The Eye Test: Week 2 Reaction

College football these days is all about perception.  Come the end of the season people will be asking things like how bad was that loss? And, how good was that win? A decision in the minds of the voters will have to be made as to which team “looks” the best and those perceptions are already being built in this young season. Thus, it is so incredibly important for conferences to perform well and for teams to win big and not struggle.  You have to pass the "eye test".

In this post, I’m not going to talk about how good Alabama or LSU or the SEC look, because they are already at the top of public perception.  Nor am I going to talk about how bad the Big East looks, because well everyone expects that.  I want to point out some trends that I think will be important to keep an eye on as time progresses. 

Picks: Week 2 Reaction

With week two in the books, the craziness of college football is once again evident.  My picking ability this week seemed to reflect that un-predictability.  After struggling in week one, I went 3-5 overall and 1-3 on my confidence picks.  Check out the original post here.  

"Most Likely": Week 2

I've got a new weekly post I’m starting this week called “Most Likely”.

I will be asking the same 5 questions each week about my personal top 15 teams concerning their upcoming games. Hopefully, It will be a fun way to preview the games each week. 

Note: Preface each statement with “The team most likely to…”

Get upset (must be a 10+ point line): SOUTH CAROLINA – I really wish that I had Wisconsin in my top 15 because that would be the easy pick here, but since they aren’t I am going to have to go with the Gamecocks.  They are playing ECU this week and I've seen what ECU can do early in the season against the big boys.  This could be a possible game to keep an eye on. 

Pull the starters in the 2^nd quarter:  FLORIDA STATE - This is an easy one this week with FSU playing Savannah State who lost to OSU last week by  84. 

Look worse than their ranking: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA – They are flying across country and will be playing at 11:30 AM PST.  Syracuse is coming off of a rough loss and will be hyped for this game.  USC will lose ground this week to Oregon in the rankings. 

Look better than their ranking: GEORGIA – People are thinking that Mizzou will be out for blood this week against the Dawgs, but I think Georgia impresses this week and shows everyone that they are the team to beat in the SEC East.

Climb into the top 15: OKLAHOMA STATE – While I really don’t see anyone falling out of the top 15 this week, if anyone does OSU will be there to take their spot.  I see them winning big against Arizona.  If one team were to fall out, it might be Nebraska with having to go to UCLA and already being on the cusp at #14.  

Check out my week 2 picks here!

Picks: Week 2

After a mediocre start to the season, going 2 for 4 in my high confidence picks and 3 for 8 overall, I’m looking to get back on track this week.  The way this works is that I have to pick all matchups between top 25 teams, all conference matchups in the ACC and Big 12 and then I can fill in with whatever other games interest me.  I have to pick a minimum of 8 games per week.  Once the season get rolling there will be significantly more each week.  Also I pick all games against the spread and straight up. 

I will star 4 picks each week that I would “bet” if I had the money.  These are my confidence picks and I will track them throughout the year.  Finally, I will also keep a record of my straight up picks in ACC, Big12 and top 25 games.  

Standings as of last week:

Confidence Picks: 2-2

ACC: 2-0

BIG12: 0-0

TOP25: 2-0

Here we go:

* North Carolina -10.5 over Wake Forest – North Carolina looked like they had their act together last week against Elon, while Wake struggled against Liberty.  Liberty is probably a slightly better team, but we are talking FCS here and a 62 point margin vs. a 3 point margin. I know this is the ACC and anything can happen on any week but I still think that this is an easy one, UNC wins running away. 

* Oklahoma State -10.5 over Arizona – At the rate OkState scores, the chances of this game being 10 points or closer seems very slim to me.  I could see Arizona challenging for the first half, but I think OSU pulls away at the end and stretches this to 2 or 3 scores with a few late TDs.

Penn State +10 over Virginia – I will give UVA the edge in this game straight up, but I think that Penn State fights back after getting embarrassed last week and makes this game closer than people expect.

Duke +15 over Stanford – I will ride the Duke train all year if I can.  I think that this team will play great against a Stanford team that struggled last week.  Stanford will pull away at the end, but win by less than 2 scores. 

Texas A&M +1 over Florida – This game has been hovering around EVEN for most of the week and I think that’s where it should be.  The real question here is if the cancellation of last week’s game for A&M will make them not ready for SEC play.  But then again, I don’t think a Florida team that struggled against Bowling Green will be able to really show true SEC football.  I think the home crowd gives the Aggies the edge in this one.  They win a close one.

* Georgia -2 over Missouri – I am high on Georgia this year and since I picked them to run the table in the regular season, I will pick them here.  While I think Mizzou will come out strong, they are just not ready for SEC football and will be outmatched by UGA. 

* Michigan -21 over Air Force – I am putting my money where my mouth is on this one in saying that Michigan will bounce back from the Alabama game and will have a great season after all.  I think Denard gets his act together and UM wins big in the Big House.

Kansas State -7 over Miami (FL) – Collin Klein will take care of business at home against Miami.  I don’t think that the Hurricanes have the weapons to score with KState or the defense to stop them.  I mean, they gave up 32 to Boston College… The Wildcats cover.