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Expect a close battle for four quarters, but Matt Stafford, Knowshon Moreno, and the Georgia defense will be too much for Arizona State. Hopefully they do win because I am tired of hearing the Pac-10 Kool-Aid drinkers claim their conference is better than the SEC just because Tennessee has lost to Cal and UCLA the past two years.
Wake Forest at Florida State
The fun is over for the Seminoles as they finally get a team with a pulse visiting Tallahassee after two easy wins over FCS opponents. Many of the suspended 'Noles players return this week, but probably not enough.
Wake Forest is a very good football team, and at this point in the season, they can claim to be the best the meager ACC has to offer. At the end of the season, this may turn out to be the game that determines who wins the ACC Atlantic, because favorite Clemson has been largely uninspiring this year.
This will be a litmus test game for Florida State as they try to determine how much they have improved since last season. The offense looks to be clicking on all cylinders, but I'll reassess that claim after a game or two against real competition.
West Virginia at Colorado
The Mountaineers have already lost one non-conference game, and for the struggling Big East, they really can't afford another.
Colorado struggled with Eastern Washington two weeks ago, but I think it is still safe to say Dan Hawkins' team is on the rise and will give their Big 12 foes plenty of fits in 2008.
Last season, a huge home win over Oklahoma catapulted them to a bowl game, and I am sure they'd love to move to 3-0 on the year and position themselves well before conference play commences.
Bill Stewart seems to have Pat White throwing a lot more than he did under Rich Rodriguez, and it didn't seem to work too well against ECU. I really think for the Mountaineers to win this game two-thirds of the way across the country, they need to rediscover the dual threat Pat White that made them so dangerous to begin with.
Other games that you may want to keep an eye on
Iowa at Pittsburgh
A couple years back, many people were pegging Iowa and Pittsburgh to be programs on the rise. That may still end up being the case, but Kirk Ferentz and Dave Wannstedt's teams have resorted to mediocrity and could use a solid non-conference win before attacking conference play.
Iowa is 3-0, but their biggest win is over Iowa State, while Big East member Pitt is 1-1 in MAC play after losing to Bowling Green and holding off Buffalo.
Arizona at UCLA
At the beginning of the season, everyone was saying it was now or never for Mike Stoops in Tucson. Losing to New Mexico, who lost to Texas A&M, who lost to Arkansas State, won't help matters. But now the "real" season begins as they visit Westwood to kick off Pac-10 play.
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