College Football Picks Week 2: Top-25 Rankings, Schedule, Odds and Predictions
After an opening week of last-second wins and stunning upsets, college football and its new rankings offer a plethora of attractive games in Week 2.
Here are the updated rankings.
| 1 | Ohio State | 1-0 | 1 |
| 2 | Alabama | 1-0 | 3 |
| 3 | TCU | 1-0 | 2 |
| 4 | Baylor | 1-0 | 4 |
| 5 | Michigan State | 1-0 | 5 |
| 6 | Auburn | 1-0 | 6 |
| 7 | Oregon | 1-0 | 7 |
| 8 | USC | 1-0 | 8 |
| 9 | Notre Dame | 1-0 | 11 |
| 10 | Georgia | 1-0 | 9 |
| 11 | Florida State | 1-0 | 10 |
| 12 | Clemson | 1-0 | 12 |
| 13 | UCLA | 1-0 | 13 |
| 14 | LSU | 0-0 | 14 |
| 15 | Georgia Tech | 1-0 | 16 |
| 16 | Texas A&M | 1-0 | Unranked |
| 17 | Ole Miss | 1-0 | 17 |
| 18 | Arkansas | 1-0 | 18 |
| 19 | Oklahoma | 1-0 | 19 |
| 20 | Boise State | 1-0 | 23 |
| 21 | Missouri | 1-0 | 24 |
| 22 | Arizona | 1-0 | 22 |
| 23 | Tennessee | 1-0 | 25 |
| 24 | Utah | 1-0 | Unranked |
| 25 | Mississippi State | 1-0 | Unranked |
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Three debutantes of the Top 25, Texas A&M, Utah and Mississippi State, will look to show that they belong, while Notre Dame moves into the Top 10. Of the three, Mississippi State might have the toughest test, taking on No. 15 LSU, who saw their Week 1 game against McNeese State canceled.
Some other big movers within the Top 25 are Boise State and Missouri, who each moved up three spots thanks to losses from Wisconsin and Stanford, who dropped out along with Arizona State.
Boise State encounters a BYU side that won their first game thanks to a miraculous Hail Mary reception on the final play. But the biggest game of the week is a Top-10 clash from East Lansing, Michigan. Before we get into that, here is a look at the Top-25 teams' Week 2 schedule with odds and predictions as to who will win.
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com.
| Friday, September 11 | |||
| Utah State at No. 24 Utah | 9 p.m. | Utah -11 | Utah |
| Saturday, September 12 | |||
| South Florida at No. 11 Florida State | 11:30 a.m. | FSU -29 | Florida State |
| Jacksonville State at No. 6 Auburn | 12 p.m. | N/A | Auburn |
| Appalachian State at No. 12 Clemson | 12:30 p.m. | Clemson -21 | Clemson |
| Hawaii at No. 1 Ohio State | 3:30 p.m. | OSU -38 | Ohio State |
| Stephen F. Austin at No. 3 TCU | 3:30 p.m. | N/A | TCU |
| Tulane at No. 15 Georgia Tech | 3:30 p.m. | GT -26 | Georgia Tech |
| No. 9 Notre Dame at Virginia | 3:30 p.m. | ND -11.5 | Notre Dame |
| No. 10 Georgia at Vanderbilt | 3:30 p.m. | UGA -17 | Georgia |
| Fresno State at No. 17 Ole Miss | 3:30 p.m. | Ole Miss -23 | Ole Miss |
| Middle Tennessee at No. 2 Alabama | 4 p.m. | Alabama -34 | Alabama |
| Toledo at No. 18 Arkansas | 4 p.m. | Arkansas -21 | Arkansas |
| No. 19 Oklahoma at No. 23 Tennessee | 6 p.m. | OU -3 | Tennessee |
| No. 22 Arizona at Nevada | 7 p.m. | Arizona -10.5 | Arizona |
| Ball State at No. 16 Texas A&M | 7 p.m. | A&M -26 | Texas A&M |
| No. 21 Missouri at Arkansas State | 7 p.m. | Mizzou -13 | Missouri |
| Lamar at No. 4 Baylor | 7:30 p.m. | N/A | Baylor |
| Idaho at No. 8 USC | 8 p.m. | USC -43.5 | USC |
| No. 7 Oregon at No. 5 Michigan St. | 8 p.m. | Even | Michigan State |
| No. 14 LSU at No. 25 Mississippi St. | 9:15 p.m. | LSU -3 | Mississippi State |
| No. 20 Boise State at BYU | 10:15 p.m. | Boise St. -1.5 | BYU |
| No. 13 UCLA at UNLV | 10:30 p.m. | UCLA -28 | UCLA |
Game of the Week
No. 7 Oregon at No. 5 Michigan State
Who wins: Michigan State
Spartan Stadium doesn't see too many big games like this. According to Kyle Austin of MLive.com, this is the first Top-10 matchup in East Lansing since 1966. And it should be a doozy.
It's usually a safe bet to take Oregon when they are playing a Top-25 team. Under head coach Mark Helfrich, the Ducks are 7-2 against the nation's top teams, including a 46-27 win over Michigan State last season.
But Michigan State has only lost one game in East Lansing in the past two years, and with a Heisman Trophy candidate in quarterback Connor Cook, the Spartans might just squeak by the Ducks.
Don't let last week's performance fool you, Cook should put up much better numbers than his 15-31 for 256-yard performance.
Oregon realizes that too. Cook is getting lofty praise from his Saturday opponents, especially from Ducks secondary coach John Neal, who spoke with Tyson Alger of the Oregonian:
"He kind of reminds me of Tom Brady. He's got a coolness to him that I always like in a quarterback. He's very poised. He's got pocket presence, see the field, has great experience.
"
Cook is going to be lining up against an Oregon team that is no stranger to giving up points. Just last week, they allowed Eastern Washington to score 42 points, although they scored 61. But playing a Power Five side that is much more well-rounded than Eastern Washington, they might not be able to simply outscore their opponent.
Especially now with Michigan State's experience. After losing to Oregon last season and playing a high-powered offense in Baylor in the Cotton Bowl, Michigan State's defense has seen the uptempo offense before. Mike Griffith of MLive.com explains:
"Michigan State wasn't fully prepared for the effect Oregon's uptempo offense would have on it, and the Spartans didn't realize how difficult it would be to substitute between plays against that pace of play. Having had a month of bowl prep for Baylor's hurry-up offense last December and an entire offseason to practice for the Ducks, MSU should do better with the quick substitutions.
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Oregon, though, still has an extremely impressive running game, including Royce Freeman and quarterback Vernon Adams. The Spartans can't count on completely shutting down Oregon and holding them under 20 points. That's just not logical for a team that was last held to such a mark by Stanford in November 2013.
It's going to be a shootout, and it will be a question of which defense can dig deep enough to come up with a couple of big stops. I feel as though Oregon's defense just does not have the fortitude to do so. I say Michigan State wins this 45-36.
Stats courtesy of Sports-Reference.com.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
