Week 2 Recap

Week 2 is officially in the books! From one-point games to huge wins, from big upsets to easy cakewalks, from defensive battles to absolute barnburners; this week had it all. There is plenty to look at, so let’s get right to it – starting by looking at my games of note and predictions from last week’s post.

Games of Note and Predictions

#21 Iowa 26 – #20 Iowa State 16 – My prediction: Iowa 35 – 24. The Hawkeye state is, once more, black and gold. Hawks win their 6th straight against the in-state rivals, in what was a matchup between ranked teams for the second straight year, to set up a huge showdown with #14 Minnesota this week. It’s alright though Cyclone fans, at least this isn’t quite as embarrassing as say, a three-score home loss as a heavy favorite to some team from the Sun Belt. Oh wait…

#2 Ohio State 42 – #7 Oregon 3 – My prediction: Ohio State 42 – 28. Speaking of embarrassing, this one has gotta hurt big-time if you are a Ducks fan. They had a chance to come out and prove they belong up with the big boys, but oh my did they blow it. Meanwhile, what an impressive victory for Ohio State. They certainly earned a bump up to #1 in the rankings.

#23 Boise State 40 – Air Force 41 (OT) – My prediction: Air Force 32 – 24. Yep, I did correctly pick this upset, thank you for asking. Air Force prevails in a high scoring, overtime battle by literally the slimmest of margins, which ends Boise’s streak of three-straight against the Falcons.

Houston 31 – Washington State 27 – My prediction: Washington State 28 – 17. Okay, so it looks like Houston did deserve my confidence in their bounce-back-ability after all. Props to the Cougars for a solid road win. We’ll see if they can keep it going with a huge game this week @ #20 Memphis. Meanwhile, Washington State will be disappointed to drop this one, but shouldn’t have to look too far forward to get back to winning ways. Idaho is up next week.

Purdue 27 – #19 Memphis 38 – My prediction: Purdue 30 – 24. Okay, so I’m 1-1 on upset picks for the week – that’s not bad. I will admit, I slept on Memphis a little bit. But this is by no means a great win, so count me as still a bit skeptical of the Tigers. A win over Houston in a massive game this week would go some way in proving themselves.

Other Games of Note

Nebraska 40 – Central Michigan 39 (OT) – Another one-point overtime game? College football oh how we’ve missed you. For Nebraska, this is one where you take your victory and run.

North Carolina 35 – #12 Auburn 31 – North Carolina held their own in what was a sneaky good matchup. Certainly more impressive than their 20-point home loss to UCF. And yet, the preseason top-20 team still find themselves at 0-2.

Boston College 7 – Ohio 10 – UPSET ALERT! 74.4% favorites BC lose at home to a stifling Bobcats defense. They still have plenty to prove, but might Ohio be a dark horse to win the MAC?

#17 UCF 34 – FIU 3 – Yes they were heavy favorites, but the manner in which UCF won is still impressive. Two wins for the Knights, and two dominating performances.

#4 LSU 44 – Texas 13 – Believe me, I get it. Texas was never supposed to win this one on the road against the defending champs. But c’mon Longhorns, at least make it look respectable. Absolutely shambolic start to the season for Texas.

Rice 36 – Army 14 – They did it as underdogs, and now they proved they can win as favorites. And in impressive fashion no less. Is Rice for real? I guess we’ll find out in a hurry, with #4 LSU up next. You saw it here first: #RankRice.

Indiana 13 – Western Kentucky 12 – Yet another one-point game. Indiana holds on for dear life in one of several defensive slugfests this week.

Louisiana 34 – Wyoming 40 – Wyoming pulls of an impressive upset against 59.1% favorites Louisiana, whose fans will likely be unbothered this week by our sim results.

BYU 27 – Michigan State 16 – It’s official: Michigan State is BAD. Not to take anything away from BYU. A good win for them here to bounce back from a close loss to Utah last week.

Arizona 29 – Stanford 28 – Arizona might be kinda… good? They find themselves at 3-0 after this big win as heavy home underdogs to Stanford. (And week 2 continues its trend of one-point games for those of you keeping track at home)

UNLV 35 – #24 Arizona State 21 – Arizona State didn’t last long in the top 25. This is a woeful loss to a UNLV team that had looked absolutely hopeless so far in losses to Cal and Louisiana Tech.

Of course, there was plenty more action last week that I couldn’t cover here, so be sure to check out the results page for all of the week 2 scores. As opposed to last week, I will have my games of note and predictions for week 3 in a separate post. Look out for that in the next day or two!

-Gavin