Saturday, September 8
No. 8 Arkansas vs. Louisiana-Monroe: This is a matchup between
Louisiana-Monroe of the Sun Belt and #8 Arkansas of the SEC. ULM did not play
in week one and this matchup versus Arkansas is at a neutral site in Little
Rock, Arkansas. Arkansas played the FCS' Jacksonville State in the season
opener and won comfortably but gave up more to the Jacksonville State offense
than the Razorbacks are happy with. Expect ULM to hang tough for the first half
before the Arkansas depth and speed takes control and pulls the Razorbacks to a
comfortable win.
North Dakota State at Colorado State: This is a home matchup for
Colorado State of the Mountain West Conference versus North Dakota State of the
FCS. Colorado State came up big in the first game of the Jim McElwain era in
beating bitter rival Colorado in the season opener. The Rams defense held
Colorado to only 245 total yards and only 3 points total in the second half in
the win. The Rams have some surprisingly tough games versus San Jose State,
Utah State and Air Force coming up and need to make sure they don't look past
NDSU and get that all important second win of the season. Expect Colorado State
to win by 17+ points in this game.
UTEP at Ole Miss: This is a matchup between UTEP of Conference USA and
Ole Miss of the SEC in the second game of the season for both teams. The UTEP
Miners struggled offensively in the season opener versus Oklahoma with only 48
yards passing and 3 missed field goals in the 24-7 loss. The Miners were only
down 10-7 in the 4th quarter but gave up two fourth quarter touchdowns in the
loss. Ole Miss beat the FCS' Central Arkansas 49-27 in their season opener.
UTEP and Ole Miss match up very evenly in this game and it could go down to the
wire with the caveat being that UTEP improves offensively from week 1 to week
2. Expect Ole Miss to pull out the win due to UTEP's inability to pass
effectively.
Idaho at Bowling Green: This is a matchup between Idaho of the Western
Athletic Conference and Bowling Green of the Mid American Conference. Idaho
could not have looked worse in their opening game versus the FCS' Eastern
Washington losing by the score of 20-3. The Vandals only totaled 237 yards of
offense and went 2-15 on third down conversions and two turnovers. Bowling
Green came so close to pulling an upset in the Swamp versus #23 Florida. The
Falcons were driving at the end of the third quarter and threw an interception
to start the 4th. Bowling Green was unable to respond and lost 27-14 in a very
hard fought game. Expect Bowling Green to take out some of the frustration of
the lost chances versus Florida and put a hurting on the reeling Idaho Vandals.
Something along the lines of 45-14 seems reasonable.
New Mexico State at Ohio: This is a matchup between New Mexico State of
the Western Athletic Conference and Ohio of the Mid American Conference. New
Mexico State comes into this game on the heels of a dominant 49-19 win over
FCS' Sacramento State. The Aggies threw for 367 yards in the season opener and
look like an improved team in 2012 based on a small sample size. Ohio played
horribly in the first half versus Penn State but regrouped and dominated the
Nittany Lions of the Big 10 in the second half winning 24-14. Preseason 1st
team All-MAC quarterback Tyler Tettleton threw for 324 yards in the opener.
Expect New Mexico State to hang tough but they are going on the road versus a
very strong team in Ohio who should pull away with another strong second half
in winning along the lines of 38-24.
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