College Football Week 2 Preview: Bucks and Horns Prepping for Heavyweight Bout in Austin

The college football season rolls along to week 2 after a controversy-ridden kickoff weekend. We didn’t have any major upsets (except the one unjustly stripped away) so maybe week 2 brings more shocking results?

I’m eager to see if we have some fraudulent top 15 teams this year, waiting to get exposed like Penn State, Clemson, and LSU were this time last year. My gut feeling is no, we won’t have such extreme unexpected under-performances this season. But that’s the beautiful thing about college football – when you least expect something to happen is usually when it does.

So who could be candidates to get exposed this week?

I think the first and most obvious place to look at is College Station, Texas. Kenny Dillingham’s team certainly won’t roll over for Mike Elko’s Aggies, and Texas A&M has a lot of questions still unanswered about this year’s team.

How about Lexington, Kentucky as an option? Keelon Russell gets thrown into his first ever SEC road start against a spunky Will Stein team where the new ball coach is trying to spur the environment at Kroger Field to be as unruly as possible. Kalen Deboer also doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to raucous road environments. Could the Tide unexpectedly ebb this early?

And finally there’s the big one. Darrell K Royal. 7:30 eastern. Certainly both these teams are too talented to truly be frauds though, right? Likely true, but what if it’s not? This game, to me, harkens back to memories of last year’s Oregon-Penn State clash in State College. If one of these teams gets smushed or loses in heartbreaking fashion, what if the entire season falls off the rails? Both have grueling schedules, so it could be more likely than you think. If it’s Texas on the losing end, the parallels could be drawn even closer to the Nittany Lions with a surprise Steve Sarkisian firing pending a full-on Longhorn meltdown.

Like I said earlier though, because I’ve mentioned these scenarios now, none of them will come to fruition. It’s likely to be something well off my radar and much, much crazier.

But for now, let’s continue to speculate on who could be an imposter. Let me know who you have on fraud watch in the comment section below. This could be your last chance to get that take out there because in less than 24 hours, that fraud could already be exposed.

Games of the Week

Arizona State at Texas A&M

The Aggies lost a ton of talent from last year’s CFP-team that capitalized on a weak-for-SEC-standards schedule. Now after a 50-point plastering of a transitioning Missouri State team, they welcome Kenny Dillingham’s Sun Devils to Kyle Field. I’m not expecting Arizona State to roll over here quite like the Bears did. Part of me sees an absolute shootout in this game. Marcel Reed with elite playmakers on the outside in Isaiah Horton and Mario Craver has proven that this offense is among the best in college football when the engine is humming on all cylinders. On the other sideline, the Sun Devil offense just hung 70 on Morgan State and features a balanced attack behind QB Cutter Boley and RB Kyson Brown. However, I think we ultimately don’t get a shootout here for two reasons: I can’t be confident yet that Marcel Reed has fixed the turnover issues, and Kenny Dillingham’s game plan won’t be to get into a barn burner with this high-powered Aggie offense. Arizona State’s formula in this game will be to rely on LB Owen Long and the Sun Devil defense to force Marcel Reed into mistakes and then to limit Aggie possessions by sustaining long drives. I’m thinking Coach Dillingham likely saw the South Carolina-A&M game last year and is avoiding that scenario at all costs. Shootout or not, I think we get a tight, 1-score game that will be well worth your time.

Predictions

David Tomlinson: Texas A&M 28 – Arizona State 24

Cheech Jones: Texas A&M 48 – Arizona State 45

Oklahoma at Michigan

After a 51-0 week 1 smashing of Paydirt Pete and the UTEP Miners, the Sooners head way up north to Michigan Stadium for what projects to be a much tougher task in a Wolverines team on its heels from last week’s calamity. As has been said ad nauseam, Bryce Underwood will have to be much better than last week and last season for Michigan to have a shot here. The whole world saw him struggle mightily against a serviceable (but much weaker compared to Brent Venables’ unit) Western Michigan defense, so a lot must change very quickly. Fortunately for the Michigan defense, they’ve scouted John Mateer-light last week when they came up against Broc Lowry. But unfortunately, Lowry doesn’t have arm talent or raw athletic ability to the extent Mateer does. This one projects to be a defensive battle, but if Oklahoma can establish the run to complement Mateer’s dual-threat ability, this could become a snooze-fest quickly in a Sooner runaway. Or maybe not so boring if you’re sticking around for the hate watch.

Predictions

David Tomlinson: Oklahoma 31 – Michigan 10

Cheech Jones: Oklahoma 27 – Michigan 6

Arizona at BYU

Last year’s meeting between these two feline foes delivered a 2OT thriller as the Cougars took down the Wildcats in Tucson. I think we’ll get more of the same in Provo this year as these teams look to get in the driver’s seat in the Big 12 title race. Brent Brennan’s defense, highlighted by Josh Bringuel’s linebacker unit, will have to do double duty defending Bear Bachmeier in the aerial attack and RB LJ Martin on the ground. But the good news for the Wildcats is that they have the better quarterback in Noah Fifita. Arizona will come in with a chip on their shoulder looking to avenge their loss from last season, but I think the Cats ultimately fall just short as the BYU crowd gives the home team a slight edge.

Predictions

David Tomlinson: BYU 30 – Arizona 28

Cheech Jones: BYU 42 – Arizona 28

Memphis at Boise State

The blue Tigers head to the blue turf in Boise hot off a 2-0 start. Not many saw Memphis as a CFP contender in Charles Huff’s first year, but then again not many foresaw his one year turnaround at Southern Miss last year. Memphis QB Marcus Stokes has spearheaded the revelation so far as he’s been electrifying through 2 starts. However, the 2 picks he threw against Arkansas State won’t fly this week if the Tigers want a puncher’s chance. He’ll need to take better care of the ball, and Memphis will have to continue to have success on the ground with the duo of Jaylin Carter and Manny Covey. If the Memphis defense can compound a balanced, mistake-free offense with putting pressure on Maddux Madsen, they absolutely can win this game. They’ll need DL Elijah Kinsler to keep doing what he’s been doing as he already has 3.5 sacks on the young season. Ultimately, I think the cross-country travel and home crowd at Albertsons are just a little too much for Charles Huff’s squad to handle.

Predictions

David Tomlinson: Boise State 34 – Memphis 30

Cheech Jones: Boise State 31 – Memphis 21

Ohio State at Texas

Ohio State’s 14-7 win over Texas last year in Columbus didn’t quite deliver on the hype this matchup got leading up to gameday. That changes this year. This won’t be Arch Manning’s first big time start; he’ll have a full season of SEC football under his belt this time around. Concisely, both teams have elite rosters on both sides of the ball, but the offenses project to outshine the defenses. I think Ohio State has the best offense in the country behind second-year starting QB Julian Sayin, and Texas may have the best arsenal of skill players in college football with Hollywood Smothers, Raleek Brown, Ryan Wingo, and of course, Cam Coleman. If both teams can get some decent offensive line play, this should be an epic offensive showdown. Making a pick, I think Jeremiah Smith leaves Austin as the Heisman frontrunner after a 150+ yard 2 TD performance and a nail-biting Buckeye win. You’ll want to be fully locked in for this one so plan accordingly.

Predictions

David Tomlinson: Ohio State 38 – Texas 33

Cheech Jones: Texas 21 – Ohio State 20

David’s Underdog of the Week

Duke 20 – Illinois 16

Last Saturday the Dukies only conceded a 4th quarter field goal in a staunch 17-3 defensive masterclass against Tulane. Manny Diaz’s defense will get better each week as the season goes along, and it’s starting off in a pretty nice spot. And you know what they say about defense… It travels. Walker Eget and Nate Sheppard do just enough on offense, and the Duke defense harasses and frustrates Katin Houser all afternoon to earn the Blue Devils the upset win in Champaign.

Cheech’s Underdog of the Week

Kentucky 27 – Alabama 20

Kroger Field will be absolutely rocking this weekend as a re-energized Big Blue Nation welcomes No. 12 Alabama for an early season SEC showdown. First year head coach Will Stein has injected a vital jolt of life into the program and has completely rejuvenated the Cats offense. Kenny Minchey looked great week 1 against FCS juggernaut Youngstown State, however, Alabama’s defense will be a much bigger test. While the Tide’s ground game looked stellar in week 1, I’d argue they need to replicate that against some better competition. If Minchey and Stein’s offense can capitalize early, the Cats have a legitimate chance to pull off the upset.