Week 2: Saturday's Plays

Well last night there were two surprising results to me. First, Oregon St. has some QB problems and is looking to be overrated right now despite their offensive weapons. Second, has there ever been a game where there 5 offensive touchdowns score within the first 5 minutes of the game. I am, of course, speaking about the Louisville-MTSU offensive spectacle last night. Louisville needs to step up otherwise Kentucky is going to beat them next week. If I were a head coach, I would have locked the defense out of the locker room at halftime and praised the offense inside for a solid start. I will be interested to see if Louisville drops a position or two in the rankings. (By the way, I right that Louisville likes to score in the mid 50's in these kind of games, just I was not expecting the performance from MTSU.)

I read two interesting statistics this morning on philsteele.com.

"Michigan entered the year #5 in the polls and did not even make the top 25 this week. That was the largest fall EVER in the AP poll after one week. The next closest was when Notre Dame entered the year at #8 in 1995 and fell out of the rankings after a loss to Northwestern. . . .Since the start of 2000 Michigan is the 50th team to lose to a 1AA foe and the previous 49 combined to finish just 160-408 that same season with only FOUR of the 49 finishing with a winning record!"

Yes I had to put in the Northwestern plug.

Also note I have a game that I am considering my key play that I bet double on. I may or may not have games like these going forward but I will tell you when I do.

West Virginia -24 at Marshall. Yeah, it is a road game in a rivalry but these two teams are at different levels right now. With HC Rodriguez now signed on long term, I see a 51-14 blowout.

Nebraska/Wake Forest over 49.5. Nebraska armed with a good passing qb and a running game looks dangerous to me and should put up lots of points again for the 2nd straight week. I was also impressed with Wake scoring 28 up at BC last week. The total goes over 60.

Oklahoma -10 (bought down from -10.5) over Miami. This is not 15 or 20 years ago. Miami needs some time to get back to being a team that can compete in a game like this. Maybe Miami can get a QB too since it has been too long since they have had a competent one.

Rice +6.5 at Baylor. If a college football game is played and no one attends nor anyone cares, did it actually get played? OF Course it did, because I bet on it! Rice got knocked off by a 1-AA team last week in a game played in freakish weather. Baylor valiantly tried against TCU but did not score. Just too many points to give a team that played in a bowl last year (although does that real matter anymore since there are so many bowls).

Cal/Colorado St over 61. I am not really comfortable with the spread in this game but I know both teams will be prolific offensively.

Missouri -6 at Mississippi. Missouri as always seemed to keep a game closer then it really needed be but I will stick with them again this week since they are superior team. It should not be this close.

Boston College -14 at NC State. Here is a chance for the BC player to give their old coach the big F.U. NC State lost to UCF last week in a pathetic showing. They will be better in future years but it will take HC O'Brien time to get the team in order.

Boise St. -3 at Washington. No respect for Boise. This is a joke, Washington beats Syracuse easily last week and now the odds makers think this will be a close game. (Who hasn't beaten Syracuse easily the last few years?) Boise wins by 14 or more.

Penn St. -17 over Notre Dame. Big revenge game for PSU after getting stomped in South Bend last season, I see very little mercy in this one. More growing pains for ND but they should score a touchdown this week if Claussen can survive. 41 -7 Penn State.

Tulane +6 over Miss St. I think Tulane has an advantage since they have not played yet instead of just playing terribly like MSU did against LSU. This is an even series over the last four years and I don't see the home team as the dog.

Kent St. +13 at Kentucky. Kent State played well against Iowa State last week and pulled off an upset win. I see they keeping this game close while Kentucky looks ahead to playing interstate rival Louisville next week.

Washington St. -14 over SDSU. After playing well against Wisconsin for the first half, the Cougars will take out their frustrations on the weak Aztecs.

Hawaii -27.5 at La. Tech. (Key Play) (I put double on this one) For once, I think Hawaii will have no trouble covering on the road. La. Tech is terrible getting out gained and barely being whatever crappy team they played last week. (They were so bad I am just too lazy to look it up.)

New Mexico St +7 at New Mexico. New Mexico St. has the better offense and a few days extra rest and they are getting 7 points. NMSt should win straight up again a team that lost to UTEP 10-6. It should be a high scoring game here too.

UL Monroe +27 at Clemson. Clemson has never been a consistent team under little Bowden. I think they will be over confident this week and just cruise to a victory of less then 20 points.

Well that's all for now. I may have a few more up later today or tonight.

Good luck.

Oh yeah and I have one NFL play for the weekend.

Eagles -3 at Green Bay.