COLLEGE FOOTBALL PICKS WEEK 2

Last Week: 10-6 (63%)
Season: 10-6 (63%)

We have 7 “quick picks” and 7 picks that I will go more in depth in for this week, unless noted the game is on Saturday

#13Louisville (1-0) at Syracuse (1-0) – 8PM ET, ESPN2 (Friday)
The Pick: Louisville
NC State (1-0) at East Carolina (1-0) – 12PM ET, ESPNU
The Pick: East Carolina
Wake Forest (1-0) at Duke (1-0) – 3:30PM ET, ESPNU
The Pick: Duke
South Carolina (1-0) at Mississippi State (0-1) – 7PM ET, ESPN2
The Pick: Mississippi State
North Carolina (0-1) at Illinois (1-0) – 7:30PM ET, BTN
The Pick: North Carolina
Texas Tech (1-0) at Arizona State (1-0) – 10PM ET, FS1
The Pick: Arizona State
California (1-0) at San Diego State (1-0) – 10:30PM ET, CBSSN
The Pick: San Diego State

Penn State (1-0) at Pittsburgh (1-0) – 12PM ET, ESPN

Penn State’s offense wasn’t anything special last week against Kent State, and the Nittany Lions were actually only up three at halftime against the Golden Flashes, and the Pittsburgh Panthers aren’t the type of team you want to play when you’re still figuring out your offense, as the Panthers dominated on the defensive side of the ball, Villanova’s offense scored zero points against them last week, but Penn State has a great pass rush too, they may be young, put the Nittany Lions sacked Kent State 7 times last week, which is crazy because the best sacking team last year (Alabama) only averaged 3.7 sacks per game. At the end of the day this is nearly a coin flip but because Pitt is at home I’ll give them the win, but not the points.

The Pick SU: Pittsburgh
The Pick ATS: Penn State +4.5

Arkansas (1-0) at #15TCU (1-0) – 7PM ET, ESPN

Neither of these teams did anything to impress me in a week one, Arkansas barley survived by one against a Louisiana Tech team that’s in the middle of Conference-USA. For TCU? They let up 41 points to FCS South Dakota State. Now, South Dakota State isn’t a bad team, they are ranked 12th in the FCS currently, but a team that could win the Big 12 should not be letting up that many points. This game will be a shootout, and that favors TCU, who is an air based team over Arkansas, who has a power running based attack. Gary Patterson’s defense will not let up another awful performance like last week, I’ve got TCU minus the points.

The Pick SU: TCU
The Pick: ATS: TCU -7.5

BYU (1-0) at Utah (1-0) – 7:30PM ET, FOX

The Holy War. BYU vs Utah. This game has had some crazy endings over the years, including what was the craziest college football game I have ever seen, and that is not an understatement, this happened back in 2012 when Utah rushed the field 3 different times. Firstly after they though time expired, however there was one second left, then again after a blocked kick, but it was still a live ball when they rushed the field, so there was a flag ON THE CROWD that gave BYU another kick, and then finally… well you should see it for yourself.

Anyway, about the game being played this year, BYU’s offense wasn’t anything special last week, but Taysom Hill threw for over 200 yards and Jamaal Williams ran for over 150. But the Cougars defense was fantastic, Arizona didn’t score a touchdown until 50 minutes in. BYU beat Arizona last week in Arizona, and I think they’ll beat Utah here in Utah.

The Pick SU: BYU
The Pick ATS: BYU +4.5

Iowa State (0-1) at #16Iowa (1-0) – 7:30PM ET, BTN

You know I’m scraping for games when 3 games this week feature teams that lost to FCS teams last week. This is the first of those three. Now the team Iowa State lost to last week (Northern Iowa) is actually quite good, as they are ranked #3 in the FCS Ranking right now. Iowa didn’t do anything to really impress me last week as they were actually outgained by Miami of Ohio, they ended up winning the game 45-21 but that does make me worry a little about the offense for the future, at the end of the day though, there is no way I’m picking a team that lost to an FCS School last week.

The Pick SU: Iowa
The Pick ATS: Iowa -15

Virginia Tech (1-0) vs #17Tennessee (1-0) (Bristol, TN) – 8PM ET, ABC

Virginia Tech vs Tennessee A.K.A. the Battle at Bristol has been rumored for years. It is finally here. 150,000 people will be on hand for what will be the most attended game in college football history. Tennessee really struggled against Appalachian State last week, in fact if it weren’t for a fumble that was recovered in the end zone the Vols might have actually lost, but at the same time FCS Liberty (Who’s unranked even in the FCS) kept it a lot closer than it should have been last week. Josh Dobbs really struggled last week, and I have confidence that he will bounce back and lead Tennessee to a victory over the Hokies at Bristol Speedway. However, Justin Fuente is a great coach and he’ll keep it close, so if you like betting take the Hokies plus the points.

The Pick SU: Tennessee
The Pick ATS: Virginia Tech +11

Washington State (0-1) at Boise State (1-0) – 10:15PM ET, ESPN2

Number two of three right here, Washington State fell to FCS School Eastern Washington. Boise State on the other hand blew out Louisiana-Lafayette last week, 45-10, and that’s a secretly good Louisiana-Lafayette team that has won  four bowl games in the past five years. Boise State’s quarterback Brett Rypien threw for over 425 yards last week, and I don’t see him slowing down anytime soon against a bad Washington State defense that let up over 600 yards to an FCS School last week. I’ll take Boise minus the points.

The Pick SU: Boise State
The Pick ATS: Boise State -11

Virginia (0-1) at #24 Oregon – 10:30PM ET, ESPN

*Full disclosure I am a Virginia fan.

And here we go for number three, Virginia lost to FCS #2 Richmond last week, now Oregon didn’t fare as well as you might expect against FCS team UC Davis, but at least they got the win. The Oregon passing game wasn’t very good last week, but Oregon quarterback Dakota Prukop will be able to test a lot of things out this week against a poor Virginia secondary that let up over 14 yards per completion to RICHMOND. LIKE COME ON. Now, Virginia’s offense was pretty good last week, when they weren’t turning the ball over WHICH THEY DID FOUR TIMES. Virginia also couldn’t convert late, going just 2-for-10 on third downs. Now you can attribute this to new schemes with an entirely new coaching staff, but that’s not a problem you fix in a week, I’m picking Oregon, minus the points.

The Pick SU: Oregon
The Pick ATS: Oregon -23.5