Week 2 Preview

Start the day off with Central Michigan at Kentucky. If Kentucky plays like they did in Week 1, they will lose. No, CMU (horrible acronym for a college) is not good. But they do have 14 returning starters and if Joker Philips doesn't get the offense moving then even with a win he will start feeling some discomfort in Lexington. I think the Cats will pull it out.

Mississippi State at Auburn - The Tigers can put some of their stellar athletes up front on the D-line and contend and make plays in the first half on raw talent and effort alone. Even though their defensive line looked awful last week, I wouldn't be surprised if Relf gets sacked once or twice, maybe Ballard gets caught behind the line of scrimmage. At least in the first half, I think Auburn's D will maintain State's offense to a degree, hold them to 14-21 points. As Auburn's D-line wears down from the brutality of an SEC O-line they've never had to play a full game against (or never been in an SEC game) they will not be able to make as many plays. And as they are unable to pressure Relf, I think MSU's WRs will be able to get open against Auburn's poor secondary. Look for State to control the ball and run plenty in the second half, hopefully getting 5-7 yards per carry. There's no doubt Gus Malzahn will find a way to score. He's still got playmakers in Emory Blake, Ontario McCaleb, Michael Dyer, and Philip Lutzenkirchen. He was good with Chris Todd in '09, he'll make Trotter into at least a middle of the road SEC QB on scheme alone. So as much pressure as I think State's D-line can put on Trotter, which I think is a lot due to their very inexperienced O-line, Malzahn will run misdirection and who knows what to get his skill players in open space. I'm going to assume they will have at least 3-4 20+, maybe 30+ yard plays from scrimmage in the game. State's biggest advantage is State's D-line vs. Auburn's O-line. Auburn's lineman will have a tough time keeping pressure off Trotter and MSU's linebackers will be able to stay in coverage to see what kind of plays are developing instead of moving up to stop the run. I think this will be a huge advantage to the defense and will probably result in some INTs when Trotter is pressured. The Tigers struggle to keep up and State puts the game away with 6-7 minutes to go in the game, walk away with a 35-20 victory.

Cincinnati at Tennessee - The Bearcats beat the stew out of Austin Peay last week. But UT did the same to Montana. Tyler Bray looked really good in the opener, and he looks poised to become the next great Vol QB. Justin Hunter is also a stud at tailback, I expect Tennessee to play well and win this game...fairly easily.

Alabama at Penn State - Alabama is just plain better than Penn State. Better at every single position. Even though this game is on the road, there is no reason why the game should be in doubt in the 4th quarter...and I don't think it will be. This is a nice game to Bama to play, to see bigger athletes that will test them and prepare them for Arkansas in two weeks. But Bama wins 31-14.

South Carolina at Georgia - Folks in the Peach State are getting tired of Mark Richt. He's a great guy, but he's 14-14 in his last 28 games. Wow, that is not good at UGA. And if this game makes him 14-15 he might not be able to recover aside from running the table. The Dawgs had a lot of trouble against Boise State's Top 5 defensive line. Well, South Carolina's is better...probably a good bit better. There is no reason for me to think that Ingram, Clowney, and Co. will not be in the backfield all game long. I don't think Georgia can stop South Carolina's offense either. This one isn't close to me. Vegas says USC -3. I say USC -17.

Southern Illinois at Ole Miss - Houston Nutt is falling apart. Lucky for him his opponent this week is from the FCS. Rebs win.

Florida beats UAB, Arkansas beat New Mexico, and LSU beats Northwestern State.

UConn at Vanderbilt - Both teams played easy competition in week one so nothing was learned. UConn has 9 returning starters on defense and Larry Smith is an awful QB, so Casey Hayward and the Vandy D are going to have to step up. UConn lost their 1,758 yard rusher, Jordan Todman, and the QB from last year, they will most likely be relying on a true freshman at QB in this game. Vandy wins 13-10.

Others...
Nevada at Oregon - Nevada plays their first game of the season with 12 returning starters from a team that finished #11 in the country last year. Could the Ducks lose two in a row?

BYU at Texas - BYU shot themselves in the foot all day long in Oxford last week and still won. Texas will win this one, BYU did not impress me.


JB