Week 2 – The Best Games and My Top 5 Heisman Candidates

Disclaimer: I got too big of a workload going on at school, so I’m going to be changings things up a bit. Instead of writing a huge paragraph that slowly gets smaller and smaller down the list you go, I’m going to write an overview about each game, and then based of the ranking that I gave each matchup, I’m either going to write 1, 2, or 3 facts/bullet point about each team. For games #1 through 10, so that includes 10, I will write 3 facts for each team. For games #11 through 19, I will write 2 facts for each team, and for games #20-25, I will write 1 fact for each team. Hopefully my points will still come across as clearly as before, but there is some still more change. At the start of every post, I’m going to be recapping my picks from the last week. I’ll show my record, the game that I either picked exactly correctly or at least the one I closest to, the pick that I was the most excited about getting right, and the pick that I was the most ashamed of getting wrong. So, here we go.

My Week 1 Record: 19-6

Closest (Or Exact) Pick: FIU @ Indiana, my pick was an Indiana win, 35-7, final score was an Indiana win, 31-7

Excited I Got This Pick Right: Miami’s win over Floria

Ashamed I Got This Pick Wrong: Houston beating UNLV

Reactions: Week 1 usually have a lot of easy games to pick, and that we reflected in my record, as I went 19-6. I’m trying to shoot for 20 wins this week, but there is a harder slate to pick. I thought that Texas A&M, Virginia Tech. Houston, Miami of Ohio, LSU, and FSU would win. The Virginia Tech game went into OT, so I’m not that mad that I got it wrong, and Miami of Ohio only lost by a touchdown to Northwestern. Even though I picked FSU and LSU to win their games, I’m not ashamed about it. I figured the LSU-USC game would come down to whichever team had the ball last with enough time to score, which was USC. I also wrote that I think Boston College should be able to contend with Florida State and make it close, but I didn’t expect them to upset Florida State and win by 15. As for Texas A&M, I did think that Notre Dame didn’t have what it took to go into Kyle Field, where SEC juggernauts like Alabama and LSU have lost there in recent years. That leaves me with the Houston-UNLV game, and I really don’t know how I missed this. Not only did Houston lose, but they got blown out, at home nonetheless. I’ll try to keep it short, but Houston didn’t score their first touchdown until there was a minute left in the game and Donovan Smith threw 2 interceptions. Its going to be a long season for Houston, one that could see them finish with 3 or less wins. On the other side of things, I was surprised that I hit the nail on the head on the FIU-Indiana pick. I thought Indiana would win 35-7, and they did that, but just scored 4 less point. I was also excited that I got the right pick on the Miami game, especially because I was hyping them up so much. Another game that I was excited to get right was the Coastal Carolina and Jacksonville State game right. I picked Coastal Carolina to win 23-14, but they instead blew JVST out. The pregame odds were Jacksonville State -3.5, and the over/under was set at 54.5. Not only did Coastal Carolina get a road win, they obviously beat the spread or whatever the fancy betting term is, and they scored more points than what the over/under was, as they win 55-27.

(Rankings based off of the AP Poll)

(3) Texas @ (10) Michigan – When I was making my predictions for the P4 conference newcomers, I didn’t think Michigan had what it took to beat Texas in this week 2 matchup. I was even more sure that Texas would win this game when Michigan was only beating Fresno State 16-10 with 10 minutes left in the game. However, Michigan pulled away with the 30-10 win, but if they want to win again, this tie against a much tougher opponent, they need to…

Start hot early. Michigan got the first touchdown of the game; a Donovan Edwards touchdown catch from Alex Orji. Another touchdown was not scored until Mikey Keene threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Raylen Sharpe with 10 minutes left in 4^th quarter. Michigan then drove down the field, and capped off the drive with an 18-yard Colston Loveland receiving touchdown. On the next Fresno State drive, Keene threw a pick that Will Johnson returned for 86 yards and a touchdown, icing the game. Texas is a lot better than Fresno State, and if Michigan starts slow and fall behind, there is no way they will win. Texas is way too good to blow that big of a lead in that big of a game.
Michigan also needs to have better QB play if they want to win. Davis Warren won the job, and played alright. Warren went 15/25 for 118 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 pick. He averaged 4.7 yards per pass, but he was only sacked once. Orji probably won’t get in that much just because its such a big game, but if he does, Michigan will have some more firepower. He only threw 2 passes, completing 1 of them for a 3-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Edwards. Orji ran 5 times for 32 yards last week as well. Warren was very inconsistent, and Colston Loveland was pretty much the only target Warren threw to. He caught 8 passes for 87 yards and a touchdown. 4 others caught passes, Tyler Morris being the second leading receiver with 3 catches for just 15 yards. All Texas needs to do is key in on Loveland and then Michigan should squirm. Michigan had a pretty good rushing game, but it wasn’t from Edwards. Kalel Mullings had 15 carries for 92 yards, leading Michigan’s ground game. Michigan always runs the ball well, so that’s no surprise. Edwards once again didn’t live up the expectations that he had coming into the season, something that also has to change. Michigan finished last week with just 148 yards on 34 carries, an average of 4.4 yards per rush. Michigan’s offense wasn’t that good, but their defense was.
Michigan needs to apply more pressure. Michigan got 3 sacks last week, 2 of them coming from Josaiah Stewart and the other came from Rayshaun Benny. Stewart had 3 TFLs, while Benny had 2. 1 more player had a TFL, and Michigan needs to get more sacks and TFLs if they want to beat Texas. Michigan’s defense did do a great job at stopping the run, as they held Fresno State to just 9 rushing yards on 22 carries. They did let up 235 passing yards, but picked off Mikey Keene twice. Will Howard obviously returned 1 for a touchdown, and Zeke Berry also got an interception. Michigan forced Fresno State to go 2-11 on third downs, something that will be key, as…
Texas completed 50% of their third downs. That’s right, they went 6/12 on third downs, and even went 2/3 on fourth downs. This led to an offensive explosion, gaining 545 total yards, 52 points, and 26 first downs. Granted, this was against Colorado State, but going 50% on third downs is insanely good. If they can do that again this game – which they probably won’t – Texas will have this game wrapped up. Even though it will be a tough task, the odds look to be in their favor because…
Texas had an offensive explosion. Texas scored 24 points in the second quarter, 21 of them coming from Quinn Ewers touchdown passes. Ewers threw 2 to Matthew Golden, one of them coming from the 1-yard line, and the other being 11 yards long. The other was a 7-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Bond. Ewers finished the game with 260 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 pick on 20/27 passing. Like I just stated, Golden caught 2 touchdowns, finishing with 3 catches for 50 yards. Bond finished the game with 5 catches for 61 yards, along with his touchdown that I wrote about earlier. Ryan Wingo was the leading receiver with 4 catches for 70 yards. Including Wingo, Bond, and Golden, 6 receivers had multiple catches and 37 or more yards. On the ground, Jerrick Gibson had 10 carries for 67 yards and a touchdown, while Jaydon Blue had 11 rushes for 57 yards. Bond also had a big rush for 25 yards. When Arch Manning was in, he threw a touchdown to Sikas Bolden and also rushed for a touchdown himself. Other than Quinn Ewers’ interception, Texas played a flawless game, and will have high momentum going into this game.
Texas’ defense was dominant last week, and should be again this week. They held Colorado State to just 192 yards, and only let up 74 passing yards. They forced Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi and Jackson Brousseau to go 13/24 passing for 74 yards and 2 picks, one from each quarterback. They did let Justin Marshall run for 106 yards off 25 carries, but kept him out of the end zone. They didn’t let anyone else on Colorado State have more than 8 rushing yards, and let up 3.7 yards per rush. The Texas defense didn’t even get a single sack in the entire game, either. They still had a great game, but they need to apply pressure against Davis Warren in order to win. Texas did get 5 TFLs, however.

I think Michigan’s rushing game should make sure that they control the clock and that they start faster than last week, but their QB play isn’t as Quinn Ewers, and Texas gets the close 27-21 win. Odds: TEX -7, O/U 42.5

2. (14) Tennessee Vs (24) NC State – There’s only 2 ranked Vs ranked matchups this weekend, and this one is much worse than Texas-Michigan. No hate to either Tennessee or NC State, but Tennessee steamrolled Chattanooga and NC State struggled with FCS Western Carolina. On one hand, one team’s new Quarterback shined, while another team’s new quarterback barely pulled them out of trouble. Who did I name, you might be asking? Well, the first QB is obviously Grayson McCall, and the second one is Nico Iamaleava. Alright, all jokes aside, Iamaleava looked great in his first true start, while McCall played well, but NC State needed McCall to throw his third touchdown pass to Kevin Concepcion in order to take the lead and pull away. Speaking of McCall…

McCall looked great in his first start at NC State. Sure, it was against an FCS defense, but McCall still threw for 318 yards and 3 touchdowns, along with a pick on 26/40 passing. All 3 of his touchdowns went to Kevin Concepcion like I just stated, and they were 17, 5, and 35 yards long. After falling down early, McCall found Concepcion to make it 7-7, and then he found him again to tie it 14-14. NC State started the second half off with a field goal before WCU had a rushing touchdown to go up by 4. NC State turned it on in the fourth quarter, as McCall threw his third touchdown to Concepcion before Jordan Waters had 2 rushing touchdowns, one for 7 yards and the other for 50 yards. Concepcion finished the game with 9 catches for 121 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Justin Joly had 5 receptions for 75 yards.
NC State needs to hold on to the ball. Waters, Concepcion, and running back Hollywood Smothers all fumbled the ball, but at least WCU didn’t recover them. Tennessee is much more disciplined and better than Western Carolina, and mistakes like that from NC State could cost them the game. This stat might’ve looked insignificant, but Tennessee will capitalize on mistakes like these and make NC State pay. Speaking of mistakes…
Tennessee capitalized on everything bad that Chattanooga did. Tennessee had 13 drives the entire game, and scored on 10 of them. They punted on 1 drive, another was the drive before the end of the half, and backup Gaston Moore threw a pick on the third drive that they didn’t score. Most of UTs’ drives were after Chattanooga punts, although there are some exceptions. After recovering a fumble on Chattanooga’s first drive, Tennessee took over on their opponent’s 31 and it took them just 4 plays to score. Later in the game, it took Tennessee just 6 plays to score after UTC missed a field goal. They also blocked a punt with a minute left in the game to win 69-3. Once UTC had a result to end the drive worse than a punt, Tennessee would either put the ball in the end zone quickly, or grind out the clock like they did when UT ran a 17-play drive that took 7 minutes off the clock. UTC’s defense could do nothing to stop the bleeding, something that NC State’s defense had trouble doing in the first 3 quarters.
NC State’s defense needs to not bend or break. We all saw what Tennessee’s offense did last week, and they’ll do something similar to NC State if the Wolfpack’s defense plays like they did last year. They let up 21 points in the first 3 quarters, more than they’re offense scored in the same amount of time. They also let up 360 yards of total offense. Those stats are pretty average, but this shouldn’t be happening against an FCS team. NCSU is lucky that they’re offense was pretty good, because I don’t think the Wolfpack would be in this position if their offense was worse. Tennessee’s offense should expose NC State defense if they don’t improve, and that all starts with the main man, Nico Iamaleava.
Tennessee had an offensive explosion. However, who didn’t in the SEC. (Other than Florida and Texas A&M, obviously) Four teams in the SEC (Tennessee, Alabama, Ole Miss, and Auburn) had wins by 60 or more points on Saturday, which is the most of any conference in 1 day in the AP Poll era. On top of that, Mississippi State scored 56, Texas scored 52, Vandy and George both scored 34, and Kentucky had 31. All of these points came on the same day. Oklahoma scored 51 on Friday, and Missouri and Arkansas scored 51 and 70 points, respectively, on Thursday. Pretty much every team in the SEC can score this season, and you’re going to need a good quarterback to keep up with these teams. Although Nico Iamaleava might be one of the most inexperienced SEC QBs, he didn’t show it on Saturday. He went 22/28 passing for 314 yards and 3 touchdowns. He did all of that in one half, by the way. His touchdowns were 4, 36, and 10 yards long. 2 of his touchdowns went to Dont’e Thornton Jr., who finished the game with 3 catches for 105 yards and 2 touchdowns. Bru McCoy had 6 receptions for 89 yards, and Ethan Davis caught Iamaleava’s last touchdown. Tennessee also had a great ground game, finishing with 304 rushing yards. Dylan Sampson led the team with 12 carries for 124 yards and 3 touchdowns, while DeSean Bishop had 60 yards and a touchdown. Kalifa Keith added 43 yards and a touchdown. Even though I’ve been discrediting them, NC State’s defense will be more of a task than Chattanooga’s so I don’t expect Tennessee to run all over NC State, especially with a quarterback as good as Iamaleava.
Can Tennessee’s defense repeat another great performance? They held UTC to just 227 total yards and 10 first downs, and forced them to go 1-14 on third downs. Chattanooga also held the ball for about 31 minutes, showing that Tennessee’s defense kept the same level of play for a longer time than they’re offense, even if was just for an extra minute. They held UTC to just 74 rushing yards on 35 attempts, which is 2.1 yards per rush. Chattanooga also committed 9 penalties for 65 yards, which helped both sides of the ball.

Even though I’ve been lowkey hating on NC State and their defense, I think they’re can successfully learn from their mistakes from last week and contend with Tennessee. However, the Volunteers have too much offensive fire power from Iamaleava to Dylan Sampson to Dont’e Thornton Jr. for NC State to stop, and Tennessee wins, 34-24. Odds: TENN -9.5, O/U 60.5

3. Colorado @ Nebraska – Another early season rivalry that I think should be a barnburner. This feels like the most amount of hype Nebraska has had since they hired Scott Frost back in 2017. They have a QB that was a generational prospect and he did not disappoint last week. The Cornhusker’s rival also have an insane amount of hype. Deion Sanders is their head coach, his son is the quarterback, and they have a former number 1 recruit playing almost every snap. I’ll start with the Buffs, who are…

Not looking that different than last year. They struggled in week 1 against FCS North Dakota State, probably because they only had the ball for 23 minutes. Last year, Colorado could not run the ball or play defense. Last week, Colorado had a total of 504 yards, and 59 of those were rushing yards. They also let NDSU gain 450 yards and didn’t force a turnover. On defense, they only got 2 sacks and 1 pass deflections, and Dallan Hayden led the way running the ball with just 20 yards. He did that on 9 carries, which is an average of 2.2 yards per rush. Shedeur Sanders was second on the team with 17 yards, and he had to do a lot of running last year. Sanders was sacked the most times out of anyone last year, and he went down 52 times. He was sacked only once last week, but if the Colorado O-line can’t rush block, they won’t be great pass blockers throughout the year. They couldn’t run the ball, which meant they couldn’t control the clock, which as a result made it a close game.
They were once again great through the air. Sanders went 26/34 through the air for 445 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 1 pick. 3 of his touchdowns went to Hunter, who finished the game with 7 catches for 132 yards and 3 touchdowns. His touchdowns were 41, 13, and 3 yard long. I wrote more about him in my Heisman section, so if you want to see me go more in depth, head down there. I will add, however, that he played every defensive snap and just missed 2 offensive stats. Even though Hunter had great stats, he was not the leading receiver. Jimmy Horn Jr. led the Colorado receivers with 7 catches, 200 yards, and a touchdown. His only score of the game was a 69-yard touchdown pass that Sanders got off right before he got hit. Even though Hunter might be more of a talented receiver, Horn has continued to put numbers quietly. Omarion Miller didn’t even play, and Colorado still has him in case someone gets injured.
Colorado’s secondary needs to step up. They face a great QB this week, Dylan Raiola, and they didn’t do a good job at shutting down the passing game last week. They let Cam Miller throw for 277 yards and a touchdown and only forced 4 incompletions. Not to discredit Miller, but Raiola is one of the best high school QBs in recent memory. He showed that he can do it at a college level last week, and if they can’t stop Miller, how are they going to stop Raiola? They had just 1 pass deflection the entire game, and if NDSU wasn’t such a run focused team, they would’ve thrown all over the Buffaloes. They kind of already did, but it would’ve been much worse. They’re going to have a hard time stopping Raiola this week, and speaking of Raiola…
Raiola looked great last week. Like I just wrote, Raiola was great in high school and backed it up last week. He went 19/27 through the air for 238 yards and 2 touchdowns. His first touchdown was a 59-yard bomb to Isaiah Neyor, who finished the game with 6 catches for 120 yards and a touchdown. I wrote about this last week, but he barely played last week, as he only caught 1 pass. I also didn’t mention that he didn’t play at all in 2022, meaning he hasn’t really played since 2021, when he was still at Wyoming. Raiola’s second touchdown was a 21-yard pass to Jahmal Banks, who finished with 4 catches and 61 yards. No one else made that much of a difference in the passing game, and that’s because…
Nebraska ran all over UTEP. They finished the game with 223 yards and 3 total touchdowns on 47 carries. Emmett Johnson finished the game with 8 rushes for 71 yards, being the leading rusher. Dante Dowdell matched Johnson’s number of carries, and he had 55 yards and a 5-yard touchdown run. He did lose a fumble on UTEP’s 3-yard line, but that led to a safety 2 plays later. Rahmir Johnson added 50 yards, and Gabe Ervin Jr. had 2 touchdowns, them being 3 yards and 1 yard long. Tack on a Tristan Alvano field goal and a safety, and you got a 40-7 win. Using their rushing game, Nebraska held the ball for 38 and a half minutes and that forced UTEP to throw the ball, which let…
Nebraska’s defense feasted on UTEP. Because they didn’t have enough time to run the ball and play the game at their speed, UTEP had to throw the ball. That’s where the Cornhusker’s defense took over. They picked off Skyler Locklear and Cade McConnell both once, and the first interception that they got set up a touchdown to end the first half.

We saw that Colorado could not stop the run, and if that happens again, Nebraska can control the clock, and ultimately win. I think that will happen, and Nebraska wins a close rivalry game, 45-38. Odds: NEB -6.5, O/U 55.5

4. Boise State @ (7) Oregon – This is definitely the most intriguing game of the weekend, at least to me. We have Ashton Jeanty, who just torched Georgia Southern’s defense, and Oregon, who struggled with beating Idaho. So, can Oregon bounce back and stop Boise State’s great ground game? I’ll start with Oregon, and if they want to win, they need to…

PUT THE BALL IN THE END ZONE!!! Oregon beat Idaho 24-14, but if you look at the stat sheet, you wouldn’t think that was the final score. Oregon held the ball for 39 minutes and 15 seconds, and gained 487 yards and 31 first downs. They let Idaho gain 217 yards and just 10 first downs. Oregon also forced 2 turnovers. It looked like dominance from Oregon, but then you look at the scoring, and see that Oregon was up by 3 with 6 minutes left in the game. Oregon scored on their first drive of their game, and Idaho didn’t score until 4 minutes and 15 seconds left in the third. So, you would think that Oregon was winning big, right? Nope, they were up by 14. Throughout the entire game, Oregon had 13 drives. Their last drive was meaningless, as it was at the end of the game and Dillon Gabriel just took a knee. So, for the sake of things, I’ll just say that Oregon had 12 drives. They scored on 4 of their drives, punted on 3 of them, didn’t complete 2 fourth down conversions, missed a field goal, fumbled the ball once, and had one of their drives finished at the end of the first half. Many mistakes were made, especially on their 2 drives ended because of downs. Oregon also committed 8 penalties for 60 yards, so that won’t help. If Oregon wants to contend with Boise State this week, they’re going to have to put the ball in the end zone and score.
Regardless of what their offense did, Oregon’s defense was not the problem. Brandon Johnson and Nikko Reed both picked off Idaho QBs, and the Ducks got 4 sacks and 7 TFLs. They held Idaho to just 217 yards of total offense and let the Vandals go 2-12 on third downs and miss their only fourth down conversion attempt. Idaho averaged 2.5 yards per rush, as they gained 50 yards on 20 rushes. The first touchdown that Oregon let up was a 36-yard pass that was set up because Oregon went for it on fourth down on their own 36. I think Dan Lanning forgot that he was coaching the actual Oregon Ducks, and not the Oregon Ducks in CFB 25, because why would you ever, ever go for it on fourth down while you’re on your own 36? Anyways, Idaho had to drive down the field for their second touchdown, which was a 4-yard touchdown run. Oregon’s defense was stout all game, and they’re going to need to play even better because…
Boise State has a great running game. I’ll start with Ashton Jeanty, who I think is the second best running back in college football, right after Ollie Gordon II. That’s right, I said it. I think Jeanty showed why he is the second best running back last week. He ran for 267 yards and 6 touchdowns, both single game program records. He did all of this, mind you, on 20 carries. Insane work. I talked more about him in Heisman section, where Dillon Gabriel also is. So go read that if you want more writing about those 2. Behind Jeanty, however, it wasn’t bad. In fact, it wasn’t anything close to bad. Sire Gaines had 12 rushes for 110 yards and a touchdown, which was 38 yards long. He tacked on 3 catches for 44 yards and a 17-yard touchdown catch. I wouldn’t say that it’s a two-headed monster at running back, but it could morph into that later down the line.
Don’t sleep on Maddux Madsen, either. After surprisingly beating out Malachi Nelson in camp, Madsen played alright against Georgia Southern, but he showed a lot of flashes of potential. Madsen finished the game with 280 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 pick off 22/31 passing. His touchdown was a 17-yarder to Sire Gaines that I just talked about. Madsen was never sacked last week, and if he can build on his flashes of potential in this big of a game, Boise State could have an upset. However, if they want to win, Boise State…
Boise State needs to have their defense step up. Whenever you let up 45 points, your defense is going to be look as not good. And last week, Boise State’s defense was not good. They let up 461 yards of total offense and 27 first downs, and they could only force 1 turnover. BSU let JC French, the Georgia Southern QB, throw for 322 yards and 2 touchdowns. They also let him run for 39 yards and 1 touchdown. The Broncos did sack him 4 times, but they still couldn’t stop him. They also let Jalen White run for 35 yards, which might not seem like a lot, but they let him score 3 touchdowns. Oregon has a great offense, and I think they’ll learn from their mistakes last week and improve this one. Boise State is also going to need to improve if they want to keep Oregon’s offense at bay.
Speaking of Oregon’s offense, how can they improve? Well, outside of putting the ball in the end zone like I said earlier, running the ball well is key. Sure, Jordan James had 95 yards and a 6-yard touchdown run on 15 carries and Noah Wittington added 33 yards, but Oregon finished the game with 107 rushing yards off 37 carries, which is an average of 2.9 yards per rush. Even though they controlled the clock that was mostly because they forced so many 3-and-outs. Dillon Gabriel played fantastic, going 41/49 through the air, and throwing for 380 yards and 2 touchdowns. Both of his touchdowns found Tez Johnson, who finished the game with 12 catches for 81 yards and the two touchdowns. Terrance Ferguson was the leading receiver with 87 yards off 7 receptions, and Kenyon Sadiq had 4 catches for 53 yards. Jordan James had 40 yards on 4 catches out of the backfield as well.

Regardless of how bad Oregon played last week, I think they do out last Boise State, but I don’t think it will be as close as the odds state. Oregon wins, 48-38. I think this is the game where Oregon’s offense does explode into the beast we all thought they could be coming into the season. Odds: ORE -19, O/U 61.5

5. (19) Kansas @ Illinois – After an underwhelming and disappointing week 1 performance, can preseason Heisman candidate Jalon Daniels rebound? Even though he didn’t play the best, Kansas still won, and why wouldn’t they? They were playing FCS Lindenwood, and rolled to a 48-3 win. As for Illinois, their quarterback looked great as they shut out Eastern Illinois on Thursday. I’ll start with the Illini, and their offense…

Their offense put on a masterclass. They scored 45 points and gained 486 yards of total offense. They also got 27 first downs, completed 40% of their third downs, and held the ball for 36 minutes. Their passing and rushing yards were nearly identical, gaining 242 passing yards and 244 rushing yards. They averaged 5.8 yards per rush and 8.3 yards per pass. Luke Altmyer started off hot, as he scored on Illinois’ second and third drives. They were a 15-yard pass to Pat Bryant and a 5-yard pass to Tanner Arkin. He threw 2 more touchdown passes later in the game, a 28-yard pass to Pat Bryant and a 34-yard pass to Malik Elzy. Altmyer finished the game with 19/24 passing for 213 yards and 4 touchdowns. He played a lot more like a Heisman candidate compared to Jalon Daniels did last week, and he had a good group of wide receivers to help him as well. Pat Bryant finished with 5 catches for 63 yards and 2 touchdowns, Elzy had 2 catches for 51 yards and his touchdown, and Ashton Hollins added 50 yards off 2 catches. There isn’t a wide receiver on Illinois that is the true number 1, but they all worked well together last week. On the ground, Kaden Feagin had 108 yards on 16 carries, while Aidan Laughery had 10 rushes for 80 yards. Josh McCray also had a touchdown rush.
The Illini’s defense wasn’t bad, either. I briefly stated earlier that Illinois shut out Eastern Illinois, but the defense did more than just the shut out. They held EIU to just under 200 total yards and 9 first downs. They also forced 4 turnovers, 2 picks and 2 fumbles. Even though they didn’t return any for touchdowns, they did hold Eastern Illinois on most third downs, forcing them to go 4-13. They also didn’t let them convert their only fourth down try. They held them to 2.2 yards per carry and 4.6 yards per pass. Kansas is much better than EIU, but I think Illinois defense should still be pretty good.
I literally do not have a third point for Illinois. They pretty much had a perfect game, and I’m not going to critique a few incompletions or a drive ending in a punt. I think I got my point over perfectly in the first 2 bullet points. So, we move on to the Kansas Jayhawks, and…
Kansas needs their star QB to play like a star. Coming into the season, I put Jalon Daniels at 6 in my Heisman rankings. What he showed on Saturday against an FCS team was not worthy of finishing 6^th in Heisman voting. He finished the game with 9/15 passing for 148 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. The most exciting part about Daniels’ game was his rushing ability, but he didn’t show it off at all. Maybe Lance Leipold didn’t want Daniels running so he doesn’t get hurt again and there isn’t a repeat of the Jordan Travis scenario from last year, buts that’s the only reason I could think of. He did only play a half because Kansas was comfortably up, but the bright side for Kansas is that his backup looked nice. Cole Ballard went 5/6 through the air for 51 yards and a touchdown.
Where were Kansas’s wide receivers? Luke Grimm, Lawrence Arnold, and Quentin Skinner were a good trio in 2022 that turned into a great one last year, and might be the best in the Big 12 this season. However, Grimm was the only one that made an impact last week. He caught 6 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown. Arnold caught 2 passes for 29 yards and Skinner caught just 1 pass for 25 yards. Doug Emilien caught a touchdown pass as well. Kansas didn’t throw the ball that much, but I wasn’t expecting Arnold and Skinner to barely show up on the stat sheet.
Kansas ran the ball like their life depended on it. They had 44 rushes for 331 yards and 4 touchdowns, which 7.5 yards per rush. Devin Neal had 8 carries for 112 yards and 2 touchdowns, and they were 5 and 1 yard(s) long. Daniel Hishaw Jr. had 9 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown, also for 1 yard. Sevion Morrison also had a rushing touchdown. His was also 1 yard long. If Daniels did run the ball, Kansas might’ve held the ball for 45 minutes. They only held the ball for 31 minutes in real life.

Because Daniels has the full game to play, I think he should smooth out the kinks early, buts its not enough for Kansas to fend off the upset, and Illinois wins, 24-20. And no, I’m not picking Illinois just because they were great against an FCS team. I’m not that big of an overreactor. Odds: KU -4.5, O/U 57.5

6. Iowa State @ (21) Iowa – This rivalry can almost always deliver a good, close, and sometimes even classic games. Last year, Iowa State took the Cy-Hawk trophy back in a close game after Iowa State won a 10-7 matchup the year prior. Before that, it was all Iowa, as they won every game going back to 2015 before 2022. They started off as Iowa blowouts, but after ISU lost by 3 points in a shootout in 2017, everything changed. They lost by 10 in 2018, 1 in 2019, and 10 again in 2021. Iowa’s looking to get their 48^th win in the rivalry, and their odds have gone up because…

Iowa got their coach back. Kirk Ferentz served a one-game suspension last week, imposed by the Iowa AD herself. It was because of an NCAA investigation into the Iowa program involving a violation in recruiting during the transfer portal cycle in 2022. Ferentz has been Iowa’s head coach since he was hired near the end of 1998, and has delivered 197 total wins and have led Iowa to a bowl game every year since 2012. With the greatest head coach in their history back on the sidelines, Iowa’s going to go even harder for this rivalry win. Funnily enough, the recruiting violation had to do with the way Iowa recruited Cade McNamara, their now quarterback. McNamara also showed us last week that…
Iowa might have an offense? Now, we were saying this last year when Iowa beat Utah State 24-14, but it might actually be different this season. They scored 40 points, and even though it was against Illinois State, better teams scored less against FCS opponents last week. McNamara went 21/31 in the air for 251 yards and 3 touchdowns. He found Reece Vander Zee twice, once for 7 yards and another time for 19. Vander Zee finished with 5 catches for 66 yards and 2 touchdowns. The other touchdown went to Jacob Gill, who finished with 3 catches for 46 yards. Vander Zee and Gill are even listed as wide receivers on Iowa’s depth chart, too. However, you can’t talk about Iowa offense and not mention their tight end, no matter which season you’re talking about. Luke Lachey had 6 catches for 63 yards last week, nothing crazy, but he also didn’t need to do much. Brian Ferentz, the former offense coordinator for Iowa who was infamous for leading one of the worst offenses year in and year out, wasn’t brought back for this season, and this was the first game without him. This also made McNamara look a lot more comfortable in this offense. Getting rid of Brian Ferentz obviously made a difference, but the Iowa offense could’ve also broken out because they were freed from the shackles of the Big Ten West. Although that’s not the reason why, it is still fun to think that. Iowa was still great on the ground, too, as Kaleb Johnson had 11 rushes for 119 yards and 2 touchdowns, one of which that was 64 yards long. Kamari Moulton added 65 yards on 19 rushes as well.
The defense is still good too. They forced 2 fumbles, one that led to points and another to end the game. They also picked off Illinois State’s Tommy Rittenhouse, although Iowa didn’t do anything with that on the next drive. They held Illinois State to 190 yards of total offense and 12 first downs. They also made it hard for Illinois State to run the ball, as ILST averaged 1.7 yards per rush at the end of the game. Iowa also held the ball for 35 minutes, so Illinois State didn’t even have enough time to mount a comeback. Iowa’s defense is going to have to be locked in this week because…
Rocco Becht has finally broken out. Well, maybe. Although he finished last year with 3,120 yards, 23 touchdowns and 8 picks, his stats were bolstered because of his bowl performance, and he did not wow me at all. Most of his games were 200-ish yards and maybe a touchdown or two and maybe a pick. However, he looked a lot better last week, throwing for 267 yards, 2 touchdowns, and rushing for a touchdown. He went 20/26 through the air as Iowa State won 21-3. For some context, ISU played Northern Iowa, another FCS team, last year in week 1. Becht went 10/13 for 113 yards, 2 touchdowns, and a rushing touchdown. Identical stats, but he threw the ball twice as much, completed his passes twice as much, and tacked on a bunch of passing yards. Even though you’re supposed to look good against worse competition, Becht surpassed my expectation for him in this game.
The offense still needs some work, however. Iowa State had a rough time running the ball, as they finished with 86 yards on 22 carries, which is 3.9 yards per rush. Abu Sama III was the leading rusher with 36 yards on 5 carries, Carson Hansen had 6 rushes for 20 yards, and Jaylon Jackson had 4 rushes for 13 yards. Those were the top 3 rushers for Iowa State last week. Iowa’s defense is 10 times better than North Dakota’s, and if ISU can’t run against North Dakota, they definitely won’t be able to run against Iowa. Because they couldn’t run the ball, Iowa State only held the ball for 22 minutes.
Iowa State’s defense will have to step up. They let up 295 total yards of offense and North Dakota even had more first downs than them. UND had 20, and ISU had 18. Iowa State did pick off North Dakota, but Iowa State punted the next drive, so it didn’t impact the game that much. Because Iowa State didn’t have the ball for most of the game, they obviously were going to let up more yards, something that they have to change if they want to beat Iowa this week.

Iowa’s offense might be slowed down now that Kirk Ferentz is back on the sideline, but they still get the rivalry win, 20-16. Odds: IOWA -2, O/U 35.5

7. Arkansas @ (16) Oklahoma State – Even though they lost their star running back and quarterback, Arkansas brought in big transfers at those spots and it showed last week. Oklahoma state kept their best player from last season and the best running back in all of college football, Ollie Gordon II. Speaking of Gordon…

Gordon did exactly what we all thought he was going to do. He ran for 104 yards and 2 touchdowns off 27 carries in a 44-20 win. He also caught 4 balls out of the backfield for 42 yards and a touchdown. His rushing touchdowns were 12 and 1 yard(s) long, with his 12-yard rush being particularly exciting. After getting past the D-line, he ran through a South Dakota State defenseman with ease before breaking another tackle to score. His receiving touchdown was 22 yards as well. That 12-yard touchdown rush was what we have come to expect from Gordon. He bulldozes his way into the end zone, but he also does it with some speed.
Alan Bowman finally looked better than a glorified game manager. It’s no secret that I don’t like Bowman, and its also no secret that I like throwing the term glorified game manager around, but hey, what can you do when you have a term to use that’s so good. Bowman went 25-34 for 267 yards and 3 touchdowns. I already talked about his touchdown pass to Gordon, but he also threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Brennan Presley and a 58-yarder to Rashod Owens. Bowman showed a lot more poise in the pocket and it showed, as he didn’t throw a single pick. SDST is also one of the best FCS teams, so its sort of impressive that Bowman didn’t have at least 1 major slip-up. Bowman found De’Zhaun Stribling 6 times for 83 yards, and Rashod Owens had 3 catches for 81 yards. Like I stated earlier, Gordon had 42 yards, and Presley also had 7 catches for 35 yards.
Their defense is going to have to step up if they want to stop Arkansas. They let up 388 yards, but there were some bright spots. They held South Dakota State to going 3-13 on third downs and 0-4 on fourth downs. They also got an interception, which Oklahoma State turned into a touchdown the next drive. However, they’re going to need to step up because…
Taylen Green and Ja’Quinden Jackson were unstoppable. Even though they were playing Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Arkansas still looked great because of all of the talent they lost this offseason. They won 70-0, gaining 687 yards and 34 first downs. Taylen Green transferred in from Boise State this offseason and threw for 229 yards and 2 touchdowns last week. He also went 16/23 through the air. He also ran 6 times for 88 yards and 2 touchdowns. His 2 passing touchdowns went to Tyrone Broden for 9 yards and to Ty Washington for 23 yards, while his two rushing touchdowns were 4 yards and 36 yards long. Arkansas didn’t need him for the entire second half, and if he can play like that or the entire game every week, we got a Heisman winner on our hands. Jackson came to Arkansas from Utah last season, rushing 8 times for 101 yards and 2 touchdowns. His touchdowns were 8 yards and 46 yards long. Jackson also didn’t play that much, and you see it in his carries. No one else had more carries, but they were spea out pretty evenly.
Arkansas ran all over Arkansas Pine-Bluff. Arkansas had 279 rushing yards off 33 carries, which is 8.5 yards per rush. They also had 8 touchdowns, which is insane. Jackson and Green both had 2 touchdowns, Tyrell Reed Jr., Rodney Hill, and Malachi Singleton all had 4-yard touchdown runs. Braylen Russell also had a 9-yard touchdown rush. Even though they ran the ball a lot and well, Arkansas only held the ball for 32 minutes. I think they’ll slow it don this game, but Oklahoma State should do that as well. Ja’Quinden Jackson and Malachi Singleton did both put the ball on the ground, but Arkansas did recover it.
Arkansas is going to have to get pressure. They did a good job last week, as they got 4 sacks, along with 10 TFLs, but Alan Bowman wasn’t sacked last week and looked great. If Arkansas can interrupt his day, Bowman will more likely to make mistakes.

I think Arkansas will do a good job at staying in this game, but I’m not overreacting to a great performance against Arkansas Pine-Bluff. This should also be a fairly high scoring game, but Oklahoma State’s home field advantage should give them the win, 52-48. Odds: OKST -10, O/U 61.5

8. (17) Kansas State @ Tulane – After both teams blew out their FCS opponents, they’ll look to get a quality win, one that could help each other’s college football playoff hopes. Although Tulane isn’t expected to make the CFP because they have K-State this week and go to Oklahoma next week, if they can pull off this upset, eyes should be back on Tulane.

Just like every other team, Tulane destroyed their FCS opponent. The Green Wave won 52-0, gaining 472 yards on offense. They also got 25 first downs, and only faced 8 3^rd downs the entire game. They completed 6 of them, and scored on pretty much every drive. They starting QB, Darian Mensah went 10-12 for 205 yards and 2 touchdowns in his first every college action. He was also never sacked, which always helps when you’ve got a new quarterback starting. His two touchdowns went to Yulkeith Brown and Alex Bauman, but neither of them were the leading receiver. That was Mario Williams who caught 4 passes for 124 yards, but after him there’s a steep drop off. Bauman is second with just 26 yards off 2 catches, and Brown had 23 yards, also on 2 catches. The rest of Tulane’s receivers will have to step up, because Kansas State’s defense is too good to not lock him down.
Speaking of K-State’s defense, they didn’t let UT Martin do anything. They held them to 134 yards and 8 first downs, but it gets crazier when you learn that UT Martin held the ball for 33 minutes and 30 seconds. Because Kansas State didn’t play their best ball in the first half, the second half basically went like this: UT Martin would punt, Kansas State would score a touchdown, and so on. K-State didn’t let UT Martin really get anything done in the second half, or at all. They held them to just 134 yards and 8 first downs the entire game, and UT Martin even held the ball for 33 and a half minutes. They held UT Martin to .9 yards per rush, something they’re going to have try to do again, because…
Tulane ran very well last week. As a team, Tulane had 39 carries for 241 yards and 4 touchdowns. They averaged 6.2 yards per rush, and Makhi Hughes led the way. He had 14 carries for 59 yards and a touchdown. Even though that might needs seem like a lot, remember, Tulane played a lot of their backups. With a full game this week, Hughes could run for over 100 yards. Shaadie Clayton-Johnson added 48 yards on 4 carries, and Trey Cornist had 3 rushes for 33 yards. Backup QB Ty Thompson ran for 2 touchdowns, and they were 8 and 4 yards long. Arnold Barnes III also had a rushing touchdown, which was 1 yard long. Tulane didn’t throw the ball a lot last week, as they only had 17 total passing attempts. They got it done on the ground, and they will have to again to beat Kansas State.
Tulane’s defense was all over the ball last week. On SE Louisiana’s first drive, Tulane let them get all the way to their own 26 before forcing a fumble and recovering it. Tulane took the ball and drove down the field to score a touchdown. SE Louisiana and missed a field goal on the next drive, and Tulane once again made a long drive and put it in the end zone. Then, after a three and out from both teams, Tulane picked off SE Louisiana and returned it back for a touchdown. From there, Tulane continued to shut SE Louisiana out. I’ll get into it in a second, but Kansas State’s offense is so much better than Tulane’s opponent last week. So, Tulane is going to continue to force turnovers and K-State had…
Kansas State had trouble with holding on to the ball last week. They turned the ball over twice, 1 interception and 1 fumble. Avery Johnson threw the pick, and it led to a UT Martin field goal. Their fumble was on the kickoff off the second half, which basically meant that UT Martin started each half with the ball. Jayce Brown was the culprit, but Kansas State’s defense did force UT Martin to kick a field goal after no letting them score for 10 plays after taking over at Kansas State’s 33-yard line. Tulane will be able to move the ball more than UT Martin, so Kansas State really can’t afford to mess up.
Avery Johnson had his struggles, but still looked good. Like I just stated, Johnson did throw a pick, but still played pretty well. He went 14/21 for 153 yards, 2 touchdowns, and a pick. He ran 3 times for 37 yards, and had a 17-yard-long rush. Johnson found Jayce Brown 5 ties for 71 yards, and his touchdowns went to Brayden Loftin and Dylan Edwards. Johnson had some longer passing touchdowns, as his touchdown pass to Brayden Loftin was 23 yards, and the Edwards touchdown was 15 yards.

Johnson will go up against a real test this weekend, on the road as well. I think he can get it down and secures the win for K-State, but Tulane keeps it close. Kansas State wins, 31-21. Odds: KSU -8.5, O/U 47.5

9. Texas Tech @ Washington State – This one is going to either be a high scoring barn burner, or a low scoring defensive battle. Both teams played an FCS opponent last week, and both put a lot of points on the score board. Washington State blew out Portland State, but Texas Tech struggled against Abilene Christian. And when I say they struggled, they really struggled.

How did that happen? Texas Tech had a seemingly easy game last week, taking on Abilene Christian at home. However, what happened was noting close to easy. Texas Tech eked out a 52-51 win in overtime, winning because they sacked ACU’s quarterback on a 2-point conversion attempt, and if he broke the first sack, he had a receiver wide open in the end zone and another receiver all the way on the other side of the field with blockers in front of him. If he got that throw off, Texas Tech would’ve lost after blowing a 22-7 lead. Texas Tech got lucky that they sacked him when they did, but you had the entire game and massive home field advantage. This game shouldn’t have gone into overtime at all. If Texas Tech plays all of their games like that this season, they won’t win a majority of them.
The offense still shined. Yes, they were playing against an FCS team, but when they give that big of a run for money, your offense should have some big stat lines. TTU finished with 540 total yards and 27 touchdowns, both of which are less than Abilene Christian, but I’ll get to that later. Behren Morton went 30/42 for 378 yards and 5 touchdowns, and most of them were pretty big. He did have one 4-yard touchdown pass to Coy Eakin, but the rest were big. He threw another touchdown to Eakin, this time it was 35 yards. He threw another 35-yarder to Josh Kelly in the third quarter, and had a 36-yard touchdown pass to Jalin Conyers as well. His last touchdown of the game came in overtime when he found Caleb Douglas for a 14-yard score. Josh Kelly finished with 10 receptions for 156 yards and a touchdown, Coy Eakin had 5 catches for 76 yards and 2 touchdowns, Conyers had 5 catches for 63 yards and a touchdown, and Douglas finished with 4 catches for 42 yards and a touchdown. Morton had the strength to make his throws, but more importantly he had accuracy, which is always key in close games because you’re going to need every possession you get. On the ground, Tahj Brooks ran the ball 27 times, rumbling for 153 yards and an 18-yard run. No one else did anything on the ground, as the rusher with the second most yards had just 6. If this game is a high scoring shoot-out, Texas Tech is more equipped to handle it because they just had one last week.
The defense has to be better. I know this is an obvious take, but really man? It’s your home opener against an FCS opponent and you give up 51 points? Texas Tech let ACU out gain threw the air and in total, giving up 615 total yards and 506 passing yards. They also gave up 30 first downs, and let ACU go 11-16 on third downs. They did force a fumble that led to a touchdown, but that happened really early in the first quarter. They let Maverick McIvor go 36/51 for 506 yards and 3 touchdowns, along with letting Isaiah Johnson run for 3 touchdowns. McIvor’s passing touchdowns were big, too His first touchdown was 31 yards, his second was 71 yards, and his last one was 30 yards. Although the player that caught the first touchdown didn’t make much of a difference in the game, the other too did. Blayne Taylor caught the 71-yarder and finished with 7 catches for 141 yards and the touchdown. Nehemiah Martinez I had 6 catches for 88 yards and a touchdown. Trey Cleveland had 8 catches for 78 yards as well. Even though they only let up 109 yards, ACU didn’t need to run the ball because they were so affective throwing it. Texas Tech’s defense should learn from their mistakes because if they don’t, they’re going to letup another big game this week.
Despite losing their QB, Washington State still put up a lot of points. After Cam Ward left in the offseason for Miami, John Mateer stepped up and led WSU to a big win. Washington State won 70-30 over Portland State. Mateer went 11/17 for 350 yards and 5 touchdowns. He also ran twice for 55 yards and a touchdown as well. This was Mateer’s first start in his whole college career, and he looked good and comfortable. His touchdown rush was for 40 yards, and all of his passing touchdowns were 30 yards or more. Mateer found Kyle Williams 4 times for 140 yards and 2 touchdowns. Kris Hutson also caught 4 balls for 100 yards and a touchdown. Both Wayshawn Parker and Tre Shackelford had 52 yards and a touchdown, but Shackelford had 2 catches to Parker’s 1. Trey Leckner caught a 33-yard touchdown pass from backup QB Zevi Eckhaus. On the ground, Parker had 8 carries for 96 yards and another touchdown. Leo Pulalasi added 54 yards. Parker’s touchdown was a 54-yard rumble, and on the next drive he caught a 52-yard touchdown pass. Following that, Stephen Hall picked off Portland State’s QB and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown.
Washington State did all of that while holding the ball for 19 minutes. Yep, you read that right. Wazzu held the ball in their possession for just 19 minutes and 34 seconds. That 100-yard touchdown return that I was just talking about was off the heels of a near 8-minute drive from Portland State. Washington State also had a stretch of drives where the maximum number of plays that they ran were 4. They had 1 play on the first play, then 4 on the next 2, and 2 plays on the last drive of this stretch. Scoring fast helped them win and put up 70 points, and if they can score fast again, Texas Tech will be forced to keep up.
The defense was good, but really have to lock in for this game. Maybe its because Portland State held the ball for more than 40 minutes, but Washington State gave up 450 total yards. They also let Portland State gain 21 first downs. Portland State had 19 third down conversion attempts, and Wazzu did a good job of keeping them to converting just 7. I think the stats were a bit skewed due to the time of possession, however.

If Washington State continues to score fast and Texas Tech takes it slow, the Wazzu defense will be tired and slow. However, Texas Tech struggled against a much worse opponent, and I think Wazzu can pull out the dub, 58-56. Odds: WSU -1.5, O/U 66.5

10. (23) Georgia Tech @ Syracuse – After an upset of Florida State in Dublin, Georgia Tech took care of business against Georgia State. Now they have a true road game as they go on the road to Syracuse to take on Kyle McCord and the Orange.

We all know about the FSU upset, but how did Georgia Tech do last week? Like I just stated, GT got a win over Georgia State at home, 35-12. The Yellow Jackets never trailed, and that was mainly because of Haynes King. King went 24/29 through the air for 275 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 pick. That pick wasn’t really King’s fault, as it was a great play by the Georgia State defender. King also ran for a touchdown, and was never sacked. King threw his first touchdown to Malik Rutherford, and that was 52 yards long. His other passing touchdown went to Avery Bond, and that was 22 yards long. I thought Haynes King could be a dark-horse Heisman contender coming into the season, and even though his stats aren’t the best, they’re aren’t replicating his play. He makes the play when he needs to, and either hands it off or drops it down when he doesn’t need to.
Georgia Tech once again dominated on the ground. As a team, they had 34 carries for 225 yards and 3 touchdowns. Jamal Haynes had 17 carries for 84 yards and a touchdown run. Anthony Carrie added 41 yards and Eric Singleton Jr. had a 35-yard touchdown rush. GT running the ball didn’t help them control the clock but it did help them run the game out.
Syracuse also has a horrible rush defense. They let Ohio run the ball 39 times or 255 yards, which is 6.5 yards per rush. Anthony Tyus III had 16 carries for 203 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 46-yarder. Tyus scored Ohio’s only touchdowns last week, as the secondary took care of business. The ‘Cuse defense did get to the quarterback, notching 4 sacks and 10 TFLs. They also got an interception. If Syracuse can’t stop GT’s rushing attack, the Yellow Jackets will be 3-0. However, Syracuse does have a bit of an advantage because they have an extra game of tape to watch, which could let them key in on Georgia Tech’s patterns.
Can Georgia Tech continue to stop opposing teams rushing attacks? Even though they let up 150 rush yards last week, Georgia State’s leading rusher, Freddie Brock, had just 61 yards. Back in week 0, GT held Florida State to 98 rushing yards, and FSU averaged 3.2 yards per rush. FSU’s leading rusher, Roydell Williams, had just 38 yards. Lawrance Toafili also had 32 yards. Both scored touchdowns, but no Georgia State rushers scored. Syracuse had a good rushing game last week, but Georgia Tech have proved that they can stop it.
Speaking of the Syracuse rushing game, it looked pretty good. As a team, the Orange had 30 rushes for 126 yards, which is 4.2 yards per carry. LeQuint Allen led Syracuse with 98 yards on 15 carries, which is 6.5 yards per rush. Allen also added a receiving touchdown. No one else added much, but Allen did what he needed to do, and basically was a 100-yard rusher. That was because…
Kyle McCord looked like the quarterback we all though he was going to be last year. McCord went 27/39 through the air for 354 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 1 pick. He looked comfortable in the pocket, and we saw that in his 4 touchdown passes. He found Oronde Gadsen II for his first touchdown of the game, a 28-yard strike. Gadsen finished with 7 catches for 108 yards and a touchdown. Trebor Pena had 6 catches for 80 yards and 2 touchdowns. Zeed Haynes added 4 catches for 70 yards.

I don’t think Syracuse’s rushing defense is good enough to stop GT, and the Yellow Jackets win, 28-20. Odds: GT -3, O/U 60.5

11. Michigan State @ Maryland – After urging fans to take the over, Aiden Chiles did not pull through and did not look good. Maryland blew out UConn, and are looking to keep putting up points this week.

Chiles? What Happened? Like I wrote, Aiden Chiles wanted to fans to take the over before his first start at Michigan State against FAU. However, Chiles played badly, Nate Carter played badly, and Jack Velling made just 1 catch. Chiles went 10/24 for 114 yards and 2 interceptions. Chiles also threw a pick on the first play from scrimmage as well. He did run for a touchdown, however. But he didn’t get it done as the quarterback, which is the position he plays. MSU’s leading receiver was Michael Masunas. He had 2 catches for 29 yards, and he was the leading receiver. Yes, you heard me right. I also thought that Jack Velling, a tight end transferring in from Oregon State, would make a bigger impact. He only caught 1 pass, which did go for 15 yards. Velling caught the ball on the second play of a 5-play drive that ended in a punt. I’ll speak about Nate Carter next, who was probably the most disappointing one of these three, at least to me. I thought Carter would be huge in this game and run for over 1,000 yards this season, but after his performance last weekend, I don’t trust him to hit that mark. Carter had 19 carries for 48 yards, which is 2.5 yards per carry. If he wants to hits 1,009 rushing yards this season, he’s going to have to play like Ollie Gordon this week. Michigan State scored all of their points before the halfway point of the second quarter as well.
There were some bright spots for MSU, however. I noted that Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams transferred in this offseason from UMass, and he had a monster season last year. He had 236 carries for 1,157 yards and 12 touchdowns, and its looking like he’s on track for another great season. On just 9 carries last week, he had 101 yards and a 63-yard touchdown run. Maybe it was a bad matchup for Nate Carter last week, but Maayland should be a tougher matchup in general.
Billy Edwards Jr. and Tai Felton could have a generational season. I’ll start with Edwards, who had 311 yards and 2 touchdowns on 20/27 passing. Both of his touchdowns went to Felton, who finished with 7 catches for 178 yards and 2 touchdowns. Even though it was against UConn, I think Felton’s numbers should be able to translate against good defenses, ad if they don’t Felton should still have a 1,000-yard season. Edwards should also throw for at least 2,500 yards.
The defense needs to continue to force turnovers. Last week, Maryland forced 3 turnovers against UConn, 2 picks and 1 fumble. One of the picks led to a field goal, and they other one didn’t lead to anything. The fumble was after Maryland punted the ball and TJ Sheffield put it on the ground for Maryland to pick it up and score a touchdown on the ground. MSU had 3 turnovers last week, also 2 picks and a fumble. Chiles threw a pick on the first play of the game, and the other one led to a FAU touchdown. After FAU picked up MSU’s fumble, they threw it right back, but Maryland is too good to do that. Aiden Chiles also almost lost a fumble. If Maryland can force turnovers and score off of them, Michigan State will be in a hole.

I think Maryland’s duo should get it done, but Michigan does improve. Maryland wins, 21-13. Still not an over Chiles, still not an over. Odds: MD -9, O/U 44.5

12. App State @ (25) Clemson – After being shut down by Georgia, Clemson is barely hanging in the polls, and they need to avoid a loss to a team that historically really good in potential upset games like this. App State destroyed East Tennessee State last week, and in order to win this game, they need…

App State needs Joey Aguilar to be even better. Aguilar was great last week, going 22/36 through the air for 326 yards and 2 touchdowns. He added 19 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground as well. Aguilar had a total of 2 rushing touchdowns through all of last year, and if he can continue to stack up these rushing touchdowns, he could lead App State to the College Football Playoff. Although they didn’t show it last week, Clemson’s defense should be pretty good this season, and they will need the absolute best version of Aguilar to win this game. The Mountaineers’ leading receiver was Kaedin Robinson, who had 8 catches for 103 yards. Christan Horn had 3 catches for 89 yards and a touchdown, and Eli Wilson added 43 yards and another touchdown.
They also need the rushing game to be better. If App State is going to pull of this upset against Clemson, every player and position group are going to bring their A-game, and that starts on the ground. App State’s leading rusher was Makai Jackson, who had 47 yards and a touchdown. However, he only had 1 carry the entire game. Jackson might get more rushes this game, but how will he do against the Clemson defense? Kanye Roberts had 9 carries for 35 yards, and Anderson Castle added 28 yards on the same number of carries. App State is going to need a back that will pull away and run for a solid amount of yards to not only win this game, but set up the Mountaineers for a good season.
Clemson imploded last week, and they have no one other than themselves to blame. Dabo Swinney refuses to use the transfer portal, and Georgia does. They brought in both Colbie Young and London Humphreys this offseason using the transfer portal, and they both caught touchdowns to beat Clemson. Humphreys was the leading receiver, and Georgia also brought Trevor Etienne in. He didn’t play last week, but if he did, Georgia would’ve defiantly put up more points. If Clemson adapted to the way college football is, we would be talking about the Tigers in a whole new light. Its too late now, but Dabo will have to do a lot of work to fix this team mid-season. I don’t think he’ll get fired – he practically had tenure at Clemson – but he will have a lot more eyes on him.
The offense had major struggles last week. The offense gained just 188 yards and 13 first downs, averaging 4.9 yards per pass and 2 yards per rush. They went 4-13 on third downs and 0-1 on fourth downs. Cade Klubnik went 18/29 for 142 yards and a pick, one that Georgia turned into a touchdown on their next drive. All Clemson could muster was a field goal, their longest drive of the game. It started on Clemson’s 25, and although they made it down all the way to Georgia’s 9-yard line, they couldn’t score a touchdown. Antonio Williams was Clemson’s leading receiver, as he had 6 catches for 76 yards. Jake Briningstool was the second leading receiver with just 26 yards. Phil Mafah led the Tigers on the ground with 59 yards on 16 carries. Keith Adams jr. was the only other rusher with positive rushing yards, and he only had 6. Clemson has to improve their offense if they want to win the ACC, the have to be more consistent on the ground and Klubnik has to be more accurate.

I think Clemson’s offense should improve this week, and they do avoid the upset, 31-20. Odds: CLEM -16.5, O/U 52.5

13. Cal @ Auburn – When these two teams played each other last year, it was a hard-fought win for Auburn with 7 total turnovers. Both teams put up a lot of points last week, however, Cal beat UC Davis 31-13, and Auburn scored 73 against Alabama A&M. We’ll start with the Auburn Tigers, who…

Auburn needs to continue to score. Like I stated, they had 73 points last week, and Payton Thorne actually looked good. Thorne had some better games near the end of the season, but he still finished with1,755 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Last week, he threw for 322 yards and 4 touchdowns, along with 50 rushing yards and a touchdown. His rushing touchdown was only 4 yards long, but his passing touchdowns were 67, 44, 4, and 70 yards long. Thorne was slinging the ball, but at the same time, he had nothing to lose. There was no way that Auburn was going to lose that game, and it his gamble that was never going to lose hit. No surprise there. Backup QB Hank Brown threw for 96 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Jarquez Hunter and Damari Alston both had a rushing touchdown. Hunter was Auburn’s leading rusher, and had 53 yards on just 4 carries. His touchdown was the first of the game, and was 34 yards long. Alston had the least number of yards, with just 12. Malcolm Simmons had 3 catches for 91 yards and a touchdown, being Auburn’s leading receiver. Perry Thompson had 82 yards and a touchdown, KeAndre Lambert-Smith had 80 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Cam Coleman added 62 yards and a touchdown. Sam Jackson V also had a touchdown. Auburn obviously won’t score the same amount of points, and they probably won’t get close either, but they should still be a high-scoring team this year. One problem they had were their turnovers, and they had 2 of them. Both were fumbles, and they were both on Auburn’s final drives of the game.
Auburn’s defense should also be great this week. Because Auburn was blowing Alabama A&M out, the quarters were shortened by 5 minutes, and you’ll see why that is going to be noteworthy in a second. Auburn held their opponents to just 240 total yards and 13 first downs. They were on the field for a long time as well, because Alabama A&M held the ball for 36 and a half minutes, and Auburn held it for 13 and a half. Even though they were tired near the end, they still stopped Alabama A&M every drive. If Auburn scores fast again this week, Cal should be able to tire Auburn’s defense even more because…
Cal is a great rushing team. They might not have shown that last week, as they only had 102 rushing yards, but Ott finished the game with 14 carries for 49 yards and 2 touchdowns. It is important to note that Ott did get an injury, but he should play in this game. His touchdowns were 1 yard and 6 yards long. Ott should have the full game today, but he will probably be on a limited snap count. If Cal wants to tire Auburn’s defense like I just wrote they would, Jaivian Thomas and Chandler Rogers are going to have to step up. Thomas finished last week’s game with 6 rushes for 19 yards, and Rogers had 5 rushes for 17 yards. Neither did much, but they should get more carries this week. Cal had a hard time moving the ball in the first half last week, meaning thy ran less plays than they should’ve. If Cal does better against a better defense, they should be able to control the clock and win.
Fernando Mendoza has to be better than mediocre. With Ott most likely on a snap count, Mendoza has to step up. He went 15/22 through the air last week for 158 yards and a touchdown. We saw flashes of a great QB last year, like his 292 passing yards and 4 touchdowns in Cal’s near upset over USC, and 294 passing yards and 3 touchdowns against Stanford. At least Mendoza didn’t throw a pick last week, something he struggled with last year. Cal’s leading receiver was Nyziah Hunter, who had 4 catches for 47 yards and a touchdown. Ott added 4 catches and 34 yards out of the backfield. Mavin Anderson had the same stat line as Ott did through the year as well.

I think Cal made a lot of mistakes last week, but could keep it interesting with Auburn. At the end of the day, however, give me the Tigers, who win 24-14. Odds: AUB -11.5, O/U 53.5

14. BYU @ SMU – This is SMU’s first game as a member of the ACC against another Power 4 team, and after a close week 1 game, their offense was clicking last week. As for BYU, they rolled over their FCS opponent toa 41-13 win. I’ll start with SMU, and they…

SMU needs to continue to the run the ball. SMU rushed 54 times for 370 yards and 4 touchdowns, which is 6.8 yards per rush. Brashard Smith led the team with 108 yards and 2 touchdowns on 9 carries. They were 1 and 2 yard(s), and they were on back-to-back drives as well. Derrick McFall had 16 carries for 69 yards and a 17-yard touchdown, and backup QB Kevin Jennings had 5 carries for 54 yards and a 6-yard touchdown. Even though Jennings was the backup QB, he led SMU in passing with 148 yards and a touchdown on 10/14 passing. Preston Stone went 6/9 for 78 yards and 2 touchdowns. Back to the ground game, LJ Johnson Jr. had 8 rushes for 50 yards, and others contributed a little bit. Back in week 0, SMU had 34 rushes for 100 rushing yards, which is 2.9 yards per rush. They struggled to win 29-24, and were down 24-13 entering the fourth quarter. If they can run the ball well, SMU should have this game in their hands. As for BYU…
The Cougars took more of a passing attack focused game. Even though BYU ran the ball 47 times and threw it 30 times, BYU ended with 348 passing yards and 180 rushing yards. Jake Retzlaff threw for 348 yards and 3 touchdowns, and they were 57, 7, and 19 yards long as well. Chase Roberts was the leading receiver, and he had 7 catches for 108 yards. Jojo Philips had 2 catches for 70 yards and the 52-yard touchdown catch. Keelan Marion added 61 yards on 3 catches. Mata’ava Ta’ase and LJ Martin had the other touchdown catches. BYU started to run the ball near the end of the game in order to run the clock out, and at the end of the game they held the ball for 39 minutes. BYU was very run focused last year, and I could see them making a switch back to that this game in order to take control of the clock again.
BYU’s defense wasn’t letting down either. Yes, they did play an FCS team, but their stats were still good. BYU held Southern Illinois to 231 yards of total offense and 12 first downs. They also got an interception that turned into a field goal. They gave up 108 passing yards and 123 rushing yards. Both of SIU’s touchdowns came from the same person, running back DJ Williams. Williams was the lone bright spot for SIU, and he finished with 15 carries for 121 yards and 2 touchdowns. Outside of Williams, no one else on SIU had more than 5 rushing yards. Because BYU held the ball for so long, their defense didn’t get tired and continued to dominate.
SMU’s defense was good as well. Although they let up 300 yards of total offense against Nevada, they were on the field for a long time. However, they forced the Wolfpack to go 8-18 on third downs and 0-2 on fourth downs. The spilt between passing and rushing yards were spilt nearly identically, so it wasn’t one part of Nevada’s offense that did better than the other. The defense improved a lot over the next week, holding Houston Christian to just 160 total yards. They forced HCU to average 1.3 yards per rush, which led to SMU holding the ball for 35 minutes. They also forced 3 turnovers, 2 picks and 1 fumble. HCU’s fumble led to SMU picking it up and scoring, and both picks led to touchdowns.

This game should come down to whichever team can control the clock and keep their defense ready and energized, and I think SMU can do that, and they win, 35-19. Odds: SMU -12.5, O/U 55.5

15. South Carolina @ Kentucky – After a surprisingly close win over Old Dominion, South Carolina now has to go on the road to play Kentucky, who destroyed Southern Miss last week. I’ll start with Kentucky, and their defense…

Kentucky’s defense was out of this world good. They held Southern Miss to just 131 rushing yards, and just 5, yes you heard that right, 5, rush yards. That was mainly because Kentucky sacked Tate Rodemaker, Southern Miss’s quarterback, twice. He lost 15 yards, which tanked the team’s rushing stats. Ethan Crawford led the team with 10 yards on 3 rushes, Kenyon Clay had 1 rush for 7 yards, and Rodrigues Clark had 6 rushes for 3 yards. Without Frank Gore Jr., this rushing game was bad, and I can see why they abandoned it. However, they weren’t much better through the air. Even though Rodemaker went 13/19 for 126 yards, he threw 2 picks, which were both on back-to-back drives. The first one led to a touchdown for Kentucky, and the second one resulted in a punt for Kentucky. If Kentucky’s defense can once again be dominant, they’ll have this game wrapped up.
Their offense needs to just go the extra mile. They played well, gaining 317 total yards and scoring 31 total points. Brock Vandagriff went 12/18 for 170 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 pick. His pick was on the first drive of the game, and USM threw the ball right back anyways. 2 of Vandagriff’s touchdowns went to Barion Brown, and he finished with 4 catches for 28 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jordan Dingle had the last touchdown. Both of Brown’s touchdowns were 12 yards, and Dingle’s was for 5. Vandagriff was good, but he has to be better against greater competition. On the ground, Demie Sumo-Karngbaye led the way with 60 yards and a 1-yard touchdown on 8 carries. Vandagriff was second on the team with 35 yards. Kentucky’s offense was good, but if they can do a bit better on the ground, Kentucky might be able to hang with the better teams in the SEC.
How was that game close? South Carolina beat Old Dominion 23-19 last Saturday as 20.5-point favorites. I picked South Carolina to win 28-13 because I didn’t know how well LaNorris Sellers would do, and safe to say that I was right about Sellers. He went 10-23 for 114 yards. He did run the ball 18 times for 68 yards and a touchdown, but he was also sacked 4 times, so that most likely weighed down his rushing numbers. I’m usually critical when quarterbacks do well on the ground and not through the air because they’re not supposed to excel as running backs, they’re supposed to excel as a quarterback, the position they play. Sellers also lost a fumble last week, which turned into a positive for the Gamecocks because ODU threw a pick to them on the next play. If Sellers can be better in through the air, I won’t hold the same take, but for right now I do. I think Sellers was the main reason why SC didn’t play so well, but I don’t want to put the sole blame on him. I realize that football is a team game and Sellers isn’t the only reason why SC nearly lost, but when you look at how the game unfolded and see that mostly everyone else pulled their weight, Sellers does look like he almost sold the game, pun intended.
The defense certainly wasn’t the problem, however. Even though they let up 305 yards in 24 minutes, South Carolina’s defense forced 4 turnovers, 2 of which led to touchdowns, and blocked a PAT. They forced 2 fumbles and 2 interceptions, and both of the fumbles led to touchdowns. ODU fumbled on the second play of the game, and SC took it in 3 plays later. The second fumble led to South Carolina’s game winning touchdown, and although South Carolina punted it right back after the first interception, the second pick iced the game. ODU QB Grant Wilson put the ball on the ground 4 times, and lost both fumbles for the team. SC had 5 sacks and 8 TFLs as well, which led to their defensive dominance.

I think South Carolina will make improvements, but Kentucky’s defense will give them the win, 27-16. Odds: UK -8.5, O/U 42.5

16. Virginia @ Wake Forest – Both teams had great offensive performances last week, and they now face each other to start their ACC schedules. Virginia was expected to finish 16^th in the ACC, and Wake Forest was expected to finish one spot above them. Whichever team that can win this game might be able to finish above their expected finish. I will start with Virgnia, who…

Virginia got a big game out of their offense. They struggled with that mightily last year, finishing in the bottom half for both yards per game and points per game. Virginia might be able to change that if their offense can play as well as they did last week. They finished with 500 total yards of offense and 20 first downs, and Anthony Colandrea had a big game. He went 17/23 for 300 yards and 3 total touchdowns. He had 2 passing touchdowns, and they were long ones. His first went to Trell Harris, which was 35 yards long. His second touchdown was caught by Jack Griese, and that way 57 yards long. His third touchdown came on the ground, and it was 7 yards long. Malachi Fields was the leading receiver with 5 catches for 100 yards, and Griese was second. He had just 1 catch the entire game, which was his touchdown. Kobe Pace, the leading runner added 2 catches and 51 yards out of the backfield. On the ground, he had 11 carries for 93 yards and a 3-yard touchdown. Colandrea added 50 rushing yards. Xavier Brown also had 8 rushes for 44 yards. As for the defense…
Their defense wasn’t bad, either. They held Richmond to 260 total yards and 13 first downs, and held Richmond to going 3-15 on third downs. They forced a fumble as well, which turned into a field goal. Obviously, like I’ve been saying throughout the post, their opponent’s offense from last week will not be good as their opponent’s offense this week, but I think Virginia showed that their defense is a little bit more real. They didn’t destroy their opponents, but they did hold them to the point where it was a bad game. If they can stop a good Wake Forest offense, then they can win this game.
Just like Virginia, Wake Forest had a great offensive showing. Hank Bachmeier went 18/28 for 263 yards and 3 touchdowns. His touchdowns were 24, 5, and 4 yards long. Taylor Morin was the leading receiver, and he had 6 catches for 100 yards. Donavon Greene had 3 catches for 72 yards and a touchdown, Deuce Alexander had 5 catches for 70 yards and a touchdown, and Horatio Fields had the final touchdown. He had 3 catches for 33 yards as well. However, Wake Forest did most of their offensive damage on the ground. Demond Claiborne led the way for the Demon Deacons, as he had 17 carries for 135 yards and a 7-yard touchdown run. Tate Carney added 40 yards and a 2-yard touchdown run on 9 carries. As a team, Wake Forest had 32 carries for 193 yards and 2 touchdowns, and they averaged 6 yards per rush. Wake Forest ran all over North Carolina A&T to the tune of 513 yards, 26 first downs, and 45 points.
Wake Forest’s defense played very well for the amount of time they were on the field. Wake Forest’s defense was on the field for 36 minutes and 21 seconds. Even though they were on the field for that long, they held NCA&T to 337 yards and 22 first downs. They also held them to 13 points. They didn’t force a turnover, but still not budging and giving up points for that long of a time is pretty impressive.

Both teams had pretty similar games last week, but Wake Forest’s home field advantage and their slightly better defensive play leads them to a 26-20 win. Odds: WAKE -1, O/U 55.5

17. Pitt @ Cincy – Pittsburgh just destroyed Kent State at home, and now they have to travel to their rival’s stadium and try to beat a team that had a very mixed offensive performance. I’ll start with the Bearcats, and they had a very mixed offensive output last week.

Cincy’s offense was something last week. They put up 38 points in a 38-20 win over Towson. It was that close because Cincy had 3 turnovers, all fumbles. They could’ve lost more, too. Michael Mussari put 2 on the deck and lost one, and 3 other plays also put the ball on the ground. Darian Verner and Victor Dawson lost theirs. The first fumble of the game happened on a muffed punt, and the second happened after Dawson ran for 47 yards. The final fumble took place the next drive. Verner picked up a Towson fumble, but then he also lost it and it was picked up by Towson. If Cincinnati continues to make mistakes like this, they’re going to have another long season.
There were some good on offense, however. In just his 8^th career start, Brendan Sorsby had a big game. He went 22/31 for 383 yards and 2 big first quarter touchdowns. They were 42 and 61 yards long, and also added a 2-yard rushing touchdown in the same quarter. He had another rushing touchdown, this time a 12-yarder in the second quarter. Sorsby didn’t do anything crazy on the ground, but what he showed in just his 8^th career start is pretty impressive. Xzavier Henderson had 7 catches for 101 yards and a touchdown, while Joe Royer had 5 receptions for 90 yards. Sterling Berkhalter had the other touchdown, and he also had 2 catches for 70 yards. Evan Pryor was the leading rusher for Cincy, and he had just 4 carries, but he had 105 yards and a touchdown. As a team, Cincinnati had 32 rushes for 275 yards and 3 touchdowns. If they can keep up this level of play and remove the turnovers from their game, it should be a good season for Cincy. If they can’t, they won’t.
Pitt’s offense also had a similar game. The Panthers scored 55 points and gained 567 total yards, but they had 2 turnovers. They had a pick and a fumble. The interception didn’t amount to anything, but the fumble was picked up by Kent State and returned for a touchdown. Basically, what is aid about Cincy and their turnover problems applies here, but Pitt did do a bit of a better job.
Eli Holstein and Desmond Reid might take Pitt back to the ACC championship. That might be an over-reaction, but they played like they could. Holstein went 30/40 for 333 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 pick. His touchdowns were 11, 7, and 10 yards long. They weren’t much, but Holstein was accurate and comfortable. On the ground, Desmond Reid had 14 carries for 145 yards and a 46-yard touchdown. He also had a 78-yard punt return touchdown in the first quarter. If they can continue to score and put up points, Pitt could be in for a surprise season.

Both teams had turnover problems last week, but Pitt did a better job of correcting them, and they get the road win, 28-14. Odds: CIN -2, O/U 62.5

18. Oregon State @ SDSU – This is the first game of the Pac-2 and Mountain West scheduling agreement experiment, and we know that this will be the only season of it. Oregon State struggled a bit with Idaho State, something that their state rivals know all to well. San Diego State rolled to an easy win over Texas A&M Commerce, and I’ll start with the Aztecs.

Their rushing game was top-tier. As a team, SDSU had 40 rushes for 254 yards and 2 touchdowns, averaging 6.4 yards per rush. Most of that came from Marquez cooper, who had 27 carries for 223 yards and 2 touchdowns. They were 47 and 7 yards long. Even though SDSU had a good rushing game, they only held the ball for 28 and a half minutes. This was mainly because…
SDSU scored quick. They had a fumble return touchdown that really flipped a switch for the Aztecs, and they rode that momentum for the rest of the game. On the next drive, Danny O’Neil threw a 44-yard pass to Louis Brown IV to cap of a 3-play drive. A few drives later, JD Coffey III had a 45-yard pick six. They did gamble a few times and missed half of their fourth down conversions, which could’ve led to the final TOP results.
As for Oregon State, they need to be great throughout the whole game. After starting the game with a touchdown, Oregon State gave up 9 points, and after they scored a touchdown in the second quarter with 9 and a half minutes left in the quarter, they didn’t score again until right before half. They took a 17-9 led into the half, and went up 31-9 near the end of the third quarter. SDSU is a lot better than Idaho State, and they’re going to keep Oregon State down if they play like that this week.
The defense was pretty good, however. They held Idaho State to 311 yards and forced 2 turnovers, which helped Oregon State hold the ball for 37 and 30 minutes. Although they got just 2 sacks and 3 TFLs, Oregon State was in the backfield, holding Idaho Sate to just 82 yards on 16 carries, or forcing 22 incompletions. If they can do something similar to San Diego State, Oregon State should win this game.

I think SDSU played a much better and complete game last week, and they do something similar this week to win, 24-16. Odds: ORST -6, O/U 54.5

19. Duke @ Northwestern – These teams have played 4 seasons in a row now, and Duke has won the last 3. They got a big win last year, taking down Northwestern, 38-14. They’re going to need another impressive performance this week.

Northwestern eked out a close win last week, and Mike Wright was the reason why. Wright led Northwestern in not only passing last week, going 18/30 for 178 yards, but also in rushing, where he had 65 yards and a touchdown. His rushing touchdown, which was 13 yards long, was the only touchdown of the game. However, Mike wright also lost 2 fumbles, both in the first half. The first fumble nearly led to a Miami of Ohio field goal, one that they missed. They other gave Miami of Ohio near the end of the half, but they had to start their drive from their own yard line. Cam Porter was right behind Wright on the ground, as he had 13 carries for 63 yards. If Wright doesn’t turn the ball over as much this week, Northwestern could break the losing streak.
Northwestern’s defense was really good, however. They held Miami of Ohio to 267 yards and 40 rushing yards, and also picked of Brett Gabbert twice. The first pick didn’t amount to anything, and the second helped them ice the game. If they can do something like that again this week, Northwestern can win.
Unlike Northwestern, Duke had an easy win last week. They took down Elon 26-3, with Manny Diaz once again working his defensive magic. They held Elon to just 140 yards and 11 first downs, and they were on the field for 33 minutes as well. They stopped Elon on 12 of their 15 third downs conversion attempts, and had 8 sacks. They also had 16 TFLs, which helped them only allow 30 rushing yards on 36 attempts, which is .8 yards per rush.
Maalik Murphy also looked pretty good in his firs game at Duke. He went 26/40 through the air for 291 yards and 2 touchdowns, but he did also throw a pick. It didn’t lead to anything, as it was near the end of the game. Jordan Moore was the leading receiver, and he came down with 7 catches for 112 yards. Eli Pancol had 7 catches for 81 yards and a touchdown, and Jeremiah Hasley caught the other touchdown.

Duke had a great offensive performance last week, and I think they can do it again, winning 27-13. Odds: NU-2.5, O/U 37.5

20. Mississippi State @ Arizona State – Arizona State and Mississippi State both blew the brakes off of their opponents last week, with Arizona State taking down Wyoming and Mississippi State beating Eastern Kentucky. ASU won 48-7, with Wyoming’s only touchdown coming with 2 seconds left in the game. Mississippi State won 56-7, and only held the ball for 22 minutes. I’ll start with Arizona State, who…

Controlled the entire game, and if they want to win, they need to do it again. Arizona State finished the game with 500 total yards and 27 first downs and held the ball for 37 minutes. They only let Wyoming gain 118 yards and 8 first downs. Their defense also forced 3 turnovers, and returned 1 pick and 1 fumble for a touchdown. ASU ran all over Wyoming, finishing with 241 rushing yards on 49 attempts. However, their leading rusher, Cam Skattebo, only had 49 yards. 2 other rushers had 47 yards, and 4 more rushers had double digit yards. Skattebo and DeCarlos Brooks both had a touchdown run, Skattebo’s from 3 yards out and Brooks’ 8 yards out. Sam Leavitt, the ASU QB, threw for 260 yards and 2 touchdowns on 14-22 passing. He threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Chamon Metayer and a 68-yard touchdown pass. ASU’s defense got 3 sacks and 5 TFLs as well. Mississippi State is going to have their hands full on both offense and defense, and that is why they are going to have to…
Slow down their play. Mississippi State got it done against FCS Eastern Kentucky, scoring 56 points in just 22 minutes. Three of their touchdowns came from the other side of the field, another one came from beyond the forty, another was set up by a punt return, and another touchdown was off a blocked punt. Blake Shapen threw a 65-yard touchdown and a 54-yard touchdown, Elijah Cannon returned an interception for a touchdown from the 51-yard line, Creed Whittemore ran one in from 41 yards out, Blake Shapen ran it in from 4 yards away after Kevin Coleman Jr. ran the punt to EKU’s 26, and JP Purvis blocked a punt that turned into a touchdown. Davon Booth and Kevin Coleman Jr. both had rushing touchdowns as well. There’s nothing wrong with scoring fast, but when you’re going up against a team that ran the ball so well, you want to control the clock. Mississippi State ran the ball 35 times for 203 yards last week, with Shapen leading the way with 44 yards. 5 others had double digit yards, but ASU ran the ball 49 times, which helped them dominate the clock control. Arizona State also played a much better opponent, which should translate over well.

So, Arizona State should run the ball better and I think ASU is more proven than Mississippi State, which will lead them to a 21-13 win. Odds: ASU -5.5, O/U 59.5

21. Baylor @ (11) Utah – After not playing at all last year, Cam Rising finally got back on the football field and dazzled. Although it was to Southern Utah, Rising threw for 5 touchdowns, half of his completions and the same number of incompletions. Rising led the way en route to a 49-0 win. As for Baylor, they beat Tarleton State 45-3, but there were some struggles. I’ll start with Baylor and those struggles.

In order to upset Utah, Dequan Finn needs to be perfect. Simply said, Finn was no where near to perfect last week. Baylor had an easy matchup against Tarleton State, but it wasn’t for Finn. He finished the game with 14/22 passing, 192 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 2 picks through the air. He did have a 39-yard touchdown run, but that doesn’t make up for the 2 picks. Finn obviously struggled, and I think that was because it was his first game s Baylor’s QB, but he needs to improve so Baylor can win. Finn’s touchdown passes were from 32 yards our and 17 yards out, but Utah’s secondary was on point, so I don’t know how well Baylor can do if Finn plays like that again. Baylor’s defense played really well too, as they held Tarleton State to just 180 yards and 9 first downs. They also held them to going 2-15 on 3^rd downs. However, we all know that Utah is much, much better than Tarleton State, so how will Baylor’s defense look? Well, in order to look, they’re going to have to stop a hungry Cam Rising.
Cam Rising is a monster. In his first meaningful football game since January 2^nd, 2023, Rising went 10/15 passing, 254 yards, and 5 touchdowns. These touchdown passes didn’t just come from the goal line either. His touchdown passes came from 79, 64, 29, 18, and 11 yards out. 2 of these touchdowns, the 64-yard and 79-yard touchdown passes went to Dijon Stanley, while the other 3 went to Brant Kuithe. Stanley finished with 3 catches for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Kuithe finished with 4 catches for 70 yards and 3 touchdowns. Utah finished the game with 513 yards of total offense and 26 first downs. They did throw 2 picks, but those cam from backup Isaac Wilson, so they don’t matter that much. It feels like a theme going back to the Mississippi State-Arizona State game, but Utah’s leading rusher, Dijon Stanley, led the team with 34 yards. Including Stanley, 9 players had double-digit rushing yards for Utah. When it was all said and down, Utah had 185 rushing yards on 39 carries.

Utah’s rushing game and Rising’s performance last week gives 100% certainty that Utah can win this game, and they do, 42-17. Odds: Utah -14.5, O/U 55.5

22. Utah State @ (13) USC – Fresh off a big win against LSU in Las Vegas, USC will try to win their home opener against Utah State. Miller Moss played a great game, and proved me wrong after picking LSU. To get another win this week, USC needs to…

Play defense. They let LSU gain 421 yards, 304 of those were passing yards, and the other 117 were on the ground. They did pick off Garrett Nussmeier, but that was on the last play of the game. USC also let LSU get 22 first downs and control the clock for 33 minutes. They did force a field goal at the end of the game that only made it a tie game, but they need to better at stopping opposing offenses. USC’s offense wasn’t bad, either. They had 450 yards and 24 first downs, and Moss threw for 380 yards and a touchdown. 5 players had 50 or more receiving yards, and Kyle Ford had 45. Ja’Kobi Lane had the only receiving touchdown for the Trojans as well. Woody Marks led USC with 68 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns. USC only had 72 total rushing yards, but they still made an impact. Its going to be even more important to play good rushing defense, as…
Utah State ran all over Robert Morris. Quarterback Bryson Barnes only threw for 200 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 pick, while he also ran for 88 yards and 1 touchdown. He did that on 5 carries, and he was never sacked once. Robert Briggs Jr. matched Barnes with 88 yards, but he had 9 carries. Rashul Faison had 78 yards on 12 carries, while Herschel Turner added 44 yards. Even though Briggs and QB Spencer Petras both got hurt, Utah State gained a total of 646 yards, 303 of them on the ground.

I think Utah State should be able to run the ball a lot against USC, but it isn’t enough to get the upset road win. USC wins, 34-12. Odds: USC -28.5, O/U 63.5

23. Jacksonville State @ (22) Louisville – After getting smacked by Coastal Carolina, Jacksonville State looks to rebound against an even tougher Louisville. Last week, I picked Coastal Carolina to win, but I didn’t think they would blow Jacksonville State out like that. I picked CCU to win 23-14, but they actually won 55-27. The main reason why they lost was because…

They could not stop the run game. They let Coastal run the ball 57 times for 294 yards and 3 touchdowns. They let Ja’Vin Simpkins run for 80 yards on 12 carries, Darren Lloyd run for 64 yards on 5 carries, along with allowing Braydon Bennett to score 2 touchdowns. He ran the ball 11 times for 60 yards. JVST gave up 47 yards to Christian Washington and 40 to QB Ethan Vasko. Vasko scored the third rushing touchdown for Coastal Carolina. Comparably, the Gamecocks only ran for 123 yards on 30 carries. They did have 2 touchdowns, one from Tre Stewart and 1 from Cole Fuller. Stewart led the team with 62 yards on 4 carries. No one else made that big of a difference in the rushing game. Tyler Huff didn’t look good either, as he tossed 2 picks on a 50% completion percentage. It will be another long game for that Jacksonville State defense, because Louisville also ran the ball a lot and well.
Will the Louisville running back room keep it up? Isaac Brown led the team last week with 5 carries, 123 yards, and touchdown performance. He got his touchdown and 77 of his 123 yards on just 1 carry as well. Behind Brown was Duke Watson, who had 6 carries, 86 yards, and 1 touchdown as well. His touchdown was 7 yards long. Keyjuan Brown had the last rushing touchdown for Louisville, along with 65 yards on 9 carries. As a team, Louisville had 293 yards and 3 touchdowns off 28 carries. Tyler Shough has shown that he can be a bit of a runner, but he didn’t show that at all last week. However, he didn’t need to and his passing stats spoke for themselves. He went 18/24 for 232 yards and 4 touchdowns, 2 of them to Jadon Thompson.

We saw how bad Jacksonville State’s rushing defense was, and Louisville capitalizes with a 42-14 win. Odds: LOU -28.5, O/U 56.5

24. Eastern Michigan @ Washington – After a bit of an underwhelming performance last week, Washington is looking to come out and destroy Eastern Michigan at home. Let me be clear when I say this. The final result of the Washington game was not underwhelming. They got a big win in the season and home opener, but to me the final score was. 35-3 is a big blowout, but I thought with the amount of yards they gained and a gunslinger QB, UDub would’ve at least scored 50 points. But Washington’s…

Passing game was on point. Will Rogers went 20/26 for 250 yards and 1 touchdown. Washington doesn’t run an air raid offense like Mississippi State did, but Rogers still looked great and was accurate throughout the night. Backup Demond Williams Jr. also went 3/5 for 28 yards and 1 touchdown. Roger’s touchdown pass found Decker DeGraaf for a score from 33 yards out. Denzel Boston caught Williams’ touchdown pass. Both DeGraaf and Boston should be targets when Washington gets down to the redzone, and so should Giles Jackson. Jackson was Washington’s leading receiver, as he caught 10 passes for 98 yards. Although he didn’t get into the end zone, he might’ve had the biggest impact out of all of the wide receivers. Boston finished the game with 6 catches and 76 yards, while DeGraaf’s only catch was the touchdown. Cameron Davis added 3 catches for 38 yards. Washington’s defense did a pretty good job, and Johan Coleman had a monster day on the ground with 130 yards and 3 touchdowns. The passing game should have q bigger impact on this game because…
Eastern Michigan shut down the rushing game last week. They held UMass to just 152 yards on 41 carries, which is 3.7 yards per rush. Eastern Michigan also got 6 sacks and 9 TFLs. 3 players had 2 TFLs, and James Djonkam, EMU’s leading tackler, had 1.5. Granted, it was against UMass, but who knows? Maybe UMass shocks the world makes that CFP this year.

Although that probably won’t happen, Washington will win this game, 42-15. Odds: WASH -25.5, O/U 48.5

25. Central Michigan @ FIU – This game will be one for the history books. This will be the first ever game played at the soon to be historic, already iconic Pitbull Stadium. Can’t y’all not wait? They host Central Michigan, who’s coming in after a blowout over Central Connecticut. I’ll start with FIU, if they want to win, they need to…

Step up their rushing game. They ran the ball just 30 times, mustering 53 yards. That’s an average of 1.8 yards per rush. This was against Indiana, a team that will be better than Central Michigan this year, but if they want to win, they need to run the ball better. Kejon Owens led the team with 36 yards on 6 carries. On the same number of carries, Shomari Lawrence had half of Owens’ yards. Keyone Jenkins looked alright throwing the ball, going 20/29 for 130 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. He was sacked 4 times which has got to change if FIU even wants a shot at winning.
Central Michigan needs to keep the good times going. CMU obviously blew out CCSU last week, winning 66-10. Joe Labas, the starting QB, went 18/24 for 342 yards and 3 touchdowns. 2 of his touchdowns went to Solomon Davis, who also had 4 catches for 109 yards. Labas’ other touchdown went to Evan Boyd, who finished with 3 catches for 78 yards. 7 other CMU players caught passes from either him or Tyler Jefferson, the backup. Myles Bailey ran for just 68 yards, but had 2 touchdowns and did all of that on just 9 carries. B.J. Harris also had a touchdown run. CCSU also never sacked Labas, while the Chippewas had 2 sacks. Their stats are going to look good, pretty much every FBS team beat up on an FCS team and had good stats, but if they can keep this momentum going, they should get the win.

I think they can, and CMU wins 28-7. It’s going to be a long season at Pitbull Stadium for FIU. Odds: CMU -4.5, O/U 51.5

My top 5 Heisman Candidates:

Carson Beck, QB, Georgia – Beck is first on my list after leading Georgia to a blowout win over Clemson. After starting the first half of the game slow, Beck and Georgia picked it up to win 34-3. Beck threw for 280 yards and 2 touchdowns, going 23/33 passing. He averaged 8.4 yards per pass and finished with a QBR of 91.7. He found Colbie Young from 7 yards out for the first touchdown of the game, and later in the fourth quarter he threw a drag route that London Humphreys took into the end zone from 40 yards away. Beck led UGA to 447 yards of total offense and 19 first downs. He did that against a really good defense in Clemson, and if he can continue to do that against SEC defenses, the Heisman is all his. Gerogia’s got an easy game this week, taking on Tennessee Tech. Barring injury, Beck will be #1 again next week.
Cam Ward, QB, Miami – Everyone had high expectations for Ward and Miami, and they exceeded those expectations on Saturday. The Canes ended Florida’s streak of 34 straight season-opening wins with a 41-17 win. Ward went 26-35 for 385 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 pick. He also ran for 33 yards, 1 of those going for 24 yards. He was also only sacked once and finished with a QBR of 95.7. Ward started the game hot, driving down the field on Miami’s first drive to throw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Cam McCormick. He was bailed out by Xavier Restrepo earlier in the drive, and he threw a pick on the next drive, but that’s when Ward stepped it up. It felt like he didn’t make a mistake for the rest of the game, as he slinged 2 more touchdown passes, 1 to Restrepo and another to Jacolby George. Ward’s touchdown pass to George was one of the best throws of the weekend, and potentially the year. Ward escaped a sack before throwing the ball with a defender in his face, where he found George in the back of the end zone in between 2 Florida players, where he made a toe tap. That throw shows his upside and his NFL potential. Just like Beck and Florida, Ward and Miami have an easy game next week, as they play Florida A&M. The rest of Miami’s schedule is very easy, only playing 1 ranked opponent, that being Florida State. They do have to go on the road to Georgia Tech and host Virginia Tech, however.
Dillon Gabriel, QB, Oregon – Even though he’s third in my list, I still think Gabriel will win the Heisman. He was my pick in the offseason, but Beck and Ward just played better than Gabriel. Oregon only beat Idaho by 10, 24-14. Gabriel did start off hot, finding Tez Johnson for a touchdown early. Gabriel didn’t put the ball into the end zone again until the fourth quarter, when he once again threw the ball to Tez Johnson. The first touchdown pass was for 7 yards, and the second one was a 12-yard touchdown pass. Gabriel finished the game with 380 yards and 2 touchdowns on 41-49 passing. Gabriel average 7.8 yards per pass and had a QBR of 56.2, which is a little surprising. There was no doubt before this game that Oregon should’ve destroyed Idaho, and if you look at the stat sheet and not the final score, you would think that too. Oregon finished with 487 total yards and 31 first downs. They also held the ball for nearly 40 minutes. However, Oregon went 7-16 on third downs and 1-3 on fourth downs. If Oregon wants to win the Big Ten, they’re going to need Gabriel to step up in big situations. Gabriel was also sacked 3 times, which didn’t really let him run the ball, something he’s down pretty well throughout his college career. You could chalk Oregon’s struggles due to it being week 1, and I think that’s what it was. Gabriel should be able to bounce back next week when Oregon takes on Boise State.
Travis Hunter, WR/CB, Colorado – Although Colorado only beat NDSU by 5 and let the Bison get 449 total yards and 25 first downs, Travis Hunter nearly played all 60 minutes. We’ll start with his offensive stats, where he caught 7 passes for 132 yards and 3 touchdowns. He averaged 19 yards per catch, and his touchdowns were 41, 13, and 3 yards long. On defense, he only had 3 tackles, but he was in there for every single one of Colorado’s defensive snaps. If Hunter can stay healthy this season, he’ll be in New York for the Heisman ceremony. In total, Hunter played 55 offensive stats and 69 defensive snaps. He only missed 2 snaps the entire game. Colorado takes on Nebraska next week, and Hunter should once again have another monster game.
Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State – Jeanty set 2 Boise State records on Saturday, as he ran for 267 yards and 6 touchdowns. He did all of that on 20 carries as well. Jeanty’s 6 touchdowns were Boise State’s first 6 touchdowns, which led them to a 56-45 win. Jeanty didn’t play for the last like 6 minutes of the game so he didn’t get injured, which was smart because Jeanty is going to need all the energy he can get, as Boise State will travel to Eugene to play the Ducks this week. There’s no way Jeanty will keep these numbers up this season, but Jeanty is leading the country in rush yards with 267, and I think he can keep that going for the rest of the year. Too me, Jeanty is the second best running back in college football, and he can lead Boise State to a college football playoff berth this season.