College Football Week 2 Picks

3-4 vs the spread last week, but the only real shocker was the A&M blow-out of South Carolina.  Like our friend asked in the comments in the preceding post, was Clowney that good, that without him SC should be killed by a talent-depleted A&M?  I suppose Clowney was that good. . .and also that maybe the hype around Kevin Sumlin may be warranted.  I'd have to elevate A&M to SEC contender based on their ass-kicking of South Carolina, but they have a brutal schedule, with Ole Miss, Alabama, Auburn, Missouri and LSU left to play. 

Georgia looked like the flop they were last year in the first half against Clemson, but looked like the Title Contender they should be in the second half.

Chris Petersen nearly suffered a humiliating upset loss in his first game at Washington. . .the Huskies were lucky to win 17-16 in a game in which they were outplayed by a shitty Hawaii team.
  
Dumbass Coach of the Week: No contest.  Wisconsin's Gary Anderson was the EZ Pick for Week 1 Dumbass.  In the first half against LSU, Anderson's Badgers were beating LSU black-and-blue.  The huge Wiscy o-line was kicking the shit out of Les Miles' boys, and they continued in the first series in the third quarter, building a seeming insurmountable 17 point lead.  But then, Coach Anderson made a colossal dumbass *adjustment:* he decided to stop giving the ball to stud tailback Melvin Gordon, and, instead, put the game in the hands of new starting QB Tanner McEvoy.  Incomplete pass after incomplete pass after interception later, Coach Anderson's *adjustment* turned a sure win into an inexcusable loss.  There is no sane reason why Dumbass Anderson abandoned the run game, and let scatter-armed McEvoy toss the game away.  So here's the Mad Hatter getting a W in yet another game he has no business winning. Dumbass Coach of the Week Gary Anderson outsmarted himself, and robbed his players of a victory that would have put Wisconsin in a playoff contender position.

WEEK TWO PICKS:

The Week 2 schedule is a dumpster overflowing with garbage games like Florida Atlantic - Alabama, McNeese State - Nebraska, Citadel - Florida State.  There are only four games worth bothering about:

USC +4 at Stanford: I believe we will see the effects of the gradual erosion from the Jim Harbaugh days in David Shaw's fourth year at Stanford.  A Jim Harbaugh team would not have been out-toughed the way Stanford was against MSU in last year's Rose Bowl.  Don't expect a double-digit win total for Stanford this year.  USC has the d-line to push back against Stanford's softening o-line.  Stanford would need Barry Sanders, and not Barry Sanders Jr, running the ball to win this one.  USC.

Michigan State +11 at Oregon:  Easily the biggest early season game, with the winner having an inside track to the playoffs, especially if it's MSU, since the rest of their schedule is loaded with horse manure teams.  I said in my season preview the Spartans had been mistaken for a National Power, and apparently the experts agree, but I'm still surprised MSU is getting 11 points.  Given Oregon's penchant for turnovers and special teams blunders in money games, I'm tempted to take the Spartans +11. . .but I won't. . .I figure Oregon has the  offensive package to breakdown MSU's defense. MSU can score on Oregon, and should hang in the game for 3 quarters, but I see Oregon's QB, RBs and WRs running away late from a tired MSU defense.  Oregon.  

Michigan +6 at Notre Dame: Michigan looked like they had a real running game last week. . .but that was against Appy State.  This week they play a team without a defensive line comprised of 98 lb weaklings. . .and so we should go back to seeing Michigan's running backs tackled behind the line of scrimmage.  If Michigan wins, it will be because Devin Gardner lights it up like he did last year against ND, minus the dumb turnovers.  We also get to see if Michigan's defense can finally keep a mobile QB in check.  The Cheating Irish didn't miss any of their suspended players last week, but that was against Rice.  Michigan.

Virginia Tech +12 at Ohio State: Navy's triple option did what I thought it would to the Buckeye defense, gash it for 300+ rushing yards, but OSU's new QB hit the passes in the second half to save Urban Meyer from having to fake chest pains.  VaTech's offense will be a lot easier for OSU to handle, but VaTech's defense is of an order of magnitude greater than Navy's.  This should be a low-scoring snoozer, and in a low-scoring game, I'll always take a team getting 12 points.  Virginia Tech.