I just watched the College Gameday Season Preview show and it inspired me to pick every game for Week 1 of the upcoming season, plus I thought that it would be fun to pick every game every week on this message board for both the college and NFL seasons. Here's my Week 1 predictions....
THURSDAY
Boston College over Central Michigan Tulsa over Stephen F. Austin Buffalo over Temple Florida International over Mid Tennessee State Ball State over Eastern Michigan Connecticut over Rhode Island Miami, OH over Northwestern
Note: I thought about it and my Northwestern pick for the Big Ten was kind of a stretch. They'll probably come out sluggish against Miami, OH after the offseason that they had.
Minnesota over Kent State Toledo over Iowa State UPSET SPECIAL #1 South Carolina over Mississippi State Louisiana-Monroe over Alcorn State Boise State over Sacramento State New Mexico State over Southeastern Louisiana #24 Arizona State over Northern Arizona Oregon State over Eastern Washington UTEP over San Diego State
FRIDAY
Nevada over Fresno State BIG GAME #1
SATURDAY
#3 Texas over North Texas Michigan State over Idaho #16 Iowa over Montana #15 Georgia over Western Kentucky #14 Michigan over Vanderbilt Purdue over Indiana State #17 Virginia Tech over Northeastern #1 Ohio State over Northern Illinois #5 West Virginia over Marshall #18 Clemson over Florida Atlantic #19 Penn State over Akron #20 Nebraska over Louisiana Tech #21 Oregon over Stanford Colorado over Montana State North Carolina over Rutgers UPSET SPECIAL #2 Washington over San Jose State Wyoming over Utah State Colorado State over Weber State #23 Tennessee over #9 Cal BIG GAME #2, UPSET SPECIAL #3 Navy over Eastern Carolina #7 Florida over Southern Miss Indiana over Western Michigan Maryland over William & Mary Duke over Richmond NC State over Appalachian State UCF over Villanova Wake Forest over Syracuse #10 Oklahoma over UAB #25 Texas Tech over SMU UCLA over Utah USF over McNeese State Missouri over Murray State Wisconsin over Bowling Green Ohio over Tennessee-Martin Oklahoma State over Missouri State Pittsburgh over Virginia Texas A&M over Citadel Illinois over Eastern Illinois Kansas over Northwestern State Troy over Alabama State Alabama over Hawaii Arkansas State over Army Kansas State over Illinois State Cincinnati over Eastern Kentucky #4 Auburn over Washington State #2 Notre Dame over Georgia Tech BIG GAME #3 #8 LSU over Louisiana-Lafayette New Mexico over Portland State Arkansas over #6 USC UPSET SPECIAL OF THE WEEK, BIG GAME #4 Houston over Rice UNLV over Idaho State Arizona over BYU
SUNDAY
Ole Miss over Memphis #22 TCU over Baylor #13 Louisville over Kentucky
MONDAY
#11 Florida State over #12 Miami, FL GAME OF THE WEEK
I'm really excited about college football being back.
How can you pick Miami Ohio over Northwestern? I'm putting a lot of money on the Wildcats because they said they are dedicating this game to their coach. Remember the Giants-Redskins game that ended 36-0 after Giants owner Wellington Mara died? It's going to the the same kind of deal. You also have to consider that Miami Ohio returns just seven starters, two of which are on defense.
I agree with Walter. Northwestern is already a better team than Miami (OH) and since NW is dedicating their game to their deceased coach, the RedHawks are doomed.
Well, Cal has to go cross-country for this game. I can see Tennessee as a small favorite, although they've had off-the-field problems this offseason. I actually think Cal will pull the upset.
By the way, I was lucky to bet Northwestern at -4. So many people bet on the game that bodog (the betting site I use) had to scratch the game, so no more people would bet on it.
My upset pick for Toledo to beat Iowa State was THAT close to coming through. Damn.
I thought long and hard about that pick and what it came down to was that Fresno State looked awful at the end of last season and I think that will carry over into this season.
The Wolfpack almost came back and won but Fresno State managed to maintain the victory.
How good did USC look and how bad did Arkansas look? I thought that the Razorbacks would be a contender for the SEC title this year. They looked awful. I think USC's win yesterday sets up a game in the final week of the season between unbeaten USC and unbeaten Notre Dame.
How bout that Notre Dame defense? If our defense continues to play that way, once our offense begins to click we will be unbeatable.
The Sooners looked awful against UAB. The second that Rhett Bomar was kicked off their team, Texas was crowned Big 12 South Champions.
Notre Dame's defense? They didn't look good at all. Georgia Tech was moving the chains at will in the first half. Reggie Ball looked like a Heisman winner until he probably realized: "Hey, I'm beating Notre Dame! This can't possibly be happening, can it? Oh no, I'm going to implode any second."
You've got to be kidding me? Their defense was a machine in the second half. They only allowed 10 points to a team that has one of the best wide receivers in college football and one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC. Their tackling was much better than last season.
Their defense was a "machine" because Reggie Ball predictably imploded. I was watching the game with my dad, who doesn't know much about NCAA Football, and I told him at the end of the first half: "I know Reggie Ball looks good now, but wait till the 2nd half. He's going to be making mistakes left and right."
