WEEK 1 REVIEW AND WEEK 2 PICKS

What a great first weekend in college football! Anyone who took my advice to not leave the couch all weekend can send me thank you notes in the mail. Great game after great game, the “Best Opening Weekend Ever” did not disappoint. There were definitely a few things I wanted to touch on in this week’s blog. Unfortunately, Week 2 doesn’t provide a ton of bigtime matchups but over the years that’s when you might see some of the best games.

THE SEC

Look, this is not a quick reaction or situation where I didn’t take a couple of days to think about it, but I’ve been saying this for years. The SEC isn’t where it once was. I know this may be a shocker to all the SEC fans out there, but they play football in the rest of the country as well and it showed large in Week 1. Before I get to the weekend that was, I’ll state my stance on the SEC. This league is Alabama and then several solid to mediocre teams. The SEC depends heavily on Alabama to be great and without it, it would be the freakin MAC! But since it does have Alabama, I have to take that into consideration. I think top to bottom, the PAC 12, ACC, and BIG 10 are right there with the SEC. I would probably rank the conferences right now…

PAC 12

SEC

ACC

BIG 10

BIG 12

Now this could change by years end but that’s where I have them right now. I wanted to touch on a couple teams in the SEC real quick.

LSU

When is Les Miles going to get fired? It blows my mind that he hasn’t developed an offense in years. Yes, Brandon Harris is still trash but that’s not his fault. LSU is trying to run a pro-style offense without a pro style quarterback and that typically doesn’t work. I respect Les for being loyal to Cam Cameron but it’s time to bring in a new guy to let LSU’s athletes get the ball and make plays. It’s boring and disheartening to watch LSU not get any better. As much I respect les Miles, it’s time for him to go.

AUBURN

What. The. Hell. Was. That.? Pick a quarterback!!! My goodness! How do you have FIVE different guys take snaps in a game? That’s insane. Gus Malzahn was known early in his career as an offensive genius but watching Auburn Saturday against Clemson was just offensive! Now they did get catch Clemson’s offense get off to a slow start to the season and stayed in the game but Malzahn needs to make a decision. John Franklin played the best of  the guys to me, but it’s tough to stay in a rhythm when you’re constantly getting pulled. Auburn opens the SEC schedule with Texas A&M and LSU. They NEED to win those games or I would seriously start to worry about Malzahn’s job security.

PICK A QUARTERBACK

Look, I haven’t been in a college football coaches meeting room before. I don’t know how those conversations go but I don’t understand how you can go all offseason without identifying the best person to lead your team. I can’t stress this enough. It is very difficult to establish and maintain a rhythm when you’re constantly getting pulled for another quarterback. Now this didn’t hurt Texas, as they found a way to get arguably their biggest win in years by upsetting Notre Dame. True freshman Shane Buechele played a great game but did miss a few throws. One has to wonder, was it because his rhythm was off due to being subbed out for Tyrone Swoopes? Luckily it didn’t hurt Texas but I firmly believe it hurt Notre Dame. Deshone Kizer is and has clearly been the best quarterback for Notre Dame, but Brian Kelly just had to give Maliik Zaire a shot. That might have cost Notre Dame the win. Georgia got off to a slow start trying to start Grayson Lambert when Jacob Eason was CLEARLY the better option. I could continue with teams being unable to pick a quarterback but I think with the outcomes of most of these teams, they realized the error of their ways and will rely on ONE guy the rest of the way.

WEEK 2 PICKS

So, we went 5/6 on picks last week! Would have been perfect if Ole Miss didn’t collapse in the 2^nd half but not bad for a week of major matchups! So here we go!

PITTSBURGH VS PENN STATE

Welcome back James Conner! So amazing seeing someone who overcame cancer and returned to the field. Even though it’s an in state rivalry, this game should not be very fun to watch. Two teams that rely on defense to win games. Pittsburgh’s is a little better so I expect them to set the tone for the game from the beginning! I expect it to go down to the wire.

PITTSBURGH 23

PENN STATE 13

TEXAS TECH VS ARIZONA STATE

Should be great game here with a lot of points. My BIG 12 player of the year, Patrick Mahommes is coming off a great game where he threw for almost 500 yards and 6 touchdowns. He will be tough to stop for an Arizona State secondary that is simply not very good. Arizona State has some offensive weapons and are led by new quarterback Manny Watkins and receiver Tim White. Texas Tech just has the best player on the field, so I’ll go with them.

TEXAS TECH 45

ARIZONA STATE 33

ARKANSAS VS TCU

TCU comes in as 6 point favorites in a slow week that makes this the biggest game of the day. Both teams struggled in their week 1 matchups but at least TCU was able to score. The Arkansas offense, despite several weapons only managed 21 points against Louisiana Tech. TCU ‘s quarterback Kenny Hill has some experience beating Arkansas as he did while a member of Texas A&M 2 years ago and coming off a performance where he threw for over 430 yards and scored 5 total touchdowns he looks poised to do it again. JUCO transfer Taj Williams has provided Hill with an elite option at receiver who looks to expose the Arkansas secondary. This should be a really good game as I expect TCU’s defense to look better than it did last week, but the Razorbacks will provide a great test.

TCU 34

ARKANSAS 26

TENNESSEE (23) VS VIRGINIA TECH

The best thing about this game is that it’s being played at Bristol Speedway! Should provide a great venue and 150,000 fans to watch an exciting matchup. As I mentioned before, I’m not buying any of the Tennessee hype this year. I might pick them to lose every game. New Hokies head coach Justin Fuente could use a signature win and to get one against a team from the “mighty SEC” would definitely be a good look. I expect Virginia Tech to load up against the run and force Josh Dobbs to beat them, and he probably won’t be able to. Meanwhile, Hokies quarterback Jerod Evans should be able to make some plays downfield.

VIRGINIA TECH 27

TENNESSEE 17