Saturday, September 8
Toledo at Wyoming: This is an interesting matchup between Toledo of the
MAC and Wyoming of the Mountain West. Toledo struggled on defense in giving up
over 600 yards in their opening loss to Arizona, 24-17. Wyoming played #15 Texas
tough for a half but got ran in the second half in losing 37-17 to the
Longhorns. With both teams coming off of losses this is an important game to
start a winning streak heading into conference play. The biggest matchup is
Toledo's defense versus Wyoming's offense. Expect Toledo to pull out this tough
fought week two game.
Nicholls State at South Alabama: After losing an opening day game to
fellow FBS newbie UTSA, South Alabama gets a matchup with FCS' Nicholls State.
The Jaguars are looking North Carolina State and Mississippi State in the face
after this game and really need to pull out this win to avoid an 0-4 start to
the season. Expect South Alabama to beat Nicholls State and win their first
game as an FBS school in the Sun Belt Conference.
Morgan State at Buffalo: Buffalo gets a bit of a reprieve after losing
to #6 Georgia 45-23 in the season opener. The Bulls played surprisingly well in
the first half and were within 8 points losing 24-16 at the half. It took 14
points from Georgia to put the game away in the 4th quarter and make the score
look worse than it really was. The Bulls ran for 199 yards in the game with
Oliver getting 111 of those yards. Expect Buffalo to continue to run the ball
well and mix some passing in for a full offensive performance in easily winning
over the FCS' Morgan State. Anything closer than 14 points would be a
disappointment.
Akron at Florida International: Akron continues their opening stretch
versus Florida schools with a road game versus FIU in Miami. The first game was
a disaster of a 56-14 loss to UCF to start the Terry Bowden era. Florida
International had trouble in their opening game losing big to Duke 46-26 to the
Blue Devils. FIU is the media favorite to win the Sun Belt this fall and need
to come up big versus a bad Akron team in week 2 and show the nation the team
that everyone was expecting this fall.
Fresno State at No. 4 Oregon: This is a matchup between Fresno State of
the Mountain West Conference and #4 Oregon of the Pac 12. Fresno State got the
post- Pat Hill era off to a good start with a 37-10 victory over the FCS' Weber
State in the season opener. The Bulldogs are taking a huge step up in teams
with a week 2 road trip to #4 Oregon who thrashed Arkansas State 57-34 in the
season opener with a 50-10 halftime lead before playing much more conservative
in the second half. Fresno State is improved from last season but do not have
the firepower to hang with Oregon and will lose in similar fashion to Arkansas
State.
No comments:
Post a Comment