We here at Sports Illustrated (read: the author) were wrong about last week. If you’ve paid any attention to college football over the years, you could have seen last week coming: matchups that aren’t too great on their face can often set us up for something magical. Well, we got just about that when Notre Dame, Texas A&M and Nebraska all lost at home to Sun Belt teams. And while Alabama didn’t lose to Texas, it was a close one (20–19) for the Tide, who came in as a 20-point favorite. It was a lot of fun, and here’s hoping this week’s game (which looks better at face value) can even be half as great.
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Noon
Georgia (-25) vs. South Carolina
The Georgia defense got its hands on Bo Nix in Week 1, and we saw how that went. Here, the Dawgs face another quarterback, Spencer Rattler, who also could give them the gift of turnovers in this game. Georgia’s front is so good that we rarely see their DBs sufficiently tested. With Rattler’s ability to throw the deep ball they may get a bit of a test in this game, but if Carolina’s OL plays the way it has to date this season, maybe not.
Oklahoma (-11) vs. Nebraska
Welcome to the Mickey Joseph era (at least in an interim capacity). Nebraska’s first Black coach in any sport takes to the sideline after the Huskers got the coaching cycle going by firing Scott Frost on Sunday. There’s a school of thought that Huskers athletic director Trev Alberts did that to stave off the awkwardness of a semi-lame duck Frost coaching a huge matchup for the NU faithful when the rivalry gets renewed.
Purdue vs. Syracuse (-1.5)
There are plenty of people who felt Syracuse coach Dino Babers was in the hot seat coming into this season, despite the fact that AD John Wildhack insisted he was not. Cuse is now 2–0, and early returns have shown progress for a team that’s struggled over the last few years. In comes Purdue, which also is looking to get a foothold this season after blowing a Week 1 lead against Penn State at home.
Midday
BYU vs. Oregon (-3.5), 3:30 p.m.
As mentioned earlier, Oregon got punked by a supremely physical Georgia team in Week 1. BYU will also try to play a brand of bully ball against the Ducks, and as Oregon tries to establish an identity in the Dan Lanning era, a win over a solid Cougars team would be a great start.
Penn State vs. Auburn, 3:30 p.m.
The Nittany Lions go on the road for the rematch of last year’s tight game in Happy Valley. Both these teams boast talented defensive fronts and quarterback situations that span between average and borderline experimental. Auburn is still fiddling with how to deploy its two quarterbacks (sometimes doing so at the same time) and struggled to dispatch San Jose State last week at home. Penn State’s Sean Clifford is established as a starter, and you know what you’re getting with him. The Nittany Lions feel that’s fine for now, although talented freshman Drew Allar waits in the wings.
Matt Pendleton-USA TODAY Sports
Night
Mississippi State (-2.5) vs. LSU, 6 p.m.
Mississippi State comes home after a late-night win in Arizona last week to play their SEC opener on the Bayou. This is also the first conference game for new coach Brian Kelly, whose tenure has gotten off to a rocky start. After a tune-up game against Southern last week, have the Tigers fixed the issues that plagued them in their wild loss against Florida State?
Texas Tech vs. NC State, 7 p.m.
The Red Raiders had a big home win over Houston last week and host an NC State team that continues its treacherous nonconference slate. They escaped Greenville, N.C., with a win over ECU in Week 1. Now Lubbock is next.
UTSA vs. Texas (-12), 8 p.m.
There would be nothing more Texas than acquitting themselves well in a big game and then losing to a team that—while a legitimate threat—they should deal with. Hudson Card is back as the starting QB with Quinn Ewers out for a significant time, and Texas’s offense features significantly less of a vertical passing threat without Ewers behind center. But Texas’s defense offers a ton of optimism after its strong showing against Alabama. Part of Texas getting “back” will be bringing that same intensity again this week.
Rodolfo Gonzalez/AP Photo
Miami vs. Texas A&M (-6), 9 p.m.
There’s no game that lost its juice more than this matchup. Case in point: You will note that College GameDay is at Appalachian State and not College Station. The sport’s preeminent pregame show will celebrate the team that won last week in College Station rather than the Aggies. A&M plays host to a Miami team that wants to find a way to establish itself this season, and making an emphatic statement in this game and sending A&M as a program rapidly spiraling even further from the preseason expectations it had would be just the thing to do that.
Fresno State vs. USC (-12), 10:30 p.m.
USC is going to score a ton of points … that much is nearly guaranteed given what they’ve shown in the first two weeks. The problem is that they’re going to give up a bunch of points to someone who doesn’t seemingly hand them the ball at will. USC has eight takeaways this season (two fumble recoveries and six interceptions) and also had multiple defensive scores in Week 1. Eventually that success is not going to continue … and if it stops this week, Fresno State’s Jake Haener is well equipped to take advantage.
