Here's Week #2 in college football 2013:
 |
| It's the Idol at "idle" UColl |
Union (idle). Next week:
vs. Utica, fresh off second consecutive bye. (Actually, D3 schools begin football
depending on when they begin classes.
Union happens to begin late, which gives upperclassmen an opportunity to
school freshman on the intricacies of painting the Idol, located in front of
the Old Gym. If you don’t understand
this, don’t worry; it’s absolutely irrelevant to the rest of the blog.)
Air Force (1-0) vs. Utah State (0-1). Fresh off their summer vacation (a.k.a. opening
“game” vs. Colgate), Wind Farce hosts the Aggies. According to Smack reader “The Sentinel”,
State is not the doormat they once were.
My Summit HS colleague Curt Hough, who played football in Price during
the late ‘70s, takes offense to the notion of “doormat” and he has the
Sentinel’s address, as well as a comfy 4-wheel drive vehicle with a new battery and GPS. QB Kale Pearson was carted off last week with
a knee injury, giving way to an inexperienced Jaleel Awini, and you’d better
believe that the Aggie defense will keep him on the run. A defense that gave up 300 yds. of offense to
Colgate will have to play much better to contain an offense that piled up 457
yds. against Utah, an FBS team. Meanwhile,
USU’s Chuckie Keeton is a threat to pass and run effectively. With both teams accustomed to altitude, I’m
giving the upset to the hungrier of the two.
PICK: Utah State.
Army (1-0) at Ball State (1-0). Fresh off their victory over Morgan State,
the Black Knights roll their caissons over the dusty trail to Muncie, IN to
take on the Screamin’ Lettermans (LetterMEN??).
Teams have split four meetings since 1999, with the Cardinals winning
the past two years. Ball State QB Keith
Wenning leads a pass-oriented offense that really puts up points. Wenning has seven career 300 yd. games, and
is complimented by RB Jahwan Edwards.
BSU’s defense should contain QB Angel Santiago and RB Larry Dixon and
make it three straight against Army.
PICK: Ball State.
Navy (0-0) at Indiana (1-0). Fresh off their only bye week of the season,
the Middies travel to Bloomington, IN where a vastly improved Hoosier squad awaits. Last year Navy eeked out a 31-30 win in
Annapolis. Last week IU lit it up,
albeit against Indiana State (minus Larry Bird), scoring 73 points on ten
TDs. Their attack was as balanced as it
can get, with 319 yds. of passing and 313 yds. of rushing. While the Goats return sophomore Keenan
Reynolds at QB, the defense returns only three starters from the 2012
squad. Navy will play them tougher
than State did, but this looks like a mismatch to me. PICK:
Indiana.
#15 Texas (1-0) at BYU (0-1). Fresh off their first real football game in
over a year, the Cougars host a UT squad that actually garnered a pre-season #1
vote (probably from Skip Bayless, the idiot ESPN hired to play contrarian
Stephen A. Smith on First Take). ‘Horn QB David Ash is another threat to pass
or run, and recorded four touchdowns last week against New Mexico State. Texas piled up 369 yards of rushing and yet
no single RB had more than 100 yds.
Meanwhile, BYU’s defense won the battle (only 14 first downs and a total
of 233 yds. given up) but lost the war to Virginia on a late score. Bayless may be clueless, but I’ll take the
Burnt Orange this week. PICK: Texas.
Boston College (1-0) vs. Wake Forest (1-0). Fresh off their victory against Villanova,
the Eagles take on the Demon Deacons who opened against Presbyterian. I still struggle putting the Eagles in the
ACC with the likes of Carolina and Duke.
Speaking of struggle, both BC and Wake started slowly last week. In the case of the Deacons, it was their
defense had to rally from an early 7-0 deficit to allowing only one more first
down and logging 6 turnovers. For BC, it
came down to an offensive awakening after falling behind for most of the first
half. Both teams throw the ball pretty
well, but the smoking gun will be the Deacons’ RB Josh Harris, who was
academically ineligible until the end of summer camp. If he finds his legs, it could spell the
difference. Though Wake has won the
past two meetings, the edge today goes to BC, which claimed three interceptions
last week and is playing at home.
PICK: Boston College.
#25 USC (1-0) vs. Washington State (0-1). Fresh off a week where Coach Lane Kiffin
named his starting QB as the team was trotting onto the field in Honolulu, the
Men of Troy host Wazoo. And the QB
controversy isn’t settled yet, though Cody Kessler will get the start for the
second straight week. Trailing 5-3 after
the second inning to Hawaii, USC unleashed a couple of long drives. But the rest of the day belonged to the
defense, which crushed ‘Bow QB Taylor Graham for seven sacks. If the front seven can get to Cougars’ QB
Connor Halliday that easily, Coach Mike Leach’s “Air Raid” offense
won’t get off the ground. Despite who
goes under center for the Trojans, they still have all-world WR Marqise Lee,
though Lee’s health is still an issue.
Nevertheless, Denise will be happy as her Trojans go to 2-0. PICK:
USC.
Georgia State (0-1) vs. Chattanooga (0-1). Fresh off their first loss of what should be
many, Panthers should consider uniform modification. No creative logo, no fierce animal growling
at opponents, just the word “Panthers” written in cursive across the sides of
the helmets. In an interview given after
last week’s loss to Samford, Senior center Michael Davis mentioned the
offensive line having “a chip on our shoulders” (potato, buffalo, wood…what?)
and needing to “get some production” out of the run game.” Coach Trent Miles wasn’t much help either,
throwing his QB Ronnie Bell under the bus saying that [WR] Albert Wilson was
“wide open” and that Bell “just threw it over his head”. With friends like that… You’ll hear no such comments from Mocs’ head
coach Russ Huesman, whose son Jacob runs the offense, running for 90 and
passing for 226 and three scores last week.
Halftime entertainment will be the 3rd Annual Georgia’s Own
Credit Union Cash Drop (see video link), in which 400 GSU students will have an opportunity to
scoop up a total of $10,000 being dropped from the Georgia Dome rafters. At least 400 fans will have something to
cheer about, but the Panthers will drop to 0-2.
PICK: Chattanooga.
No comments:
Post a Comment