Friday, September 7
Utah at Utah State: Both Utah and Utah State won easily in season
openers by a combined 74-3 over FCS teams Southern Utah and Northern Colorado.
This is a rivalry game between the big boys from the Pac 12 in Utah versus the
WAC's Utah State. Utah owns the overall series lead 76-29-4 while winning the
last 12 meetings between the two programs. Utah State is not quite on the level
of Utah and should hang tough for a while but get ran by the Utes late in the
game losing by double digits.
UCF at No. 18 Ohio State: Central Florida faces #18 Ohio State in
Columbus, Ohio for a week 2 meeting. Both teams scored 56 points with UCF
giving up 14 and Ohio State giving up 10 points in meetings versus MAC schools.
This is the first meeting between the two schools but could end up being seen
as UCF's bowl game with the NCAA sanctions looming over the 2012 season. If UCF
comes out with a sense of urgency and makes the early plays the Miami OH
couldn't make in the opening quarter, the Knights could pull an upset. Expect
Ohio State to run down Central Florida and win a hard fought game.
Tulane at Tulsa: Tulane and Tulsa meet in a week 2 Conference USA
matchup. Both teams are entering the game 0-1 after Tulsa fell to Iowa State
38-23 and Tulane lost to Rutgers 24-12. Tulsa jumped to an early lead but were
outscored by 24 points over the rest of the game in losing by 15 points. This
is the 9th meeting between the two schools with Tulsa holding a 7-1 series
record including all 7 matchups from 2000 to present. Tulsa struggled
offensively after the first quarter last week and need to fix some issues but a
matchup with Tulane is the perfect medicine. Tulsa may struggle getting their
offense on track but end up rolling on offense in beating conference foe Tulane
quite easily in the end.
East Carolina at No. 9 South Carolina: East Carolina and South Carolina
meet in what has recently become revived rivalry between the Pirates of
Conference USA and the Gamecocks of the SEC. Both teams struggled in season
openers but pulled out wins to start the season with twin 1-0 records. South
Carolina is 11-5 overall versus East Carolina with an average 30-17 score. The
Gamecocks won the most recent meeting 56-37 in 2011. The Pirates do have a bit
of an advantage with South Carolina quarterback Connor Shaw recovering from
injury but it is yet to be seen if the Pirates have the ability to stop the
running game of the Gamecocks. Expect South Carolina to win by double digits in
the end.
Ball State at No. 14 Clemson: This is a meeting between Ball State of
the MAC and #14 Clemson of the ACC with both teams entering the season with 1-0
records. The Cardinals scored 37 points in their season opening win over EMU
with 329 yards rushing in the win. The Tigers beat Auburn in their season
opener and also relied on the run game with 320 yards rushing in the victory.
The teams have met 2 previous times previously with Clemson winning both games
by 24-10 and 30-7 scores. Ball State will struggle to run the ball versus a
solid Clemson defense and Clemson should cruise to a large margin of victory in
the second half.
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