Week 2 college football thread: Everybody Do the Michigan Rag

UAB plays at Louisiana Monroe Saturday. ULM is coached by Bryant Vincent, who was Bill Clark's OC here. He was interim HC for the season when Clark retired and was not retained. Did a year as OC at New Mexico St then took the Monroe job. There are 14 former UAB staffers on his staff, plus four former UAB players on the team. I don't know that I've ever seen that before.

 

This renaming seems to be going smoother than the last one in T-Town.

https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/...yants-name-added-to-stadium-49-years-ago.html

 

I was living in Birmingham for Coach Bryant's last championship in '79. The level of idolatry was unbelievable.

 

Games I like this week:
• Georgia Tech -3 at Syracuse — Syracuse gave up 255 rushing yards to Ohio, and it looks Georgia Tech can run the hell out of the ball. Give me Tech.

• Arkansas +8.5 at Oklahoma State and Michigan +7.5 vs. Texas — Two games that just feel like they’ll be one-score games so a two-score line seems high. Give me the baffling underdogs.

• Akron +23 at Rutgers — If it’s possible, Akron lost to Ohio State by 46 and looked kind of spunky. It was only 17-3 at halftime, and Ohio State had two defensive TDs in the second half to finally pull away. If Rutgers is half as good as Ohio State, then Akron ought to have a chance to cover this, right?

• Missouri -34.5 vs. Buffalo and Ole Miss -43.5 vs. Middle Tennessee — Two more match-ups of good SEC teams at home vs. crappy non-conference opponents. Both can probably hang 50+ on the board, so I’ll take my chances that the defenses can do their part and cover.

• Mississippi State +6.5 at Arizona State — Another game where the spread just seems too high for this kind of equal-footing peer match-up. It seems like a one-score game either way, so let’s roll with Mississippi State and the points. Mississippi State +190 on the money line isn’t a bad play, either.

• Boise State +21 at Oregon — What the hell am I missing here? I got this game early in the week at +18.5 and now it’s up to 21, after Oregon looked terrible last week. Recency bias, Boise might not be the Boise of the past, etc. It’s still way too high given what we’ve seen.

• USC -28.5 vs. Utah State — That extra half a point scares me a little, but not enough to back off USC. They’re solid. Utah State, meanwhile, was behind at halftime at home against Robert Morris.

And some games I want to like, but can’t:
• Colorado O56.5 at Nebraska — This seems like it should go over 60 points easily, but for some reason I’m getting a red flag warning on it. I wouldn’t blame anyone who takes it. I’m staying away, though.

• Washington -27 vs. Eastern Michigan — I think Washington is going to exist in its own little pocket dimension this year. Betting on this game feels like betting on finding Bigfoot.

• Texas Tech O66 at Washington State — They should play this game for a pirate flag or a trip to Key West. Are these teams still running wide open like they used to? If you can’t answer that question (and I can’t), then it’s probably best not to bet a mid-60s Over total.

 

I do like the Ole Miss play. Lane Kiffin lives to pour it on against out of conference cupcakes.

 

Kiffin has done a nice job at Ole Miss, but looking back over his tenure there he hasn't beaten anyone of consequence, except for maybe LSU last year. Might be toime for him to win a big game, like Alabama or Georgia.

 

As expected, Western Ill. at Indiana is an early tire fire.

 

SMU must be stoked that Daddy’s money bought them a slot in the P4 pledge class. My God they look dead on offense.

 

It's 70-3 Indiana early in the fourth, and WIU's QB is running for his life.

 

I question how Western Illinois hangs on as a school, much less a scholarship football team.