins shy of 400, I don't forsee him getting closer this week, as he takes a true freshman QB into what may be the toughest place to play in the nation. I also don't expect the Tide to miss Mark Ingram, as I'm still on the Toby Gerhart for Heisman bandwagon and claim that Trent Richardson is better than the Heisman winner. Eh, it makes sense in my head.

I took Penn State and the points, but part 0f that is from the great 2007 trip we had to Happy Valley, and of course, the Bama-hatred. If I were rationale, I'd probably give up the points.

Michigan at Notre Dame, NBC, 3:30 p.m.
Lovely, another early U-M vs. ND game where the winner will be proclaimed 'back' by the national media. While both fan bases are incredibly arrogant, college football isn't the same without them being good. But with ND dumbing down their schedule, I have to side with Michigan, though seeing Rich Rod on the hot seat is always fun television.

Georgia at South Carolina, ESPN2, Noon
Apparently some ESPN commentators are saying how this has historically been a SEC East elimination game, but I don't understand that - it's an elimination game for UGa. South Carolina has never seriously competed for the East crown; they were essentially eliminated no matter the outcome. But given how shaky Florida looked last week, this game really does matter to both teams. UGa may be able to withstand a loss, given that they're a young team and will get better throughout the year, but a win for USC would do wonders. They have to travel to Auburn and Florida and host Tennessee and Alabama. If they lose this one, they really will be eliminated from SEC contention.

USC is a 2.5-point favorite over UGa, but even without AJ Green, I don't see the Gamecocks winning this one. Marcus Lattimore is really going to be a great player, and Garcia is a lot better QB than he's being given credit for. This one will be really fun to watch.

South Florida at Florida, Peachtree TV (or SEC-Network in your neck of the woods), 12:21 p.m.
Loved getting text messages while at UGa saying that UF had 25 yards of offense through 3 quarters. Apparently John Brantley isn't going to make people forget Tebow anytime soon. Of course, it'd be helpful if a snap would at least roll to his feet. If UF plays like they did last week, then USF will clobber them. Skip Holtz has landed in a great situation, and I'm beginning to come around that he might be a decent coach (I've been weary ever since seeing him run the T-offense at South Carolina). USF has the athletes to beat Florida, but I think the Gators win this one straight-up. Oh, and now that Jim Leavitt is gone, I formally renounce my hatred for USF; now they're just another Big East team in which I merely dislike.

Oregon at Tennessee, ESPN2, 7 p.m.
Both teams combined to score 122 points in their openers, but UT will have a tougher time with this one. Another big out-of-conference game for the SEC. A win would be huge for the Vols and Derek Dooley, who I'm a big fan of and think he can be a really good coach for Tennessee if they'll give him five years. (They won't.) The Ducks didn't need Masoli or James, and still put up 72 points last week (though New Mexico might not win a D1-AA division). But winning in Knoxville, at night, will be tough. Still, I took Oregon and gave up 12.5.

Virginia at Southern Cal, FSN, 10:30 p.m.
This game isn't going to be that good, perhaps even bad, and with USC cut out of the National Title race, it's effectively meaningless, but it comes on at 10:30, matches two non-conference BCS team, and will be good to fall asleep/pass out to... and falling asleep to the Song Girls always brings sweet dreams.