Saturday, September 8
Tennessee-Martin at Northern Illinois: This is a meeting between
Northern Illinois of the Mid American Conference and Tennessee-Martin of the
FCS. The teams have never previously played in school history. Northern Illinois
is coming off of a devastating 1-point loss to Iowa at Soldier Field in
Chicago, Illinois to start the season. The Huskies struggled on offense with a
disappointing 54 yards passing versus Iowa. UT Martin started the season on the
road versus Memphis and pulled out a 20-17 victory over the Conference USA foe.
Expect Northern Illinois to get their offense back on track and run away with a
very comfortable victory over UT Martin.
Louisiana-Lafayette at Troy: This is an inter-conference matchup pitting
the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns versus the Troy Trojans of the Sun Belt Conference.
Louisiana and Troy have played 16 times previously with the Ragin' Cajuns
holding a 9-7 overall edge including a 31-17 victory over the Trojans in 2011.
Louisiana opened the season with a 40-0 victory over the FCS' Lamar holding the
Cardinals to 194 yards of total offense and 4 turnovers. Troy had a bit more of
a challenge with UAB defeating the Blazers 39-29 behind 262 yards rushing and 191
yards in the air. Troy just does not have the players to hang with ULL and
unless they win the turnover battle by 2 or more, then the Ragin' Cajuns of
Louisiana should win by at least two touchdowns.
Eastern Illinois at Western Michigan: This is a matchup between Western
Michigan of the Mid American Conference and Eastern Illinois of the FCS.
Eastern Illinois won the only previous meeting between the schools 28-20 in
1996. Western Michigan is coming off of a 24-7 loss to Big 10 foe Illinois in
which the Broncos were doomed by 4 turnovers in the game. The Broncos ended the
day with -6 yards on the ground. While Eastern Illinois pulled out a win over
rival Southern Illinois, EIU will struggle versus Western Michigan. Expect
Western Michigan to get things in order offensively and roll to an easy victory
in preparation of a week 3 trip to Minnesota.
Army at San Diego State: This is a matchup between FBs independent Army
and San Diego State of the Mountain West Conference. This is the second meeting
between the two schools with San Diego State winning the only previous meeting
23-20 last fall. San Diego State is coming off of a 21-12 loss to Washington on
the road. The Aztecs struggled passing with the loss of Ryan Lindley to
graduation and ended the game with 128 yards in the air. For Army, this is a cross-country
season opener in which the Black Knight hope to prove to the nation that last
season was the aberration and they will return to a bowl this fall. Expect Army
to have their way running the ball versus the Aztec defense but it should be a
low scoring game. Either team could easily win the game but this game looks to
play out like last year with San Diego State pulling it out in the end.
Kent State at Kentucky: This is a matchup between Kent State of the Mid
American Conference and Kentucky of the South Eastern Conference. The two teams
have previously met 6 times with Kentucky winning all 6 of the meetings including
a 56-20 meeting the last time they met in 2007. Kent State is coming off of a
20-point win over FCS foe Towson with the Golden Flashes winning easily despite
only totaling 267 yards of total offense in the opener. The Kentucky Wildcats
are coming off of an 18-point loss to #25 Louisville in the season opener. The
Wildcats were undone by 2 turnovers and the inability to run the ball
effectively versus Louisville. Expect this to be a sloppy game in which both
teams turn the ball over multiple times throughout the game. Kentucky should be
able to pull out the win in similar fashion to the Central Michigan game in 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment