College Football Outpost's Guide To Week Two

By AllisonFoley - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9997346

Week two is nearly upon us and we have barely had a chance to process the start to the college football season. The G5 struggled to pull and significant upsets, but have a few serious shots to wake up the nation with a win.

Five Upset Opportunities:

• MTSU at Syracuse (-9.5)
• Western Michigan at Michigan State (-7)
• Mississippi State (-8.5) at Louisiana Tech
• Boise State at Washington State (-10)
• San Diego State at Arizona State (-3.5)

Biggest Line:

• Fresno State (+43.5) at Alabama 

Five Closest Lines:

• Memphis at UCF (-3)
• Ohio at Purdue (-3.5)
• Rice at UTEP (-1.5)
• Houston (-1) at Arizona
• San Diego State at Arizona State (-3.5)

Biggest G5 Over P5 Favorite:

• WKU (-7.5) at Illinois

Early Season Injuries of Note:

• CMU TE Tyler Conklin (Foot): Out indefinitely
• South Alabama S Neiko Robinson (Leg): Doubtful for week 2
• UTSA CB Teddrick McGhee (Undisclosed): Doubtful for week 2
• UNLV RB Charles Williams (Ankle): Doubtful for week 2
• Wyoming DE Josiah Hall (Concussion): Out for week 2

Week Two Schedule:

9/7:

• Idaho State at Utah State, 7:00 PM

9/8:

• Memphis at Central Florida, ESPNU, 5:30 PM
• Alcorn State vs. Florida International, 6:00 PM
• Ohio at Purdue, 7:00 PM, FS1
• #11 Oklahoma State at South Alabama, 7:00 PM, ESPN2

The AAC matchup is the top game of Friday night with the winner looking like the team best suited to give South Florida trouble. Ohio can beat Purdue, but Brohm and company looked much improved last week versus Louisville.

9/9:

Morning:

• #21 South Florida at Connecticut, 9:30 AM, ESPNEWS
• Cincinnati at #8 Michigan, 11:00 AM, ABC
• East Carolina at West Virginia, 11:00 AM, FS2
• Florida Atlantic at #9 Wisconsin, 11:00 AM, BTN
• Charlotte at #19 Kansas State, 11:00 AM
• Buffalo at Army, 11:00 AM, CBSSN
• ULM at #10 Florida State, 11:00 AM, ACC Network

An ugly slate of morning games with South Florida/UConn being good background noise as you eat breakfast. Otherwise, go for a walk or catch up on sleep until the later games.

Afternoon:

• Texas State at Colorado, 1:00 PM, Pac12
• UAB at Ball State, 2:00 PM, ESPN3
• Tulane at Navy, 2:30 PM, CBSSN
• Villanova at Temple, 2:30 PM, ESPN3
• Old Dominion at UMass, 2:30 PM
• MTSU at Syracuse, 2:30 PM, ACC Network
• Western Michigan at Michigan State, 2:30 PM, BTN
• Eastern Michigan at Rutgers, 2:30 PM, BTN
• Austin Peay at Miami, 2:30 PM, ESPN3
• Eastern Illinois at Northern Illinois, 2:30 PM, ESPN3
• Howard at Kent State, 2:30 PM, ESPN3
• Fresno State at Alabama, 2:30 PM, ESPN2
• Abilene Christian at Colorado State, 2:30 PM
• San Jose State at Texas, 2:30 PM, Longhorn Network
• Savannah State at Appalachian State, 2:30 PM, ESPN3
• Louisiana at Tulsa, 3:00 PM, ESPN3
• Central Michigan at Kansas, 3:00 PM
• Gardner Webb at Wyoming, 3:00 PM

A couple of upset specials in the afternoon give some flair to an otherwise drab week two afternoon schedule. I really think Tulane at Navy and UAB at Ball State could be fun, while Fresno State at Alabama will not be fun at all. Louisiana at Tulsa had the ability to end up 50-47 unless the defenses finally show up for both or either team.

Late Afternoon:

• Hawaii at UCLA, 4:00 PM, Pac12
• Marshall at NC State, 5:00 PM, ACC Network
• South Dakota at Bowling Green, 5:00 PM, ESPN3
• New Hampshire at Georgia Southern, 5:00 PM, ESPN3
• Alabama State at Troy, 5:00 PM, ESPN3
• Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Akron, 5:30 PM, ESPN3

There is not much going on before the primetime games with four of the six games being versus FCS competition. I do not see Marshall or Hawaii pulling a later afternoon upset. 

Primetime:

• North Texas at SMU, 6:00 PM, ESPN3
• Southern at Southern Miss, 6:00 PM
• Toledo at Nevada, 6:00 PM, ESPN3
• UNLV at Idaho, 6:00 PM, ESPN3
• Mississippi State at Louisiana Tech, 6:30 PM, CBSSN
• UTSA at Baylor, 7:00 PM
• Rice at UTEP, 7:00 PM
• New Mexico State at New Mexico, 7:00 PM

Now we are getting somewhere. UNT/SMU, Toledo/Nevada, NMSU/UNM, and UNLV/Idaho all have the ability to become very fun games, but finding them on TV involves ESPN3 and their spotty feed. Louisiana Tech WILL beat the other Bulldogs. Don’t let me down Skip.

Baylor is now at -17 with very little respect given to the Roadrunners. I am not calling for an outright upset, but UTSA will make Baylor work to win this game. Hey, Rice/UTEP… loser finishes last in CUSA.

Late Night:

• Houston at Arizona, 9:30 PM, ESPNU
• Boise State at #20 Washington State, 9:30 PM, ESPN
• San Diego State at Arizona State, 10:00 PM, Pac12

The crown jewel of week two starts late. Three G5 top ten programs face off versus the P5 with everyone watching. Boise State has to prove that they have some sort of idea what they want to do offensively or they will get boat-raced by a talented Cougars squad. Houston has to get first game jitters out of the way after missing out on a week one matchup due to Hurricane Harvey. SDSU looked pretty good in week one, but face a Sun Devils squad that can put up points in bunches. Too bad that game is on the Pac12 Network.