This week most teams will be starting their inter-conference play at we will start our preview in the great state of California in the beautiful city of Palo Alto where the Stanford Cardinal will be welcome the number two team in the country in the Trojans of USC. On paper USC should be able to absolutely roll over the Cardinal, but as history shows us that is not always the case. USC better be on upset alert this weekend and better be at the top of their game. Stanford has beaten the Trojans the last four years and that includes in 2007 when Stanford was a 42 point underdog. Matt Barkley always brings his A game so I do not think that will be an issue I just hope Lane Kiffen utilizes Robert Woods and Marqise Lee, as im sure he will, at the appropriate time. When Stanford throws out their two deep safeties it will be time to call on Silas Redd.

It is time once again for the city of East Lansing to welcome the Irish of South Bend. This game usually goes one way one year and the other way the next. Lately, Michigan State had had the upper hand, but overall Notre Dame still leads the series 46-28-1. The Spartans have not allowed an offensive touchdown this season and are looking for their first 3-0 start for the first time in 10 years. Notre Dame Sophomore quarterback Everett Golson is averaging nearly 300 passing yards a game and he has been highly talked about by ESPN analysts Mel Kipper Jr. and Todd McShay. The Irish are a big underdog, mainly because they have such a young team, but I believe if they can start off getting on top early we may see another upset of a Big 10 school.

Over the past several years, other than the Urban Meyer and Lane Kiffen controversy, the Florida-Tennessee rivalry has not been that high profile of a game. This year both teams are ranked in the top 25 and are both labeled underdogs in the SEC. In the last eight years Florida has had the upper hand and it has always seemed that whenever the Volunteers were in the top 25 the Gators destroyed them and kicked them back out. Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray threw for 310 yards and four touchdowns last week against Georgia State and in week one he threw for over 200 yards and two more scores. In every average category this year so far Tennessee outplays Florida including rushing yards, passing yards, and points scored. This game should be close, but it will depend on which “average” defense shows up.

College Gameday will be in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Week 3 Predictions:

Alabama 52-25 Arkansas

USC 35-32 Stanford

Notre Dame 17-25 Michigan State

California 23-24 Ohio State

Florida 32-42 Tennessee

BYU 21-17 Utah

Week 2 recap:

Although week two of the young college football season may have seemed uneventful, there were some games that deserve recognition.

Everything went according to plan for the top 7 teams in the country as Alabama, USC, LSU, Oregon, Oklahoma, Florida State, and Georgia all cruised to victory.

The same can’t be said for #8 Arkansas who was upset by Louisiana-Monroe in overtime.  Louisiana-Monroe rallied back from a 21-7 deficit at halftime.  They also accumulated 550 total yards compared to Arkansas who only totaled 377 yards.

Michigan State kept the train rolling with a 41-7 win over Central Michigan. Le’Veon Bell didn’t go over 200 yards.  In fact he didn’t even go over 100 yards, but he did add 2 touchdowns to the beat down.

Tajh Boyd kept Clemson rolling as well as they took down Ball State down with ease in a 52-27 victory.  Boyd threw for 229 yards and 3 touchdowns keeping his case as a possible Heisman candidate in tact.

Wisconsin had a very disappointing road loss to Oregon State in what many thought should have been a fairly easy win.  Ohio State was less than impressive in their 31-16 victory of UCF even though Braxton Miller did have 3 rushing touchdowns along with a passing touchdown.

Virginia Tech looked like Virginia Tech in a 42-7 rout over Austin Peay and Texas destroyed New Mexico.  Arizona upset Oklahoma State a week after they put up 84 points.

Michigan upset fans again by squeaking by Air Force.  However, Denard Robinson threw for 208 yards and 2 touchdowns, and rushed for 218 yards and two touchdowns.  Kansas State put a beat down on Miami, 52-13 and Florida took down Texas A&M 20-17 in Texas A&M’s SEC debut.

Although, it wasn’t as exciting as week one, it was still an exciting weekend of football, and as week three comes along there should be quite a few good games that could shake up the national championship discussions.

This week college football will have many different intriguing games that are a must watch for a fan of any age. We will start off with one of the most talked about National Championship contenders the Trojans of USC traveling to East Rutherford to take on Syracuse. The Trojans have not played a game in the north-east since 2000. I would definitely look for the Trojans to roll over Syracuse especially considering they have two players named Marquis Lee and Robert Wood on their team. USC will most likely start off this game with the same way the started off the game against Hawaii and im sure will be sending a statement to everyone else that they are back.

Another very tough match up will be the number 18 team in the land the Oklahoma State Cowboys travel down to Tucson to take on the Wildcats of Arizona. Rich Rodriguez is undefeated so far, of course that win was against Toledo, but they could make a huge statement and a huge upset if they could pull off a win against the Cowboys. I simply believe that Oklahoma State is still too strong and too fast of the Wildcats and even though they lost Bradon Weeden and Justin Blackmon to the NFL they have replaced them with marquee players in Austin Hays and J.W. Walsh. Arizona is very capable in having a great season, but if they want to be treated like an elite team  they are going to have to get noticed and beating a top 25 team would do the trick.

The prime time match up for this weekend is going to take place in Death Valley. The Bayou Bengals of LSU will be hosting the Washington Huskies. Right off the bat I would like to note that LSU does not lose very often and they lose if less at home. The Tigers have won 18 home straight games at home and the last time the Huskies went down to the SEC to face the Tigers it was 1983. This game should be decent, at least for the first half. Keith Price will have a little time to shine, but he better bring it in the first half. If the Huskies do not start off running and gunning and getting points the Tigers will soon pounce and then you can throw the towel in. The Tigers do not have the greatest offense in the country, but their defense is very close to perfect.

College Gameday will be in College Station, Texas to see the Aggies SEC debut against the Gators.

Week 2 Picks:

Pittsburgh 18- 25 Cincinnati

Florida 18-37 Texas A&M

Fresno State 18-48 Oregon

USC 52-27 Syracuse

Georgia 37-17 Missouri

Wisconsin 44-30 Oregon State

Nebraska 41-21 UCLA

Oklahoma State 55-24 Arizona

Purdue 10-28 Notre Dame

Washington 24-42 LSU

Finally, the college football season is underway.   It was an exciting weekend as always with some great games and plays including, quite possibly, the catch of the year.

That catch of the year came from Ohio State’s Devin Smith who made a leaping and twisting one handed grab in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown.  The Buckeyes started off slow and looked like they were so anxious that they played uptight.  However, as soon as the second quarter came along the Buckeyes rolled.  Braxton Miller accounted for 368 of the Buckeyes 538 yards with 207 in the air and 161 on the ground along with three total touchdowns.

Fellow Big Ten school, Michigan State, barely got by Boise State and rode the back of Le’Veon Bell who rushed for 210 yards and two touchdowns and added six catches for 55 yards.

Sticking with the Big Ten, Michigan did not fare too well against the Crimson Tide of Alabama.  Michigan’s poor play was a big disappointment to many as they were expected to be very good this season. Denard Robinson was not only shut down by the Alabama defense, but he also played poorly by making some bad decisions.

However, Alabama rolled.  Their offensive line was dominant and opened up some major holes for their running backs to get through and out into space.  AJ McCarron controlled the game from the beginning and was mistake free.  The Alabama defense looked like they will have the best defense in the country, yet again.

Former number one in the polls, USC, took down Hawaii with ease but still lost their ranking to Alabama.  Heisman favorite Matt Barkley threw for 372 yards and 4 touchdowns including 2 to Robert Woods.  Marqise Lee added 10 catches for 197 yards and a touchdown as well.

Oklahoma did not play like fourth ranked team in the country as they looked bad against UTEP.  South Carolina squeaked by Vanderbilt.  Oregon was up huge at halftime and then stopped scoring and ended with a 57-34 victory over Arkansas State.

West Virginia took down Marshall 69-34 with Geno Smith accounting for 5 touchdowns.  LSU looked solid without the Honey Badger and Clemson took down Auburn behind Andre Ellington and his 228 rushing yards.  This weekend recap can’t go without mentioning the 84-0 victory Oklahoma State had over Savannah State. Finally, Virginia Tech defeated Georgia Tech by a field goal in overtime escaping another opening game loss.

This was a very exciting weekend of college football and the rest of the season should be no different.  Alabama should continue to roll, and USC should keep up the offense for the rest of the season, potentially creating a great matchup for the national title.